72 – The First Iron Man

A panel from the Bozo the Iron Man story in Smash Comics #1, June 1939
A panel from the Bozo the Iron Man story in Smash Comics #1, June 1939

Quality released Smash Comics #1 in June 1939. It featured a silly series called “Hugh Hazzard and his Iron Man”, who is turned from villain to crime-fighting slave and given the humiliating name of “Bozo” in this first story. Of course, Bozo the Iron Man predates Marvel Comics own Iron Man by decades.