Atom Blake the Boy Magician: Wow Comics #1. Atom Blake is a scientific wizard, with all sorts of fantastic abilities. He is being raised by the Pages: Aunt Nora and Uncle Joe when he realizes he's not like the other kids. He's as strong as several men, fast, and a mental marvel. When he asks his Uncle Joe about it, he finds out that Joe was best friends with Stuart Blake and Blake left a coded message for Atom. Atom is able to read the code that tells him how his father and mother were scientists and creating a metal that was bonded with all the known elements and make the energy available to mankind. However, exposure to the rays given off kill an ape, and the Blakes realize that someone would have to be slowly treated to handle the rays. They begin the treatment on their son. The rest of the message outlining the source of the element and his parents' fate is missing. Also left for him, is a magical ring with an inscription in the same mathematical code as his father's message. All he has to do is make a wish, and the ring makes it happen, sort of a cross between Wonderboy, Green Lantern, and Ibis. He has all sorts of adventures with friends Janey Smart and Homer "Dusty" Davis.

Atom Blake's magic ring utilizes the energy of that his father created, sometimes called a sun energy and because of the treatments Blake underwent as an infant, he's able to control this energy and make it do all sorts of things such as turn dogs to stone. Although he does not wear a costume he takes pains to do his deeds secretly, his friend Dusty being the only one to know he has special abilities.

Balbo, Boy Wizard: Master Comics #33. Balbo is the son of a stage magician and uses real as well as sleight-of-hand magic. His younger brother Frankie helps.

Buck Jones: Master Comics #7. Comic book western adventures based on the B-Western actor Buck Jones. At the time Buck Jones was probably as famous as Tom Mix or Roy Rogers and was licensed as a comic book character.

Bulletgirl: Nickel Comics #1 (as Susan Kent). When Susan Kent discovers her boyfriend Jim Barr is Bulletman, she decides she wants to help him combat crime. He makes a helmet and costume like his for her and they become a crime-fighting duo. She's a member of the Crime Crusaders Club. The helmet allows her to fly and repel bullets.

Bulletman: Nickel Comics #1. Police scientist Jim Barr discovers a drug that grants him super strength and intelligence. He then creates a helmet that allows him to fly and repel bullets (actually the helmet attracts bullets to it instead of the body but why quibble). Originally slight of build, he wears oversized clothes to disguise the change in his build. Eventually he's partnered with the similarly garbed Bulletgirl, their dog Slug as Bulletdog thanks to a gravity collar. He's a member of the Crime Crusaders Club.) NOTE: Comic afficiando's are quick to point out that Barr discovered the formula before puny Steve Rogers underwent a similar transformation to become Captain America.

The Bulletman family

Captain Kidd: A young boy wears a home made cape and goes around having adventures as Captain Kidd. A humor strip, the boy's age seems to vary with the stories as well as the level of seriousness of the stories. He's sometimes a young boy at other times possibly a young teen.

Captain Marvel: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. Newsboy Billy Batson lives on the streets after the death of his parents and being thrown out by his greedy uncle. One evening a stranger approaches him and takes him into the subway and on a fanciful train that transports him to the wizard Shazam. The wizard reveals he knows all about Billy and has chosen him to become a champion with abilities granted by gods and past champions. When Billy speaks the wizard's name he becomes the adult Captain Marvel. Cap has the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. When as Captain Marvel he manages to stop the radio destroyer (Dr. Sivana), Billy is given a job as radio broadcaster. NOTE: Captain Marvel's face is based on actor Fred McMurray who would later appear as a Captain Marvel-esque hero in a dream sequence in a movie.

Captain Marvel, Junior: 1941, Whiz #24. During a battle with Captain Marvel, Captain Nazi is knocked unconscious into a lake where he is rescued by young Freddy Freeman and his grandfather. Nazi repays this kindness by killing the grandfather and almost killing Freddy if not for Captain Marvel. When doctors hold out no hope for Freddy's recovery, Billy takes him to the wizard who claims he can do nothing to change things, but Captain Marvel can grant a portion of his own power. Billy says Shazam and changes to Captain Marvel and Freddy awakens and speaks the hero's name. Suddenly Freddy is healed and costumed like Captain Marvel only in blue instead of red and a red cape instead of white. As Freddy, he is lame as a result of his injuries. NOTE: Captain Marvel Jr. marks the first attempt in comics to create a kid version of a hero that was not a side-kick. Also, he was not really marketed to the exact same audience as Captain Marvel in that his adventures were drawn more realistically initially by the incredible Mac Raboy. Junior has the almost unique problem of being unable to say his own name since it's the words "Captain Marvel" that trigger his change. The Fawcett villains Ibac and Sabbac share this affliction with their respective names.

Captain Midnight: 1938 on the radio. At Fawcett: 1942, Captain Midnight Comics. Captain Albright had served as Captain Midnight years ago comes out of his retirement now that his country needs him once more and does so as a costumed hero. His costume has a glider chute and he carries blackout bombs and a knife as well as leading his Secret Squadron made up of assistants Joyce Ryan, Chuck Ramsey, mechanic Ichabod "Ikky" Mudd, and two teenage sidekicks. Once when radioing them for help by "Calling S. S.! Captain Midnight calling S. S.!" he instead reached Fawcett's original aviator hero Spy Smasher.

Captain Venture. Nickel Comics #4. Sci-fi adventurer ala Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.

Commando Yank: 1942, Wow Comics #6. War correspondent Chase Yale not only reports the news but puts on a loose fitting blue and gray costume to fight the enemy, sort of a working man's Captain America. When the war ended, the strip continued with him narrating his war-time adventures. But, like many of the patriotic heroes, he quickly faded from view now that his reason for being was gone.

Crime Crusaders Club: Master Comics 41. The Crime Crusaders Club met only the once and consisted of Bulletman, Bulletgirl, Captain Marvel Jr., and the Minute-Man. In it, Minute Man charges villains for bullets with which they have a limited amount of time to catch him and kill him.

Dan Dare: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. Dan Dare, Private Eye.

Devil's Dagger: 1941, Master Comics #1. To quote his own blurb: "Striking terror into the hearts of criminals in the city of Carterville is the shadowy figure famed as the Devil's Dagger! But only one person, Pat Gleason, knows that the mysterious gang smasher is, in real life, Ken Wyman, star reporter of the Carterville Daily Blade." He wears a tophat, suit mask and red cape and Pat is his chauffeur driving the souped up Speed Ghost. His weapon of choice is a red-handled stilletto.

Diamond Jack: 1940, Slam-Bang #1. As described in the text of his first adventure: "Diamond Jack, in possession of a miraculous diamond given him by an old magician, becomes physically strong and mentally beyond all ordinary mortals. As instructed by the aged magician, Diamond Jack uses the wizardry of the magic gem to aid the worthy." In his first adventures, he is able to do all sorts of magical things such as turning bullets into flowers, healing a man mortally wounded, etc, making him more of a magician hero along the lines of Dr. Fate or Ibis than most reports on this obscure hero would lead to believe.. Later, his powers seem to have been downgraded, the ring allowing him to produce solid objects as well as giving hims various Superman-like abilities: strength, invulnerability, super senses etc. Like Green Lantern the effects only lasted as long as he concentrated on them. However, he never wore a colorful costume which may be why he's not remembered by many nor has ever been revived outside of fan fiction. Which is a shame really.

Dr. Voodoo: Whiz Comics #7. In the jungles of Brazil, Dr. Hal Carey's parents gave their lives tending to the native headhunters, specifically a tribe appropriately called the Blancas, and raised their son Hal to take over for them. One day he meets Maxinya (translated as Heaven-Woman). Maxinya can talk with her massive jaguar Jappa. When he defeats the medicine man Okoro, he's made the leader of the Blancas tribe and called Dr. Voodoo because they think his medical skills to be magic.

Jim Dolan: 1940, Slam-Bang #1. Former FBI agent and editor of Daring Detective Magazine. He solves unsolved cases for his magazine.

Don Winslow: For Fawcett: Don Winslow of the Navy. Before Fawcett, Winslow appeared in juvenile novels, big little books, a radio show, movie serialand a newspaper strip. Publishers before Fawcett reprinted the strips, but Fawcett offered new material though pitting him against some of the same enemies. Jess Nevins: Don Winslow. Don Winslow, a WW1 vet, was an agent of naval intelligence who was assigned to handle the major individual threats to world peace. He was assisted in this task by his friend, the squat and porty Lieutenant Red Pennington; Winslow's girlfriend was Mercedes Colby, the daughter of Winslow's commanding officer, Admiral Colby.

El Carim: Master Comics #1. Turban wearing magician detective. El Carim is assisted by the lovely Gladys who's picked up a few tricks of her own.

Michael Norwitz reports: We've been short on info on this Fawcett character, but a splash page in the recent ALTER EGO has a brief summary: "El Carim, Master of Magic, whose name read backwards spells 'Miracle,' is visited by the spirit is Wizzar, the father of all magic, and whose cloak of magic might has descended on El Carim. Wizzar appears only when some great crime against the dead [i.e. a murder] goes unpunished ... " Wizzar does not remotely look like Shazam, in fact he appears to be a ghostly Buddhist monk. In the splash page shown, Wizzar's domain of concern evidently extends past Earth, as El Carim is being summoned to avenge a regicide "in the far off planet of Zaam." El Carim is portrayed nicely by George Tuska in tuxedo, monocle, and turban.

Should be noted, that the few El Carim adventures that I've had the pleasure of reading, Wizzar didn't figure in at all. Presumably, one day he just gave up the ghost.

Frontier Marshall: 1940, Master Comics 1. Bill Crane is the marshall of the town of Big Savage

Golden Arrow: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. Professor Paul Parsons develops a revolutionary gas and he and his wife are killed for the secret. His infant son Roger is raised by a prospector Nugget Ned, keeping his identity a secret less a similar fate befalls him. Being raised in the wilderness, Roger grows up strong, quick and eagle-eyed. And as it's the American wilderness, he becomes proficient with the bow and arrow. On his deathbed, Nugget Ned tells Roger about his real family and their deaths. As the Golden Arrow he avenges his father's death and goes on fighting crime. Originally, the series seemed to be set in the Old West but later it became apparent that it was in the present day of the 1940s.

Hoppy the Marvel Bunny: Funny Animals #1. A Captain Marvel funny animal rabbit.

Hunchback: 1941, Wow Comics #2.. Playboy Alan Lanier puts on the horrific costume of a hunchback to track down and eradicate crime.

Hurricane Hansen: 1940, Slam-Bang Comics #1. This red-headed young man is a two-fisted yankee skipper for the British navy.

Ibis the Invincible: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. In 12th Dynasty Egypt Prince Amentep wields the magic wand, the Ibistick and uses it to fight evil. When his love Princess Taia in Prince Amentep is put in a deep sleep that will last centuries, Ibis puts himself in a like sleep and awakens in mummy rags in an American museum. He clothes himself in modern clothes though with a turban and then tracks down Taia and awakens her. The duo decide to continue his fight against crime and mystical evils in the present day. The Ibistick could originally do most anything Ibis commands ie create food, restore buildings. Also, should it fall in his enemy's hands, any command given to harm Ibis will be visited upon the wielder instead. It will glow in the presence of evil and was later given a weakness against black magic.

Jon Jarl: Space policeman of the year 2261 AD.

Jungle King: 1940, Slam-Bang Comics #1. Lee Granger is a brilliant scientist in addition to being an adventurer, a very Doc Savage-like hero. He travels to Africa to help out a native tribe there, and helps them build a modern city and defend themselves against marauders. He also takes a captured lion and gives it human intelligence and the ability to speak.

Jungle Twins: Nickel Comics #1. When one jungle lord is not enough, there's Bill and Steve Dale fighting evil wherever they find it.

Kid Eternity: A young boy is killed when a ship is torpedoed by a U-Boat. However, he was supposed to live another 75 years and so he's sent back to Earth with the cherubic Mr. Keeper. The Kid has the power to be invisible and intangible when desired and to summon heroes from mythology by saying, "eternity." NOTE: Kid Eternity is actually not a Fawcett hero at all. He got his start over in Quality Comics which was bought by DC in the late 60's/early 70's. Around this time, DC had also licensed the Fawcett heroes and since the Kid shared the same last name as Freddy Freeman aka Captain Marvel Jr and somewhat similar origins, they were made brothers. By all rights the Kid should be taken down from here, but I hate to do so once I've already put him here. So, for the time being he stays until I ever decide to do a Quality section.

Lance O’Casey: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. Helped by his pet monkey Mr. Hogan, Lance is an adventurer sailing the South Seas.

Lucky Lawton: Slam-Bang Comics#1. Lawton is one of those cowboy sheriffs.

Mary Marvel: Captain Marvel Adventures #18. Twin sister of Billy Batson, Mary is raised by the rich Bromfields neither knowing the existance of the other. Coincidentally, Billy receives a death bed confession of the nurse that kidnapped Mary the same day that Billy meets Mary while he's hosting a spelling bee. When thugs kidnap her, Billy is captured and gagged while trying to rescue her. Mary says the magic word, "Shazam" and becomes a female version of Captain Marvel. The wizard reaveals that she gets her powers from Selena (Grace), Hippolyta (Strength), Ariadne (Skill), Zephyrus (Speed), Aurora (Beauty), Minerva (Wisdom). Despite the fact that ole Zep is a male deity.

Extended Marvel Family:

Master Man: Master Comics #1. A doctor gives a weak boy a capsule "full of vitamins, containing every source energy known to man!" This vitamin makes him the strongest man on Earth and he builds himself a castle on a mountain to watch over the world and combat evil as it occurs. Master Man predates Captain Marvel but has many similar powers. His name was later co-opted by Roy Thomas for his Captain Nazi villain in the Marvel comic THE INVADERS.

Minute Man: Master Comics #11. Private Jack Weston puts on a patriotic costume to fight the enemies of America with nothing more than his natural agility and quick wits.

Mr. Clue: 1940, Master Comics 1. Detective character

Mr. Scarlet & Pinky: 1940, Wow Comics #1. DA Brian Butler is the hard-hitting crime fighter Mr. Scarlet. He's strong, agile, and acrobatic. As done by Jack Kirby, Mr. Scarlet is a little more hard-boiled and almost Satanic looking in costume. However, done by others he looks a bit more like a swashbuckler, not helped by taking on a sidekick with the unfortunate name Pinky. Mr. Scarlet also carries a ray gun that he rarely uses, usually relying on his wits and fighting ability. Pinky belongs to the type of sidekick who has the same name in costume as out: Dusty, Bucky being just two others. Mr. Scarlet is also assisted by his secretary, Miss Cherry Wade, who knows who he is which is something else that distinguishes him a bit from his costumed counterparts.

Morton Murch: 1940, Master Comics 1. Hill-billy hero with science-fiction adventures

Nyoka, Jungle Girl: 1932, The Land of Hidden Men (Edgar Rice Burroughs); 1941, Jungle Girl (Republic), 1942, Perils of Nyoka (Republic), and Jungle Girl #1 (Fawcett). Another licensed property, based on the "Jungle Girl" movie serials which was in turn supposedly based on a book by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Nyoka was one of the few jungle girls not raised in the wild and to actually wear traditional safari outfits as opposed to revealing fur bikini wear. Despite that obvious drawback, she proved to be a capable and popular heroine.

Rick O'Shay: Master Comics #1. Pretty much the standard adventurer. He is assisted by the Arabian Mekki.

Phantom Eagle: 1940, Wow Comics #6. Youth Mickey Malone wants to fight the Germans so bad he builds his own plane. Eventually he's joined by other fliers making up the Phoenix Squadron. After the war he seeks the Golden Chalice which holds the secret of the Formula for Peace. The Phoenix Squadron is made up of Pierre (France), Hendrik Voorhees (Holland), Sven (Norway), Josef (Poland), Hans (Denmark), Nickolas (Greece), Pierre of France, Hendrik Voorhees of Holland, and their girl pal Jenny.

Radar: 1944, Captain Marvel #35. Pep Pepper is descended from circus folks and inherited the abilities of his strongman acrobat father and mindreader mother along with a clairvoyant "radar vision." Pep doesn’t wear a costume, but a reversable trenchcoat and fedora. He was actually created as a propoganda piece for the military.

The Red Gaucho: 1940, Nickel Comics #4. A modern day Zorro fighting European enemies in the Americas.

Shipwreck Roberts: Master Comics #1. As his name suggests, Roberts is a seafaring adventurer operating mainly in the South Pacific.

Spooks: 1941, Wow Comics. Professor Oscar Willard died and the Keeper of the Gate allowed him to come back to Earth to prevent evil with the aid of a cherubic angel called Bensonhurst. Only thing is, he's a spectral skeleton with glasses, bowtie and pipe. He needs to take over recently unoccupied, i.e. dead, bodies to do anything. A humor strip mostly but with similarities of the much later Deadman of DC.

Streak Sloan: Master Comics #1. Boy reporter and detective.

Robert "Scoop" Smith: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. Two-fisted ace reporter

Spy Smasher: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. Virginian Alan Armstrong is the fiancce of Eve Corby, daughter of Admiral Corby. When spies threaten, he puts on a costume of brown (later green) shirt, safari pants and aviator cowl and goggles to fight them as the Spy Smasher. His first major foe was the Mask, who actually managed to brainwash him into taking on Captain Marvel. Eventually Eve discovered his secret. He flies the Gyrosub, an airplane, submarine, boat combination vehicle.

Mark Swift: Slam-Bang Comics #1. Mark Swift and friend Rodney Kent use Kent's Time Retarder to travel through time and have all sorts of adventures

War Bird: Slam-Bang Comics #1. Tom Sharp is an American mail pilot who enlists to fly in the Orient and then the Spanish Air Force and then with the French in the early days of World War II. By the start of his strip he's on the Western Front and Captain of the Eagle Squadron.

Warlock the Wizard: 1940, Nickel Comics #1. A stage magician billed as the last of the White Magicians, Warlock used a trunk filled with magical items to fight otherworldly menaces.

White Rajah: Master Comics #1. The White Rajah is caucasian youth David Scott, teenage ruler of the kingdom of Ramistan. He has all sorts of adventures throughout India.

Zoro: Slam-Bang Comics Man of mystery, he uses all his strength and wits to fight evil and crime. Has a sword cane and pet cheetah.