Wanted Doctor Light Iron Mask Mist Blue Lama Yellow Wasp

Even more of the E. Nelson Bridwell goodness that was the 1970s reprint magazine called Wanted The World's Most Dangerous Villains....

...here with the fifth and sixth issue of that series, mostly wonderful little treats from the Golden Age, with foes of Doll Man, Starman, Sargon and Wildcat, but it starts off with Green Lantern's battle against JLA foe Dr. Light....before going on with Iron Mask, Mist, Blue Lama and the Yellow Wasp!

Wizard Of The Light-Wave Weapons

First up, from the first story reprinted in the fifth issue is Green Lantern #33 (December, 1964) by Gardner Fox, Gil Kane and Sid Greene (under an original cover by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson), is the battle between Green Lantern and Doctor Light!



Hal Jordan, the alter ego of Green Lantern, starts the issue by facing himself over an award....but, that might be jumping ahead to much.  A little bit earlier, Hal and his pal, Thomas Kalmaku, were getting ready for the trophy presentation as Ferris Aircraft when Coast City was suddenly overcome by an Aurora Borealis, prompting Hal to investigate as Green Lantern.

Over the city, Green Lantern found Doctor Light, who was trying out his new light weapon, the Lightolater, and sends Green Lantern crashing into the ground, unconscious.  Green Lantern's ring keeps him from hitting the ground, but when Hal revives, Dr. Light is gone.  So, back at Ferris Aircraft, Hal prepares for the gala again, as his ring is searching for Dr. Light. Sadly, it finds the doctor just as Hal is going to accept his award, so he power ring's Tom into a "Hal duplicate" to get the award, so Green Lantern can face Dr. Light.  Dr. Light uses his weapon to send a VIBGOYR army after Green Lantern (light constructs as warriors based on the seven colors of the spectrum).  Hal only has trouble with the yellow one, but successfully turns it against Dr. Light and defeats the villain.  Hal returns to the gala, finding Tom as Hal, turns him back to Tom, and they exchange how their respective evenings went (with Hal dropping a lot of knowledge on light phenomenon as well).

Dr. Light first premiered fighting the JLA, with that story being reprinted many time, including in a JLA Giant, and then faced the Atom, in a story that has been reprinted a few times (including in an Atom Archive) as well.

The Man In The Iron Mask

The second story of the fifth issue is from Doll Man #15 (Winter, 1947) by William Woolfolk and Alex Kotzky (under an original cover by Al Bryant), with the mighty miniature Quality hero of Doll Man fighting against the dangerous menace of the man in the Iron Mask!



Darrell Dane was being tormented by a model plane, but it was an invention of Dr. Roberts, the father of his girlfriend, Martha, who suggested that this could be a weapon in Doll Man's arsenal, being the Dollplane!  Darrell couldn't wait to try it out as Doll Man, and used it to stop mob boss Don Vittorio, who looked like he perished in a car crash off a bridge into a river.  But, Don survived, burned badly, to find a kindly hermit who helped nurse him back to health (and showed off his collection of metal masks with key locks). 

Taking off his bandages, Don saw he was burned, killed the old man and vowed to live under an Iron Mask.  Doll Man was going after Frank Morbo (who had taken over the Vittorio mob), but was beaten there by the Iron Mask, who killed his former lieutenant, and took control.  Doll Man showed up, but was beaten by a headbutt from the Iron Mask.  Iron Mask then left Doll Man to drown in a fish tank, but Doll Man escaped that trap.  Doll Man then faced Iron Mask at the home of a stamp collector, but Iron Mask escaped the ground, but Doll Man wouldn't follow.  Waiting, Iron Mask returned and Doll Man stopped him.  Iron Mask had lost the key to his mask, and had to return or he would have starved in his mask.

Doll Man had a few reprints of his Quality tales in the Super Spectaculars of the 1970s, with new stories as a part of the Freedom Fighters to follow soon.

Finder's Keepers

Starting the sixth issue off by shining bright with the Starman story from Adventure Comics #77 (August, 1942) by Gardner Fox and Jack Burnley (under a Sandman cover by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon), as astral avenger faces the return of his most tenacious foe, the Mist!

Starman's foe, the Mist, escaped from jail after one of his henchmen, Whitey, had slipped him some of his inviso solution, so the Mist turned his cell invisible and escaped in the confusion.  The Mist had a new plan, using items people would find to hypnotize them into stealing for him.  This plan was fouled by Honey Jenkins, who tried to return her item to the police.  Ted Knight heard of these odd thefts from his fiancee, Doris Lee, and went to check out Honey as Starman.  Good thing, as the Mist's men were trying to kidnap Honey, to prevent her from revealing the plan.  Starman went to the Mist's new windmill headquarters, where he faced a few traps, and even had his gravity rod taken from him by the Mist, but was able to beat his foe with some reflected light.

The Mist had previously faced Starman once, returned again as Starman teamed up with Black Canary, then the Mist represented himself as a Black Canary foe in a battle with the JLA and JSA as a member of the Secret Society of Super-Villains..

The Man Who Met Himself

A nice surprise for the sixth issue, as this Sargon the Sorcerer tale from Sensation Comics #71 (November, 1947) by John Broome and Paul Reinman (under an original Wonder Woman cover by Harry G. Peter), facing off against his regular foe, the mysterious Blue Lama.


Sargon the Sorcerer was finishing his onstage magic show when he was met by two versions of his assistant, Maximillian O'Leary. 

Taking the two backstage to solve the mystery, Sargon is thrown into the otherdimensional world of his foe, the Blue Lama.  She took advantage of Sargon's confusion to draw him into her world.  She had him tied, unable to use his Ruby of Life (as he couldn't touch his bonds to control them), but he could control his Ruby of Life as she tried to take it from him.  This allows him to get free, where he escapes the Blue Lama and the Max doppleganger to return to the stage.  There, he faces his own duplicate....the Blue Lama in disguise!  The two battle, and she retreats, to face Sargon again.

Sargon was a member of the All-Star Squadron, but mostly featured in Golden Age comics, with a few reprints in the 1970s, as well as appearing in the Flash as a villain, and helping out in a JLA/JSA adventure involving Black Canary.

The Wasp's Nest

Last, but not least, taking a swing in the sixth issue, is a reprint of a  Wildcat story from Sensation Comics #66 (June, 1947) with no known writer and art by Joe Kubert (also under a Wonder Woman Peter cover), where he faces off against his old foe, the Yellow Wasp.




A crowd was attacked by giant wasps, and it was from an old foe of Wildcat's, the Yellow Wasp, who had escaped jail. 

The Yellow Wasp challenged police, until a radio call hit the office of Stretch Skinner, detective pal of boxer Ted Grant, with Stretch going into action (allowing Ted to change into Wildcat, and pursue his foe as well).  Wildcat and Stretch were captured, with the Yellow Wasp planning to kill Wildcat by flooding a room he was in with water.  Wildcat remained calm and floated on the water until he could reach a roof skylight and escape.  Wildcat had to find the Yellow Wasp, who was to leave Stretch to die on a subway track, but Wildcat found and freed him, then defeated the Yellow Wasp, throwing him back in jail.

The cover of the Wanted issue had the villain listed as the Golden Wasp, which caused confusion for years, but a Golden Wasp, who was the protege of the Yellow Wasp, faced Wildcat as as member of the Injustice Society in the JSA's 2000 revival.

The letters' pages still teased the idea of new villain stories in Wanted (which never did happen), along with letters about the first two issues, Golden Age stories like in the third and fourth issue, and let readers know of a new series of Secret Origins due out soon, also edited by E. Nelson Bridwell, with a first issue that had a Hawkman story facing the Gentleman Ghost (who would appear in the next issue of Wanted).

A History of Crisis on Earth-X

Earth-X....the nastiest of alternate Earths, one where the Nazis had won World War II, was introduced in Justice League of America #107 (September-October, 1973) by Len Wein, Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano (under a cover by Nick Cardy) with "Crisis On Earth-X"...


...in a story which also reintroduced the 1940s Quality heroes of Uncle Sam, Doll Man, Phantom Lady, Human Bomb, Black Condor and the Ray as the Freedom Fighters...



...the last of the heroes on that world, who were still fighting the Nazi menace.

The battle continued into the next issue (Justice League of America #108 of November-December, 1973 by Wein, Dillin and Giordano, entitled "Thirteen Against The Earth")...

....where, with the help of the Justice League of America (Batman, Green Arrow, Elongated Man and Red Tornado) and Justice Society of America (the Golden Age Superman, Sandman and Dr. Fate), the Freedom Fighters were finally able to live up to their name.

The combined heroes were able to free Earth-X from the Nazi forces, and the computer that led them under the image of Adolf Hitler (all by breaking the system that allowed the evil forces to mind control most of the population into following all the Nazis lies).

Freedom Fighters

The Freedom Fighters then had their own comic series, which lasted 15 issues from March-April, 1976 to July-August, 1978.  Oddly, the heroes, instead of remaining on Earth-X, to help in rebuilding that devastated world, came to Earth-1 (the home of the Justice League of America), where they were falsely accused of being criminals by a corrupt government and cooperating media, and spent much of their time on the run.

Along the way, the Freedom Fighters met up with heroes like Wonder Woman, Batgirl and Batwoman (real heroes knowing the heroic nature of the Fighters), as well as established DC villains like Cat-Man, and even faced a few foes all their own, such as the Silver Ghost, King Samson, Skragg the super-sniper, the Crusaders (invading super-heroes Americommando and his partner Rusty, Fireball and his partner Sparky and the aquatic Barracuda), the Renegades, as well as some unnamed aliens.

Still, they couldn't escape their past, as the Nazi menace of Earth-X had been resurfacing, as the first Firebrand (Rod Reilly), who was came from Earth-X in Freedom Fighters #11 (November-December, 1977, by Bob Rozakis, Dick Ayers and Jack Abel), came to tell them, as the Silver Ghost, who was eventually revealed to be an Earth-X Nazi, was also recruiting the Secret Society of Super-Villains (who were part of a multiversal attack on heroes, at the time having a group attacking the heroes of the Justice Society on Earth-2).

Brief Interlude

At some point after the end of the Freedom Fighters and Secret Society of Super-Villains titles of the 1970s, the Freedom Fighters went back to Earth-X to stay....but Earth-X popped up twice, once in Wonder Woman #292 (June, 1982) with Phantom Lady helping Wonder Woman against the threat of the Adjucator, who menaced the multiverse, one Earth at a time, and the rest of the Freedom Fighters getting help from a resurgence of Nazism on Earth-X with the help of Earth-1's Superman in DC Comics Presents #62 (October, 1983), before the collapse of the multiverse during the Crisis On Infinite Earths (which also revisited Earth-X, among others, starting with its fifth issue).

All-Star Squadron Origins

The beginnings of the Freedom Fighters were explored in All-Star Squadron #31 to #35 (March to July, 1984 by Roy Thomas and Rick Hoberg), with Uncle Sam leading lesser known Quality heroes like Miss America, the Invisible Hood, Magno, and the Red Torpedo, along with former JSAer, Hourman, to stopping the Japanese from attacking Pearl Harbor on Earth-X, which allowed the Nazis to win World War II later, as the United States held off participating until directly attacked in 1942 (which this series was set in).

The Ray, Black Condor and Uncle Sam stayed on Earth-X to continue the fight, with the rest of the Quality heroes (including folks like the Jester, Quicksilver, Midnight, the Spider, the original Firebrand, Manhunter Dan Richards and more) to come from Earth-2 to Earth-X during the Crisis On Infinite Earths (as revealed in All-Star Squadron #50 of October, 1985).

Reintroduced

The Ray, Black Condor and Phantom Lady were reintroduced to the DC Universe in the Ray #1 (February, 1992), Black Condor #1 (June, 1992) and Action Comics Weekly #636 (January 24, 1989) as Ray Terrill (son of Happy Terrill), Ryan Kendall, and Dee Tyler (student of Sandra Knight), with these kids eventually uniting with Uncle Sam, the Human Bomb and others to form a new Freedom Fighters, which were devastated in the opening of the Infinite Crisis by a Secret Society which included Deathstroke the Terminator, the second Psycho-Pirate, Zoom and Black Adam.  This seven issue mini-series also returned the multiple Earths with new twists, followed up on in Final Crisis, Forever Evil and Multiversity....

.....including a new Earth-X, with evil Nazi equivalents of familiar heroes to fight Freedom Fighters (as opposed to the evil versions of Earth's heroes represented by the Crime Syndicate of America of Earth-3).   Still, evil is evil, and there will always be Quality heroes ready to fight for freedom..

Freedom Fighters Quality

True, the team of the Freedom Fighters got their start in Justice League of America #107 and #108 (September-October and November-December, 1973) by Len Wein and Dick Dillin, and then a fifteen issue series that ran from March-April, 1976 to July-August, 1978...but the team started decades before that, in Quality Comics, and here's a quick look at those earlier appearances!

Doll Man

Darrell Dane was a scientist who developed a formula that allowed him to shrink in size...

...and he used this ability to save his girlfriend, Martha Roberts, taking on the identity of Doll Man, starting with Feature Comics #27 (December, 1939, by Samuel Maxwell Iger and Will Eisner).

Doll Man had many adventures over the years, remaining a feature in Feature Comics until Feature Comics #139 (October, 1939), as well as gaining his own book...

...first Doll Man Quarterly for its first four issues (Fall, 1941; Spring, 1942; Summer, 1942; and Winter, 1942)...

...before just becoming Doll Man with issue #5 (Spring, 1943), which lasted all the way to Doll Man #47 (October, 1953).

Among many foes, the biggest thing to happen to Doll Man was when Martha Roberts became Doll Girl in Doll Man #37 (December, 1951) during a battle with the Skull...

...where she replaced Elmo the Wonder Dog (who Doll Man first partnered up with in Doll Man #31, December, 1950),  as a regular helper in Doll Man. 

Black Condor

Richard Grey, Jr. was thrown into his heroics at birth, when his father and mother were killed soon after in Outer Mongolia and raised by the condors (where he learned to fly), eventually being taken in by missionary, Father Pierre, who is then also killed by raiders.  The young man uses his abilities to stop them, becoming the Black Condor, all in Crack Comics #1 (May, 1940, by Will Eisner and Lou Fine).  The Black Condor comes up with a paralyzing ray gun in his next appearance (in Crack Comics #2, June, 1940), and later, adopted the identity of Senator Thomas Wright (who died, and just happened to look exactly like the Black Condor) in order to vote in an important appropriations bill (in Crack Comics #11, March, 1941).

Even with the odd plots and turns, the Black Condor series lasted all the way to Crack Comics #31 (October, 1943), and along the way, he faced foes like Ali Kan, Ras Gyn, Sinh Fang, De Graf, the Sapphire King, the Master, Karlo Klug and his Kite-Men, the Great Yaho, Lung Woe and the Spinning Deaths, Monks Gallagher, the Sophisticated Lady, Senator Jasper Crow, Carl Stark, General Korn, Miranda, the Ghost-Gun Killer, the Hand, Mysto, Karle Kurt, Skull-Face, Draku and the Black Dragon Society, Senator Dan Bird and Fury the Eagle and Senator Joe Logan (and with all these Senators as foes, you'd think Black Condor was in Congress today!). 

The Ray 

"Happy" Terrill was a reporter who joined Professor Styne on a balloon experiment that took them to the upper stratosphere, during which "Happy" was thrown from the blimp into a "cosmic storm", turning him into a being of light energy who can fly and project energy, leading "Happy" to become the Ray to save the Professor from spies in Smash Comics #14 (September, 1940, by Will Eisner and Lou Fine).

The Ray continues his adventures through Smash Comics #40 (February, 1943), facing foes along the way like Anton Rox, Cadava the Crumbler, Bela Jat, Stradivous, Miss White and her 7 dwarfs, Slash Scraponi, Jud Marshwood and Slyme, Captain Blue, Lupo, the Beetle and Long Woo, the  Great Ivan, Dr. Kompf, Zimmerman, El Lobo, Von Ribboncounter, Monsieur Le Rat, Baron Hoff, the Khan, Hammer Hand, the Headsman, and Oscar Slott.

Human Bomb

Roy Lincoln was the son of a scientist, and that chemist is the reason Roy became the Human Bomb, after Axis spies broke into the professor's lab, trying to take the explosive formula 27-ORX, which Roy swallowed, gaining the power of explosive fists (as well as a degree of invulnerability to things like bullets) all in Police Comics #1 (August, 1941, by Paul Gustavson).

The Human Bomb never really was a cover feature on Police Comics, as Plastic Man hogged most of the covers (except for Firebrand, who later became a Freedom Fighter), even though the Human Bomb feature went on to Police Comics #58 (September, 1946).  Along the way, the Human Bomb fought lots of Nazis, the Black Vanguards, a phony Human Bomb, Hoiman Schtrugmeyer, Mr. Chameleon, the Three Mosquitos, Patch-Eye, Swami Kazombo, femme fatale Nola, vampiric Miss Walpurga, Mustapho, the Robber Baron, the Butcher Boys, the Shrimp, and Yarboe, as well as his loyal companion, Hustace Throckmorton, who gets an emergency blood transfusion from the Human Bomb, and develops explosive powers (in his feet) in Police Comics #15 (January, 1943) and the Bombardiers (Montague T. "Curley" McGurk, Swordo and Miss Red Rogers) who aid the Human Bomb in Police Comics #21 (August, 1943) and Police Comics #22 (September, 1943).

Phantom Lady

Sandra Knight was the daughter of Senator Henry Knight, and worked with Professor Abraham Davis to develop a black light ray projector in Police Comics #1 (August, 1941, by Arthur Peddy).  Sandra lost contact with the Professor when he was kidnapped, and saw the same men try to take her father, and sprung into action, stopping the thugs, who never got a good look at her, telling police they were stopped by a "phantom lady"...a name she kept.  Later stories had Sandra being related to the original Starman, who encouraged her to continue as Phantom Lady, and she perfected the black light ray projector, which then also allowed her to become invisible and the special glasses she wore which allowed her to see in the dark.

The Phantom Lady's run lasted until Police Comics #23 (October, 1943), and also included a crossover in Feature Comics #69, #70 and #71 (July, August and September, 1943) with the Spider Widow (Dianne Grayton) and the Raven (Tony Grey) who never became Freedom Fighters!  Villains she faced in her run included Tikoy, Captain Ortega, a phony Phantom Lady, the Bunny Man, and the Boss (the foe the three heroes faced).  Phantom Lady also never had covers during her original run, but did as she developed on her own (but, in stories outside her regular continuity, stories past Police Comics #23 weren't produced by Quality (and resulted in a color change in costume for Phantom Lady as well....) when the Phantom Lady returned to comics under Fox with Phantom Lady #13 (August, 1947) by Matt Baker.   

Uncle Sam

A national hero taking form in the comics with National Comics #1 (July, 1940, by Will Eisner and Dave Berg), and the man that eventually formed the Freedom Fighters, Uncle Sam!

Sam was a patriot, loyal to the United States during the Revolutionary War, and as he was dying to complete a mission for General George Washington, he had a vision of the "spirit of America", who joined with him, creating the hero known as Uncle Sam.

Uncle Sam carried a feature all the way through National Comics #45 (December, 1945), and even had his own Uncle Sam Quarterly that lasted 8 issues (from Fall, 1941 to Autumn, 1943), facing foes like the Black Legion (later the Black Guard), Scar, the Purple Shirts, Mias, Yiffendi, Yoritomo Rawlins, Heinrich Brun, Scalini, King Killer, Dr. Link and Dr. Blink, the Steel Helmets, Cadaver, the Witch Queen, Malvolo, the Jinx, Jeremiah Korntooth, Blackout, Dr. Dirge, Hamid the Astrologer, Boss Spring, Professor Bump, Count Torza, Zando and of course, plenty of Nazis, all with his little buddy...Buddy Smith!

Uncle Sam even had the first major hint of a Quality hero crossover, with a prose story in Uncle Sam Quarterly #2 (Winter, 1941), with Uncle Sam convincing Quality's villains they have to go back to work to face Hercules, Neon, Quicksilver, the Ray and Black Condor, or they'd all be out of business!

Uncle Sam was the backbone of the Freedom Fighters and we salute you!

The founding of the Freedom Fighters didn't get covered until DC Comics took over the characters, and it was in All-Star Squadron #31-35 (March-July, 1984, by Roy Thomas and Rick Hoberg), and told how these (and other) Quality heroes (like Miss America, Magno and Neon the Unknown as well as DC hero and JSA founder, Hourman) had originally started on Earth-2, and left to help Earth-X, and unintentionally allowed the Nazis to win World War II!

The team began in the two issues of Justice League of America (#107 and #108), and then had its own series for 15 issues that ran from March-April, 1976 to July-August, 1978...

...with stories by Gerry Conway, Martin Pasko, and Bob Rozakis and interior art by Ric Estrada, Mike Royer, Pablo Marcos, Ramona Fradon and Dick Ayers!

These issues had the team leaving their Earth-X, coming to Earth-1 and being thought of as villains, thanks to the Silver Ghost, and facing foes like King Samson, Skragg the Super Sniper, the Crusaders, Cat-Man, and the Renegades, as well as heroes like Wonder Woman, Batgirl and Batwoman, and having old Quality hero Firebrand (Rod Reilly, who appeared in the first 13 issues of Police Comics, even taking most of the covers from Plastic Man) join the team in Freedom Fighters #12 (January-February, 1978).

Firebrand

Rod Reilly premiered in  in Police Comics #1 (August, 1941, by Samuel Maxwell Iger and Reed Crandell), and he was the son of a wealthy steel tycoon, but wanted more from his life, working with ex-boxer Slugger Dunn to become the crime fighter known as Firebrand!

Firebrand fought criminals and spies like Baron Von Hanson, General Alfredo Muerte, Boss Slaine, Dr. Kruger and the White Gardenias, before ending his short run in Police Comics with issue #13 (November, 1942), all happening before Pearl Harbor (as explained in the early issues of All-Star Squadron).

But back to the Freedom Fighters!

After the 15 issues of the Freedom Fighters, and a few other appearances like DC Comics Presents #62 (October, 1983) and Wonder Woman #292 (June, 1982), the original Freedom Fighters fought their last battle with the Crisis on Infinite Earths, with later revivals focusing on new versions of the Quality characters.

But, with DC's Convergence, and the 2015 2 issues of Convergence: Freedom Fighters, Simon Oliver and John McCrea have brought new adventures of the old Quality Freedom Fighters (added Plastic Man to the team!).