Steve Dayton was the world’s fifth richest man and also an adventurer, financier, and professor of psychology. Possessing a huge ego and used to getting what he wanted, he set out to wed Elasti-Girl of the Doom Patrol. Dayton created a helmet to harness his brain’s telekinetic powers, which allowed him to move objects with his mind. He designed a [...]
Doc Magnus invented the Metal Men, a team of robots that possessed the unique strengths and weaknesses of their namesake element. The eccentric scientist also inadvertently bestowed individual personalities on the six mechanical heroes, and as a result they were sometimes too human. The heaviest member of the group, Lead was stammering and slow-witted but always willing to take on the job at hand. As [...]
When Superman’s home planet Krypton exploded, a big chunk containing Argo City and its inhabitants remained intact and drifted through space. Eventually that chunk of the planet turned into Kryptonite, deadly to the last of Krypton’s survivors. The life of teenaged Supergirl was spared by her father, who built a rocket and sent her to earth. After seeing her rocket land, Superman [...]
The awkwardly named hero Martian Manhunter was accidentally brought to earth by an elderly scientist testing a new invention. The shock of materializing a man from Mars was too much for the scientist’s weak heart and he died, leaving the alien J’onn J’onzz (pronounced John Jones) stranded, unable to return to his home world. J’onzz got a [...]
In an era of comics defined by ridiculous, harebrained, what-were-they-thinking stories, Lois Lane wins the prize for off-the-chart silliness. In every issue of her own comic, she made a case for herself as the dopiest of Superman’s acquaintances. And that’s saying something when his best pal was Jimmy Olsen. Although billed as “Superman’s girlfriend”, Supes rarely [...]
Comic Cards Project: Day 29 • Mercury Mercury was another one of the Metal Men and, as he liked to brag, the only metal that’s liquid at room temperature. I guess that would explain why he wasn’t held together with rivets like his robotic comrades (a little detail I never noticed until making the drawing [...]
Comic Cards Project: Day 28 • Snapper Carr In 1960, following a resurgence of superheroes, the most popular of DC Comics’ costumed characters banded together to form the Justice League of America. During their first mission, a regular teenager named Snapper Carr helped out and he was unanimously elected an honorary member. “Snapper” was his nickname because he was always snapping his fingers. [...]
Speedy was Green Arrow’s sidekick and one of the early examples of a hero’s junior partner, debuting in 1941 just a year after Robin. I guess after Batman adopted a ward, Green Arrow felt he had to keep up. Speedy was overlooked as an original member of the Teen Titans, the sidekicks’ answer to the Justice League—but by popular [...]
Hawkman and his wife Hawkgirl were police officers from a planet far, far away. They first came to earth in pursuit of a fugitive criminal, and after apprehending him they decided to stay and study our police methods. Considering how obviously advanced their inter-planetary traveling civilization must have been, this was a pretty flimsy reason, but I [...]
Comic Cards Project: Day 25 • Batwoman Now would be a good time to talk about Frederic Wertham’s book Seduction of the Innocent. Published in 1954, this bestselling condemnation of comic books as a major cause of juvenile delinquency had a huge impact on the industry. It led to congressional hearings on the subject and to the [...]
