Talk about lost potential...
Usually, when I do Golden Age Idol, my tongue is firmly (well, semi-firmly) in cheek. But today, we've a got a long forgotten super-hero who is just so chock full of silly potential, it's difficult to believe that no one has revived him. I refer, of course, to:
The Jack Of Spades!!!
Jack's only appearance was in Tops Comics #2001 (1944) (no, I don't pretend to understand the numbering--except, eat your heart out, Action Comics!!).
I call him Jack, because we don't know his secret identity...well, he doesn't actually have a secret identity...well, it's kind of confusing. Let's read his origin together, shall we?
Hey, a signed story in the Golden Age!! Groovy!
If he was so innocent, why was he in a gambling den? Hmmm??
Yow!!
Good luck with that, Jack...
Look at what we have here: Jack's not a real person--he's a mystically (?) created living embodiment of a playing card, who has vowed to wipe out all crime on earth!! He "can always be found in any deck of cards!!" Lordy, what a freaky concept. Freaky, yet brilliant!!
And they pretty much hew to that freaky, brilliant concept in the two Jack Of Spades stories presented in this issue:
I guess it's just a good thing that near every crime scene, there's a deck of cards. Fortunately, this was before computer solitaire was invented...in 2010 it might be like Clark Kent trying to find a phone booth...
And his adventures ended the same way:
Back into the deck he goes!! No Spade Cave, no secret identity cover-ups, he just shuffles off (groan...).
We're never clear on his powers. Of course, as with all Golden Age heroes, he's good with fisticuffs and acrobatics...
In the first story, he can't fly, needing help from his cape to rescue a damsel fair:
But in the second story, he's got full flight capabilities...fortunate, since he's against the Hawkmen:
He's apparently invulnerable, at least against disintegrator rays:
Look what we have here--a whacked out origin, to be sure. But told from a 21st century perspective, we've got a hero with mysterious origins and clear identity issues. He can appear anyway, within limits (and about computer solitaire--what if he could emerge from a computer, and not just a deck of cards???). When the case is over, he just vanishes--where? How?
This could be one hell of a fun comic, in the right hands. The right team could take this ridiculous Golden Age concept and knock it out of the park. Plus, need I point out the obvious tie-in possibilities with Jack of Fables?? Hmmm???
I'm dead serious: someone needs to pick up this character and run with it.
Jack Of Spades, you advance on Golden Age Idol--Ellen approved!!
BONUS: Apparently, Mars isn't the only place that needs women--
Usually, when I do Golden Age Idol, my tongue is firmly (well, semi-firmly) in cheek. But today, we've a got a long forgotten super-hero who is just so chock full of silly potential, it's difficult to believe that no one has revived him. I refer, of course, to:
The Jack Of Spades!!!Jack's only appearance was in Tops Comics #2001 (1944) (no, I don't pretend to understand the numbering--except, eat your heart out, Action Comics!!).
I call him Jack, because we don't know his secret identity...well, he doesn't actually have a secret identity...well, it's kind of confusing. Let's read his origin together, shall we?
Hey, a signed story in the Golden Age!! Groovy!
If he was so innocent, why was he in a gambling den? Hmmm??
Yow!!
Good luck with that, Jack...
Look at what we have here: Jack's not a real person--he's a mystically (?) created living embodiment of a playing card, who has vowed to wipe out all crime on earth!! He "can always be found in any deck of cards!!" Lordy, what a freaky concept. Freaky, yet brilliant!!And they pretty much hew to that freaky, brilliant concept in the two Jack Of Spades stories presented in this issue:
I guess it's just a good thing that near every crime scene, there's a deck of cards. Fortunately, this was before computer solitaire was invented...in 2010 it might be like Clark Kent trying to find a phone booth...And his adventures ended the same way:
Back into the deck he goes!! No Spade Cave, no secret identity cover-ups, he just shuffles off (groan...).We're never clear on his powers. Of course, as with all Golden Age heroes, he's good with fisticuffs and acrobatics...
In the first story, he can't fly, needing help from his cape to rescue a damsel fair:
But in the second story, he's got full flight capabilities...fortunate, since he's against the Hawkmen:
He's apparently invulnerable, at least against disintegrator rays:
Look what we have here--a whacked out origin, to be sure. But told from a 21st century perspective, we've got a hero with mysterious origins and clear identity issues. He can appear anyway, within limits (and about computer solitaire--what if he could emerge from a computer, and not just a deck of cards???). When the case is over, he just vanishes--where? How?This could be one hell of a fun comic, in the right hands. The right team could take this ridiculous Golden Age concept and knock it out of the park. Plus, need I point out the obvious tie-in possibilities with Jack of Fables?? Hmmm???
I'm dead serious: someone needs to pick up this character and run with it.
Jack Of Spades, you advance on Golden Age Idol--Ellen approved!!
BONUS: Apparently, Mars isn't the only place that needs women--
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