Golden Age Showcase: The Turtle

November 30, 2015 ~ mblair112

So let’s get back to the Golden Age villains and to start off the week I’d like to talk about rouges galleries.

It think it’s safe to say that a hero is really only as good as the villain he or he fights. A good villain can provide the perfect foil for the hero, confronting the main character and by extension the reader with challenging questions like what is the true nature of evil? Can a hero always be “good” or is he corruptible? Or just how difficult is it to get rid of a bomb?

To that extent it is safe to say that Batman has one of the greatest collection of super villains in comic book history.

Each of the characters is unique, interesting, and provides their own special challenge to the Dark Knight. But I’m not here to talk about Batman, I want to talk about another rogues gallery that is just as interesting and almost as famous as the caped crusader’s: the rogues gallery of Batman’s friend and everyone’s favorite speedster The Flash.

While the Flash’s Rogues Gallery has gone through several variations over the years villains like Gorilla Grodd, the Pied Piper, and Captain Cold (my personal favorite and what I think is the best thing about the Flash TV show on the CW) have made sure that the Flash has remained a popular and enduring superhero.

With that being said, characters and ideas like this take time to develop and the Flash’s current Rogues Gallery didn’t just spring up over night. Like everything good there was a lot of trial and error before getting the right collection of super villains together and today I’d like to talk about one of Flash’s stranger and less practical villains: The Turtle.

Origin and career:

The original Turtle super villain first appeared in All Flash #21 in 1945. This is the cover.

As you can probably guess he isn’t the most menacing super villain on the planet.

His gimmick was simple. While the Flash was the fastest man alive the Turtle decided that the best way to defeat the Flash was to…slow down. That was it, he was a super villain who thought the best way to defeat a speedster was to move and act very, very slowly. It turned out there was a very good reason for this, the Turtle was a smoker and couldn’t move very fast since all those cigarettes had damaged his lungs.

To be fair his logic was somewhat sound (for a comic book) and be believed that since the Flash was moving so fast it would be easy to trick him into making mistakes, especially with enough prior planning. However, his planning went about as well as you’d expect and the Turtle was captured by the Flash with little to no difficulty.

He would later adopt a turtle themed costume to fight the Flash and was able to give a semi decent account of himself in the 1940’s by tricking the Flash into running into things.

However, by this time the Golden Age was coming to an end and the original Turtle decided to fade into the background of the Flash’s city and slowly build up a criminal empire.

So what happened?

Apparently the idea that a person who was slow and methodical could beat a man who possessed super speed was such a good one that when it came time to replace the Golden Age Flash Jay Garrick with the Silver Age Flash Barry Allen

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It was decided that the Turtle, or in this case a criminal inspired by the Turtle, would be the first costumed gimmick super villain the new Flash would face.

Since the original Turtle was still in hiding a bank robber who admired the previous exploits of the original Golden Age Turtle decided to adopt the identity and gimmick of his idol and call himself…Turtle Man.

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While it may seem confusing at first this new villain was quite a bit more competent than his predecessor. Like his idol Turtle Man was known for slow and methodical planning and for using the Flash’s speed against him. For example, he painted his silhouette on a wall and tricked the Flash into running into it (and yes it’s exactly like this)

or he once used the Flash’s speed against him by forcing the Flash to run on water and using the shock waves to propel his own boat forward at the same speed.

However, this Turtle Man’s greatest difference is that he decided to apply some Silver Age comic book science to his crimes and used a vast personal fortune and scientific know how to create gadgets that could slow down others around him. It’s also worth mentioning that in later appearances he adopted at more turtle themed appearance as well.

Interestingly enough, Turtle Man would actually go on to meet his Golden Age idol and the two would be come partners in crime.

The two attempted to take over the Golden Age’s home of Keystone city but were foiled when their underground lab was destroyed with the Turtle seemingly dying underneath the rubble and Turtle Man being taken into custody.

It would later be revealed that the Turtle survived the explosion and in his last appearance it was revealed that he had the ability to steal speed from others and make it look like they were moving in slow motion.

So that’s the Turtle, a lesson in that no matter how strange or inadequate a character can be all you need is time, and a seemingly endless number of re vamps and re writes, to turn that character into a competent super villain.

By the way, I also think that the modern Turtle would make an excellent addition to the Flash tv show on the CW. Who’s with me?

Golden Age Showcase: Patricia Walker

November 23, 2015 ~ mblair112

I know we just started looking at Golden Age super villains and I promise we’ll get back to them next week but over the weekend I decided to give some credit to another group that hasn’t gotten a lot of attention in the blog series, women.

Like many people who will probably read this article I spent the weekend watching Marvel’s new Netflix show Jessica Jones.

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For those of you who want my opinion on the show I like it. It’s engaging, brutal, intense, the action is great, the acting is great, it has an amazing supporting cast (LUKE CAGE!!), and David Tenant is one of the most chilling super villains I’ve seen on screen

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However, during one of the episodes something caught my eye about Jessica’s best friend and step sister Trish Walker.

Without spoiling too much of the show Patsy is a former child star who has her own talk show, plenty of money, and lots of fans. During an episode one of these fans approaches her with a comic book for her to sign and talks about how she used to have red hair. That got me curious and a quick Google search revealed that Patsy Walker was actually a Golden Age teen comedy comic book series that was first published in 1944

which technically puts her in the Golden Age but what’s really interesting is that she would later become the superhero Hellcat.

So we have a Golden Age comic book character who was originally part of a non superhero franchise donning a cape and mask to fight crime. What happened? Let’s find out.

Origin and Career

In order to understand the early days of Trish Walker we have to take a brief looking into post World War 2 comic book history. After the Allies won the war and America finished kicking Nazi and Japanese butt the American public grew tired of superheroes and as a result many comic book companies either went out of business or started publishing comics in other genres. Believe it or not there was a time when superhero comics weren’t the biggest sellers. Instead comic book publishers started moving into other genres like horror

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and romance.

The original Patsy Walker fell into the teen comedy genre of comics, a genre that is nowhere near as popular as it once was but still lives on in one of the most enduring comic book titles the world has ever known

Back to Miss. Walker, Patsy was first published in 1944 in Miss America Magazine

The character and comic was created by Canadian artist and comic book pioneer Ruth Atkinson

who was one of the first female artists and character creators in a genre that was (and still is) dominated by the guys.

Patsy Walker was created to be very much a “girl character”.

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She lived the American teenage dream with her suburban parents, had a boyfriend Robert Baxter, and a safe non threatening rivalry with another girl named Hedy Wolfe. They went on dates

went to the beach

and engaged in safe, non threatening, hilarious hi jinks.

And it all sold like hotcakes. When the Golden Age of comics ended in 1953 and the whole medium was under siege from angry parents who burned comic books due to fears that it caused juvenile delinquency

Patsy Walker continued to be published and sell until 1965, with several spin off series lasting even longer. Fun fact: 1961’s Patsy Walker #95

was actually one of the first comic books to be published under Timely Comic’s (they changed their name to Atlas Comics in 1951) new banner: Marvel Comics. So thanks to this teenage girl who did little more than hang out with her friends and go on dates with her boy friend we may not have the Marvel comic book universe we know today.

So what happened?

The 1970’s happened. By 1971 superheroes had come back in a big way and teenage comedies were on their way out. Patsy and her rival Heady had made cameo appearances in the Marvel Universe in 1965 so it was established that they knew about heroes like the Hulk, Iron Man, and Spider Man.

Now here’s where it gets weird and kind of brilliant. It turned out that Patsy Walker had merely been the inspiration for the teenage romance comics which had been drawn in universe by her mother Dorothy Walker

Dorothy had pushed her daughter into modeling and acting by acting as her agent (for those of you who haven’t watched Jessica Jones this factors heavily into the show) and her exposure to comic books as well as the stories of the heroes around her inspired Patsy to want to be a superhero.

She married her child hood sweetheart Robert Baxter who was assigned to work security for a government subsidized company called the Brand Corporation. There she met Hank McCoy, also known as the X-man Beast, and convinced him to help her become a hero.

She wound up ending her marriage and while tagging along with the Avengers she discovered a discarded superhero costume and named herself Hellcat.

Now here’s where it gets weird. After a brief stint on Saturn’s moon Titan as the guest of alien princess Moon Dragon (no really)

she came back with enhanced abilities and extensive martial arts training. She joined the superhero team the Defenders, which is like the Avengers but more down to Earth and is currently in the process of being formed in Marvel’s Netflix set of shows, and met Damian Hellstrom. Damian was part demon and naturally the two hit it off.

The two were married despite the rather violent objections of her ex husband managed to live happy lives right up until the point where Damian reverted back to being a full fledged demon from Hell and scared his wife so much she went into a vegetative state and her soul was sent to Hell.

She spent quite a bit of time fighting demons in a hellish gladiatorial arena before she was rescued by the Defenders. Her character started taking on more supernatural enemies after her salvation including an attempt by the warlock Nicholas Scratch to take over her home town of Centerville (which was home to a corporation that was founded on her old comic book fame and where her old rival Hedey worked)

and she helped defeat an extra dimensional ruler Dormammu.

Nowadays she’s still around in the Marvel Universe acting as an adviser, consort, and friend to other heroes. And of course she shed her occult and mystical adventures to become the best friend and erstwhile sidekick of Jessica Jones on Netflix.

Although she may only have a small part to play in the comics and TV shows now, Patsy Walker exists as one of the most peculiar titles in all of comics. She has one of the longest and most lasting reputations in the medium and has transitioned from teenage dream girl, to costumed superhero, to occult demon slayer, to live action hero supporting cast. Aren’t comics great?

The Primordial Soup: What is Star Wars?

November 21, 2015 ~ mblair112

So this little movie is going to be coming out soon.

Probably won’t be that much of a big deal…there’s a good chance not too many people are going to see it.

Yes, like many people on the internet with a blog I love Star Wars, but why? After all, if you look at it at the surface level it’s just a bunch of guys with cool swords flying around in cool ships and shooting lasers at each other.

But most people who watch and enjoy these movies, and believe it or not I have met people who don’t like Star Wars, know that there is something much bigger and deeper to it. Over the next couple of weeks I, and most likely half the Internet, will be posting a series of articles talking about one of the greatest movie franchises of all time in an attempt to answer a very simple, yet incredibly complicated, question:

What is Star Wars?

Well, in order to do that let’s look at where Star Wars came from. George Lucas was an up and coming director in the 1970’s, part of the nascent film school movement that would give us Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, and Martin Scorsese.

These are the men that became the titans of American entertainment and created many of the most iconic works of art the world has ever seen. Here’s the thing though. Those men in the picture? They didn’t just come with their ideas on their own. When they were learning how to make movies they had inspirations of their own.

These guys learned from the classic films of the cinema scene from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. The movies these guys grew up on were the ones that inspired them to make a new generation of American classics. After all, this

is basically a better directed and better funded version of this.

This,

is basically a better version of this

and this,

took quite a bit of inspiration from this.

But what about Star Wars? Well, in order to find out what inspired Star Wars we have to dig a little bit deeper.

First and foremost: what’s the first genre you think of when you talk about Star Wars? Science fiction.

Believe it or not there was a time when science fiction was treated as a small time genre in Hollywood and most of the science fiction movies of the 1950’s were pretty cheap and throw away affairs.

Granted, Hollywood did produce some genuine sci fi classics at the time.

and a little known producer named Rod Serling had some really interesting things to say.

But for the most part science fiction was relegated to B roll status.

So that’s one part of where Star Wars came from but there’s quite a bit more to it then that. Star Wars opened up a whole new world in showing us what movies could do in terms of action and excitement and it’s pretty safe to say that it didn’t get its sense of excitement from old school sci fi. I mean, in these old films the space ship tends to just…float and sit there.

Granted it’s safe to say that it was probably because of budget constraints but while early sci fi did that Star Wars gave us this.

Can you imagine sitting in a movie theater in 1977 and seeing THAT for the first time?

Lucas didn’t get the epic space battles that Star Wars is known for by watching B movie schlock sci fi so where did he get it from? Well, you know how Darth Vader’s helmet looks like a Nazi helmet?

Besides serving the purpose of letting the audience know that THIS IS THE BAD GUY!! Star Wars borrowed a lot of its action and fast paced bits from the footage and movies about World War 2.

So Star Wars was created on a foundation of early science fiction movies and given a boost with exciting action inspired by World War 2 fighter pilots but there is one final thing missing. What about the guys with cool swords?

Bear in mind, I am talking about the Jedi within the context of the original three movies (we’ll get to the prequels believe me) and when you’re talking about the Jedi you have to talk about one of the all time legends of movie making: Akira Kurosawa.

For those of you who don’t know Kurosawa is one of the greatest film makers of all time. He is basically the entire reason we enjoy samurai films

and he created what is possibly the greatest adaptation of any Shakespearean play to film.

He’s done plenty of other work but all we really need to know within the context of this article is that he made the samurai one of the most iconic figures in cinema.

Lucas saw Kurosawa’s work and liked it so much he decided to borrow a whole bunch of stuff for Star Wars. The term Jedi is a play on the Japanese word “jidai” which is a reference to the Japanese genre of historical films. R2-D2 and C-3PO

are robotic copies of two comidic, yet incredibly helpful, peasants Tahei and Matashichi from the Kurosawa film Hidden Fortress

Yoda

is modeled after the wise and war weary Kambei Shimada from Seven Samurai

and the whole idea of fighting based off of intuition and feeling? Of emptying your mind in order to anticipate you opponent? Using the Force? It’s an overly simplified version of Zen Buddhism.

So there you have it. Star Wars took elements of early American sci fi, World War 2 action, and Kurosawa’s samurai films and built one of the most iconic film series of all time on it. Granted, there is much much more to Star Wars then this but hey…we have to save something for later.

Golden Age Showcase: The Red Skull

November 16, 2015 ~ mblair112

So I’ve been doing this blog series on Golden Age superheroes for a while now and you know who hasn’t been getting enough attention? The villains.

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Now in my defense a lot of the bad guys in the early days of comic books weren’t the super powered titans of terror that we all know and love today. Instead of dealing with memorable psychopathic madmen who can level an entire city or have a cool costume most of the early comic book heroes dealt with your average corrupt politician or gangster.

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Also, since the Golden Age of Comics took place during WW2 there were Nazis, and since a lot of the people creating these comic books at the time were Jewish there were a lot of heroes to kicked a lot of Nazi butt.

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So since kicking the Third Reich into next week figured so heavily into the early history of comic books I’d thought it would be best to kick off our journey of discovery into the Golden Age villains by taking a look at Marvel’s first super villain and the most iconic comic book Nazi, the one who has been the greatest threat to the Marvel heroes since the 1940’s, the one who even Hitler thought was too evil and vile: The Red Skull.

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Origin and career:

Fun story about the creation of the character. The Red Skull was created by comic book legends, and the co creators of Captain America: France Herron, Jack Kirby, and Joe Simon.

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The story goes that the inspiration for the Red Skull came when Joe Simon was eating a hot fudge sundae and thought the melting sundae looked like a skull.

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Simon had the brilliant idea to name his new Nazi super villain…Hot Fudge. Thankfully he decided that the cherry on top of the sundae looked more intimidating and changed the name of the villain to Red Skull.

Anyway, back to the actual character. The original Red Skull appeared in the first issue of Timely Comic’s Captain America #1 in March 1941.

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The villain’s actual name was George Maxon, an industrialist who owned the Maxon Aircraft Company and sold airplanes to the U.S military.

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Despite the wealth and success that came with the American government contracts Maxon decided to turn traitor and join the Nazi party. Hitler personally charged Maxon with undermining the American war effort and promised him control over all American industry if the Nazis won the war. In order to do this Maxon donned the now famous mask and took on the identity of the Red Skull.

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He also had a hypodermic needle filled with a fast acting poison which he billed as his “touch of death” and used to kill several high ranking members of the American military.

After a string of assassinations and mysterious acts of sabotage the Red Skull would eventually gain the attention of Captain America and his sidekick Bucky.

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However, during their fight Maxon would accidentally roll onto one of his poison needles and was seemingly killed. Since this is a comic book and death is but a revolving door Maxon would return to enact a terrible revenge on Captain America by attacking New York with a giant drill. He even managed to capture Cap and Bucky and proceeded to hang them.

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Fortunately for the American war effort you can clearly see in the picture that the actual heroes are not dead. Instead the Red Skull had kidnapped two impostors and mistakenly thought they were the real Captain America and Bucky (spoiler alert, this is also exactly what happens in the movie Kick Ass). In a desperate attempt to escape Skull throws a bomb at the two but it fails to kill them and the explosion kills the Red Skull instead.

Despite the death of George Maxon the Red Skull would rise again. It turned out that Maxon was merely a puppet in a much larger conspiracy and in Captain America #7 published on October 1941 it was revealed that there was another, more sinister Red Skull named Johann Schmidt. The two would continue their duel until 1949 when this Red Skull was killed battling Captain America in the depths of Hell in Captain America Weird Tales #74.

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So what happened?

Schmidt would eventually become a much more fleshed out character but it took a while. After the post war decline of superheroes the Red Skull stayed dead for a while. He would eventually make an appearance in a 1954 issue of Young Man Comics where he and Captain America were both resurrected.

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During the 50’s Schmidt quit the Nazi party and politics in general and decided to become a run of the mill criminal mastermind. In his next appearance three issues later he was left for dead again.

Schmidt’s Red Skull would make a full comeback in the 60’s as the main enemy of Captain America and the Avengers in Tales of Suspense #66

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Schmidt was also given a backstory where it was revealed that he had begun his career as a supervillain by impressing Hitler so much that he was invited to join the Nazi party in the 1930’s. His dedication the party and knack for violence and intimidation led to him becoming one of the highest ranking Nazis in all of Germany and so intimidating that he even made Hitler nervous. Despite his skill and cunning the Nazis still lost the war and the Red Skull suffered an accident that froze him much in the same way as his old nemesis Captain America.

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Since his creation the Red Skull has been one of, if not the greatest, threat to world peace in the Marvel Universe. However, despite all his skill and ruthlessness he is eternally linked to life and fate of his foe Captain America and usually winds up being beaten by the First Avenger in the end. He is Marvel’s first and greatest super villain and one of the greatest personifications of hate and lust for power in all of comic books.

Golden Age Showcase: The Black Condor

November 9, 2015 ~ mblair112

So lately I’ve been feeling a bit…down. I started this blog series on Golden Age superheros in order to showcase some of the crazy superheroes and heroines that didn’t make the cut and were doomed to the annals of history. Instead I’ve been focusing on the Golden Age versions of more modern and popular heroes like the Flash or the Human Torch and it’s just not fair. What can I do in order to return to form? What sort of superhero could possibly be crazy enough too…

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Oh…oh God yes.

Origin and career:

This rather garishly costumed hero is the Black Condor. He first appeared as a cover character in an anthology title called Crack Comics in May 1941

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and was created by none other than the legendary Will Eisner himself.

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If you don’t know who he is don’t worry. All you need to know is that he helped coin the phrase “graphic novel” and was so influential to the comic book medium that they named the most prestigious award in comics after him.

Anyway, let’s get back to the Black Condor because his origin is a doozy. This hero’s original name was Richard Grey Jr. When Richard was just a baby his parents decided to take him on an archaeological dig into Outer Mongolia where they were tragically killed by a bandit named Gali Khan. Left to die the infant was rescued by a passing condor and instead of eating the infant the bird decided to raise the kid.

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Don’t worry, it only gets sillier from here. It turns out that being raised by birds allowed the young Richard to believe that he could fly and, in the defiance of physics, gravity, and logic, he learned how by studying the way the birds wings moved and how they managed to balance themselves against the wind. Because that’s how flying works.

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He was eventually discovered by a mountain hermit named Father Pierre who took the boy in, cleaned him up, and taught him English. Richard would eventually find and kill the bandit who killed his parents and decided to travel to America.

When he got to America young Richard discovered a plot to kill a Senator named Thomas Wright. Despite his ability to fly and years of survival experience he was unable to stop the assassination attempt and the Senator was dead. However, Richard and Thomas looked so similar that Richard was able to assume the Senator’s identity, because as it turns out you can learn a lot about politics from scavengers and thieves.

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Richard would eventually adopt the superhero persona of the Black Condor and devote the early years of his career beating up gangsters, bootleggers, and corrupt politicians and if some of his cover art is to be believed he had quite the vicious streak about him as well.

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So what happened?

The original Black Condor never got his own solo series and continued to exist as an anthology character in the pages of Crack Comics throughout the Golden Age. What’s interesting is that the Crack Comics anthology series was published by a company called Quality Comics.

Quality went out of business in 1956 and many of their characters were bough by the company that would later become DC Comics.

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While Quality’s most famous and lasting legacy would be the hero Plastic Man, the Black Condor would receive a reboot as well. The original Richard Grey would appear in DC’s 1973 title Freedom Fighters which was an alternate history comic series where a group of superheroes had to assemble in order to beat back Nazis who continued to fight long after 1945.

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Sadly the Black Condor’s origin was changed in this series. Instead of being raised by birds he got his powers of flight from a radioactive meteor (boo! BOOOO!!!) but the series got him enough attention that in 1992 the Black Condor actually got his own solo title.

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This is Ryan Kendell. He was the product of genetic experiments carried out by his grandfather and an organization called The Society of the Golden Wing. This Black Condor had the powers of flight and telepathy and was killed by the super villain Sinestro in the DC crossover event Infinite Crisis.

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DC would later revive the Black Condor with a new identity and new origin. The new hero was named John Trujillo and he inherited his powers from the Mayan Goddess Tocotl

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So that’s the Black Condor. He’s still kicking around in the modern comic book scene but it’s important to remember that this character came from very wacky, and very awesome, roots.

Golden Age Showcase: The Whizzer

November 2, 2015 ~ mblair112

So after writing an article on the original Human Torch last week I did some more research into the superhero group he joined during WW2: The All Winners Squad. I discovered that he had a team mate who had the most rediculous names in all of comics (and that is saying something) and what is possibly the greatest origin story ever written.

Ladies and gentlemen I present to you: The Whizzer

Origin and career:

The Whizzer’s real name was Robert Frank. Created in 1941 by artist Al Avison (and an un credited writer who may have have been Stan Lee) Robert gained the powers of super speed during a trip to Africa with his father. When Robert was bitten by a cobra his father decided that the best way to save him, and I swear I’m not making this up, was to inject him with mongoose blood.

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Not only did this save his life but it also gave Robert super speed, because comic book logic in the 1940’s did not give a damn about anything.

Robert decided to adopt the name “The Whizzer” and become a costumed crime fighter.

While his career as a solo costumed crime fighter was somewhat limited his true time to shine happened during WW2. While battling a Nazi spy ring Robert Frank heard a radio broadcast from fellow hero Bucky Barns (yes, the one from Captain America) calling for a gathering of superheroes to kick some Nazi butt. The Whizzer thought it would be a great idea and decided to join. During this time he also met a fellow costumed hero named Miss America and they fell in love.

At the start of the war the two heroes were part of a group called Liberty Legion that stayed behind in America to combat Nazi spies and would eventually head over to Europe to fight in the super hero group The Invaders, which would continue to exist after the war as the All Winners Squadron.

After the war ended the All Winners Squadron was disbanded and the Whizzer and Miss America were married as Robert Frank and Madeline Joyce. In 1949 the two began working as security agents for a top secret nuclear project that wound up being sabotaged by a former enemy of the All Winners Squadron and one of the first nuclear themed super villains, Isbisa.

While the attack did not kill the two, the former Miss Liberty was pregnant at the time of the attack and when the baby was born it was dangerously radioactive. After naming the boy Robert Frank Jr. the baby was placed in stasis in order to try to cure the child of his radiation poisoning.

After this incident Robert and Madeline decided to retire from the superhero life and travel the world. However, all would not end well and while traveling Madeline would later die giving birth to a still born child who was even more radioactive than the first. In his grief, Robert became a vagrant and wandered the Earth grief stricken and alone.

So what happened?

After a couple of decades as a homeless man the Whizzer was thrust back into the superhero life with the reemergence of his first son who had been placed in stasis years ago. After the Avengers unearthed his son’s stasis pod the boy broke out and named himself “Nuklo”

The radiation had mutated Robert Frank Jr.’s body to gigantic proportions and his massive strength, coupled with the years of isolation, caused him to lash out at the Avengers. The Whizzer was able to stop his son but suffered a massive heart attack in the process.

Robert Frank was hospitalized for many months while his son was turned over to the U.S Army. During this time Robert Frank Sr. became a depressed alcoholic. During this time he met the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, who he thought were the second children his wife had given birth to before she died.

Sadly this wasn’t the case and when The Whizzer recovered he was forced into retirement and placed into the care of Tony Stark.

After making a full recovery the Whizzer fought to gain custody of his son. While this was going on his old nemesis Ibisba came out of hiding to fight the Whizzer one more time. The fight killed the two super powered beings but wound up curing Robert Jr. of his condition allowing him to live a normal life.

While the Whizzer had one of the most unfortunate super hero names in comic book history and was a perfect example of Golden Age silliness there is no doubt that he was still a hero who did his job bravely and nobly.

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Monthly Archives: November 2015

Golden Age Showcase: The Turtle

Golden Age Showcase: Patricia Walker

The Primordial Soup: What is Star Wars?

Golden Age Showcase: The Red Skull

Golden Age Showcase: The Black Condor

Golden Age Showcase: The Whizzer