Bold Fashion Choices--Something In The Air In 1941!!

Sometimes, fashion ideas are just burbling in the getstalt, waiting to be plucked by anyone enterprising enough to use them.

For example, late November 1940 saw this debut of Black Lion and Cub in Fox's Wonderworld Comics #21, drawn by Charles A. Winter:

Well, February 1941 rolled around, and brought us Fox's Fantastic Comics #17, with Black Fury and Chuck, drawn by Dennis Neville under the pseudonym Mark Howell. These two panels are from #18 & #19, because the first story didn't have a single panel of them both facing the "camera" while in costume! The second panel, from #19, is drawn by "Chuck Winter" under a pen name...same guy as "Charles A. Winter"..??

One week later, Nedor/Standard brought us Exciting Comics #9 with the debut of the Black Terror and Tim, drawn by David Gabrielsen:

Man, that's a whole lot of similar costuming going on. And don't get me started on Black Fury and Chuck debuting in the same month as Black Terror and Tim!!

Of course, street dates can be approximate for much of the Golden Age, so it can be hard to judge who came first or who influenced whom. Also, many of these comics were being produced by studios, so the name we know as the artist might not be the guy who actually drew it, or came up with the initial sketch. Throw in that artists were often free agents, who drew for whomever would pay them that month, and it's certainly possible that there was some "recycling" of design ideas going on.

Or, at a time when comic companies were throwing out a dozen new super-heroes every month, it's certainly possible that three separate artists had similar ideas in a relatively close time period.

Or maybe something was floating there, in the cultural subconscious, burbling, inspiring three different artists (and maybe more)?

Whatever. Someone should revive all three duos and plop them in the same story...maybe investigating the costumer who sold them all similar outfits...?

Golden Age Idol--Sidekicks Most In Need Of A Better PR Guy

Really, sidekicks get the short end of the stick. Especially when you're the sidekick of a hero who is, by a total rip-off coincidence, a carbon copy of another, earlier hero. It's like you're a fourth generation photocopy.

Let's start with the Black Terror, who debuted in Nedor's Exciting Comics #9 (1941). Meek pharmacist Bob Benton invents a secret formula which makes him ultra strong. His adolescent pal, Tim Roland, bogarts some of the formula for himself, and becomes the Terror's sidekick.

But poor Tim get short shrift, as his costume is an exact duplicate of Benton's:

At least there's a good excuse why they have the exact same costume:

Man, it's too bad Hair hadn't been playing at that theater...

Meanwhile, a mere 3 months later, in Fox's Fantastic Comics #17 (1941), another hero debuts: The Black Fury! (There were several Black Furies in the Golden Age...this is #3)

Created by Dennis Menville and Mark Howell, dandy big-city gossip columnist John Perry was the Black Fury, who used his newspaper sources to track down and fight crime with his fists...he had no powers.

He even had a sidekick--Chuck Marley was the son of a slain cop.

And by pure sartorial coincidence, they also had identical costumes...


That's so sad. Most sidekicks, at least, had costumes that made them distinct from their mentors. Bucky, Robin, Speedy, Aqualad...they all got to dress differently than the boss. Even Toro's swimming trunks made him distinct from the Human Torch. No such luck for Tim and Chuck, who had to dress up like Mini-Me versions of the grown-up heroes. No respect, I tell ya.

Should we take note that their costumes are pretty damned close to his predecessor, the Black Terror? Except distinctly worse, obviously. At least Tim got the hand-me-down of a good costume. Chuck got the copy of a swipe.

Hmm, Black Terror, Black Fury, both had black costumes with skull motifs...probably just a coincidence, right?

But the coincidences keep on coming. Because poor Tim never got a sidekick name. Not Kid Terror or Terror Jr. or Little Terror, or even Timmy Terror. Nope, he was just "Black Terror's sidekick." That's how the crooks referred to him...that's how the press referred to him. Hell, that's how he referred to himself!!

Poor kid...but at least he was luckier than Chuck. Because Chuck did get a real super-hero name, sort of, in a watered down, fourth generation sort of way:

Again?

Yup. His super-hero name was Chuck. Junior partner in "Black Fury and Chuck." Even Black Fury called him Chuck in public:

Pity the poor plight of Golden Age sidekicks who happened to be created by writers and artists with limited imaginations. Apparently spent by the creative effort needed to invent the hero, they said "Oh, my brain is tired. Let's just give them the exact same origins, exact same powers, and exact same costumes as the grown-up. Easier to draw that way, too! And oh, I'm too tired to think up another hero name..." Come on, guys, even a lameoid like Stampy got his own name, at least!

Timmy (a.k.a. The Black Terror's Sidekick) did win in one other fashion: he got his own catch phrase:

Oh, Golden Age, how I love you...so let's give the sidekicks some love, too. Golden Age Idol is now accepting nominations for real super-hero names for Tim and Chuck. Leave 'em in the comments section...

Black Terror and Tim shots are from Exciting Comics #9 and #10 (1941). Black Fury and Chuck panels are from V-Comics #1 (1942).

Great Breakthoughs In Illicit Drugs

It turns out that crack was actually invented 40 years earlier than we thought:

And this was some seriously nasty stuff, apparently:

Fortunately, super-hero The Black Fury was around to stop the spread of that insidious drug, and we were spared the crack epidemic until the 1980s...

From V-Comics #1 (1942). Much, much, MUCH more on the Black Fury tomorrow. Or, rather, more on his poor, poor sidekick.