The cowboy continues to replace the superhero in September 1948, as DC’s All-American Comics follows “More Fun” out of the superhero genre. It gets a name tweak to “All-American Western” and a new cover star: Johnny Thunder. This means no more solo stories for Dr. Mid-Nite in the Golden Age. Green Lantern still has his […]
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August 1948 was a big month for new Batman characters, also introducing The Riddler in Detective Comics #140. The Riddler would join the Joker, the Penguin, and Catwoman as one of Batman’s most popular and well-recognized villains.
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In Action Comics #125 (August 1948), a gimmicky story about a Nostradamus-like hermit who discovers predictions in a cave turns into a slightly interesting moment where one of Luthor’s henchmen surfaces that idea that Superman’s secret identity might be Clark Kent. Of course Superman convinces them otherwise thanks to his super-speed.
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Batman #49 (August 1948) introduces a new potential love interest for Bruce Wayne in the form of Vicky Vale, a photographer who plays with the now-tired trope of the girl who suspects the superhero’s secret identity. This story also introduce a new rogue for Batman and Robin in the form of The Mad Hatter, a […]
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In Green Lantern #34 (July 1947), Allan Scott learns that Harlequin has been a secret agent all along, she is Agent H-9 of the Bureau. This, of course, makes no sense in terms of continuity … we have seen Molly Mayne coming up with the idea for Harlequin! Oh well, at least they tried to […]
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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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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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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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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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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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