The Coolest Hero of All--Sub-Zero Man!

Since hot weather currently is currently playing havoc with most of the U.S., I thought it appropriately-ironic to present the "coolest" hero of the Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™--Sub-Zero Man!
Debuting along with Blue Bolt in Blue Bolt Comics #1, Sub-Zero (as he was usually referred to) was actually a Venusian astronaut!
His spaceship hit an asteroid made of frozen gases that froze the crew solid. Uncontroled, it crashed on Earth near Salt Lake City.
Somehow, the un-named Venusian survived the freezing phenomenon that killed his crewmates, but left him in an icy condition that enabled him to freeze anything he touched, or even stared at! (Ice-Vision?)
By using his atomic pistol on himself, he was able to "thaw" out for brief periods, which grew longer as the series progressed.
Realizing he was marooned, he decided to help fight evil, which had become non-existent on Venus, a planet where everyone was of the highest moral character!

Created by Bill Everett (HydroMan, Prince Namor: the Sub-Mariner, Amazing-Man, Conqueror), his first cover appearance was Blue Bolt Comics #4 (shown above) where Everett's propensity for aquatic action was put on display yet again!
Though he only appeared on the cover a couple of times, he was one of the steadiest back-up features in Blue Bolt Comics' long run.

He never got back to Venus!
But, we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have given him a new home as part of the Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ collection of (dare we say?) kool kollectibles including t-shirts, mugs, messenger bags, and other nifty stuff!

He's also cameoed in Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers, and hopefully, we'll be seeing a lot more of him in the future!
After all, Earth is now his home...

"The Cisco Kid was a Friend of Mine..."

The Cisco Kid was the first Hispanic multi-media superstar, featured in books, movies, radio, comic books, newspaper strips, and eventually, television, predating Zorro in each media (except Zorro never had a radio show)!

As created by legendary writer O Henry, in the short story "The Caballero's Way" in 1907. the Kid was neither Hispanic nor a hero!
A 1914 silent movie of "The Caballero's Way" altered the character to the version that's became famous...a wandering hero, called "The Robin Hood of the Old West", who, with his sidekick, righted wrongs without killing (but with lots and LOTS of shooting) just like The Lone Ranger!
Over two dozen more films followed, as well as a long-running radio series, a newspaper strip, several comic book series, and a 156-episode tv show famous for being the FIRST American tv series filmed in color!
Some of the films and tv series episodes are on dvd.
Note that not all dvds have color tv episodes, some have have b/w versions!
(All the movies were b/w!)
In the 1990s, Jimmy Smits and Cheech Marin starred in a very well-done tv-movie pilot for a new series that, unfortunately, wasn't picked up (and isn't available on dvd).
But, there's talk of a new big-budget film version of the character sometime in the next couple of years!

We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ are proud to reintroduce the classic Western character to a new audience in our Western Comic Adventures™ line.
Just go to The Cisco Kid & Pancho for a look at 6 different designs, including his 1st comic appearance on t-shirts, mugs, messenger bags and other goodies including a kool 12-month calendar!
They'll have you going "Oh, Cisco!" "Oh, Pancho!" just like Duncan Renaldo & Leo Carrillo did in the classic tv series!

And, to make a really kool Cinco de Mayo gift set, why not add one of the NEW Cisco Kid graphic novels from Moonstone Books?

For our faithful fans...FREE...over 200 episodes of the radio show!

Death-Defying 'Devil aka Dynamic DareDevil aka the ORIGINAL Dare Devil

Silver Streak Comics was unique in two respects;
1) It wasn't named after it's lead character, like Flash Comics or Blue Bolt Comics.
(In fact, the hero known as The Silver Streak didn't even come along until issue #3, and then he was just a backup strip!)
2) The lead character was a villain!
And what a villain he was!
The Claw was the first great villain of the Golden Age!
He was a, literally, inhuman scientific genius with powers of size-changing, hypnotism, and numerous other abilities depending on the needs of the story! (In the Golden Age, these things tended to be a little, well, loose.)
In his first few appearances he was barely defeated by various international secret agents who would stumble upon his various operations, but The Claw himself would always escape to plot again!
While the foul fiend dominated the front of the book, several heroes made their debuts in backup features, among them a mute fellow in a weird half-yellow / half-blue costume who used a boomerang!

Created in Silver Streak #6 by writer / artist Jack Binder, brother of noted pulp sci-fi writers Otto & Earl Binder, this DareDevil was Bart Hill, rendered speechless as a boy when he witnessed the murder of his father!
The silent lad learned how to use a boomerang, and, when he became an adult, adopted a costume in order to avenge himself against evil in it's various forms.
Not a bad origin tale, overall.

Jack Cole, who later would create Plastic Man, took over the strip in the next issue, tossing out everything except the boomerang and the name Bart Hill, creating the first comic book retcon!
He also modified the costume, making the yellow sections bright red.
Cole then decided that his revamped hero would make the perfect ongoing counterpoint to The Claw, so as of Silver Streak #7, he pitted the two against each other in an ongoing battle that lasted five issues, which ended with The Claw finally being captured!
At that point, DareDevil was given his own title, DareDevil Comics, with the greatest real-life villain of all as his first opponent--Adolf Hitler! With the aid of other heroes, including The Silver Streak, DD managed to stalemate Der Fuehrer.
Of course, The Claw escaped to wreak further havoc in DareDevil Comics until #31, where he was "killed".
(The Claw has since returned both in Project SuperPowers and The Next Issue Project: Silver Streak Comics #24.)

Cole went on to other projects, and writer / artist Charles Biro took over the strip.
Biro gave Bart an entirely new origin, having the orphaned kid raised by Australian Aborigines and trained by them to use boomerangs!
Bart Hill settled down to a typical life of an acrobatic superhero whose new secret identity of a policeman enabled him to serve the law by day, and justice by night...until the Little Wise Guys came along in #13!
Jocko, Peewee, Scarecrow, and Meatball were a kid gang whom Officer Hill encountered while on patrol. Sensing they were inherently good kids gone wrong, he took them under his wing, guiding them into more socially-acceptible activities, like spying on saboteurs.
It was like having a whole team of Robins or Buckys (sans costumes) to help in his ongoing war against evil!
During one of their adventures against a rival gang, Meatball was killed.
A rival gang member, Curly, feeing guilty about Meatball's demise (though he didn't cause it) reformed, and joined the Little Wise Guys.

The kids gradually took over the book as DareDevil went from lead hero to mentor / advisor to occasional guest-star, disappearing altogether as of #80.
DareDevil Comics continued until #134, September 1954.

Though the character missed the Silver Age, his influence was felt throughout it.
Marvel's Matt Murdock became an acrobatic hero with the same name.
Charlton's acrobatic ThunderBolt wore a very similar costume in tribute to the Golden Age character.

And now, the original hero has returned in not one, but two different incarnations:
The Death-Defying 'Devil in Alex Ross' ongoing Project SuperPowers series and his own self-titled mini-series which restores the original mute aspect of the character, but, as it turns out, Bart Hill himself is deceased.
A grown-up Curly (the "replacement Little Wise Guy") is the new 'Devil!
and
Dynamic DareDevil, guest-starring in Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon series.
This version IS Bart Hill, and The Little Wise Guys are also present!

PLUS: we at Atomic Kommie Comics™ have digitally-restored and remastered several of DareDevil's koolest Golden Age covers on an assortment of pop-culture collectibles in our Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ line!
You'll also find a couple of DD's covers (including his FIRST appearance) in our The Claw section!

Don't forget to buy Project SuperPowers, Death-Defying 'Devil and Savage Dragon!
We wanna keep DD (and maybe even the Little Wise Guys) around for a while!

Don't Call Her "GIRL Reporter"!

Jane Arden: Crime Reporter ran from 1927 to 1968, predating other female reporters like Brenda Starr: Reporter and Superman's Lois Lane by over a decade.
She's best-known as the FIRST American comic character to have a World War II-related storyline when her writers tossed out the strip's ongoing gangster plotline in a single daily strip and sent her to cover the warfront on September 25, 1939, less than a month after Germany invaded Poland!
Like most major 1930s-1950s comic characters, she was multi-media, with a radio show that ran for two years, a low-budget b-movie (that, while beeing pretty good, didn't do well enough to warrant a series) and comic books.
We at Atomic Kommie Comics™ feel that she deserves to return to the pop culture spotlight, so we've digitally-restored and remastered the best covers from her comic book run for a line of collectibles in our Heroines™ section for girls and women who want a strong, positive role model!
Have a look at Jane Arden: Crime Reporter, 'cause if you're doing something bad, she's looking for you!

PyroMan--the Shocking SuperHero!

Despite his name, PyroMan is not a fire-based hero! (That ability is possessed by The Flame, in the Lost Heroes of the Golden Age of Comics™ lineup.)
Wrongly-convicted and sent to the electric chair, Dick Martin somehow survived electrocution and gained electricity-based powers which he then used to escape, prove his innocence, and bring the real criminals to justice!
He then donned a costume and fought crime and saboteurs by using his electromagnetic powers to fly, deflect bullets, and zap baddies!
Atomic Kommie Comics™ has launched a line of kool kollectibles for the Electric Enigma (catchy, eh?) with four of the best covers from his run in Startling Comics, where he alternated with The Fighting Yank on the cover! Among the digitally-restore and remastered covers are his 1st appearance and the classic Alex Schomberg cover above.
Alex Ross' Project SuperPowers featured him and Hydro (aka HydroMan) together on the cover of their 4th issue, to create a pseudo-Human Torch/Sub-Mariner theme. I suppose water and electricity go together as well as water and fire do...
Pick up Project SuperPowers, the best Golden Age revival on the stands today, and have a look at our retro-styled goodies at Atomic Kommie Comics™.