#12 May 2003

Cover
Contents
Black Terror
Doll Man


Blue Beetle

Magno and Davey
Cat-Man
Airboy
Crimebuster
Kaänga
Letters/Cover Gallery
Back Cover
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   -Doll Man and Crimebuster scans by me.

   -Doll Man is from the collection of Scott Nichols.

   -Black Terror scans by Bill Nolan.

   -Blue Beetle scans by Marble River.

   -Magno and Davey scans by Unknown, donated by Richard Croxton.

   -Cat-Man and Airboy scans by Mark Stratton.

   -Kaänga scans by Unknown.


Hello and welcome to the twelveth BIG issue of Spotlight Comics!!! Here you'll get a "5th week" dose of Golden Age goodness! This month we spotlight the "Big Guns" of Nedor, Quality, Fox, Ace, Holyoke, Hillman, Lev Gleason, and Fiction House. Enjoy!
Cover by: Jerry Robinson and Mort Meskin with coloring by Steve Rogers

Black Terror and Tim
Black Terror and Tim
    -Story taken from Exciting Comics #66
Better Publications, Inc. March 1949
     -Writer- Unknown
     -Artists- Jerry Robinson and Mort Meskin
    -A.K.A.- Bob Benton and Tim Roland
    -Known Powers- Black Terror: Strength, invulnerability Tim: None
    -Other information- An accident during an experiment with formic ether vapors gave pharmacist, Bob Benton, superhuman strength and invulnerability which he used to fight crime and espionage as the Black Terror! Not much about Bob's personal life was ever given but it was generally known that he, in some way, knew the Black Terror. His degree of strength varied but for some reason he could always be knocked out by a blow to the head. 
    Tim Roland was a delivery boy for Bob Benton who somehow discovered Bob's other life and became the Kid Terror (as far as I know though that name was only used in Exciting Comics #69). Tim had no powers of his own, thus slightly easier to beat than Black Terror. Though he played second fiddle to Black Terror for most of his career, Tim got to take center stage in Exciting #69 (reprinted in Pure Excitement Comics 24). 
    -Known Appearances- America's Best Comics 1-31; Black Terror 1-27; Exciting Comics 9-69

Doll Man
    -Story taken from Doll Man #43
Comic Magazines Inc. December 1952
     -Writer- Unknown
     -Penciler- Art Gates
     -Inker- Art Gates
    -A.K.A.- Darrel Dane
    -Known Powers- Can shrink to "doll size" and retain normal strength.
    -Other information- Darrell Dane was a chemist who discoverd a liquid that could shrink a human being to only six inches tall. His girlfriend, Martha Roberts, the daughter of Darrell's colleague Dr. Roberts, was threatened by gangsters, and Darrell took the formula and used his height to defeat the criminals. Later assisted by Doll Girl (Martha), he continued to fight crime using various modes of transportation including, at one point, a Dollplane.
    -Known Appearances- Doll Man 1-47; Feature Comics 27-139 (Doll Girl first appeared in Feature 77, but was then absent until 1951)
Doll Man and Doll Girl

Blue Beetle
Blue Beetle
    -Story taken from Blue Beetle #9
Fox Publications Inc. October 1941
     -Writer- Unknown
     -Penciler- Ramona Patenaude
     -Inker- Ramona Patenaude
    -A.K.A.- Dan Garret
    -Known Powers- Flight(?) and strength (varied)
    -Other information- Officer Dan Garret, bored of police work, became the costumed crime fighter, Blue Beetle! When Dan was shot in the line of duty, a friend, Dr. Franz, gave Dan the experimental drug, Vitamin 2X! Dan rapidly healed, & by taking the wonder drug, gained super powers! (As time went on writers seemed to forget about Vitamin 2X & Beetle gained & lost various powers.)
    -Known Appearances- All-Top Comics 4, 8-13; Big-3 Comics 1-7; Blue Beetle 1-60; Mystery Men Comics 1-31; Phantom Lady 13; Real Hit Comics 1; Tegra, Jungle Empress 1; Zago, Jungle Prince 1; Zoot Comics 13

Magno and Davey
    -Story taken from Four Favorites Comics #16
Ace Books Inc. November 1944
     -Writer- Unknown
     -Penciler- Louis Ferstadt(?)
     -Inker- Louis Ferstadt(?)
    -A.K.A.- Unknown and Davey Landis
    -Known Powers- Various magnet powers, Davey draws his powers from Magno via his suit.
    -Known Appearances- Four Favorites 1-26; Super-Mystery Comics vol.1 no.1-vol.5 no.5
Magno and Davey

Cat-Man
Cat-Man
    -Story taken from Cat-Man Comics #32
Continental Magazines Inc. August 1946
     -Writer- Unknown
     -Penciler- Max Elkans
     -Inker- Max Elkans
    -A.K.A.- David Merrywether and Katie Conn
    -Known Powers- All the powers of the cat family.
    -Other information- His parents and sister murded by bandits in the jungles of Burma, David was raised by a tiger and gradually aquired the skills of the cat family including 9 lives. Returning to America, David saw the rampant crime, and decided to fight it as a privite detective, later a soldier, and as Cat-Man! After her uncle tried to kill Merrywether and ended up meeting his own fate, young Katie Conn was taken in by David as his ward and became the Kitten.
    -Known Appearances- Cat-Man Comics 1-32; Crash Comics Adventures 4-5

Airboy
    -Story taken from Airboy Comics vol.8 no.4
Hillman Periodicals Inc. May, 1951
     -Writer- Unknown (GCD down.)
     -Penciler- Unknown (GCD down.)
     -Inker- Unknown (GCD down.)
    -A.K.A.- Davy Nelson
    -Known Powers- None.
    -Other information- Padre Martier, a monk in Capistrano, CA, had a vision about building the perfect plane. To fund this project, Martier turned to a less than respectable man named Sessler who wanted the monastery's land. With the help of an orphan named, Davy Nelson (who later found his father), Martier built his plane which was sabotaged by Sessler. Sessler then built a casino on the monastery while Davy built another plane, Birdie, in secret. Soon after the youth bombed the casino as Airboy.
   During WWII, Davey encountered the head of Hitler's "Air Maiden Squadron," Valkyrie, who sees the horrors of Nazi Germany and joins Airboy. The two went on to have many adventures over the years. 
    -Known Appearances- Air Fighters/Airboy Comics vol.1 no.1-vol.10 no.4
Airboy

Crimebuster
Crimebuster
    -Story taken from Boy Comics #47
Lev Gleason Publications Inc. August 1949
     -Writer- Charles Biro
     -Penciler- Al Borth
     -Inker- Al Borth
    -A.K.A.- Chuck Chandler
    -Known Powers- None.
    -Other information- Learning his father had been killed by the Nazi Iron Jaw, Chuck Chandler sets off around the world to find him wearing his school hockey uniform and cape. This would be his Crimebuster uniform until 1950 when a girl would refuse to be seen with him in his ridiculous costume. From then on he dropped the cape and kept only the sweater with blue dress pants. CB also kept a pet monkey, Squeeks, who saved his life more than once!
    -Known Appearances- Boy Comics 3-119; Text stories in Daredevil Comics and Silver Streak Comics 21

Kaänga
    -Story taken from Jungle Comics #1
Glen-Kel Publishing Co. Inc. January 1940
     -Writer- Unknown
     -Penciler- Alex Blum
     -Inker- Alex Blum
    -Known Appearances- Jungle Comics 1-163; Kaänga 1-20; Rangers Comics 13; Sheena, Queen of the Jungle 13
Kaänga

Spotlight Comics  #12. Published by Golden Years Publications, May 2003. All original material presented here and site design is property of The Golden Years and is not to be represented without permission from the site owner. All represented material, comics, covers, etc. is believed to be in the public domain and reprinted for historical purposes. If you wish you may use stories on your own site as long as you give me or the original scanner credit. I would appreciate it however if you would let me know before representing a story. Biographical information pulled from The Grand Comics Database, AC's Golden Age Hero and Heroine Directory, Pure Excitement Comics, and Jess Nevins' Golden Age Hero Directory.