This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at the Marvel Comics heroine Venus, from back when they were known as Timely Comics.
VENUS
Created By: Stan Lee and Lin Streeter
Secret Identity: Vikki Starr
First Appearance: Venus #1 (August 1948) Her final Golden Age appearance came in 1952.
Origin: The Golden Age Venus was the alien ruler of the planet Venus. For centuries she ruled over a planetary paradise protected from human eyes by the perpetual cloud cover of that planet. Wearying of being revered, adored and obeyed she decided to start dividing her time between her home world and Earth, where she hoped to try leading a simpler but more challenging life.
She teleported to the Earth, where her beauty made her such a sensation that she was hired as a model and editor for Whitney Hammond’s fashion publication called Beauty Magazine. Venus had a series of adventures ranging from mild fantasy to world-saving as she learned Earth ways and battled sci-fi and horror menaces. Continue reading
This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog will conclude my look at Marvel’s 1943-1948 heroine from when the company was known as Timely Comics. For Part One and her origin click 
MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS Vol 1 #64 (Jun 1945) 
MISS AMERICA
That night, during a violent thunderstorm, the fascinated Madeline snuck back to the laboratory to more closely examine the equipment. At one point a lightning bolt struck the lab and Madeline, destroying the equipment but granting her superpowers. Adopting the nom de guerre Miss America, she donned a costume and went into action.
GHOST OF FLANDERS 
In reality the young man was in a Prisoner of War camp until being released after the war ended on November 11th, 1918. 
MERZAH THE MYSTIC 
THE RED CROSS 
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) 
ACTION COMICS Vol 1 #1 (June 1938) 
Superman takes down a wife-beater, saves Lois Lane from horny gangsters and clears a woman falsely convicted of murder by tying up the real killer – and even smashing his way into the governor’s mansion to make him call off her imminent execution. 
LEOPARD GIRL 
Powers: Leopard Girl employed her supernatural “cry of the leopards” to use a small army of leopards to help her fight the forces of evil in Africa. She could interact with the Dark Continent’s ghosts, who saw her as an ally. 
Comment: In her secret identity as “Gwen”, Leopard Girl worked with research scientist Dr. Hans Kreitzer. Her fellow assistant was named Peter, whom she once carried with one arm while swinging through the jungle. 
For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist blog post about superheroes, Balladeer’s Blog goes back to the Justice Society of America, this country’s very first superteam.
ALL STAR COMICS Vol 1 #39 (February 1948) 
Balladeer's Blog 