Golden Age Heroes - The Fighting Yank

This time around we have the haunted superhero - the Fighting Yank. Bruce Carter III discovers the cloak belonging to his colonial-era ancestor Bruce Carter the numero uno. He also discovers the cloak has magical properties which endow him with super strength and invulnerability. Plus, whenever he gets into a really bad jam the ghost of his ancestor steps in and helps him out of it. Personally I think every invulnerable superhero should have a ghost looking out for them. I've read a number of Fighting Yank stories and the ghost shows up virtually every time to bail him out. Maybe he would have done better if the ghost wasn't around and he actually had to do it all himself like most of the other superheroes of the era. Anyway, Fighting Yank was actually a very popular appearing in Startling Comics and America's Best Comics as well as 29 issues of his own comic, altogether running from 1941 until 1949, published by the Standard/Better/Nedor group. The biggest challenge to doing the figure was the hat and the flag. I used a Daredevil body with the arms from a Bruce Wayne figure and a Superman head. The hat I sculpted from epoxy putty and the first one didn't come out very good so I demolished it and started over. The second one came out better. The flag was just a painting job, but very tedious. He had a number of variations of costume including some without the flag, puffy sleeves or skin-tight and that sort of thing. I rather liked this version the best.

Clash of the Titans - a modest review

I went to see Clash of the Titans yesterday. It was a remake (could one say update since both were set in the same time period) of the 1980s version, which was basically a showcase for Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation techniques. Of course this latest version uses the modern CGI techniques we've become accustomed to. The story is a bit different with Hades (God of the underworld) conspiring to bring down Zeus (king of the Gods) against a background of a war between men and Gods. A bit contrived but what the heck, it was fun to watch. The Kraken from the first movie shows up for the finale of this one, although there was no Kraken in Greek mythology. With so many wonderful monsters that are contained in Greek mythology I wonder why they felt the need to come up with something outside the the realm of that mythology. Pegasus the flying horse is in this one as well, although it's black rather than the traditional white, and so is Medusa. Actually in Greek mythology Perseus had gotten some winged sandals and a helmet from the gods which allowed him to defeat Medusa, who was one of three similar Gorgons and the only one who was mortal. When he killed her Pegasus was born from Medusa's spilled blood and it was actually the hero Bellerophon who rode Pegasus on his adventures. Bellerophon eventually got a bit cocky and decided he was going to ride Pegasus to Mount Olympus and join the gods there, but Zeus made him fall off to his death for the sin of arrogance and took in Pegasus. Maybe in the end the originals were more interesting stories.

Golden Age Superheroes - Captain Freedom

Today's patriotic hero is Captain Freedom from Harvey Comics. He had a pretty good run in Speed Comics, from issue 13 to 44. I've only seen a couple of Captain Freedom stories but it appears that his adventures were probably done by one of the "art houses" that proliferated during the Golden Age. That simply means that the art and stories were farmed out to "sub-contractors" who would do the stories without much regard for continuity. One of the things that makes me think this is that Captain Freedom wore (by one person's count) at least 16 different variations of uniform during his run. Also he had four kid side-kicks (rather than just one like Batman and Robin or Captain America and Bucky), one of whom was a girl of all things. Her name is Joanie and in one of the stories her hair is blond and in the other she's a brunette. But I diverge - getting back to Captain Freedom, he was secretly Don Wright, two-fisted, hard hitting, fearless young newspaper publisher who, in moments of peril, suddenly changes to the two-fisted, hard hitting, fearless superhero Captain Freedom. Cap falls into the category of "superheroes," like Batman, who doesn't actually have any super powers, but fights evil with his two fists.... well, you get the idea. For the action figure I used a Marvel Daredevil figure which I repainted in one of the 16 versions of his costume that I liked. I think all the 16 had the red skull cap and the yellow gauntlets, but the stars and stripes sort of came and went at the whim of the artist.

Golden Age Heroes - The Shield

I'm back to my patriotic superhero theme and what better one to highlight than the very first flag-waving super guy, the Shield. The Shield was originally published by MLJ (which subsequently became Archie Comics) in January 1940, predating the much better known Captain America, who didn't come along until early 1941. The Shield appeared first in Pep Comics and was revealed to be Joe Higgins, who's father was killed by the Nazis who wanted his formula for a chemical formula that would give people super-strength. Joe continues his dad's work and perfects the formula, which he applies to various parts of his body; i.e., Sacrum, Heart, Innervation (nerves), Eyes, Lungs, Derma (skin) - and what's that spell?? SHIELD, silly. Joe goes to work for the FBI but only the boss, J. Edgar himself, knows that Joe and the Shield are one and the same. He later had a kid side-kick named Dusty, about whom more in a later post. Ultimately the Shield was ousted not by Nazis or super villains but by a red headed guy named Archie, who basically ruled the comic company and gave it his name. The Shield was revived a few times, both by his parent company but also by DC Comics under license. My Shield figure was made from a Super-powers Collection Green Lantern, which I repainted. Not only did I have stars to contend with in this one, the stripes were also a bit of a pain but overall I think it came out rather well, if I'm the only one who says so.

Book Review - Naval Warfare by John Creswell

Just finished this book by Commander Creswell of the Royal Navy. It was originally published in 1936 but I have the revised edition from 1942. It is an examination of the strategy and tactics of the naval war during World War I, with most of the emphasis (obviously) on the British Navy. What I find especially interesting is that, as late as 1936, just three years before the outbreak of WWII, and even with some updates based on early WWII experience, his conclusions are that the battleship still reigns supreme on the high seas. He believes that submarines and aircraft are not serious threats to the battle fleet. He argues that a fast battleship well screened by destroyers should be immune from submarine attack. As for aircraft, while believing the jury is still out on their potency, still feels that the battleship can keep the sea and fend off all but the most concentrated of aircraft attacks. Certainly the battleship Prince of Wales and battle cruiser Repulse, which were sunk on the high seas by Japanese aircraft three days following Pearl Harbor, demonstrated that even fast battleships would be at risk when operating without air cover of their own. Creswell's conclusion that... "there seems strong grounds for believing that a fleet of battleships is a more effective basis for the control of sea communications than a force of aircraft embodying a similar or even a substantially greater proportion of national effort," seems unrealistic given the dominance of aircraft during WWII. It is interesting, however, to read a contemporary assessment to put the period into historical context.

Golden Age Custom Action Figure - Man of War

Another patriotic action figure, this time from the the Golden Age publisher Centaur. Actually if you look at the powers of many of the various superheroes down through the long history of the genre, this guy is probably one of the most powerful ever. Created my the god Mars, he possessed all of the powers of all of the gods of Olympus, plus he was given the sword of Mars which could cut through anything. Mars had created him to serve the Nazis, who Mars admired, but then the God of War screwed up and made him appear in Dayton, Ohio of all places, so he ended up serving the allies rather than the bad guys. Originally appearing in Liberty Scouts #2, he later had his own short lived comic before going the way of the pagan gods who inspired him. The character was revived in the early 1990s by Malibu Comics for their short-lived Protectors series and most recently by Dynamite for their Project Superpowers. The action figure was created from a Captain America figure, repainted and with a sword hung at his side. More painted stars, but I'm especially proud of the eagle on his chest which was done freehand.

Golden Age Custom Action Figure - The Liberator

The Liberator was another early Golden Age patriotic hero - this one from the company with multiple names (Better/Standard/Nedor at various times) - and first appeared in Exciting Comics in 1941. The Liberator was, in reality, mild-mannered Professor Nelson Drew, who was transformed by a liquid substance called "Ancient Egyptian Lamesis." In the two stories I've read of the Liberator's adventures he carries the stuff around in a bottle marked as poison and the bad guys feed it to him thinking it will kill the professor rather than turning him into an indestructible superhero. Well, sort of indestructible. In both stories he gets conked on the head and rendered unconscious even though he gets caught in an explosion and survives without a hair out of place later on. I guess he only gets knocked out when it's convenient to the story. I used a Daredevil body, Silver Surfer arms and the head from an old Visionary figure as the basis for this figure. Have I mentioned what a pain it is to paint little bitty stars?