This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero blog post looks at the 1940s & 1950s Australian-made superheroes. Back in 2015 I examined Australian-made superheroes of the 1970s and 1980s HERE.
CAPTAIN ATOM
Secret Identity: Larry Lockhart
Debut Year: 1948
Origin: A nuclear accident fused scientist Dr. Bikini Rador with his brother, who was a federal agent using the cover identity Larry Lockhart. This accident granted incredible superpowers and spawned the superhero called Captain Atom.
Powers: Saying the word “Exenor” would let Larry turn into his superhero form. He had Superman level strength, could fly at amazing speeds, was largely invulnerable and could shoot atomic energy blasts from his hands. Captain Atom’s ears could “hear” radio transmissions.
Comment: This Captain Atom ran from 1948 to 1954 in the Golden Age. America’s totally different Captain Atom did not debut until 1960.
ATOM-GIRL
Secret Identity: Lynn Sanders
Debut Year: 1949
Origin: Lynn became Atom-Girl when gifted the futuristic technology of her brother-in-law John Grant.
She fought crime and other menaces, including aliens.
Powers: John Grant’s discovered “ray” gave Lynn a degree of super-strength and made her invulnerable to bullets, other weaponry and deadly gasses.
Atom-Girl wore an “atojet” flying pack on her back, an antigravity harness, a belt that could turn her invisible, plus goggles which could provide x-ray vision. She also wielded two atomic pistols and piloted an aircraft called Miss Hotshot which could change from a jet to a helicopter to a submarine.
This superheroine’s HQ was Voltara, a secret lab in central Australia. Continue reading
TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF JAMES MASSEY (1714) – This is Part Two of 
I’ll spare all of us any details of the actual cockfights. When the fighting was over, the family whose cock lost the fight welcomed the winner’s family over to their home. The winner’s family brought along all of the food they had prepared for this eventful day, and the two families feasted and drank together the rest of the day. 
FLASH Vol 1 #155 (September 1965) 
If you enjoy serious analog horror like 
Around 2012 Richard Littler began mocking up some fake 1970s public health posters and government pamphlets for schools and general consumption. He presented them with an enjoyably twisted slant that perfectly captured the vaguely menacing, often insulting approach of such material. 
TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF JAMES MASSEY (1714) – By Simon Tyssot de Patot. Supposedly written in 1710 but not published until 1714, this novel dealt with the travels of the title character to exotic lands. 
FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #58 (January 1967) 
WONDERMAN 
ACROMAID 
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. 
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. 
In the past I’ve covered my fondness for Dashiell Hammett’s mysteries. Given my whole theme here at Balladeer’s Blog, this time I’ll take a look at Hammett’s often overlooked Sam Spade short stories that followed a few years after the novel The Maltese Falcon. 
A MAN CALLED SPADE – Published in the July 1932 issue of The American Magazine. 
Max lies on the floor, partially undressed. A five-pointed star has been drawn on his bare chest in black ink and with a Greek letter tau in the center. Spade, hoping Max’s daughter will pay him the fee that her father now cannot, tries selling her on the notion that he’s now working for her late father’s estate, and her. 
Balladeer's Blog 