Reading Room: NATURE BOY "Jiver from Jupiter"

Before Percy Jackson was...Nature Boy!

...the early Silver Age teen hero with amazing powers granted by the ancient Gods!

If this story from Charlton's Nature Boy #5 (1957) has the "feel" of some of the wackier Superman Family stories of the Silver Age, there's a very good reason!
It was written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel!
The dynamic art was by John Buscema, shortly before his return to Marvel Comics, where his renderings became the "house" art style for over 20 years!
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Reading Room: NATURE MAN "Terrible Torrent" & NATURE GIRL "Trapping the Trapper"

Jerry Siegel followed the pattern established by his biggest hit...

...Superman, when he did Nature Boy, including an adult incarnation...

...along with a distaff version...

Nature Man appeared in Nature Boy #3, Nature Girl in #5.
Both strips were written by Jerry Siegel and illustrated by John Buscema.
While Nature Man is obviously a grown-up David Crandall, there's no explanation as to who Nature Girl is, how she got her powers, or why she has a pet elephant!
(Although I note, as an adult, Crandall finally puts on a pair of tights!)
These were their only appearances.

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Reading Room: NATURE BOY "Origin of Nature Boy"

Long before pro wrestler Ric Flair usurped the name...

...Nature Boy stood for truth, justice, and ancient gods (Huh?) as seen in his first appearance.

Rescued by "gods" who control various aspects of nature, he's given a portion of each of their powers, ala the Golden Age Captain Marvel...
Neptune--water
Gusto--wind
Furo--fire
Eartha--earth
Electra--lightning
Allura--love
Azura--skies
Friga--cold
...and he didn't have to say something like "SHAZAM!" to do it!
(Yeah, I know a couple of the deities overlap, and only one was an actual mythological god, but why quibble?)
Nature Boy only had three issues of his own title (which started with #3) at Charlton Comics before he disappeared from the comics scene..until now!But, within those three issues, the seeds were planted for an entire superfamily of Nature-heroes including Nature Man (an adult version of the hero from the future) and female counterpart Nature Girl.
This isn't surprising, since he was conceived by Jerry Siegel (co-creator of Superman) who knew a thing or two about that sort of thing.
To add to his hero cred, Nature Boy was drawn by John Buscema, who later did Conan, Avengers, and damn near everything at Marvel from the late 1960s thru the 1990s, so even if the stories were a bit silly, they looked damn good!

Nature Boy should be considered one of the first Silver Age heroes since his premiere was in 1956, just a couple of months before The Flash re-emerged in Showcase #4!
On that basis, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have revived Nature Boy as part of our Lost Heroes of the Silver Age of Comics™ line, on t-shirts, messenger bags, mugs and other kool kollectibles!
He was one of the first, but hardly one of the worst...

Before Percy Jackson was...Nature Boy!

Long before Percy Jackson met the Olympians, there was another teen given amazing powers by ancient gods...
Rich teenager David Crandall was yachting with his parents when a storm sank the boat and David was stranded!
Rescued by "gods" who control various aspects of nature, he is given a portion of each of their powers...
Neptune--water
Gusto--wind
Furo--fire
Eartha--earth
Electra--lightning
Allura--love
Azura--skies
Friga--cold
(Yeah, I know a couple of them overlap, and only one was an actual mythological god, but why quibble?)
David used his new powers to return home and reunite with his still-alive family.
He also decided to battle evil in various forms as Nature Boy, since he controlled the forces of nature, and the gods gave him a spiffy new outfit to show off!

He only had three issues of his own title (which started with #3*) before he disappeared from the comics scene..until now!
But, within those three issues, the seeds were planted for an entire superfamily of Nature-heroes including Nature Man (an adult version of the hero from the future) and female counterpart Nature Girl.
This isn't surprising, since he was created by Jerry Siegel (co-creator of Superman) who knew a thing or two about that sort of thing.
To add to his hero cred, Nature Boy was drawn by the great John Buscema who later did Conan, Avengers, Fantastic Four, and damn near everything at Marvel in the 70s thru the 90s, so even if the stories were a bit silly, they looked spectacular!

Technically, Nature Boy should be considered one of the first Silver Age heroes as his premiere was in 1956, just a couple of months before The Flash re-emerged in Showcase #4, but, like Captain Flash, and even the Martian Manhunter, he's thought to be one of the last Golden Age characters instead!
On that basis, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have revived Nature Boy as part of our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line, on t-shirts, messenger bags, mugs and other kool kollectibles!
It's unlikely that Alex Ross will include him in Project SuperPowers, but we felt he was worth re-presenting to the comics world, even if it's just on tchochkies!
He was one of the last, but hardly one of the worst...

*To save money on paying for a new second-class mailing permit,  comics publishers would often just rename an existing comic, rather than start a new one!
Today, with #1 issues being such "hot" collector's items, publishers wouldn't dream of doing that sort of thing!