Category Archives: Superheroes

July 25, 2026 · 12:01 am

TEEN TITANS (1971-1973)

This weekend’s light-hearted and escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at a particular arc of stories from DC’s original Teen Titans series.

TEEN TITANS Vol 1 #32 (Apr 1971)

Title: A Mystical Realm … A World Gone Mad

Teen Titans Roster: Robin, Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy (should be Red Arrow), Lilith (later called Omen) and Malcolm Duncan (their black member who later became Hornblower and then the new Guardian)

Villain: Jupiterius

Synopsis: Mr. Loren Jupiter, the eccentric billionaire who finances the Teen Titans, tries to experiment with time travel. He accidentally sends Mal back to prehistoric times and Kid Flash is sent back to retrieve him. The two run afoul of a teen caveman called Gnarrk (soon to join the team) and accidentally cause his death.

When they return to their own time period it turns out that Gnarrk’s death caused a butterfly effect and the “present” is now ruled by an evil version of Loren Jupiter called Jupiterius. He rules the world with Lilith’s (on stairs) sorcery, monsters and the evil counterparts of what would have been the other Teen Titans.    Continue reading →

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July 18, 2026 · 12:37 am

THE GREEN HORNET

This weekend’s superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at some of the earliest comic book adaptations of the iconic character the Green Hornet. That figure originated on radio in January 1936 and in a very early example of a shared universe, the Green Hornet’s secret identity was Britt Reid, grand-nephew of John Reid – the Lone Ranger.

Britt’s father was the son of the Dan Reid kid that frequently interacted with his uncle the Lone Ranger from the 1933 radio show on to the Clayton Moore television series. In fact, Britt Reid’s pride in his family’s heroic forebear inspired him to don a mask and costume and fight Detroit’s racketeers like the Lone Ranger fought outlaws in the Old West.

In the radio series and screen serials the Green Hornet’s gun was loaded with knockout gas but in comic books and television his gun fired electric blasts called the Hornet’s Sting. The Hornet’s sidekick was Kato, most famously portrayed on the tv series by Bruce Lee. Kato drove the Black Beauty, the Green Hornet’s souped-up, gizmo-filled car. The Black Beauty came before the Batmobile and any of James Bond’s tricked-out vehicles.

And just as the Lone Ranger show’s theme music came from classical music – the William Tell overture – the Green Hornet show’s theme came from Rimsky-Korsakov’s Flight of the Bumble Bee.

Britt Reid’s father was the millionaire publisher of the newspaper The Daily Sentinel and he put his good-timing playboy son in charge hoping the responsibility would make him grow up and abandon his partying. Britt pretended to still be a shallow playboy to make sure his father and the public never realized he was secretly that scourge of crime the Green Hornet.   

The police and even Daily Sentinel crime reporter Mike Axford (formerly of the 1932 radio series Warner Lester, Manhunter) misunderstood the Green Hornet’s vigilante activities and suspected the masked hero of being a criminal himself. The Hornet took advantage of that misperception by convincing some of his gangster foes that he was indeed an outlaw and wanted a cut of their illegal operations.

Completing the Green Hornet program’s supporting cast was Britt Reid’s sexy secretary Lenore Case aka “Casey.” And another show in the shared Lone Ranger-Green Hornet-Manhunter universe was radio’s Sgt. Preston of the Yukon. Continue reading →

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July 11, 2026 · 12:06 am

MOON KNIGHT (1978-1980)

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog takes a look at the Moon Knight backup series in Hulk! For my look at earlier Moon Knight stories click HERE.

HULK! Vol 1 #11 (Oct 1978)

Title: Graven Image of Death

Villains: Joel Luxor and Fenton Crane

Synopsis: A murder investigation leads Moon Knight to a plan to steal a statue of the Egyptian god Horus from a New York museum. Our hero tries to thwart the robbery and learns from the perpetrator that amoral black market art collector Joel Luxor wanted the theft pulled off.

While Moon Knight goes off to confront Luxor he sends Marlene Fontaine, the girlfriend of his three secret identities – Mercenary Marc Spector, Millionaire Steven Grant and Cab Driver Jake Lockley – to get information from museum curator Fenton Crane. Luxor gets killed by goons working for the real brains of the operation – Fenton Crane, who captures Marlene. Continue reading →

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July 4, 2026 · 12:00 am

THE SUPERHERO UNCLE SAM: FIRST TWENTY STORIES

Happy Fourth of July! I’ll have my FULL Independence Day blog post later, but we’ll start the day with this look at the earliest stories of the Quality Comics superhero Uncle Sam in the 1940s. For over 20 more Quality Comics heroes click HERE.

uncle samUNCLE SAM

Secret Identity: Ezra Smith (assumed name)

First Appearance: National Comics #1 (July 1940) His final Golden Age appearance came in 1944.

Origin: During the Revolutionary War, a dying American soldier named Sam (last name unknown) felt such a fervent desire to continue fighting for the new country that he assumed supernatural status. Over the decades he incarnated as Uncle Sam whenever the United States needed him.

In 1940 he appeared to young Buddy Smith, whose father Ezra was just killed for opposing a Fascist organization called the Purple Shirts. Uncle Sam defeated that group and became Buddy’s substitute father, pretending to be his late father Ezra to legal authorities.

uncle sam againPowers: This hero had Superman-level strength and invulnerability. He could fly in a sense by making enormous Hulk-sized leaps. He had a mystic ability to know where he would be needed. Due to his supernatural nature, Uncle Sam could not be photographed or filmed.

Comment: When he was no longer needed in a given time period, this hero faded away, to once again incarnate during the next period of crisis for the country.

national comics 1NATIONAL COMICS #1 (July 1940)

Title: The Coming of Uncle Sam

Villains: The Purple Shirts

Synopsis: The origin of Uncle Sam, including his “adoption” of Buddy Smith, the scrappy kid in short pants depicted on the cover. Uncle Sam wages war on the Purple Shirts army, which is being financed by an unnamed – but obvious – foreign power.

Our hero invades the Purple Shirts’ secret stronghold at Box Valley in the southern Rocky Mountains. Uncle Sam clobbers the villains and rescues the U.S. President, whom they kidnapped earlier in a commando raid. Continue reading →

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June 27, 2026 · 3:44 am

THE INHUMANS (1975-1977)

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at Marvel’s 2nd attempt to give the Inhumans their own spinoff series. 

INHUMANS Vol 1 #1 (Oct 1975)

Title: Spawn of Alien Heat

Villain: Blastaar

Inhumans Royal Family Roster: Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon, Karnak and Triton

NOTE: This series picks up after Medusa ended her temporary stint in the Fantastic Four and was back to living in Attilan, the hidden futuristic city in the Himalayas (at this time) where the thousands of Inhumans have lived for millenia. Ever since the alien Kree experimented on their caveman ancestors with the Terrigen Mists. 

Synopsis: Blastaar, a recurring foe of the Fantastic Four, is let loose from the adamantium prison in which he has been held for some time. His saviors are the Kree Empire, who once again want to try capturing those inhabitants of Attilan who have powers that would be effective in the millennia old Kree-Skrull War. 

Blastaar flies to Attilan, the Great Refuge and fights his way in past the airborne guards. In the Royal Palace, a long-buried device rises from the lowest depths below Attilan and sits, apparently waiting for a clearly missing component to complete it. Black Bolt and Triton dive into the watery depths below Attilan to see where the machine originated from.

Shortly after they depart, Blastaar bursts in and begins fighting Medusa, Gorgon and Karnak. Continue reading →

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June 20, 2026 · 12:00 am

FIRELORD: HIS EARLY STORIES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the early stories of Marvel’s Firelord.

THOR Vol 1 #225 (July 1974)

Title: The Coming of Firelord

Villain: Firelord

Synopsis: Picking up from the previous issue, Thor and Hercules defeat Thor’s recurring foe the Destroyer. The spirit animating the metal creation returns to the body of Professor Clement Holmes, leaving the Destroyer’s body motionless.

Time passes as Thor hangs out with Hercules and periodically turns into his human form as Donald Blake M.D. In that form he continues to tend to the hospitalized Asgardian woman named Krista, who was injured fighting the Greco-Roman god Pluto a few issues back.

Meanwhile, a being called Firelord arrives on Earth and enters Krista’s hospital. People attack Firelord, who injures them, prompting Hercules to fight him.

Thor joins Hercules in fighting Firelord, who eventually reveals that he is the latest herald of Galactus. He summons that devourer of worlds to Earth. Continue reading →

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June 13, 2026 · 12:54 am

24 PATRIOTIC THEMED SUPERHEROES AND SUPERHEROINES

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post at Balladeer’s Blog looks at some patriotic themed heroes and heroines here in the U.S.

THE SHIELD

Company: MLJ

Secret Identity: Dr. Joe Higgins, a chemist. 

Origin: On his deathbed Joe’s father Tom revealed to him the secret of a chemical formula he had been working on. That formula could convey superpowers on a normal human being. As Joe grew older he got his PhD in chemistry, finished his father’s formula and used it on himself, gaining superpowers. He devised a special costume and fought the forces of evil as the Shield, a super-powered operative of the FBI.

First Appearance: Pep Comics #1 (January 1940). His final Golden Age appearance came in 1945.

Powers: The chemical formula that the Shield rubbed onto his skin followed by bombardment with flouroscopic rays endowed him with super-strength plus invulnerability. The Shield also wore an indestructible costume which encased his torso like a shield.

Comment: The Shield was America’s first star-spangled superhero, beating Captain America into print by more than a year. He eventually had a youthful sidekick called Dusty and a private detective sweetheart named Betty Warren. Only J. Edgar Hoover knew the Shield’s secret identity. Continue reading →

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June 6, 2026 · 12:58 am

BLACK GOLIATH: HIS 1970s STORIES

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the early stories of Marvel’s Black Goliath (Bill Foster, PhD). 

POWER MAN Vol 1 #24 (April 1975) 

Title: Among Us Walks Black Goliath

Villain: Black Goliath

Synopsis: In California, Luke and his white friend D.W. find the missing Claire Temple, and the couple have a private talk while D.W. leaves them alone. Claire admits she left to help her ex-husband, Bill Foster, PhD, the former colleague of Dr. Henry Pym aka Ant-Man aka Giant Man aka Goliath aka Yellowjacket.

NOTE: Bill Foster had worked with Hank Pym since the 1960s and had appeared in old issues of the Avengers with him.

Since Pym has given up his Goliath identity, Bill experimented with Pym Particles to try to gain Pym’s old growing powers. A misfire caused Dr. Foster to be unable to shrink back down to normal size, stranding him at 25 feet in height. While working on a cure, Bill has been hiding with a traveling circus.

Claire says she cannot abandon Bill during a moment of crisis like this and was afraid Luke wouldn’t understand. Dr. Foster unexpectedly finds Power Man and Claire together and misunderstands the situation. Revealing to Luke that he is now the costumed figure Black Goliath, he attacks Power Man.

After a while, their clash is interrupted when the people who run the circus that Black Goliath has been hiding with reveal that they are really the longtime supervillain team called the Circus of Crime. (And who had battled Spider-Man, Daredevil, the Hulk, Thor and the Avengers up to this point.)  Continue reading →

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May 30, 2026 · 12:01 am

MARVEL’S KA-ZAR STORIES (1971-1973)

This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog continues on from when Astonishing Tales became Ka-Zar’s title alone after Dr. Doom’s departure.

ASTONISHING TALES Vol 1 #9 (Dec 1971)

Title: The Legend of the Lizard Men

Villains: Queen Iranda and her Lizard Men

NOTE: The next part of the Neu Deutschland/ New Brittany storyline was not completed in time for publication, so this pre-prepared fill-in story was used instead.

Synopsis: Men and women are disappearing from various tribes across the Savage Land. Ka-Zar and his saber-tooth tiger Zabu investigate. He traces the disappearances to Queen Iranda and her army of Lizard Men.

Ka-Zar fights his way through Iranda’s guards and manages to steal the queen’s crown. This causes her to turn into her true lizard form and reverts all of her Lizard Men to their human forms as the missing villagers.  Continue reading →

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May 23, 2026 · 12:00 am

X-MEN: THE NEW TEAM IN 1975

This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the first twenty stories of the “All New, All Different” X-Men beginning in 1975. I have a soft spot for superhero stories because reading them as a kid served as a gateway to two of my adult passions – mythology and opera.

new x-men 1

GIANT-SIZE X-MEN Vol 1 #1 (May 1975)

Title: Deadly Genesis

Villain: Krakoa

NOTE: This was the very FIRST appearance of the new team of X-Men who replaced the original, blander team launched in 1963. That team’s original series had been canceled and reduced to reprints (reruns).

Synopsis: The story opened with a series of vignettes featuring Professor X traveling the world rounding up a new batch of mutants detected by his invention Cerebro. Three of them had prior history in the Marvel Universe:

*** WOLVERINE (real name unknown at the time), who had fought the Hulk and the Wendigo in Canada. Wolverine willingly joined the X-Men and angrily resigned from Canada’s Department H, which had been sending him on missions up to that point. This would have repercussions down the road.

*** BANSHEE (Sean Cassidy), a sometime foe and sometime ally of the original team of X-Men. This Irishman had also fought Captain America and the Falcon.

*** SUNFIRE (Shiro Yoshida), a Japanese mutant who had fought the original X-Men as well as Sub-Mariner, Iron Man and Captain America.

The rest of the mutants Xavier rounded up were new:

*** STORM (Ororo Munroe), from Africa, where her weather-controlling powers had made her revered as a goddess by an isolated tribe.

*** NIGHTCRAWLER (Kurt Wagner), a German circus performer whose monstrous appearance made him the target of a mutant-hating mob from which Professor X saved him.

*** COLOSSUS (Piotr Rasputin), a Russian teenager working on a Collective Farm in the Soviet Union.

*** THUNDERBIRD (John Proudstar), a Native American mutant from a reservation in the American Southwest.

Once they were all assembled at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, the professor introduced them to Cyclops (Scott Summers), the leader of the original X-Men, who briefed them. He had led the original team – Iceman, Angel, Marvel Girl, Polaris and Havok (Beast was joining the Avengers at this point) to investigate a new mutant detected by Cerebro on a Pacific Ocean island called Krakoa. The original team vanished and only Cyclops escaped in their aircraft, but with no memory of what happened there.

Continue reading →

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