121 – Fire v Water, Part Deux

Timely Comics (aka Marvel) continues its experiment of having its two most popular characters, the Human Torch and Namor, the Sub-Mariner, battle each other in a whopping 22+ page, action-packed story in Marvel Mystery Comics #9 (May 1940). The characters reach a stalemate, resulting in another cliffhanger by the end of the issue.

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120 – Green Lantern!

The original Golden Age Green Lantern debuts in All-American Comics #16 (May 1940) and was created by Martin Nodell. Green Lantern is Alan Scott, a railroad engineer who discovers a mystical green lantern, fashions a ring out of it, creates a bizarre costume, and gets moving in the fashionable superhero business!

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119 – Acidproof

Superman #5 (May 1940) has our hero soliloquizing about his acid-proof costume that he invented himself, making him a scientific genius as well as a god-on-Earth, I guess. This will be retconned years later to be threads from his baby blanket from Krypton 🙂

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118 – Clayface!

Detective Comics #40 (May 1940) introduced another Batman rogue: the original Clayface, whose alter-ego is Basil Karlo, a movie actor that goes crazy.

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117 – Out of the Blue Bolt

Finishing off the list of obscure superheroes that debuted in April 1940 is the Blue Bolt, starring in Blue Bolt #1 (Novelty Comics). This lightning-shooting character was created by Joe Simon who drafted his buddy Jack Kirby to work on it with him in the second issue (May 1940). Simon & Kirby would, of course, […]

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116 – Don’t Cry for Uncle Sam

Quality Comics started a new comic book in April 1940: National Comics #1. This book featured the debut of an odd superhero, Uncle Sam created by Will Eisner. Eisner based the superhero on the character used for U.S. Army recruiting since the 1800s. The superhero was the embodiment of the American spirit, seemingly indestructible in […]

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115 – Fire v Water

As promised the previous month, Marvel Mystery Comics #8 (April 1940), brings the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch together in one battle that spans two stories in that issue.

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114 – Two New Bat-Rogues

Before the introduction of Robin only one month earlier, Batman’s rogues gallery consisted of only three villains: Doctor Death, the Mad Monk, and Hugo Strange. In April 1940, DC released Batman #1, its second comic book dedicated to just a single superhero. In it, they recount the Batman’s origin and then feature not one, but […]

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113 – S is for Symbol

Up until now, Superman‘s insignia has usually drawn as an inverted yellow-bordered triangle surrounding an ‘S’ of first yellow, then red. Action Comics #25 (April 1940) shows the final major iteration of this symbol to a red-bordered diamond shape that is now recognized the world over. Note that the Wikipedia article on this states that […]

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112 – Doctor Fate!

Only a couple months after introducing the Spectre to More Fun Comics, DC introduces readers to Doctor Fate, another magic-wielding superhero in More Fun #55 (April 1940). Doctor Fate was Golden Age creation by the prolific Gardner Fox (writer) and Howard Sherman (artist). Doctor Fate had a love interest, Inza, but no other background for […]

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