The creative explosion that gave us the lion's share of the heroes in the DC Comics pantheon, along with a few interesting heroes from Timely and other companies, had largely ended by 1943.
So now what?
Well, when you have a clubhouse full of heroes, they need villains to fight! 1943 and beyond would see more villains created than new heroes brought to life.
Not all the new entries that year were villains though. We start with a very important mentor.
Alfred Pennyworth. I normally don't mention supporting characters in these articles, but Alfred is the peanut butter to Batman's chocolate. The Dark Knight is still the Dark Knight without Robin. He's still the Dark Knight without the Joker or Catwoman.
Batman isn't the Dark Knight without Alfred, period. That said, Alfred was originally a portly, comic relief character. The serials changed him to his currently accepted, tall, slim, noble form. That was more than 80 years ago. Might be time for an update...
House of Justice? Yes.
House of Crom? No.
House of Entropy? Possible.
House of Dread? He dusts the Batcave. Seems likely.
1943 gave us one of my all time favourite, if entirely under-used and under-rated, villains. Vandal Savage was born 10,000 years ago. He was given immortality by the strange energy of a meteor and lives forever.
Think about that. An immortal villain. Beat him and he just starts over. You can't EVER stop him.
That's seriously good for long term story telling. Like mine.
House of Justice? Yes. He's immortal. He'll show up all over the place.
House of Crom? See above.
House of Entropy? See above.
House of Dread? Nah. Just kidding. See above!
The first version of Cheetah, aka Priscilla Rich, menaced Wonder Woman in 1943.
House of Justice? Yes.
House of Crom? Hmm...
House of Entropy? As you'll soon see, super powers in my universe often have a sci-fi pedigree.
House of Dread? Sure.
Brain Wave. A classic JSA villain that I absolutely love. Psychic powers, mind control, so much to love. Dr. Satan would be proud!
House of Justice? Yes.
House of Crom? Unlikely.
House of Entropy? Yes.
House of Dread? A guy who can MAKE zombies?
Toy Man. A Superman classic. There are SO many stories to tell about a guy who commits crimes using toys as his motif. Fun!
House of Justice? Yes!
House of Crom? Conan does NOT play with toys.
House of Entropy? Absolutely.
House of Dread? Two words: Puppet clowns. Shudder.
Cavalier. A swashbuckling wannabe villain. So great. Needs to be reworked into something menacing.
House of Justice? Sure.
House of Crom? Swashing the buckle!
House of Entropy? Could happen.
House of Dread? No plans, but you never know!
The Crime Doctor. A very cool concept that has a myriad of applications for story telling. Dr. Nathaniel Thorne is a keeper.
House of Justice? You bet.
House of Crom? Scalpels, not daggers.
House of Entropy? Hmmm.
House of Dread? A doctor. A crime doctor. That's all I'm saying.
Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Never liked these two. I'm not a fan of Alice in Wonderland (well, except for the Jabberwock) so they never struck a chord. If I use them, it will be a radical redesign.
House of Justice? Sure.
House of Crom? No.
House of Entropy? No.
House of Dread? Here, if anywhere.
And now the really interesting entry from 1943. Quality Comics created a character called Miss America in 1941. Her alias was Joan Dale. In 1943, Timely created their own Miss America, aka Madelyn Joyce, later Madelyn Frank. Admittedly, their version is more 'super-heroine' than the Quality version.
I've already introduced my burgeoning Patriot Corps in The Sizzling Spider & The Sizzling Skull. Both Miss America versions are prime membership candidates!
House of Justice? Yes!
House of Crom? No.
House of Entropy? Sure.
House of Dread? Yes!
The list above are all still under copyright until January 1, 2039. I have plans or at least ideas for all of them.
But 1943 also gave us some characters who, thanks to lapsed copyrights, fallen into the public domain already!
Uncle Dudley. Ah, sweet, goofy Uncle Marvel. No power, usually, but he is always there with a kind word and advice. He has been reimagined in Say the Magic Word!
House of Justice? Already there!
House of Crom? Unlikely.
House of Entropy? Unlikely.
House of Dread? Oh, I think scaring the pudgy mentor figure could be a lot of fun.
And speaking of Dread. Mr. Mind. One of the silliest of all the Golden Age villains and THAT is saying something. I've reimagined him in a way that is both plausible and terrifying. I hope you like it.
House of Justice? Already there.
House of Crom? Unlikely. Hard to heft a sword when you have no appendages.
House of Entropy? Yes. Definitely.
House of Dread? Yes. Absolutely. My version is scary AF.
And then there's Sabbac. A sort of anti-Captain Marvel. Fawcett really liked the 'anti' versions. Sabbac, Ibac and Black Adam are all really just riffs on the basic template.
House of Justice? Sure.
House of Crom? I can see it.
House of Entropy? Unlikely.
House of Dread? He gets his powers from Hell, so yeah.
And that's about all I know of 1943. from here, the creative font slowly shuts down. My next articles will pull together several years, since the number of new characters now begins to drop dramatically, year on year.
There are still some GREAT characters coming before the Golden Age ends, but just not as many as we have seen over the previous years.
See you next week!
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