Wonder Woman finally gets a recognizable villain in the form of Cheetah in Wonder Woman #6 (August 1943). Priscilla Rich has a split personality and takes it out on Wonder Woman by dressing up in a skin-tight cheetah costume. This is, of course, the Golden Age version of the villain and not the version of […]
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In a surprising-for-the-time war tale, Aquaman meets up with a Russian boat captained and crewed by only women – who manage to hold their own against Nazis. While at first it seems like the story is a bit gimmicky, it is interesting in that the women are never shown as helpless, and it seems like […]
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Toyman makes his bland debut as the newest Superman villain in Action Comics #64 (July 1943). In a world that already has The Joker and The Prankster, it seems like a pretty gimmicky idea, but whatever. The only real memory of Toyman I have from my youth is from the phenomenal Alan Moore 2-issue story […]
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Superman stories throughout every age includes those where he suddenly appears to, or actually does, work on the side of the bad guys. In Action Comics #63 (June 1943), we get the first such story, in which invisible rays from two stars colliding in the cosmos strikes Clark and not only wipes out his nipples […]
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The Golden Age Flash time travels for the first time in Flash Comics #44 (June 1943). The explanation is ludicrous, but then again, so are comic books in general! 😀 The Flash eventually helps save the Earth of 2443 by bombarding a visiting sun that was over-heating the Earth with “atomic bullets” and using his […]
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Sometimes the art in Batman varied throughout mid 1943, as seen in this panel from Batman #18 (June 1943). Up to this point, the “house style” for Batman has been very close to the Bob Kane style, but it seems like Jerry Robinson felt the need to provide his own stamp on the Batman look. […]
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Steve Trevor suspects that Diana is Wonder Woman for the first time in Sensation Comics #20 (June 1943). He aggressively tries to take her glasses off in anger, but she gets out of by using super-ventriloquism and hopping out a window to meet Steve at the door as Wonder Woman.
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A new recurring villain for Wonder Woman is introduced in Wonder Woman #5 (May 1943): Doctor Psycho. Doctor Psycho is a misshapen mysogynist dwarf with abilities to hypnotize and can shape ectoplasm into human forms. An equally grotesque villain, The Duke of Deception, enlists Doctor Psycho to prevent women from helping with the war effort.
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The Spirit continues to evolve – the story in Police Comics #20 (April 1943) evokes horror as Ogre Goran, a vicious convict escapes, is horribly burned in a fire by his ex-fiance, then is captured by The Spirit. Ebony White shows surprising intelligence and deductive reasoning, proving he is more than just a racial stereotype.
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Lois Lane is proposed to by an obnoxious millionaire in Action Comics #61, (April 1943)… and she accepts. This forces Superman into the realization that he cares for Lois. He decides on a drastic step, to reveal his identity: … but she doesn’t believe him. In the end, it turns out Lois was only accepting […]
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