Reading Room: ONE-SHOT HEROES Blue Flame

Who looks like the Human Torch and acts like the Human Torch...but is blue instead of red?

The Blue Flame, that's who!

Nope, S. Aitan, you won't meet Blue Flame again.

Nor will anybody else...ever!

Even though the story implies the Blue Flame's been around for awhile, he never appeared anywhere except this one appearance in Four Star's Captain Flight #11 (1947).

The writer is unknown, but the art is credited to Zoltan Szenics, who was primarily a letterer, but did several stories as a penciler or inker.

Perhaps it was a tryout for Timely Comics that didn't sell, and was reworked.

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Reading Room: AMAZING ADVENTURES OF HOLO-MAN "Birth of a Hero" Conclusion

When Last We Left Our Hero...

Art for this page by Don Heck and Joe Giella

During a demonstration to President Jimmy Carter of a new thermonuclear power system, Dr Jim Robinson, inventor of the system, is sucked into a wormhole where an alien being gives him laser-based powers, then returns him to Earth...

I'm afraid you'll have to miss it since the "next issue" (presumably the next book/record) never came out!

Art for this page by Don Heck and Joe Giella

Pencils (uncredited) by John Buscema, inks by Joe Giella.
The only other Holo-Man art was the two splash pages (by Don Heck and Joe Giella) that bookend this blog entry and the painted cover by Bob Larkin based on the Heck-Giella splash page.

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Reading Room: AMAZING ADVENTURES OF HOLO-MAN "Birth of a Hero" Part 1

The only super-hero created for audio...

...was based on the concept of using lasers to create holograms, a purely-visual technology!

Holy Irony!

 The startling story continues...

TOMORROW!

Written by Barry Von Name.

And though the art is attributed solely to Joe Giella, the pencils are clearly John Buscema, with Giella's inking.

You could either get the book/45 record in record stores or mail away for the book/record and a pendant using coupons like this found in Marvel comics. (I never saw one in DC titles!)

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Reading Room: ONE-SHOT HEROES The Wrath of...The Researcher

Next to "The Listener" or "The Watcher", the least frightening name for a comic hero is...

...however, this guy could make the name synonymous with "action hero"!

Who is The Researcher?

We never learn his real name.

Everyone calls him "Researcher", even his girlfriend.

Where did he get the money for his kool weaponry and equipment?

Is he independently-wealthy or does he bill clients?

He hob-nobs with the upper crust, including diplomats, politicians and rich businessmen.

Many are the mysteries surrounding...The Researcher!

Unfortunately, this short strip from Green Giant Comics #1 (1940) was his only appearance anywhere!

Pity, since he has a lot of potential.

Frank Thomas, the writer/artist behind this strip created a number of detective-themed characters in the Golden Age including The Eye, The Owl, and Dr Hypno.

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Reading Room: NOT WHO YOU THINK "Green Giant"

This is a "lost" tale I've been waiting a long time to see...

...ever since I held a "slabbed" copy of Green Giant Comics #1 (1940) in my hands and wondered what was inside!

When I did a profile of the character,  I emphasized that the info about the story was second-hand, as I had not actually read the tale!

Well, we can now read the one (and only) adventure of the Green Giant...

OK, several things cleared up, including...

His last name is Brentwood with no first name given!

The costume controls his growth (much like the Silver-Age Atom), not pills, gas, or a serum (like Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Goliath/Yellowjacket/whoever Hank Pym is this week).

Elements of the costume are different. (Bare legs and no gloves in the story)

And one big mystery is presented...

He's a stockbroker?

How the hell did he become the Green Giant and end up with that size-changing garb?
Did he acquire controlling stock in a laboratory?
We'll never know the answers...

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Reading Room NOT WHO YOU THINK: FireBird and Valkyrie

Nope, he's not the female Mighty Avenger, (obviously)...

...and she's not another Mighty Avenger (and former Defender)...

...nor AirBoy's aviatrix nemesis from the 1940s...

...but they are a one-shot hero from the 1940s and his female nemesis in a tale from TailSpin #1 (and only), published in 1944.

I think you'll be able to tell who's who...

"In all his checkered career..."

What "checkered career"?
This was FireBird's only appearance!
The "aviator goggles-helmet and cape" ensemble was used by several heroes including Spy Smasher and the original Phantom Eagle, so it could be a reworked version of one of their tales.

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