630 – Yellow Claw Inception

In Yellow Claw #2 (Aug 1956), Jack Kirby takes a crack at Marvel’s latest super-villain, the Yellow Claw. More examples of early “Kirby Krackle” as well as wonderfully intricate layouts like the above Inception-like warping of space. In “Concentrate on Chaos”, the Yellow Claw has kidnapped six mutants with powers that can skew people’s perceptions […]

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629 – Martian Dad Hunter

The early Martian Manhunter stories relied a bit more on J’onn J’onnz interacting with Mars, like earlier in the year when he encountered a Martian criminal on Earth. In Detective Comics #236 (August 1956), he finds a way to contact his parents on Mars through “recent solar explosions… they must have created space energy that […]

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628 – Charles King

A meteor destroys the Kents home just as they are prepping for a camping trip in Adventure Comics #229 (August 1956). Because there was an eyewitness, the Kents decide to start new identities as the “Kings” in Centerville, with Clark adopting the name Charles King. Typical minor plots like Charles meeting “Millie”, a Lana substitute […]

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627 – The Bat-Track

In Detective Comics #236 (August 1956), a criminal scientist is released from prison and starts selling defenses against Batman’s gadgetry. As a result, Batman switches up all their tricks, introducing new vehicles like the above “Bat-Track” tank, an aerodyne, and the like. Of course once the scientist is re-captured, it’s back to the same ol’ […]

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626 – Bug Invaders

In Marvel’s World of Mystery #3 (July 1956), a young boy and his farmer father encounter what appears to be a small space ship and some “bugs” in their barn. The father dismisses it all as “junk” and tosses it away, but the big reveal comes in the last couple panels: The “junk” is really […]

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625 – Lew Moxon and Thomas Wayne

In Detective Comics #235 (July 1956), Bruce and Dick are cleaning out the attic when they discover an older bat costume and evidence that Bruce’s father, Thomas Wayne, originally wore a bat costume to a masquerade party wherein he foiled a crime by a mob boss, Lew Moxon. It is later revealed that Lew Moxon […]

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624 – Yellow Claw

Although Atlas/Marvel had largely given up on superheroes by 1956, there was an attempt at a super-villain-like character in The Yellow Claw (June 1956). The Yellow Claw was 150 years old, as well as a genius with supernatural powers allowing him to see into the past and future. He was opposed by Jimmy Woo, an […]

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623 – The Silver Age Flash!

Comic book historians like to call the appearance of the Silver Age Flash (Barry Allen) in Showcase #4 (July 1956) the beginning of the Silver Age of Comic Books. From my standpoint, having gone through the first twenty years of superhero comic books, I don’t think there is single defining moment. I believe the Silver […]

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622 – Bat-Amnesia

Well it happened enough to Superman, so I guess it was Batman and Robin’s turn to get amnesia. In Detective Comics #234 (June 1956), the dynamic duo is subject to a “sonic beam” that completely robs them of their memories of who they are. Some nice detective skills are exhibited as the pair piece together […]

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621 – Uncanny Future Men

In Marvel’s Uncanny Tales #45 (May 1956), a short story “The Men With Green Blood”. In it, a doctor investigates a corpse who had green blood and uncovers a group of older men who identify themselves as mutants and have “mentalities and strange developing powers”, operating in secret to benefit humanity.

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