This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will look at Will Eisner’s iconic superhero the Spirit.
Superheroes have been huge in pop culture in recent decades. Will Eisner’s iconic superhero the Spirit – who debuted in June of 1940 – rose from the grave of his secret identity, Private Investigator Denny Colt, after his apparent death when he got saturated in some chemicals of the supervillain Doctor Cobra.
Fan arguments still rage over whether or not the Spirit had any superpowers beyond his initial chemically-induced state of suspended animation which let him survive and rise from his grave days later. I’m of the school of thought that says the Spirit DID have superpowers, largely because I grow bored with alleged “super” heroes who are just regular shlubs who slap on a costume and fight crime. To me that’s more of a Pulp hero.
I don’t think it’s outrageous to attribute paranormal abilities to the Spirit. Just going by Will Eisner’s original stories let’s approach it this way:
GREATER THAN HUMAN STRENGTH – Taking this hero’s origin story at face value with no ret-conning necessary, when Denny Colt came to in his coffin he dug his way to the surface. It would require much more than the strength of a normal human to burst through the coffin lid AND force his way upward through six feet of soil. For all I know The Big Bang Theory guys may have once done a calculation on how much actual strength it would take to accomplish this feat.
EXTRAORDINARY RESILIENCY/ HEALING ABILITY – Early Spirit stories often show his body taking the kind of punishment that no non-powered human being could survive. The villains occasionally point out how impossible it is that the hero just keeps coming after all the damage they inflict on him. And again, taking his 1940 origin at face value his body would have had to have “healed” from the invasive procedures of embalming or similar treatments, before he woke up in his coffin.
Many fans feel that Frank Miller’s 2008 movie The Spirit took that too far by making his durability front and center and more like Wolverine’s notorious Healing Factor. Personally, I’m okay with it.
ROGUES GALLERY Continue reading
CAPTAIN BRITAIN Vol 1 #28 (April 20th, 1977) 
A very eccentric old professor, Robert Willard Scott, has retired from the university and lives alone with his hawks. When those birds die, Brian Braddock uses his scientific genius to construct a large hawk-shaped remote-controlled android to keep Professor Scott company. 
OMAC Vol 1 #1 (October 1974) 
Because of the danger of this assignment, Buddy is first used as a test subject for Operation OMAC (One Man Army Corps). The test is a success and when needed, the everyday Buddy Blank can be infused with superpowers by the GPA’s orbiting satellite called Brother Eye. 
This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will look at the stories in which Marvel’s licensed toy I.P. the Micronauts interacted with established Marvel characters. My look at the early Micronauts stories can be found 
MICRONAUTS Vol 1 #15 (March 1980) 
Meanwhile, back in the Microverse/ Quantum Realm we join the current roster of the Micronauts – Commander Arcturus Rann, Princess Marionette, Bug, Acroyear, the roboids (Biotron and Microtron), Cilicia (Acroyear’s wife, at right) and Jasmine (Bug’s girlfriend). The escaped Psycho-Man shows up in his vessel which dwarfs their own, called the HMS Endeavor. 
CAPTAIN BRITAIN Vol 1 #16 (January 26th, 1977) 
Reluctantly, Captain Britain uses some of his super-strength and agility to break free of the cops before they can unmask him. The other police on hand start shooting at C.B. when – out of nowhere – Captain America intervenes. He’s used to authorities in the U.S. often being wrong about superheroes so he offers to fight off the cops while Captain Britain escapes. 
Yes, before Batman, before Captain America and even before Superman himself, came the Clock, written and drawn by George E. Brenner. The Clock was the first masked crimefighter in comic books, debuting in 1936, while the much more popular Batman didn’t come along until 1939. I’m not pointing that out to diss Batman, but to point out what a shame it is that the Clock seems to have been forgotten by most of the world. The figure is pretty much the middle character between Pulp heroes like the Shadow and the Moon Man and comic book superheroes. The Clock’s influence on 
FEATURE FUNNIES Vol 1 #17 (February 1939) 
CAPTAIN BRITAIN Vol 1 #1 (October 13th 1976)
Synopsis: British college student Brian Braddock was working as an assistant to Dr. Hugo Travis at the Darkmoor Energy Research Center, a scientific organization probing the supernatural energies and anomalies of the Darkmoor area. 
The Amulet of Right and the mystic Quarterstaff turned Brian into the costumed superhero called Captain Britain. Stragg and his men had not seen Braddock’s face clearly, so his real identity was safe. Using his new powers – flight, a skin-tight force field, enhanced senses and enough strength to lift a couple tons – the hero defeated Stragg’s armed thugs. 
FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #166 (January 1976) 
CAPTAIN AMERICA Vol 1 #193 (January 1976) 
This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the independent comic book character the Black Coat, a masked hero in 1770s New York City. 
The Black Coat is really Nathaniel Finch, brilliant young scientist and friend of Ben Franklin himself. Our costumed hero runs his own covert network of rebels called the Knights of Liberty, men and women who risk everything to fight against tyranny. His coal-black horse Phobos stands ever-ready as well.
THE BLACK COAT Vol 1 #1 (2006)
The saved Franklin visits with our hero in his civilian Nathaniel Finch identity at the New York Sentinel, Finch’s patriot newspaper. Rumors of war breaking out at any moment are everywhere. British General Savidge has secretly allied himself with shadowy conspirators called the League – an evil version of the Founding Fathers’ Masonic Lodges. 
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