This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post from Balladeer’s Blog looks at several superheroes created in France.
FANTAX
Debut Year: 1946
Secret Identity: Horace Neighbour
Origin: Horace Neighbour was a diplomatic attache at his country’s embassy in Washington D.C. He decided to fight international and purely American menaces by adopting the costumed identity Fantax. As Horace he was suave & sophisticated and as Fantax he was tough & streetwise.
Powers: Fantax was in peak physical condition and was an expert at unarmed combat. He was also more agile than an acrobat and was skilled with a knife. This hero would periodically wield a gun or blunt objects. In addition, Fantax was a master detective.
Comment: Fantax’s wife Barbara sometimes assisted him, as did his butler Murph and muscular aide P’tit Louis. This hero’s foes included the Cobra, the Black Tigers, Nazi fugitives, the Gentleman Ghost, the Mafia, the Werewolf, the Ku Klux Klan and the Mikado. Later, Fantax’s son Horace fils became the costumed superhero Garcon Noir (Black Boy).
SALTARELLA
Debut Year: 1980
Secret Identity: Priscilla “Bibi” Conway
Origin: The insectoid alien race called the Svizz wanted to conquer the Earth with an army of human slaves granted insect-related superpowers. As the costumed Saltarella, this heroine rebelled against the Svizz and helped defeat the interstellar invasion, then battled other evil forces afterward.
Powers: Saltarella could fly via the wings added to her body by the Svizz, possessed super-strength (say, the proportionate strength of a winged insect), was capable of long leaps and could shrink. Priscilla was a former Olympic gymnast and was very agile.
Comment: Priscilla Conway was a top-level research entomologist. Among her other foes were Psi, the Gondolier Noir, Microbios, l’Executeur, Cagliostro and Vaudou. Continue reading
CAPTAIN VICTORY 
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. 
LIGHTNING GIRL 
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) 
MARVEL PREMIERE Vol 1 #41 (Apr 1978) 
The crew members we meet in this debut story – 1. Captain Jordan Shaw (right), a decent man appalled at the way the Six have chosen to play God with who gets to escape and who gets left behind to die. He cooperates just so he and his wife can survive, so he bitterly knows he is no better than the oligarchs in the end. 
And 5. Phaedra (left), a mutant with telekinetic and telepathic abilities. She and Earth’s hundreds of other mutants live in prison camps at the Six’s command while their abilities are probed. They are all forced to wear facial tattoos to prevent them hiding their mutant status. 
CONAN THE BARBARIAN Vol 1 #52 (Jul 1975) 
Conan finds the Ring of the Black Shadow, thus animating a huge statue of the Scorpion God which guards the ring to keep it out of human hands. Our hero fights the statue and renders it inert again with a sword through its “brain.”
MR. A 
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