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)

SPIDER-MAN, STORM AND CAGE "vs SmokeScreen" Part 2: Where There's Smoke...

When Last We Left our Non-Smoking Heroes and Heroine...

Luke Cage is mentoring a teen track team of kids representing every district in NYC.

He confides to photographer Peter Parker, who's covering the team for a human interest story, that one of them, Bret Jackson, isn't performing up to his previous levels.

But why?

As Spider-Man, Peter recruits the X-Men's Storm to trail a couple of suspicious fellows who are supplying cigarettes to Bret and other kids!

Though Ororo eludes detection by flying after the creeps, she's caught when entering their headquarters...

And if that sounds familiar, it's the synopsis I used HERE!

Now let's continue this twice-told tale...

What would you do, True Believer?

If you're still undecided, perhaps this back cover will sway you...

And, as a final treat, here's the inside front cover with some background about the heroine and heroes...

Talk about deja vu...sort of!

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Giveaways that Fought Commies, Sold Cars and Cigars, Showed How to Buy a TV and Avoid VD, and are now Saving Lives!

SPIDER-MAN, STORM AND CAGE "vs SmokeScreen" Part 1

If you read this tale...

...this one will sound familiar...but look quite different!

The Story Concludes...

TOMORROW!

Using the exact same script by a unknown writer we saw HERE, penciler David Tata and inker Norman Lee re-tell the cautionary tale originally-seen in 1982!

However, the page between chapters about "Window Shopping Fun" and "Classroom Activities" was not redrawn for this version!

The book is now titled Spider-Man, Storm and Cage instead of Spider-Man, Storm and Power Man, since Luke Cage had dropped the super-heroesque "code name".
Exactly why the book was "recreated" in 1998 after being reprinted that same year is unknown.

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SPIDER-MAN, STORM AND POWER MAN "vs SmokeScreen" Part 2: Where's There's Smoke...

We have Already Seen...

Luke Cage is mentoring a teen track team of kids representing every district in NYC.

He confides to photographer Peter Parker, who's covering the team for a human interest story, that one of them, Bret Jackson, isn't performing up to his previous levels.

But why?

As Spider-Man, Peter recruits the X-Men's Storm to trail a couple of suspicious fellows who are supplying cigarettes to Bret and other kids!

Though Ororo eludes detection by flying after the creeps, she's caught when entering their headquarters...

Now that the story's concluded, the comic presents the reader with a quandry...

What would you do, True Believer?

If you're still undecided, perhaps this back cover by John Romita Sr, will sway you...

And, as a final treat, here's the inside front cover with some background about the three heroes...

Penciled by Herb Trimpe and inked by Joe Giella, Marvel's Spider-Man, Storm and Power Man (1982) was commissioned by the American Cancer Society to discourage 'tween and teen smoking.

Oddly, the writer is unknown, but is suspected to be an ACS staffer.
Now here's where it gets wild...
Years later, the American Cancer Society reprinted the comic.
But, within a couple of months, it commissioned Marvel to re-do it...using the exact same script!

See the Result...

Tomorrow!

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Giveaways that Fought Commies, Sold Cars and Cigars, Showed How to Buy a TV and Avoid VD, and are now Saving Lives!

SPIDER-MAN, STORM AND POWER MAN "vs SmokeScreen" Part 1

Here's a hard-to-find educational giveaway comic that was both reprinted several year later...

...then re-presented that same year!
(We'll go into that tomorrow...)

Between chapters is "Window Shopping Fun"...

The Story Concludes...

TOMORROW!

Penciled by Herb Trimpe and inked by Joe Giella, Marvel's Spider-Man, Storm and Power Man (1982) was commissioned by the American Cancer Society to discourage 'tween and teen smoking.

Oddly, the writer is unknown, but is suspected to be an ACS staffer.

Please Support Hero Histories!

Visit Amazon and Order...

Free Comics

Giveaways that Fought Commies, Sold Cars and Cigars, Showed How to Buy a TV and Avoid VD, and are now Saving Lives!