Startling Comics
Entry updated 1 April 2024. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1940-1948). 53 issues. Better Publications. Artists include John Daly, August Froehlich, Leo Morey, Kin Platt, Leonard Sansone and Alex Schomburg, with Jack Binder also providing some artwork; Script writers include Donald Bayne Hobart and Charles S Strong. Approximately 68 pages until late 1943, then usually approximately 52 pages. Initially 7-8 long stories per issue, eventually going down to (usually) 4. Each issue also had additional short strips, short text stories and brief factual pieces. The "Ed Hamilton" who did lettering on some strips is not Edmond Hamilton.
Startling Comics' strips offered a mixed bag of genres – crime, Western, espionage, Humour, reporter – but there was always some sf. During the USA's involvement in World War Two most antagonists would be Germans, Japanese or fifth columnists, usually saboteurs; in sf series the protagonists were Superheroes. A few humorous strips had occasional joky sf elements, not discussed here.
The opening strip in #1 stars Captain Future, though not the Pulp magazine character of that name (see Captain Future), who also debuted in 1940. Startling Comics' Captain Future is Dr Andrew Bryant, a "studious young research worker" who is given two weeks' notice by his General Manager because his experiments are too costly – "my job his to show profits". He spends the two weeks working day and night to "develop an ultra-short wave for the transmission of radio and electrical impulses". Combining the infra-red band with the gamma ray, he is accidentality hit by the resulting Ray and on regaining consciousness finds he now has Superpowers. Overhearing a crime being planned several offices away he challenges the criminals, to discover he is exceptionally strong, can fire electric shocks and – after being thrown out the window – is able to defy Gravity. He can also pick up radio transmissions, fly using radio beams, read minds and stop bullets with a counter-magnetic field: calling himself Captain Future and donning a costume, he fights crime. His subsequent adventures include a device that turns off electrical current from a distance; "Nazonian" (this being prior to the USA entered the war) saboteurs who use electromagnetic rays; an earthquake machine (intended as a means to raise fossils to the surface, it was too powerful and fell into the wrong hands). Then for several issues the stories mundanely centre on a women's detective agency who regularly get into trouble, until #14, when "prehistoric invaders" attack – a "monstrous advance guard from Lemuria – the sunken continent" (see Theosophy); other genre stories include a lizard grown to enormous size; a giant Magnet that can destroy metal structures from a distance; a device that "can reduce anyone to an electrical potential" and then transport them anywhere (see Matter Transmission); Captain Swastika, who is a German imbued with the strength of a 100 men; chimeras; huge spiders with human heads and mechanical land octopi. These are usually the work of German or Japanese scientists, but US Inventions include a Death Ray, which Axis spies try to steal.
There are other sf and Fantasy strips in #1. Mystico the Wonder Man is a mummy resurrected by Mad Scientist Dr Slade, employed by Scraggs (who looks like Hitler and has a green-shirted gang) to produce an army of the dead to conquer America. Following an accident the mummy escapes: dressing fashionably (his acclimatization to contemporary society is immediate) he uses the "lost Magic of Ancient Egypt" to defeat them. Mystico, as he calls himself, goes on to combat Dr Symmes, a psychic researcher who has developed Lemuron, an Element that takes on the physical form of people's nightmares; other plots involve an Invisibility formula; a growth serum; harpies; Dinosaurs; a giant Magnet that guides meteors to crash into the US and a sea Monster. Apart from being overpowered, Mystico also benefits from receiving "psychic warnings". He last appears in #17. The Mysterious Dr X "master of the mysteries of occult science", uses Technology and Hypnosis to project his niece Cynthia's astral body into space to explore other worlds – he is able to view her experiences on a big screen. On the first planet she is attacked by dinosaurs, then taken by the locals to be sacrificed, so Dr X sends Cynthia's fiancee Bob to rescue her. Sadly Dr X only makes one more appearance, in #4, when Cynthia and Bob are astrally projected to the Moon to find what is causing tidal chaos on Earth: it turns out that we are being softened up for Invasion by the Moon king's army.
Biff Powers Big Game Hunter first appears in #2: he is usually employed by a circus-owner to provide exhibits, which include a Sabre-Toothed Tiger, an African race of giants, a man-eating plant – and creatures unknown to science from a "land which time forgot" in the Arctic (the text describes a "band of fierce white savages", which the artist draws and colours as Africans). Biff last appears in #17. #3 introduces Ace Buckley, who builds a Time Machine which is also a Rocket, so it can Time Travel at altitude and thus avoid materializing in the ground. He and girlfriend Toni's first adventure is to 1531 and Pizarro's conquest of Peru: Ace tries to prevent bloodshed but neither side listens. They continue to have adventures in history where the only genre element is the time machine: the intent is clearly educational, though reflecting the perspectives of the era. There is common ground with the early classic Doctor Who (1963-current) historical serials. Ace and Toni last appear in #10.
The Fighting Yank debuts in #10: the cloak of an American who died in the war of independence gives Bruce Carter, his present day descendant, superpowers, whilst the ancestor's ghost (see Supernatural Creatures) often helps out too. A Cliché is avoided, as the girl he fancies and who thought him a wimp immediately recognizes him in his new guise. He battles the Axis powers and their supporters: aside from the hero the stories were initially mundane, but after an army of faceless men appeared in #13, genre stories would occasionally turn up, such as the souls of the most evil men in history Reincarnated as monsters (#15); a cosmic ray machine that both distorts buildings and creates giant animals (#17) and a man who – after falling into a vat of nitro-glycerine – gains explosive powers and becomes the supervillain Nitro-Man (#27). Genre elements then decrease, with the Yank's last story being in #49. The Four Comrades first appear in #16, four patriotic youngsters from varied backgrounds who work together to fight crime and Nazis: aside from being costumed, one is an inventor and early on their nemesis is Black Satan – who has horns so might not be human – thus they might be deemed borderline genre. They last appear in #31. Pyroman debuts in #18: electrical engineer Dick Martin is electrocuted whilst testing a new dynamo, then not long after, he is executed in the electric chair for a crime he did not commit, but lives: he can now store electricity in his body. After escaping he becomes Pyroman (he glows as if aflame) and uses his electrical powers to clear his name, then fights crime and the Axis powers. His adventures feature a Force Field and a Disintegrator Ray; #37 has the Japanese discovering the "secret potion referred to by the author Robert Louis Stevenson in his story 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde'", which here allows them to change their appearance at will (see Shapeshifter); in #42 he faces a Seismofuge, a device which can stop the Earth's rotation at any given point, thus causing earthquakes at that location. His last strip in Startling Comics was #43.
#20 introduces the The Oracle: when US Army technician Bob Paxton finds a rusted container in British Guinea, the German parachutists for whom it had been left shoot him, also damaging the container. It releases a gas which had been intended destroying the senses – however, rust had reacted with chemicals and now Bob has a sixth sense of Precognition, able to foresee the future though only whilst unconscious. The Oracle's adventures include an attempt to heighten senses using "endocrine solutions" from gorillas – whose side effect turns the recipient into a gorilla, but retaining their personality. A German attempt to boost the power of its propaganda broadcasts "blasts a breach in the fourth Dimension", releasing a human bat imprisoned in the future: in gratitude he agrees to help them destroy the US war industry. The origin story of The Scarab appears in #34 – Egyptologist Peter Ward finds a tomb containing a papyrus that names him, saying he is the reincarnation of the writer – the high priest of the Cat-God. He puts on the accompanying ring and is turned into The Scarab, with the ability to fly. His story continues in Exciting Comics #42.
#41 saw all but The Fighting Yank and Pyroman dropped, with the two new strips being largely non-genre – though in one story journalist Front Page Peggy dies get involved with a plot to steal a new explosive capable of blowing up cities: the villains here dress up as dolls. Pyroman only lasted two more issues, being replaced in #44 by Lance Lewis, Space Detective. Lance had previously appeared in two issues of Mystery Comics. Set in the twenty-second century, the first tale has caped humanoid ants from Venus making Slave raids on Earth. #45 is part two of a story whose first part would appear in #47: the Mercurian Sun King uses a "force beam", intending to send the Earth and Venus into the Sun, so refuelling it. In #46 the less civilized of the two intelligent Martian species, previously suppressed by the other, rebels and plans to conquer Earth next. In #48, just after Lance requests a transfer to another job due to the peacefulness of the solar system, an "atomic energy nullifier" freezes (see Stasis Field) everyone in the City and humanoid lizards loot it: calling themselves "space gypsies", this is their regular tactic. #49 has "crab-men from space", though they are more like brains in jars (see Brain in a Box) with limbs (albeit with pincers): the aliens threaten to destroy the Solar System's planets one by one until they surrender. #50 includes space battles with invading amoeba men, whilst #51 has "Carla the Magnificent, Queen of Evil" who after being exiled from Earth for her crimes takes over Venus. In #52 a bitter scientist forces the inhabitants of a peaceful planet to become warlike. #53 has a plot to blackmail shipping companies when greeting cards carried by their Spaceships contain an "atomic catalyst" that will explode when triggered by an infant prodigy playing his violin on a popular television talent show.
Tygra of the Flame People debuts in #45: after crashing in the African jungle and drinking an entire bottle of Autorene, a new synthetic vitamin, Lynn Thomas is able to kill a lion with her knife (later she is able to lift a rhino above her head): the red-skinned locals duly worship her as Tigra, who seems to have been prophesied. Though a ruler, Tygra can be classed as a female Tarzan (see Sheena, Queen of the Jungle). In #47 she battles a slave-owning tribe of Amazons; in #48 a mad scientist is swapping gorilla and human brains. In #49 she meets an Atlantean scientist (see Atlantis) who achieved Immortality by blending himself with plants and taking root: after refining the process, his followers are able to walk. He plans to take over the world, since after 3,000 years he is bored. In #50 a relic Roman civilization is ruled by an Empress: Tygra overthrows her and they go back to electing Senators. #51 has a "land which time forgot", complete with dinosaurs. #52 has Ancient Assyrians who fled Babylon following the arrival of Cyrus then built a new Babylon in Africa. In #53 Vuldoom, an alien of stone who collects exhibits for his planet's museum, captures Tygra and her boyfriend.
Startling Comics was at its least interesting during World War Two, being packed with patriotic superheroes fighting Germans, Japanese or their agents – though some strips were still enjoyable when including bizarre elements. The portrayal of non-white races is often unpleasant (see Race in SF), though, comparatively speaking, Tygra is less guilty of this. The most interesting series were The Mysterious Dr X, partially because he seems more like a mad scientist than a hero; Lance Lewis, Space Detective; and Tygra of the Flame People. The artwork is varied: there are some good covers and panels which have clearly had time spent on them, while others suffer from being rushed. As a general rule, the later artwork is better than the early. Some characters who debuted in Startling Comics would appear in other Better Publications comics. [SP]
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