209 – Aquaman also has an Atlantis

Not to be outdone by Namor, Aquaman brings the concept of Atlantis further into its mythos in November 1942. At this point, Aquaman still gained his powers from his scientist father who discovered how to live underwater, but this is the first time an actual Atlantis is seen in the Aquaman stories. In this story, […]

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208 – Mary Marvel!

The Marvel Family expands again in Captain Marvel #18 (November 1942) with the addition of the female version of Captain Marvel Jr: Mary Marvel. Mary was the newly discovered twin sister of Billy Batson. I believe Bulletgirl was the first female version of a superhero (1941), followed one month later by Hawkgirl.

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206 – Captain Marvel Jr Gets His Own Book

Freddy Freeman (Captain Marvel Jr) gets his own comic book in October 1942. A nice retelling of his origin story and then more battling World War II foes for Freddy! As far as I can tell, this is the first time a “junior” superhero gets their own solo comic book, beating Superboy by seven years!

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205 – The Spirit Becomes an Outlaw

In August 1942, Quality Comics started reprinting Will Eisner‘s “The Spirit” stories in Police Comics #10, which is the first time the character appears in a comic book. But the Spirit’s distinctive style started to exert itself a couple issues later in Police Comics #12 (October 1942) where we see comic narration appearing in stylized […]

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204 – The Duke of Deception

One of the uglier Wonder Woman nemeses is introduced in Wonder Woman #2 (October 1942): The Duke of Deception! He was one of several generals that the God of War, Ares / Mars kept around. His demigod peers were the Lord of Conquest and the Earl of Greed.

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202 – Superman Cartoons

In Superman #19 (September 1942), we find what I can only assume is an intentionally-whimsical story in which Clark Kent takes Lois Lane to the movies and Clark has to prevent Lois from seeing key parts of the Superman cartoon to protect his actual secret identity from being discovered. Of course this makes no sense […]

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201 – Two-Face, Part Two

The first Two-Face story from Detective Comics #66 skips a month and continues from its cliff-hanger in Detective #68 (August 1942). Two-Face flips a coin (with a green hand!) to determine if he will lead a life of crime or try to get help. The coin stands on its edge so he lets fate decide. […]

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