Balladeer’s Blog continues to feed the beast that IS our superhero-obsessed world with a look at another forgotten Holyoke Superhero.
BLACKOUT
Secret Identity: Jack Wayne, Berlin Correspondent for the New York Globe.
Origin: When America entered World War 2 on the Allied side Jack Wayne and his editor “Pop” Simms were seized by the Gestapo. Since Jack had been a Flying Ace for the Americans during World War One the Gestapo assumed he and Pop were spies and tortured them for information.
Pop was killed by the torture and Jack, though blinded by his interrogator’s whip, managed to escape. He was rescued by the Underground Society, a secret resistance group led by Dr Dismal who – despite his name – was not a supervillain. Dr Dismal ran his resistance group from a secret base far beneath Gestapo Headquarters and, noting that Jack Wayne’s optic nerves were not entirely dead, devised special glasses and a visor he could wear that allowed him to see in daylight OR at night.
Jack donned a costume and under the nom de guerre Blackout joined Dr Dismal’s band of rebels, terrorizing the Nazis by night.
First Appearance: Cat-Man Comics #10 (May 1942). His final Golden Age appearance came in 1944.
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