Russkie Smashers YOUNG MEN COMICS "Sub-Mariner in the Land Below the Sun!"

Along with Captain America, both the Golden Age Human Torch and Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner...

...battled Russkies (and Red Chinese) for a couple of years in the 1950s!

Though Namor (like Captain America & Bucky and the Human Torch & Toro) had returned in Atlas' Young Men #24 (1953), his first few stories were sci-fi/fantasy-oriented!

This tale, written and illustrated by creator Bill Everett from Atlas' Young Men #28 (1954), was his first Russkie-smashing adventure, but with supernatural elements...making it quite apropos for Halloween, eh?
BTW, note that almost all the Atlantians have big "bug eyes" and green skin, but Dorma, who wasn't half-human like Namor, has Caucasian flesh-tone!
When she was re-introduced in the Silver Age, they gave her the standard blue skin (and human eyes) all the other Atlantians had!

Next Week, 
Sub-Mariner Returns in Two Adventures...
A Russkie-Smashing Saga
and
His First Bronze-Age Encounter with...
The Black Panther!
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Atlas-Era Heroes Masterworks
Volume 3
Sub-Mariner

Heroic Halloween Horror SCORPION "Devil Doll Commission" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Pulp-inspired Hero...

Art by Ernie Colon

...freelance "problem solver" Moro Frost aka The Scorpion, is engaged by the wife of missing financier Jules Reinhardt, who dabbles in the occult.
The Scorpion finds Reinhardt...murdered!
Frost learns that the dead millionaire was once smuggler Max Cervantes, who "disappeared" after plastic surgery...becoming the respectable Reinhardt!

But who ordered the death of Cervantes/Reinhart..and why?

The answer to both those questions is Buddy Lyle, a crooked nightclub owner owed a fortune in gambling debts by the dead mllionare...who hadn't paid up!

Lyle used the powers of a voodoo mambo to kill Reinhardt, then killed her, but not before she cast a curse on him.

Though Lyle had the numbers for Reinhart's foreign bank accounts, only the dead man's wife could draw funds from them.

Lyle's men kidnap Bishop, The Scopion's aide, impersonating Mrs Reinhart, and are about to board a plane for Panama when the Scorpion strikes and kills Lyle's aides and pilot.

The criminal is about to force The Scorpion to pilot the airplane or he'll kill his far-from-helpless hostage...

The Scorpion was the creation of Howard Chaykin, a young writer-artist who was already a recognized talent in the comics industry.

Unfortunately, while he was (and is) good, he was also slow, and the deadline for this issue crept up on him.

To get the issue out on time, a group of friends including Mike Kaluta, Walt Simonson, Ed Davis, and Berni Wrightson jumped in doing whatever needed to be done, so the book is a fascinating amalgam of styles.
The next issue solved the deadline problem by replacing Chaykin and his version of The Scorpion with a present-day costumed super-hero who was more Spider-Man than anything else.

That Scorpion disappeared after his one issue.

Chaykin would revive the character at Marvel with modified garb and a new name; Dominic Fortune, who continues occasionally-appearing in both present-day and flashback tales.

The Scorpion (in any form) wasn't included in the recent short-lived revival of the Atlas/Seaboard characters.

BTW, here's another, never-used cover for #2 by Howard Chaykin...

Wonder why it wasn't used...because it is, undeniably, kool!

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Weird Heroes
Volume 1

Heroic Halloween Horror SCORPION "Devil Doll Commission" Part 2

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Unused cover from Scorpion #2 (1975) by Howard Chaykin finally used as cover for Comic Book Marketplace #77 (2011).

...freelance "problem solver" Moro Frost aka The Scorpion, is engaged by the wife of missing financier Jules Reinhardt, who dabbles in the occult.
The Scorpion finds Reinhardt...murdered!
And Frost learns that the dead millionaire was once smuggler Max Cervantes, who "disappeared" after plastic surgery...becoming the respectable Reinhardt!

What does crooked nightclub owner Lyle see?

Be here Friday to find out...

The Scorpion was the creation of Howard Chaykin, a young writer-artist who was already a recognized talent in the comics industry.

Unfortunately, while he was (and is) good, he was also slow, and the deadline for this issue crept up on him.

To get the book out on time, a group of friends including Mike Kaluta, Walt Simonson, Ed Davis, and Berni Wrightson jumped in doing whatever needed to be done, so the issue is a fascinating amalgam of styles.

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Weird Heroes
Volume 1

Heroic Halloween Horror SCORPION "Devil Doll Commission" Part 1

In the 1970s there were a number of pulp-style heroes in comics...

...and here's a never-reprinted story featuring one of the best of them against an occult menace!

...murdered via voodoo doll!

This spooky tale continues Tomorrow...

The Scorpion was the creation of Howard Chaykin, a young writer-artist who was already a recognized talent in the comics industry.

Unfortunately, while he was (and is) good, he was also slow, and the deadline for this issue crept up on him.

To get the book out on time, a group of friends including Mike Kaluta, Walt Simonson, Ed Davis, and Berni Wrightson jumped in doing whatever needed to be done, so the issue is a fascinating amalgam of styles.

Please Support Hero Histories

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Weird Heroes

Volume 1

BLACK ADAM RETURNS Conclusion

We Have Already Seen...

...Black Adam has been resurrected by Captain Marvel's arch-enemy, Dr Sivana!
Unable to defeat the Big Red Cheese, Adam follows Sivana's suggestion to slay Shazam and deprive Cap of his power source...not realizing that it would probably also result in losing his own powers!

Note: this was years before the movie Superman II and Superman's "amnesia kiss" which made Lois Lane forget that the Man of Steel and Clark Kent were one and the same!

Black Adam would return several more times to battle Captain Marvel...and Superman, as well, before 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths would end the DC multiverse and reboot literally everything!

But that's a story for another time!

See
Black Adam
opening today
Only in theatres!

BLACK ADAM RETURNS Part 1

Though Black Adam died at the end of his lone Golden Age appearance as shown HERE...

...as they say on Monty Python's Flying Circus; "He got better!"

Note: this story was created during the run of the 1970s SHAZAM! TV series, and the comic adapted elements of the show, inserting Billy Batson's already-existing Uncle Dudley into the safari-jacketed and mustachioed Mentor role, and utilizing the "Eterni-phone" (which usually connected directly to the gods whose initials made up "Shazam") to contact the old wizard!

To be concluded

TOMORROW!

Writer (and associate editor) E Nelson Bridwell was a serious "continuity cop" as this explanation of how the Egyptian gods (with a bit of logic-stretching) filled out the "SHAZAM" anagram shows!

Plus, artist Kurt Schaffenberger hard worked on the original Fawcett run of the "Marvel Family" when he entered the comics business back in the 1950s!

But this story from DC's SHAZAM! #28 (1976) shows him at his artistic peak two decades later!

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Black Adam
Box Set
(Featuring the current version of the character, not the original incarnation we're showing!)