In Captain America #78 (May 1954), Atlas (Marvel) continues to try to make their superheroes exciting by adding new super-villains. This time, the Commies create their own version of a “super soldier” to square off against Captain America. Ivan Kronov is given electrical powers and the name Electro. Like electric cars, he has one slight […]
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Oddly, all the Atlas/Marvel superheroes that were revived in 1953 happen to have girlfriends named Betty / Betsy. Someone must have loved that name – Stan Lee perhaps? Betty Wilson was introduced as a minor character for the Human Torch. Betsy Ross (no relation to the Hulk’s Betsy Ross?) used to be Golden Girl, but […]
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After taking Captain America out of retirement, Atlas (Marvel) puts Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes back into the Army where they belong, leaving his teaching job behind in Captain America #76 (January 1954).
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In the Captain America story in Young Men #26 (Dec 1953), a sneaky Kremlin secret agent calls together all the heroes in the Atlas/Marvel universe to fight the Reds, giving them the name “Champions”. By this time, DC had given up on the Justice Society of America three years ago and, apart from a Batman/Superman […]
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The Human Torch revival was not the only Golden Age Marvel Comics character brought out of retirement in Young Men Comics #24 (August 1953). Captain America and Bucky re-emerge, with Steve Rogers still functioning as a high school teacher and Bucky as one of his students. What brings Cap out of retirement? Well, the Red […]
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March 1949 ends another Timely (Marvel) superhero solo book with Captain America #73 (March 1949). With its next issue, it becomes “Captain America’s Weird Tales”, a horror comic, which maybe was fore-shadowed by the truly macabre ads for toys in this issue. Pictured above is Rita, a babygirl doll with long vivacious red hair that […]
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In Captain America #71 (December 1948), we see some rare glimpses of Marvel continuity when Bucky Barnes is finally healed up in the hospital after being shot six months prior and returns to active duty. I guess it was too premature to call Timely (Marvel) done with boy sidekicks – Bucky was not written out […]
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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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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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Batman wasn’t the only superhero to slap his sidekick. In Captain America #65 (October 1947), Steve lashes out at Bucky in order to convince Bucky that their partnership is through. Of course this is just an act on Steve’s part to convince a criminal society, led by a beautiful woman, that Bucky’s life should not […]
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