Search SFE    Search EoF

  Omit cross-reference entries  

Blue Bolt

Entry updated 11 August 2025. Tagged: Character, Comics, Publication.

US Comic (1940-1953). Novelty Press (#1-#101), Star Publications (#102-#119). 119 issues. Artists include Harold DeLay, Jay Disbrow, Joe Donohoe, Ben Flinton, Jack Kirby, George Mandel and Jim Wilcox. Script writers include Jay Disbrow, Ray Gill, Tom Gill, Milt Hammer, Henry Kiefer, Bill O'Connor, Joe Simon, Mickey Spillane and Jack Warren. Initially 68 pages per issue, with 11 long strips and a short text story; by the end of its run it was down to 36 pages, with three long strips and a text story, plus short strips as filler. A banner "Weird, Fantastic Stories of the Unknown" was added from #107, with the title changed to Blue Bolt Weird Tales of Terror for #111 and #112, then becoming Blue Bolt Weird Tales #113-#119 (the numbering taken up by Ghostly Weird Stories #120-#124).

Blue Bolt's strips were a mixed bag of genres, including Westerns and Humour; but sf series, or series including sf elements, were common early on. After the change of publishers from #102, reprints were frequently used, with some issues entirely so (though a few had mainly original contents, some tales may be unidentified reprints): the Blue Bolt stories were from earlier issues, whilst – amongst others – the strips Spacehawk – see Spacehawk – and The Chameleon were reprints from Target Comics. The original stories from #112 on were usually Horror, reflecting the comic's expanded titles, though the Monster in The Creature in the Fens (#118) is an Alien (meeting an apparent human it declares: "But hold, you are no creature of Terra ... you are Zafara Zafan, sovereign Emperor of Arcturas, who drove me from the world of the Titans"); the same issue also has "Horror of the Future" where an alien invader's "absorbae machine" traps the Sun's rays and freezes a far future Earth (see Weather Control), with the intention of forcing it into surrender. The Simon/Kirby strips for the Blue Bolt character are good, as were a few later ones. Despite a promising start, the Sub-Zero Man's adventures quickly become routine. Sergeant Spook has his moments but the other series are unremarkable (though Dick Cole would get his own radio show) and their adventures usually forgettable. After livening up a little in the mid-20s, from #28 Blue Bolt became largely dull, a consequence of the USA entering World War Two (other comics also became more sober at this time, dropping Superheroes). Peace saw no immediate change, until the new ownership brought in reprints and a shift towards horror.

#1's opening story, not unsurprisingly, introduces us to Blue Bolt. College footballer Fred Parrish's plane is struck by lightning and crashes in a mountainous region: his body is taken to an underground laboratory where a Scientist declares: "To the normals of the outer world he seems dead, but not to the great Doctor Bertoff!!" Observing "the lightning is not yet dormant within his body", he chemically harnesses it within Fred using radium (see Elements), then puts him in a costume. Bertoff explains he will combat The Green Sorceress, who plans to conquer the world using black Magic and science once she gets hold of the radium supply Bertoff protects. In fact, she is watching through her crystal ball and disparages Fred's chances – though adding "But he is very handsome!" – and fires heat Rays at the laboratory. Fred is now Blue Bolt, "the human lightning streak", whose Superpowers include flying; with his lightning gun (see Weapons) he destroys the Green Sorceress's machines. She retaliates – at one point hugging an unconscious Blue Bolt – but is eventually forced to flee.

Simon wrote and drew #1; #2-#10 are collaborations between him and Kirby, the strip then passing onto other hands (Kirby and Simon would go on to create Captain America). #2-#10 have Blue Bolt and Doctor Bertoff – often using the latter's Inventions – frustrating the Green Sorceress's plans, whilst she is often hindered by her reluctance to kill the handsome Superhero. These stories include shrinking (see Great and Small); attempting to chemically change the Green Sorceress's personality (see Identity); remote controlled Robots; travel to the fourth Dimension where a carnivorous plant traps its prey by reading their minds (see Telepathy) and Shapeshifting into their desires (for Blue Bolt, a romantically-minded Green Sorceress); a scientist whose experiments turn him into a giant head with nearly useless limbs, who might be considered an early prototype of Kirby's later Marvel villain, Modok. Most of the action takes place Underground, but in the last few issues events on the surface (including World War Two) begin to intrude; the Green Sorceress gives up her ambition for world conquest (#10) and from #11 our hero fights evil on the surface – the strip is patriotically sub-titled "Blue Bolt the American" from #17, in #19 he also gains a sidekick, Lois, who is given some of his powers. The tales tend to be more mundane, but there is a last hurrah of excitement during #24-#26: #24 has the series acknowledging it is a comic strip: for example, Blue Bolt making a lasso out of a circular panel and a villain tearing through a panel to escape, only to reappear on the other side of the page (see Absurdist SF). The Green Sorceress relapses and returns in #25 and #26, much to Lois's irritation, and Monsters are fought. However, Blue Bolt then joins the US Air Force (#28) to become a different character in all but name – a mundane hero, not a superhero, with the genre elements – including the costume – disappearing (save for some later reprints). After #111, he only appeared in #116 and #117.

Other genre-related characters appear in #1. The scientists of Venus send an "Atom Ship" (see Spaceships) to Earth, but it passes through an Asteroid of frozen gas as it arrives, killing all but one of the crew. The survivor lands the ship but finds he is now an ice-man – everything he touches freezes or disintegrates from the cold (his feet accidentally crack open a dam's wall but his touch turns the resulting torrent of water to ice). Called The Sub-Zero Man, he is initially considered hostile by the authorities – until a volcano erupts and he freezes the lava flow before to reaches a nearby city. An "atom ray gun" (found conveniently in a laboratory near where he crashes) can temporarily revert him to his normal, indistinguishable from a human, appearance. He goes on to fight crime, including evil scientists (last appearance #39). Dick Cole is a "wonder-boy" who was abandoned on the door step of Professor Blair with a note from his widowed mother asking he use his "method of raising a child so that he will become a perfect specimen of manhood" on her baby. Taking the opportunity to prove his theories, Blair uses "special vitamin serums", a "special diet" and exposure to various Rays "from ultra-violet to gamma" to give him exceptional Intelligence and athletic prowess (see Children in SF). He becomes a military cadet and his stories are very rarely genre, but include an evil scientist who uses the same techniques to turn another child into an evil version of our hero, whilst #11 has a two-man Mecha and #26 a lost Aztec city (see Lost Races) (last appearance #101). Sergeant Spook is a police-officer conducting a chemical analysis when his lit pipe gets too close to a rack of chemicals, which explode, somehow converting him to an Invisible ghost who can make physical contact with people, but also walk through walls. Routine criminality dominates, but some tales are more exotic, with Ancient Egyptian ghosts in #9; possession of an inanimate robot (#11); cavemen (see Origin of Man) and Dinosaurs (#12). There is also "Ghost Town", where all the ghosts live and whose inhabitants can sometimes provide help – such as Noah Webster, who assists with a word problem (#85). Spillane wrote at least four of the strips (#26-#29) (last appearance #100). Other series with genre elements include Edison Bell, a boy inventor (see Edisonade): in his first story he builds a robot who becomes a sidekick, in #3 he discovers "how to smash the atom" and builds an atomic car; but his Inventions became less dramatic over time (last appearance #101). Runaway Ronson is an engineer who builds an advanced, art-decor looking train (last appearance #12). The Phantom Sub is an advanced submarine build by a trio of inventors, which is eventually given wings and the ability to fly (see Transportation). (last appearance #35).

Superhero The Twister, who can create whirlwinds, arrives in #13 but stays only until #19. #74 introduces millionaire adventurer Rick Richards: a war wound to his adrenal glands causes them to give him an exceptional dose of adrenaline after any loud noise, resulting in few minutes of remarkable strength (last appearance #102). Target and the Targeteers appear in #103 and #104, they are three costumed crime fighters without superpowers or gadgets, but wear bullet-proof vests with targets on them (so villains are impelled to shoot there). [SP]

links

previous versions of this entry



x
This website uses cookies.  More information here. Accept Cookies