Asian Avengers GREEN TURTLE "The Vengeance of the Green Turtle"

We re-presented the Green Turtle's premiere adventure HERE...

....now we continue with his second appearance, with a cover that's not by the strip's writer/artist, Chu Fook Hing!

How do we know?

Because you can see the Green Turtle's face...which was never seen before or after this!

And, his sidekick, Burma Boy is wearing a costume which also was never seen before or after this cover!

So, who did the illustration?

The answer is sadly, lost to the mists of time...

The Green Turtle's revelation of his origin was always interrupted by an emergency through the strip's entire run!
Talks about a "masked mystery man"!

The Green Turtle WILL Return...

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Shadow Hero

(the award-winning revamp of Green Turtle by Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew)

Asian Avengers GREEN TURTLE "The Wrath of the Green Turtle!"

With all the negative "Yellow Peril" stereotypes in Western fiction about Asians like this guy...

...we're "counter-programming" by presenting heroic Asian and Asian-American characters in pop culture!

First up...The Green Turtle!

Created/written/illustrated by Chu F Hing, one of the few Chinese-American creatives in the Golden Age, The Green Turtle was the cover-featured character for the first four of the six issues of Rural Home's Blazing Comics anthology series.

Here's his premiere appearance (but not his origin) from #1 (1944).

May be NSFW due to mild racist stereotypes of Japanese characters common during World War II.

BTW, look carefully at Green Turtle's face throughout the story...

You may have noticed that The Green Turtle's face (even with his mask on) is never shown.

There's much speculation as to whether it was simply to create an aura of mystery about him or writer/artist Chu Hing's refusal to show him with White facial features rather than Asian.

His skin has the standard 25% Magenta/25% Yellow coloring used for Whites in comics while all the Asians have skin tones at 50% Magenta/50% Yellow.

At least the publisher didn't use the "Bright Lemon" 100% Yellow skin tone some other publishers used for Asians...

The Green Turtle WILL Return...

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Shadow Hero

(the award-winning revamp of Green Turtle by Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew)

St Patrick's Day Special NOT WHO YOU THINK: BANSHEE "Origin"

Before a certain Marvel villain-turned X-Man...

Art by Dave Cockrum

...acquired the name, there was this guy...who also used the name of a female Irish demon!

(And yes, I know Sean Cassidy's daughter now uses the name, but this is Hero Histories, not Heroines!)

Illustrated by Louis Cazeneuve, this premiere/origin of the Banshee plays more off the classic "Criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot..." shtick with a costumed athlete than the later, sonic super-powered mutants from Marvel.

Of course I'm curious as to why a villain named "The Scorpion" is wearing a Devil mask instead of, say, a hood with an embroidered scorpion image.

Was he working on a really tight budget?

Debuting in Fox's Fantastic Comics #21 (1941) and continuing until the book was cancelled two issues later, the Banshee migrated to a new book, V... Comics, for it's brief two-issue run, then disappeared into comics limbo.

He didn't even appear in Dynamite's various Project SuperPowers series which brought back characters whose names had been co-opted by later, currently-trademarked (though totally-unrelated) characters like Daredevil and Yellowjacket.

(Blue Beetle is a whole 'nother story...)

BTW, HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!

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Project SuperPowers

Vol 1

(Even without The Banshee, if you're a Golden Age fan, it's worth reading)

CoronaVirus Comics GREEN LANTERN "Disease!!"

During World War II, one of the most pressing homefront problems...

...was shortages of desperately-needed materials, including medical supplies!

Co-creators Bill Finger (writer) and Mart Nodell (illustrator) incorporate enough plot twists in this tale from DC's Green Lantern #1 (1941) to fill several stories by other creatives!

Unlike, say, the Green Hornet (who was considered a criminal by both the cops and the underworld) the Green Lantern was a hero...but one who didn't mind "bending" the law in a good cause!

One can only imagine what today's lawyers would do in response to his actions...

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Golden Age Green Lantern Archives
Volume 1

CoronaVirus Comics HIT COMICS "Red Bee vs the Medical Grafters"

Besides Plastic Man, numerous Quality Comics characters fought to protect America from medical threats...

...whether from other countries or right here in the good ol' USA!

This never-reprinted story from Quality's Hit Comics #2 (1940) was written by Toni Blum (one of the few women writing comics during the Golden Age) and but the artist under the "B H Apiary" pen-name is unknown.

(An apiary is a group of separate bee hives close together)

While other characters like The Crimson Avenger and The Sandman borrowed The Green Hornet's "wanted criminal in a fedora and overcoat" motif, the Red Bee took the "colorful insect wanted by the police" concept and went in a different direction...a skintight costume and actually using live insects!

Besides trained bees (can you actually train bees?), the two-fisted adventurer used a "stinger" gun that shot tranquilizer darts (paralleling the Green Hornet's knockout-gas gun)!

(Note that bees, wasps, yellowjackets, and hornets are all from the same sub-species of insects.)

Quality's editors must've thought the concept was a winner, since the Red Bee was cover-featured on Hit Comics' first issue, plus a run of several consecutive issues a few months later.

(Most of the time, characters were rotated, with each one getting a cover every 3-4 issues!)

Despite the promotional push, the Red Bee disappeared after Hit #24.

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League of Regrettable SuperHeroes

(including the Red Bee!)