FRENCH-CREATED SUPERHEROES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at several superheroes created in France.

FANTAX

Debut Year: 1946

Secret Identity: Horace Neighbour

Origin: Horace Neighbour was a diplomatic attache at his country’s embassy in Washington D.C. He decided to fight international and purely American menaces by adopting the costumed identity Fantax. As Horace he was suave & sophisticated and as Fantax he was tough & streetwise. 

Powers: Fantax was in peak physical condition and was an expert at unarmed combat. He was also more agile than an acrobat and was skilled with a knife. This hero would periodically wield a gun or blunt objects. In addition, Fantax was a master detective.

Comment: Fantax’s wife Barbara sometimes assisted him, as did his butler Murph and muscular aide P’tit Louis. This hero’s foes included the Cobra, the Black Tigers, Nazi fugitives, the Gentleman Ghost, the Mafia, the Werewolf, the Ku Klux Klan and the Mikado. Later, Fantax’s son Horace fils became the costumed superhero Garcon Noir (Black Boy).

SALTARELLA 

Debut Year: 1980

Secret Identity: Priscilla “Bibi” Conway

Origin: The insectoid alien race called the Svizz wanted to conquer the Earth with an army of human slaves granted insect-related superpowers. As the costumed Saltarella, this heroine rebelled against the Svizz and helped defeat the interstellar invasion, then battled other evil forces afterward.

Powers: Saltarella could fly via the wings added to her body by the Svizz, possessed super-strength (say, the proportionate strength of a winged insect), was capable of long leaps and could shrink. Priscilla was a former Olympic gymnast and was very agile.

Comment: Priscilla Conway was a top-level research entomologist. Among her other foes were Psi, the Gondolier Noir, Microbios, l’Executeur, Cagliostro and Vaudou.

ATOMAS

Debut Year: 1948

Secret Identity: None

Origin: In the “futuristic” year 1999, Atomas fights to safeguard the Earth and Moon from Terran and Cosmic menaces. He is aided by Bella Sinclair and her professor father.

Powers: Atomas possesses incredible super-strength and a massive degree of invulnerability but how he gained his powers is not known.

Comment: This hero operated out of Nucleopolis and Selenos. Among his foes was Borg, a brilliant but evil former student of Professor Sinclair. Borg had an army of robots and a massive device which he tried to use to crash the Moon into the Earth. 

FELINA

Debut Year: 1979

Secret Identity: Maria Maddalena Kholderup

Origin: Maria Maddalena was a trapeze artist and Big Cat trainer for a circus. She met and married American millionaire Wilbur Kholderup but they resided in France. One day her husband was murdered by the criminal organization called the Kriss, led by Touan Naga. Maria adopted the costumed identity Felina and avenged her husband, then continued fighting crime afterward.

Powers: Felina was as strong as a human female can be and was very, very agile. She also used a handgun in battle.

Comment: This superheroine was assisted by her late husband’s friends Lobjak of Tibet and Colonel Pembroke.

PHOTONIK

Debut Year: 1980

Secret Identity: Taddeus Tenterhook

Origin: Hunchbacked teen orphan Taddeus Tenterhook was accidentally exposed to the explosion of a luminotron device. The energies unleashed transformed the teen into the physically perfect and superpowered hero called Photonik. He used his powers to fight the forces of evil.

Powers: Photonik could fly at light speed and shoot photonic engergy blasts from his hands.

Comment: Photonik was advised by neuropsychologist Dr. Nazel Ziegel and used a street urchin informant called Tom Thumb. This hero fought villains like the Minotaur, Count Vampire, and Maelstrom as well as police who wanted to curtail Photonik’s vigilante activities.

CAPELLA

Debut Year: 1969

Secret Identity: Capella (no known last name)

Origin: Capella was an antique dealer who possessed natural superpowers and crossed paths with Mr. Magellan, who recruited her to work with him at I.T.O. (International Testing Organization).

Powers: This heroine possesses enough super-strength to lift a vehicle and has mastered martial arts.

Comment: Capella and I.T.O. battle villains who use super-science against the world. Her archenemy is Boudu, a blue-skinned alien assigned to sabotage Earth’s technological progress because of humanity’s natural ferocity.

SATANAX

Debut Year: 1948

Secret Identity: Arsene Satard

Origin: Meek courtroom transcriptionist Arsene Satard was granted superpowers by an alchemist. He adopted the costumed identity of Satanax to combat evildoers.

Powers: Satanax could fly, had greater than human strength, was completely fireproof and possessed a large degree of invulnerability in general. He transforms from his secret identity into his superhero form via contact with flame, even matches or cigarette lighters.

Comment: Some of Satanax’s foes were the Lion Men, the Grandmasters and Zacharias. Titles for a few of his adventures were War to War, The Fall of the Archangel, and Threat Over Vallorbe.

BLACK BOY

Debut Year: 1955

Secret Identity: Horace Neighbour fils

Origin: Inspired by his father’s activities as the superhero Fantax, this hero donned a costume of his own and fought criminals and spies as Black Boy.

Powers: Black Boy was highly proficient at unarmed and armed combat and possessed remarkable agility. His exceptional reflexes enabled him to stunt-ride his souped-up motorcycle around Paris at breakneck speeds. He was a dead shot with his pistol.

Comment: This superhero’s adventures became targeted by censors due to violence just like his father Fantax’s stories had been.

CORALINE

Debut Year: 1954

Secret Identity: Julia ?

Origin: Unknown

Powers: Presumably greater than normal strength and agility.  Possibly the ability to run at high speeds or even the ability to make her body turn hard at will.

Comment: Very little has come down to us about this Golden Age superheroine. Any additional information would be welcome.

SALVATOR

Debut Year: 1947

Secret Identity: Not known.

Origin: This mysterious man became shipwrecked on an island with the scientific genius Professor Sirenus. The professor used his inventions to grant him superpowers and high-tech devices. Adopting the name Salvator, he battled villainous forces from then on.

Powers: Salvator is strong enough to shatter chains or burst through stone walls or even leave fist-marks in metal. He was able to leap several yards at least. This hero also wields a ray-gun and wears a bracelet that lets him and Professor Sirenus communicate telepathically.

Comment: Salvator saved the Earth from menaces like Neptunus the Queen of the World and invaders from Mars.

LA LOUVE

Debut Year: Unknown

Secret Identity: Isabelle ?

Origin: Unknown

Powers: Unknown, but her name is related to she-wolf. I don’t know if she had lupine powers or if the heroine’s superhero identity was simply a reference to her ferocity in combat.

Comment: Very little information has survived about this figure. Any help would be appreciated.

RORK THE WIZARD

Debut Year: 1978

Secret Identity: None

Origin: Rork was left as a baby on the doorstep of a 1700s blacksmith and his wife who raised him as their own. The child survived an intense fever which prematurely turned his hair white. As he matured, Rork became a student of Tanemanar and proved to have an aptitude for alchemy and magic. He fought dark mystical and scientific forces and Lovecraftian entities from then on into the present day.

Powers: Rork can teleport from dimension to dimension and from time period to time period. Like similar magic-powered heroes he can project energy, cast spells, undo spells of lesser practitioners, and wields assorted other plot-specific powers.

Comment: While safeguarding the innocent from all manner of eldritch menaces Rork also investigates leads into his true nature. He’s not even sure he was born in Earth’s dimension.

FULGUROS

Debut Year: 1947

Secret Identity: Unknown

Origin: A brilliant scientist set out to fight villainy and used his technology to give himself superpowers and advanced weaponry. He fought the forces of evil as Fulguros, Master of Thunder.

Powers: Fulguros possessed a degree of super-strength and heightened senses. His genius enabled him to devise high-tech weapons and gadgets tailored to specific foes and situations. In his secret laboratory Fulguros had equipment which let him monitor the world, looking for trouble.

Comment: This hero’s original run went into the late 1950s, then those stories were reprinted for years. In the 21st Century other French writers have revived the character.

ADELE BLANC-SEC

Debut Year: 1976

Secret Identity: None

Origin: Adele was a freelance writer in Paris in 1911. She was a two-fisted, hard-drinking and pistol-wielding adventuress who followed intriguing stories wherever they took her. Adele’s very first adventure saw her take down a deadly cult performing human sacrifices atop the Eiffel Tower.

Powers: This heroine was a capable fighter and proficient marksman. She was noted for her intelligence and unflagging courage.

Comment: Among her other adventures, Adele Blanc-Sec fought a pterodactyl brought back to life by a telepath’s mind-powers; a cult which reanimated Egyptian mummies, including the one owned by her great grand-uncle; a mad scientist reviving cavemen preserved in ice as his personal army and more. The mummy and one of the cavemen – which she named Alexander the Pithecanthropus – became Adele’s sidekicks. Her final adventure came in 1922.