399 – Moar Female Sidekicks

As mentioned previously, lots of male superheroes were being given sexy female sidekicks as replacement for their teenage / young boy sidekicks in 1948. Merry, Sylvester Pemberton’s newly adopted sister, becomes Gimmick Girl in Star Spangled Comics #81 (June 1948). On the Timely (Marvel) side, the Human Torch ditches Toro for Sun Girl who even […]

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398 – Johnny Thunder 2

The Western craze continues with the introduction of a new Western character with an old name in All-American Comics #100 (June 1948): Johnny Thunder! Yes, just six months since Johnny Thunder disappeared from DC comics, a completely new character steps in and takes over his name. Johnny Thunder is a blonde school teacher who has […]

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397 – New Golden Age Costumes

In Flash #98 (June 1948), DC gives three of its heroes new costumes: The Atom, Hawkman, and Hawkgirl. There is no in-story reason for any costume changes, it appears to be just the whim of the artists (Carmine Infantino, Frank Giacoia for The Atom and Joe Kubert for Hawkman). While I consider the Atom’s costume […]

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396 – Mr. Zrr Rocks

Timely (Marvel) decided to pay homage to Superman’s tenth anniversary by ripping off one of Supermans’ characters: Mr. Mxyzptlk. Captain America #67 (May 1948) features a short, cartoon-y, imp-ish character named Mr. Zrr from “Dimension Z” who travels through a mirror to Earth and then allows criminals to follow him back and wreak havoc. He […]

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395 – Super Angst Origin

For the tenth anniversary of Superman’s first appearance, DC re-told Superman’s origin in even greater detail in Superman #53 (May 1948) with a compelling splash page showing Superman’s sadness at losing two sets of parents. The first half of the story takes place on Krypton. In it, we see in greater detail how Jor-el tried […]

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394 – Merry Pemberton

Continuing the trend of female characters being introduced to male-dominated series, Sylvester Pemberton, the Star-Spangled Kid, gains an adopted teenage sister, Merry. Within one issue, she would fashion her own costume and join the Star-Spangled Kid on his adventures as Gimmick Girl.

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393 – Chilling Confrontation

Batman learns that his parent’s killer, Joe Chill, is still alive and confronts him in Batman #47 (April 1948). This is the first time the Wayne’s mugger is given a name and the third time Batman’s origin has been re-visited. Upon confronting him, Batman dramatically reveals his secret identity. Oh, that’s not going to bode […]

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392 – Golden Girl

In Captain America #66 (March 1948), Timely Comics, the predecessor to Marvel, creates another seductively-clad female superhero: Golden Girl. Bucky Barnes gets shot, and while he is recovering, Captain America needs a new sidekick! After many years as being a bit-player and minor romantic interest during the war, Betsy Ross is trained by Steve Rogers […]

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391 – Super Mouth Breather

The Wayne Boring visual style of Superman continues to seep its way into DC publications. In World’s Finest Comics #34 (March 1948), we see a good example off the “slight rear angle with open mouth” pose – though he still doesn’t have consistent eyeballs. Have I mentioned before how much I hate Wayne Boring’s Superman? […]

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390 – Superboy Meets Lois Lane

In Adventure Comics #128 (March 1948), the writers of Superboy decided to toss more continuity out the door in favor of a cool story idea: A young Clark Kent win a prize to be a cub reporter for the summer for the Daily Planet, and guess who the other winner is: Lois Lane! Of course […]

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