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)

Not Who You Think / One-Shot Hero: BLACK PANTHER

Prince T'Challa, Marvel's first Black superhero, ruler of Wakanda, husband of Storm, a Mighty Avenger...

WTF???

1) Who is he?

2) Where did he come from??

3) What are his powers???

4) Why does he have a tail????

Of all those questions, we can only answer #3: Agile as a cat (obviously), expert in hand-to-hand combat, and probably good with the knife he carries.

Since he only made one appearance, in Centaur's Stars & Stripes #3 (1941), we will never know what his creator, writer/artist Paul Gustavson, had in mind for him.

Gustavson, though not a "big" name, did contribute several long-running characters to Golden Age comics history at Timely (Marvel), Quality, and Centaur, including The Fantom of the Fair (FantoMan), The Human Bomb, The Angel, two archer-heroes; The Arrow and Alias the Spider, and Man of War.

He also worked on Blackhawk, Uncle Sam, and other Quality Comics characters.

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Black Panther

Reading Room 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 an female Irish demon!

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 mutant 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 even brought back characters whose names had been co-opted by later, currently-trademarked (though unrelated) characters like Daredevil and Yellowjacket.

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

BTW, HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY!

Please Support Hero Histories

Visit Amazon and Order...

Project SuperPowers

Vol 1

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

Before the Ant-Man, there was...the Fly-Man! (Part 1)

With Ant-Man: the Movie opening today...

...we're presenting what could be considered his direct ancestor in comics.

Though he shares a number of attributes with the movie version of Ant-Man, including reduced height, retaining his full-sized strength while small, receiving his powers from a scientist, and criminal connections, Fly-Man couldn't control or communicate with insects.

Illustrated by Sam Glanzman, this never-reprinted tale from Harvey Comics' Spitfire Comics #1 (1941) was the first of two appearances by the Diminutive Daredevil.

In the next (and final) issue of the title, Fly-Man took both the cover and the lead section of the book from the comic's namesake character, Spitfire!

It didn't help since neither character ever reappeared...anywhere!

But, the "Fly-Man" name would reappear almost 20 years later...on a new character with interesting links to Ant-Man.

You'd learn about that on Monday!

NOT WHO YOU THINK: GRIMM "Lament of the Dead"

Long before the NBC TV series that returns right before Halloween...

...there was another man who battled the supernatural (and frauds who pretended to be supernatural)!

This never-reprinted tale from Elliot's Bomber Comics #2 (1944) is the only time Grimm encounters a non-supernatural threat.
The "Don Weaver" credit is probably a pseudonym since it doesn't appear anywhere else in comics besides on this series.
While it's a fascinating coincidence, I doubt the producers of the TV series Grimm even know about this incarnation of the concept.
Interestingly, Grimm bears marked similarities both to Zero: Ghost Detective, and the first appearance of Fero: Planet Detective, both of whom preceded Grimm.
And, as of this appearance, Grimm switched from being a "Ghost Spotter" to operating as a "Ghost Doctor"!
(And, yes, he makes "haunted house calls"...
Geez, it's like I'm talking to a bunch of 12-year olds...)

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Reading Room: NOT WHO YOU THINK: THE ARROW "Correcting the Colonel's Court-Martial"

No, he's not the guy currently on the CW...

...since that character is based on Green Arrow, who was given that colorful name to avoid confusion with this guy, comics' first archer superhero, as detailed HERE!

Ironically, the CW superhero visually-resembles this character more than DC's Green Arrow,  whose back-story has been Smallville-ized for the tv series.

Written and illustrated by Paul Gustavson (who also created another archer hero who predated Green Arrow...Quality's Alias the Spider), this tale appeared twice in Centaur titles, first in Funny Pages V2#12 (1938), then in FantoMan #2 (1940), which was actually the short-lived title's first issue.

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