This superhero-crazed culture lets me know if I go too long without a blog post about this topic, so here’s another neglected hero from Holyoke Comics.
THE HOOD
Secret Identity: Craig Williams, FBI Agent
Origin: Federal Agent Craig Williams grew frustrated with the way too many slick criminals and supervillains were able to wriggle free from any legal charges. When faced with such dead-ends in the course of his duties he took to wearing a costume and calling himself the Hood. In that guise he brought down criminals who could not be brought to justice by conventional means.
First Appearance: Cat-Man Comics #5 (December 1941). His final Golden Age appearance came in 1945.
Powers:
The Hood could fly via his top secret anti-gravity technology. He was also in peak physical condition with extraordinary skill at unarmed combat and the agility of an acrobat. In his final few Golden Age stories his power of flight was discarded with no explanation given.
Comment: The Hood’s creative teams were pretty slipshod with his secret identity – at times giving his secret identity as Craig Wood, Craig Reynolds or Tom Wood and with a variety of military ranks since World War Two was raging. Obviously the easiest shortcut verisimilitude-wise would be to pretend that Agent Craig Williams was often on undercover assignments using different identities.
The Hood also went through two girlfriends, Betty Lou and Rae. This hero had some of the most colorful supervillains at Holyoke, including Death’s Head, Fire-Eater, Lady Satan, the Red Lash and the Vulture’s Claw.
FOR THE REST OF THE HOLYOKE SUPERHEROES CLICK HERE
FOR MY ARTICLE ON THE MEMBERS OF INFINITE HORIZON CLICK HERE
FOR THE AUSTRALIAN SUPERHERO PANTHEON CLICK HERE
FOR MORE SUPERHEROES CLICK HERE: Superheroes
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His antigravity stuff should have been kept.
I agree. It’s about the only thing that really made him interesting.
The hood sounds like a criminal.
Ha! He’s not that kind of hood.
I want to cosplay as the Hood!
I don’t see any reason why you can’t.
Why did they get rid of his antigravity?
I don’t know. It was a really dumb decision given how many non-powered costumed heroes were crowding the stands back then.
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I’m positive this guy would get killed the first time out.
Ha! Maybe so!
Great blog here! Old superheroes are nostalgic.
Thanks! I know how you feel.
Valuable blog post on this forgotten hero.
Thanks.
Fantastic site. I like these old time heroes.
I understand how you feel.
Flying FBI agents? A masterpiece!
Ha! You know it!
What i don’t is why they did away with his ability to defy gravity?
I don’t know why they did that, either.
Why would they get rid of his flying power?
I have no idea.
I like these old forgotten heroes.
I know how you feel.
The golden age threw away more good superheroes than have been created since.
It seems that way sometimes.