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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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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Continuing the trend of female characters being introduced to male-dominated series, Sylvester Pemberton, the Star-Spangled Kid, gains an adopted teenage sister, Merry. Within one issue, she would fashion her own costume and join the Star-Spangled Kid on his adventures as Gimmick Girl.
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Batman learns that his parent’s killer, Joe Chill, is still alive and confronts him in Batman #47 (April 1948). This is the first time the Wayne’s mugger is given a name and the third time Batman’s origin has been re-visited. Upon confronting him, Batman dramatically reveals his secret identity. Oh, that’s not going to bode […]
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The Wayne Boring visual style of Superman continues to seep its way into DC publications. In World’s Finest Comics #34 (March 1948), we see a good example off the “slight rear angle with open mouth” pose – though he still doesn’t have consistent eyeballs. Have I mentioned before how much I hate Wayne Boring’s Superman? […]
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In Adventure Comics #128 (March 1948), the writers of Superboy decided to toss more continuity out the door in favor of a cool story idea: A young Clark Kent win a prize to be a cub reporter for the summer for the Daily Planet, and guess who the other winner is: Lois Lane! Of course […]
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