282 – Wild and Terrific Justice

In All-Star Comics #24 (February 1945), Wildcat and Mr. Terrific are called in on a case and join the Justice Society of America. Honorary members The Flash and Green Lantern show up to hear about the case. The story is more World War 2 propaganda told through the re-education of a recently drafted young American […]

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281 – Superspeed Invisible

Superman uses his super-speed to become move so fast that he becomes invisible to a normal human for the first time in Action Comics #83 (February 1945). The Flash was doing that five years ago!

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280 – The Monocle

In the Golden Age, only a couple superheroes had compelling rosters of supervillains – in DC it was really only the “trinity”: Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. The other major heroes (Green Lantern, Flash, Green Arrow, Aquaman, etc) were missing a compelling set of villains. Hawkman got his first nemesis with The Monocle in Flash […]

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279 – Darnell Rank

Colonel Darnell helps Wonder Woman foil an evil plot of Countess Draska – (a replacement villain for Baroness Paula) in Sensation Comics #40 (February 1945). As a result, he ends up being promoted to a General. I like how Wonder Woman at least tried to do an actual love triangle for awhile.

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278 – Mysta of the Moon

Ok, it’s time to take a break from the heavy burden of thinking about World War 2 and let comic books do something they do really well: Pure unadulterated escapism. While DC Comics seem to be squarely aimed at children and youth, Fiction House published pulpy stories with curvy women in skimpy outfits focusing on […]

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277 – Everyman

The war was still going strong in January 1945 when “Johnny Everyman” stories began to show up in DC’s World’s Finest Comics. In Worlds’ Finest #17, the installment describes the story of Ralph, an African American soldier and a friend of Johnny Everyman, as he returns to the United States a decorated war hero. Johnny […]

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276 – Captain Marvel Shenanigans

Well here we are closing out the tenth year of comic-book-dom and Captain Marvel continues to keep things light in the super-heroics department in Whiz Comics #61 (December 1944). Unlike Superman, his DC counterpart, Fawcett’s Captain Marvel had almost zero regular supporting cast, love interests, recurring villains, backstory, or continuity. The stories always stayed far […]

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275 – Superboy Debuts

As the Superman writers begin to cast about for fresh ideas, I am sure they were heavily influenced by the Captain Marvel Family and wanted to capture the young reader fantasy like Captain Marvel Jr and Mary Marvel did. Superboy debuts for the first time in More Fun Comics #101 (November 1944). This Superboy is […]

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