This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog is a look at the neglected Golden Age superhero pantheon from Ace Periodicals.
CAPTAIN VICTORY
Secret Identity: Jack Wilson, Diplomatic Attache
Origin: Jack Wilson was serving as a Diplomatic Attache at the American Embassy in the fictional Central American nation of Centralvo. While there he gained superpowers but Ace Periodicals’ writers never got around to explaining how during this character’s brief run.
First Appearance: Our Flag Comics #1 (August 1941). His final Golden Age appearance came that same year.
Powers: Captain Victory (No relation to the Jack Kirby character of that name) could fly and had massive super strength. The upper limits of his flying abilities and his strength were never established before the character disappeared.
Comment: Since America had not yet entered World War Two, Captain Victory’s adventures had to walk a fine line. The hero thwarted an Axis Powers attempt to trick Centralvo into entering the war on their side, stopped a Nazi sub from secretly sabotaging the Panama Canal and – in a prescient bit – defeated a Japanese sneak attack on the American Navy.
LIGHTNING GIRL
Secret Identity: Isabel Blake
Origin: Isabel’s Naval Officer father John was brainwashed by Lash Lightning’s supervillain foe the Teacher and forced to help the Japanese forces against the U.S. When Lash Lightning was in one of the Teacher’s death traps he transferred some of his power to Isabel so she could help him.
Her father was freed from his brainwashing and died a hero. Isabel vowed to continue fighting the Axis nations to avenge her father and became Lightning Girl, Lash Lightning’s partner.
First Appearance: Lightning Comics Volume 3 #1 (June 1942). Her final Golden Age appearance came in 1946.
Powers: Lightning Girl could fly at lightning speed, shoot lightning bolts from her hands, generate lightning-heat and track Lash Lightning through their shared electrical impulses.
This superheroine could recharge herself with any electrical outlet. Continue reading
When we left off last time, Medea’s Aunt Circe had informed her that in order to stop the vendetta the Furies were waging against her, Jason, Orpheus and the rest of the Argonauts Medea must be purified from the taint of betraying her father and killing her brother through rites performed by Orpheus and the Meliae – the ash-tree nymphs who nursed the infant Zagreus (in this Orphic version).
THE SOVEREIGN GUIDE: A TALE OF EDEN (1898) – Written by American William Amos Miller and published under the title My Sovereign Guide: A Tale of Eden, so I have no idea why everyone now starts the title with The instead of My. Regular readers of Balladeer’s Blog know that many works of “ancient” science fiction mixed in religious elements with the sci-fi. The Sovereign Guide is one of the most inventive and features angels using advanced technology. Taking the novel section by section: 
THE BLACK SPIDER 
Powers: The Black Spider was in peak physical condition and exceled at unarmed combat. He was also a skilled investigator and handy with a gun. Luckily, Ralph’s lifelong hobby was the study of spiders, so he used trained tarantulas and black widows from a package on his belt against his foes. 
SUPER MYSTERY COMICS Vol 1 #3 (Oct 1940) 
Meanwhile, D.A. Nelson goes to his secret lair – a cave in the woods called the Web, where he keeps his spiders and other items. He becomes the Black Spider and trails Harrigan like Peggy is doing. Our hero arrives in time to save her from Harrigan and a Risko gunman, but she tears off his mask and learns the Black Spider is really Ralph. 
SHOWCASE Vol 1 #6 (Feb 1957) 
JUNGLE ACTION Vol 2 #19 (Jan 1976) 
EERIE #62 (Jan 1975) 
FIRE-EATER 
Powers: Fire-Eater, as his name would imply, could “eat” and suck in large flames as well as blow fire-blasts from his mouth. He was also impervious to fire and was skilled at unarmed combat. 
MADAME STRANGE 
Powers: Madame Strange was strong enough to rip iron bars out of a jail cell’s window, was bullet-proof and could run at greater than human speed. She was also an expert at unarmed combat and was skilled with a riding crop AND at knife-throwing. In addition this superheroine had her own personal plane from which she could drop bombs. 
THE BRICK MOON (1872) – Written by Edward Everett Hale, best known for The Man without a Country. This novella started out as a serialized story published in 1869 in the October, November and December issues of Atlantic Monthly. A follow-up installment, titled Life in the Brick Moon, was published in the February 1870 issue. 
The story begins in the 1840s when Frederic Ingham, the tale’s narrator, and his college friends Orcutt and Halliburton plan a dream project which winds up taking decades to fulfill – a manmade artificial satellite, the first recorded in science fiction stories. 
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