April 1954: Thinking Outside the Boxer
Captain Comet’s friend Prof.
Zackro takes center stage as a stand-in for Arthur Conan Doyle’s Prof. George
Edward Challenger in The Phantom Prize Fighter
(Strange Adventures 43, April 1954).
Just as Challenger was mocked by
London scientists for claiming to have found a “Lost World” of dinosaurs in Doyle’s 1912 novel of that name,
Zackro faces rueful researchers who claim that Captain Comet’s alleged mutant telekinetic
abilities are impossible.
The Man of Destiny agrees to fight
the heavyweight champion of the world to prove what he can do, but during the
bout something happens that even Comet finds weird—the champ’s fist sails
harmlessly right through him.
Comet discovers that the anomaly
was the result of an assassination attempt because a one-eyed, slug-like alien,
disguised as an electrical technician, had tried to disperse his atomic
structure.
And once again, Captain Comet
proved to be a precursor for the Silver Age. The cover image, of a prize
fighter’s fist slipping through his opponent’s ghostly body, was compelling
enough to be repeated a decade later on the cover of The Brave and the Bold 47 (April-May 1963) during the tryout run
for Strange Sports Stories. Even the
story’s title was the same.
Bruce Kanin:
ReplyDeleteAs with the Martian Manhunter, DC had a terrific superhero on their hands but didn't know what to do with him (Captain Comet). Both deserved to be elevated into their own books with great writing and art.
Vincent Mariani:
ReplyDeleteCC and MM's fate was a product of the era. Most new or revived superheroes of the 1950s failed, including Captain Flash, Fighting American, the Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Marvel Boy, and The Avenger. All of these were done well, yet quickly hit the 5¢ boxes with the top part of their covers removed.
Bob Bailey:
ReplyDeleteThanks Dan I’m proud to say I own a copy of this beautiful issue. We desperately need need a Captain Comet archive by John Broome and Murphy Anderson.
I replied:
I own a 40 and a 41, but not this one. Not yet.
Robert Ortega:
ReplyDeleteI loved the recent insertion of Captain Comet as a mentor figure in Clark Kent's (newly reinstated) Superboy career, especially re-establishing that CC's heyday occurred somewhere between the classic Mystery Men/JSA period and Kal-El's Smallville era, with the recognition that this time gap must now logically span multiple decades. While the sliding time scale is responsible for some massive continuity headaches, this is a good example of how to make it work as part of the storytelling. (I also like that Jonathan Kent is now presented as having been a bit of a Superhero fanboy in his youth as an explanation as to why the cut of Supe's costume so resembles the classic era despite his no longer being the trendsetter in-universe.)
I replied:
Weird, though, too, since Captain Comet was inspired by Superman, and not the other way around.
ReplyDeletePaul Zuckerman:
I think one reason we consider Capt Comet or the Manhunter as part of a new breed has to do with the change in DC artistic styles that evolved in the late 40s to the early 50s. The JSA characters did not have the more illustrative, realistic art style that began evolving at DC in this period, and which is fully on display by Murphy Anderson's art. I was surprised to realize that Anderson had not really been an artist on the Golden Age characters because he did such a good job channeling them, and his style evoked the period while being rooted in the illustrative style instead of the more cartoony style that had applied previously. One can see it especially in Carmine Infantino's or Alex Toth's art as their work evolved rapidly in this period.
It is curious that Capt Comet did not last but perhaps it was simply a house decision to stick with strictly anthology stories in Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space. While we focus on Comet, there were several other strips in the early issues of those books--including Chris KL-99, Knights of the Galaxy, and Interplanetary Insurance, Inc., and later Space Cabby. Indeed, Comet was probably the most successful of all of the strips except maybe for Space Cabby. It was only at the end of the 50s that Julie brought back continuing features.
I replied:
I think that's exactly it, Paul. You can see the Silver Age artistic polishing emerging in Captain Comet.
David Cunningham:
ReplyDeleteAt the end of this story the alien was taken into "protective custody". We never learned who the alien was being protected from (angered Earthlings?) nor his eventual fate. Was he held at some government facility (along with a lot of other items just "left over" from various DC science fiction stories) or allowed to return home (with a little "mental adjustment" courtesy of the Captain)? Another of those "loose-end" plots I would have liked DC to have pursued.