Remembering Artist Joe Kubert

Remembering artist Joe Kubert on his birthday (September 18, 1926 - August 12, 2012) with a couple of incredible Batman covers he did, featuring the Gentleman Ghost....for Batman #310 (April, 1979) and Batman #319 (January, 1980).

Wanted Dr. Clever Gentleman Ghost Dr. Glisten Captain Cold Mister Who

E. Nelson Bridwell didn't make it easy for future comic historians.  While it was great seeing stories of Johnny Quick, Hawkman, Hourman, Flash and Dr. Fate in Wanted, The World's Most Dangerous Villains, these villains he chose for the seventh and eight issue....

Doctor Clever....Gentleman Ghost (okay, not a bad choice, but he isn't on the Nick Cardy cover!)....Doctor Glisten....Captain Cold (good one there!)....and Mister Who!

Still, here there are!

The Adventure Of The Human Streak

First up for the seventh issue of Wanted from More Fun Comics #76 (February, 1942) by Mort Weisinger and Mort Meskin is the story of Johnny Quick facing a new speedy menace, thanks to his reoccurring foe, Dr. Clever (under an original cover of Dr. Fate by Howard Sherman)!


Johnny Quick's foe, Dr. Clever, fakes his own hanging in prison to get free, and continue his war with his foe. Dr. Clever has a new trick up his sleeve, a ray that gives whomever he shines it upon super-speed, and uses it on his henchman, Breezy.

After sending Breezy on a looting spree, Dr. Clever has his man confront Johnny Quick in the ring (as Johnny was using his speed formula in a boxing exposition to raise money for the USO).  Breezy beats Johnny, and Dr. Clever takes him back to his lab, where he leaves Johnny in a heated cage to perish.  Johnny gets a little extra boost from his speed formula, frees himself, and is able to defeat both Breezy and Dr. Clever.

Dr. Clever had faced Johnny before in More Fun Comics #74, and would return in More Fun Comics #78 and #89, while Johnny Quick would eventually go on to Adventure Comics (with many of these tales reprinted, and later, be a focus of the retroactive comic, the All-Star Squadron).

The Crimes That Couldn't Have Happened

Next up, is a tale of Hawkman and his invisible foe, the Gentleman Ghost (so invisible he didn't make the cover) from Flash Comics #90 (December, 1947) by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert (with original Flash cover by Carmine Infantino and Frank Giacoia).


Gentleman Ghost returns (his first appearance reprinted in Secret Origins #1), this time having taking the loot from a locked bank vault.  Hawkman and Hawkgirl spring into action, finding out he had taken the jewels before it was placed into the vault.

The Gentleman Ghost strikes again, taking a pharaoh's ruby from a museum, but his gives Hawkman a hint how to trap his foe.  Posing as archeologists having just returned from Africa with a precious gem, the Gentleman Ghost tries to rob the Hawks, who had a phony gem rigged with a camera to take his picture.  In battle with the Ghost, he tries a weapon on the Hawks, which explodes on him, and he disappears.  Checking the camera footage, Carter and Shiera still are unsure whether he was really a ghost.

Gentleman Ghost would return, to face not only the Golden Age Hawkman, but the Silver Age Hawkman as well, revealing that he really was the ghost of Gentleman Jim Craddock! 

Dr. Glisten

The last adventure in issue seven was from Adventure Comics #72 (March, 1942 under a Starman cover by Jack Burnley) with an Hourman (Rex Tyler, the man with power for an hour) story by Ken Fitch and Bernard Baily, featuring his foe, Dr. Glisten.

While patrolling, Hourman comes across a hit and run that was really a kidnapping, taking submarine Captain Frank Preston.  The Captain was taken by Dr. Glisten, who used his hypnotic powers to enslave himself a submarine crew, who he planned to use on his own submarine to loot the seas and blame it on enemy subs.  Hourman tracks down the villain, and puts the lights out on his nefarious scheme.

This was the only appearance of Dr. Glisten, but Hourman had many adventures in Adventure Comics with quite a few of them being reprinted.

The Big Freeze

Wanted #8 starts off with more recent villain, that of Captain Cold, and his second story from Flash #114 (August, 1960) by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson (under an original cover by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella).


Leonard Snart was up for parole, with Iris West taking Barry Allen there so she could testify. 

Barry then appeared as Flash to testify as well, recommending Captain Cold not be let go.  The prison board agreed, but Snart was able to escape anyway with a refrigeration device he had made.  As Captain Cold, Snart approached Iris West, who informed him she wouldn't have anything to do with him even if he was the last man on Earth.  Captain Cold worked on that, with a new device that froze everyone in Central City except those two.  Barry, being outside of the city, heard of its plight, and sped home as the Flash, breaking through the ice barrier surrounding the city.  Inside, Flash faced off against Captain Cold's cold illusions and real ice threats to knock out his foe, and with Iris' help, turn off the device freezing Central City.

Captain Cold had faced Barry before during his original Showcase run (reprinted in Treasury form), and would repeatedly return to face the Flash!

Mr. Who

Last but not least for the eighth issue, is the first appearance of Mister Who from More Fun Comics #73 (November, 1941) by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman, with Sherman also providing the original cover with Doctor Fate!



Dr. Fate shows up to stop hoods from robbing a museum, but their boss, Mr. Who, gets the painting he wanted and escapes. 

Dr. Fate finds Mr. Who's headquarters, and confronts him, but is surprised by the power of Mr. Who, enhanced by Solution Z, which gives him powers of strength, regeneration, growth and camouflage.  Capturing Dr. Fate, Mr. Who tells him the tale of how he was a sickly youth, and developed Solution Z to give himself a new lease on life.  Leaving Dr. Fate to face a giant spider, Mr. Who goes out to steal a diamond.  Dr. Fate escapes the spider, tracks down Mr. Who, and faces him on a boat, where Dr. Fate (still not use to his lesser power with his half helmet), throws Mr. Who through the boat, to the bottom of the lake.

Mr. Who would return a few more times in More Fun Comics (only reprinted in the Doctor Fate Archives), and even later, as a member of the Monster Society of Evil (facing Hawkgirl, Hourman, Dr. Fate and Sandy) introduced during the Crisis during World War II (and tying in with the next issue of Wanted).

Proceeding to the end of Wanted, having Batman, Flash and Golden Age stories (though no Golden Age Flash) with one more issue left (though the letter pages didn't foreshadow this).  Hope was still there, with possible promises of new stories, and perhaps an all female issue of Wanted, with Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Cheetah or the Huntress!

Secret Origins 1 of 1973

To be fair, the title was Secret Origins, and boy did it deliver.

With issue #1 from February-March, 1973, you got the origins of Superman, Batman and the Flash, as well as the first story of Gentleman Ghost (but, to be fair, no origin at the time for the supernatural foe of the Golden Age Hawkman and Hawkgirl).

All this under a beautiful cover by Nick Cardy, and edited by E. Nelson Bridwell.

Where did these tales come from, and how did they fit them all in one normal sized issue?

Well....

Superman

The origin of Superman was first up, and it was all of one page from Action Comics #1 (June, 1938) by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, detailing how a boy rocketed from a dying alien planet to land on Earth, where he possessed powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men, and would use them to fight the forces of evil...

....pretty straight forward and simple, and the first time this story had been seen in its original form in over 30 years!

So much more would later be added to this story, but everything you needed to know was on that page, even an explanation of how this man from another planet had super powers!

 

Batman

A little longer was the origin of Batman, detailing how young Bruce Wayne's parents were killed by a mugger, and that changed the boy's life, filling full of resolve, giving the rich young man an obsession to track down criminals, striking fear in their hearts by being dressed as...

...a bat!

This was two pages, the first two from Detective Comics #33 (November, 1939) by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.

Another origin that had so much added to it over the decades, but a strongly written and drawn beginning, sure to capture the imaginations of readers for years to come, as later telling of Batman's origins proved!

Gentleman Ghost

Now, the Ghost (later called Gentleman Ghost) didn't really get in origin in this tale from Flash Comics #88 (October, 1947) by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert, but instead started a mystery of whether or not this thief really was a ghost, as he faced off against the original Hawkman and Hawkgirl (though this cover was not the one they usually alternated with the Golden Age Flash), so likely this tale's reprint was included more at the behest of this book's editor, E. Nelson Bridwell (who was also working on a book called Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Villains at the time, which reprinted classic confrontations of heroes and their greatest foes.....).

Still, it took quite some time, and a bit of travel over multiple Earths, but readers did get an answer to whether Jim Craddock was really a ghost (and, along the way, he even got to act the hero for a time!).

Flash

It was the origin of the Silver Age Flash which ended this book, though Barry Allen did read the adventures of Flash (Jay Garrick) from the Golden Age, with Barry's first appearance as the Scarlet Speedster from Showcase #4 (September-October, 1956) by Robert Kanigher, Carmine Infantino and Joe Kubert.  This details how police scientist Barry Allen was struck by lightning in front of a batch of chemicals, which gave the man super speed, which he used to keep his fiance, reporter Iris West safe, and, in this story, defeat the Turtle Man.

Best of all, editor E. Nelson Bridwell summed up a little of the additions to Superman and Batman's origins, as well as giving a little detail on Gentleman Ghost and the Flash, starting what would be a seven issue run of issues giving the origins of DC's greatest heroes (along with covers by Nick Cardy, where he would sometimes summarize the origin in one iconic image), all to get you excited about reading reprints (as had been done when DC collected many origins in 1961 in that Secret Origins book).

As a reader, who could ask for more?  Like Supergirl, Spectre or Robin maybe?

Gentleman Ghost Makes Mystic Menace In Midway

That supernatural foe of Hawkman, Gentleman Ghost, comes to make trouble right here in Midway City, bringing along magical villains Matter Master and Felix Faust...  ..forcing Hawkman to recruit Hawkgirl and the Atom to help in, in this October vignette from the 1978 DC Calendar Of Super-Disasters by Al Milgrom.