Fawcett 1941 Week--Master Comics #16 (Part 1)!!

One of the grand things about being stranded in 1941 is trying to learn all these damn new characters.

The most daunting task of the Golden Age must have been...how to fill all those damn pages?? With every comic essentially 64 pages with no (or few) ads, and several books of that length to fill, one thing was key--you had to come up with characters. More and more characters.

Sure, you had your obvious headliners. But after that? Throw everything you can at the wall and see what sticks. And next month try it again. And again.

So yes, 1941 is filled with heroes whom you've never, ever heard of before (unless you're Roy Thomas). And, in all honestly, there were a lot of crappy, generic, cliched boring characters. But at least it meant that every comic was going to an interesting hodgepodge of old and new, full of experimentation. (And compare to the DC Flushpoint, where the 52 "new" #1s in the "history making" new DC Universe...all feature the same old characters, without much trace of any new characters)

Which brings us to...

Minute-Man? Who the hell is that? Well, we'll actually get to him next post. Master Comics #16 is actually lead off by our old friend:

Ah, Bulletman (and Bulletgirl, of course).

Now, earlier today I wrote about how, in July 1941 everyone except Timely was shying away from having their heroes fight actually Nazis. This is exhibit #1, as the evil Von Krantz--with no actually national origin presented (although many of his henchmen have German accents), is just a saboteur who wants to destroy America.

But first, Jim Barr, Bulletman, has to rescue a man committing suicide (yes, I know I showed you Ibis doing that yesterday. It seems suicide was a running concern in the Fawcett universe...).

...except he wasn't trying to kill himself!!

Well, Von Krantz eventually gets his cannon, and...

That's right, Sergeant Kent...no one would have the nerve to attack America...yup, nobody.

Giant bombers? Those are some fifth columnists!!

So, Jim and Susan fly west...which, if you believe Charles Sultan's drawing, involves them actually heading east, with a flyby of Saturn...

Von Krantz is ready to fire his big gun and destroy Los Angeles:

Well, of course a huge mortar shell couldn't hurt Bulletman, as he and Bulletgirl whoop on some "fifth columnists"...

...and knock those giant bombers out of the air!

Oops, right on top of Von Krantz!

Yup, that's it. No need to follow up on whom Von Krantz was working for, or where he got "giant bombers," or....nope, America is safe and sound!!

Next up: The Devil's Dagger!!

Who??

This is one of those characters no one has ever heard of. He lasted less than two years, and DC never chose to revive him. In Carterville (woo hoo, another fictional city!), wealthy scion Ken Wyman slums it as a beat reporter for the Carterville Daily Blade. How wealthy is he?

He has a chauffeur and a car named Speed Queen, that's how wealthy!! Jealous much, Clark Kent?

And when he goes to fight crime, he puts on this foppish costume...

...and occasionally throws knives:

And then he and his chauffeur beat up the crooks!!

Although how he manages to keep his identity secret when Pat keeps blurting it out in front of everyone is a good question:

And the mysterious Mr. H, Carterville's master criminal, escapes at the end of every story. Rewind for next week and start over.

Except...except Devil's Dagger has introduced us to the greatest character find of 2011, courtesy of 1941: the Daily Blade's editor, Burton (I don't think he ever got a first name). This guy is like J. Jonah Jameson on a meth binge:

Those are all from just this one issue! DC--you have to bring back Burton. YOU HAVE TO!! I'm not giving you any choice in the matter!! We want Burton!!!!

Next up: the mysterious El Carim!!

See, his name is Miracle spelled backwards!! How clever.

Oh, and that's not him on the throne in the picture above...that's his arch enemy Olbaid (just guess what to do with his name!! Guess!!)

No, Carim is another one of those damned magicians who can do literally anything:

Yup, he just goes around in a turban and "magic" monocle, waving his hand and occasionally deigning to actually say a magic word or such. Yawn, right?

Oh, and he gets into magical showdowns with villains that are about as enthralling as watching others play D&D:

El Carim is another guy who never made it to the big leagues, never appearing again (as near as I can tell) after Master Comics #32.

But you know what? We're still only 24 pages into this 64 page beauty, so check back later today for more enthralling B heroes!!