This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will take a look at British-made comic books from the 1940s in the same spirit as my examination of Canadian-made superheroes from the 1940s.
WONDERMAN
Secret Identity: John Justice
Debut Year: 1948
Origin: A lifelong wealthy playboy, John Justice enlisted in the army during World War Two and rose to the rank of captain. A few years after the war ended, his scientist father’s atomic experiments granted him superpowers with which John fought the forces of evil as Wonderman.
Powers: Wonderman possessed massive super-strength and invulnerability, could fly, had x-ray vision and super-hearing as well as limited telepathy.
Comment: During his superhero career, which lasted into 1951, Wonderman continued to pretend to be merely a good-timing playboy in his John Justice identity. Nobody recognized him as Wonderman despite his lack of a mask and not even his girlfriend Jan Barrie knew about his double-life.
ACROMAID
Secret Identity: Christine McCall, Surgical Nurse
Debut Year: 1947
Origin: After fighting off a criminal who invaded the operating room to try killing the patient, Christine McCall wanted more action. She adopted the costumed identity of Acromaid and fought crime.
Powers: Acromaid was in peak physical condition and excelled at unarmed combat. She was as agile as an acrobat and was also very skilled at knife-throwing. In addition, Acromaid carried vials of truth serum with her so she could inject it into criminals she was interrogating.
Comment: This superheroine was another crimefighter who wore no mask yet maintained a secret identity with no problem. Her roommate and fellow nurse was named Penny. Continue reading
TALES OF SUSPENSE Vol 1 #97 (January 1968) 
Jasper Sitwell, S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison to Stark Industries, tries to revive the fallen hero while a crowd gathers. Iron Man (believed back then to simply be “Tony Stark’s high-tech bodyguard”) has a sleazy cousin named Morgan Stark. Morgan ran up a huge gambling debt with the Maggia (Marvel Comics’ version of the Mafia) and, to save himself from harm at the hands of their thugs, betrays Iron Man into their clutches by transporting the nearly motionless hero to where he told Sitwell that Tony Stark was waiting to repair the armor. 
JOHN CARTER, WARLORD OF MARS Vol 1 #1 (June 1977) 
DETECTIVE COMICS Vol 1 #437 (November 1973) Later reprinted multiple times in Trade Paperback collections of the entire new Manhunter saga. 
Christine travels to Nepal to investigate this new Manhunter’s recent actions which saved the life of a wealthy philanthropist. Via flashbacks from her informant, she learns that the new Manhunter has been battling an organization which made several clones of Paul Kirk and has been using them to carry out the assassinations that Manhunter is blamed for because the clones wear blue costumes like his red one. 
This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at some of the early stories during the time when Daredevil and the Black Widow were a team, like 
DAREDEVIL & THE BLACK WIDOW Vol 1 #92 (October 1972) 
FIRST ISSUE SPECIAL Vol 1 #12 (March 1976) 
POWER MAN Vol 1 #48 (December 1977) 
Shades (at right) and Comanche, escaped cons who served time at Seagate Prison with Luke Cage back when he went by his real name Carl Lucas, were sent by Bushmaster to abduct Power Man’s girlfriend Dr. Claire Temple and her colleague Dr. Noah Burstein. They have done so and, per Bushmaster’s orders, they give Luke Cage/ Carl Lucas their boss’s ultimatum. 
They make it clear to Power Man that to gain the release of those two doctors he has been close to for years, he must capture and deliver to Bushmaster one of his foes, private investigator Misty Knight. The villain doesn’t just send Shades and Comanche (at left) to abduct her because Misty’s associates, her investigative partner Colleen Wing and the superhero Iron Fist, stand beside her. 
ADVENTURE COMICS Vol 1 #461 (February 1979) 
Synopsis: Bill Jensen, a corrupt former D.A. just released from prison, has been gifted with superpowers like the ability to shoot mystic energy blasts, conjure up unearthly fire, walk up walls, produce a force field and more. He refuses to reveal how he has gained these powers. 
FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #44 (November 1965) 
Through a comic book coincidence, the Human Torch gets caught in the middle of a fight between the super villainess called Medusa and her fellow Inhuman called Gorgon. 
ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #70 (February 1978) 
Those villains are helmeted criminals known by numbers instead of names and led by the mysterious Number 1. Strike Force has over a score of members, and they wield high-tech weaponry and equipment. 
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