Fawcett Comics Characters

This page provide an overview of major Fawcett Comics characters. Aside from the Marvel Family, there was a stable of seven super-hero features that ran for a very long time, and a handful of other shorter-lived "super-heroes." This page includes characters who were either masked and/or "supernormal" (four of them were magicians).

» SEE ALSO: Heroes of Fawcett Comics ‹ Fawcett Hero Groups

Aunt Minerva

First appearance: Captain Marvel Adventures #59 (Apr. 1946)
Appearances: Captain Marvel Adventures #59, 66, 79, 82
DC: Shazam! #10, 12, 29; World's Finest Comics #282; The Power of Shazam! #33

Aunt Minerva was a notorious mob boss and black widow. The crone hired Shazam Inc. (run by Uncle Dudley) to find her a (sixth) husband. When Captain Marvel and Uncle Marvel came to Minerva's defense, she fawned over them. But she was quickly revealed as a criminal mastermind and shipped off to jail. (Captain Marvel Adventures #59) (She was also the star of a 1975 Twinkies ad with Captain Marvel.)

Superman also had and Aunt Minerva Kent — a good lady. This character looked very similar to Fawcett's and appeared Action Comics #160 (Sept. 1951).

The character made a handful DC appearances. In post-Crisis continuity, Minerva was originally a beautiful crime boss who grew into old age in prison. (Power of Shazam! #33)

Balbo the Boy Magician

First appearance: Master Comics #32 (Nov. 1942)
Appearances: Master Comics #32–47 (1942–1944) • America's Greatest Comics #7

Balbo (the only name ever given) was the teenaged son of the stage magician called Valdini. When his father died during a bullet trick gone wrong, Balbo and tracked down his killer. It was a traitor named Walsh. Having avenged his father, Balbo took over his traveling stage show with the help of Valdini's right hand, John, and a boy helper (sometimes shown as his brother; other times a boy named Frankie). His mother was also dead. (Master Comics #32)

Balbo was not a super-powered magician. Some stories were followed by a featurette that explained a magic trick from the story.

Black Adam

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Marvel Family #1 (Dec.1945)

» SEE: Black Adam

Bulletman and Bulletgirl

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Nickel Comics #1 (May 1940). Bulletgirl: Master Comics #13 (Apr. 1941)

» SEE: Fawcett Comics Heroes > Bulletman

Captain Marvel

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Whiz Comics, #2 [1] (Feb. 1940)

» SEE: Captain Marvel ‹ Captain Marvel Post-Crisis

Captain Marvel Jr.

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Whiz Comics #25 (Dec. 1941)

» SEE: Captain Marvel Jr.

Captain Midnight

Name: Captain Jim "Red" Albright

First appearance, Dell: The Funnies #57 (Dell, July 1941)
First appearance, Fawcett: Captain Midnight #1 (Sept. 1942)
Appearances: Captain Midnight, 67 issues (1942–1948) • America's Greatest Comics #8

Captain Midnight was a very popular character who was published, but not owned by Fawcett Comics. The character began in radio (1938–1949) and also had hands in movie serials and TV. It was originally owned by the Wander Company, which made Ovaltine (the sponsor of the radio show).

The character was sufficiently popular that his adventures moved into the comics at Fawcett from 1942–1948. Captain Midnight was treated like a member of the Fawcett family. In 1943, he teamed up with Spy Smasher. (America's Greatest Comics #8, Summer 1943)

During the World War I, Captain "Red" Albright was commanded to stop the German villain, Ivan Shark. The successful mission commenced at 12 o'clock midnight and garnered Albright the nickname Captain Midnight. (Captain Midnight #1)

Ivan Shark returned as a Nazi in the wake of World War II, when Captain Albright was preparing to retire. Albright decided to answer the call of duty once more and was put in charge of the Secret Squadrons — secret U.S. forces across the world. Captain Midnight reported to a to Major Steel and Squadron members included Joyce Ryan, Chuck Ramsey (aka Sgt. Twilight) and mechanic Ichabod "Ikky" Mudd.

Captain Midnight was a great inventor and constantly added new weapons to his arsenal. The 'gliderchute' was a red cloth attached to his uniform from wrist to thigh, that allowed him to glide through the air. A "Doom Beam Torch" generated infrared heat rays; a belt transmitter had a wide range of communications; the code-o-graph deciphered top-secret instructions; the compact "Swing Spring" contained 200 feet of steel line (his belt also included wire and a hook); and blackout pellets.

Dark Horse licensed the character in 2013 for a reinvention — and published archives of the Golden Age tales.

Captain Nazi

Text adapted from Who's Who #4

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Master Comics #21 (Dec. 1941)

Real name: Albrecht Krieger
Known relatives: Siegmund Krieger (father)
Group Affiliation: Monster Society of Evil

From infancy, Albrecht Krieger was fed a so-called “Miracle Food,” secretly developed by his father, Siegmund. This substance made Albrecht super-strong, incredibly agile, and insidiously intelligent. Unforunately, it did not also make him invulnerable, for he was wounded in a fencing duel while in school at Heidelberg, gaining a scar across his face.

When Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, Siegmund Krieger presented his son to Hitler as the ultimate development of the superior Aryan race. Impressed, Hitler dubbed Albrecht Krieger Captain Nazi and had him smuggled into the United States as a weapon against America’s super-heroes. He first clashed with Bulletman and Captain Marvel, who forced him into retreat. (Master Comics #21)

Indirectly responsible for the creation of Captain Marvel Jr., Captain Nazi became his arch-foe, going into seclusion at the end of the Second World War to plan his own world conquest.

When he learned that Captain Marvel and the rest of the Marvel Family had been trapped in suspended animation, Nazi placed himself in stasis as well, in a capsule timed to open when the Marvels were free once more.

Powers

The ultimate physical specimen, Captain Nazi is an incomparable athlete and a master of hand-to-hand combat.

As a result of the “Miracle Food” fed to him from birth by his father, Nazi possesses superhuman strength, agility and intelligence. During World War II, he also obtained the formula to a unique flying gas invented by a French scientist whom Nazi then put to death. The distance and duration of Nazi’s flight powers vary with each exposure to the gas.

Commando Yank

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Wow Comics #6 (July 1942)

» SEE: Fawcett Comics Heroes > Commando Yank

Devil's Dagger

Name: Ken Wyman
First appearance: Master Comics #1 (Mar. 1940)
Appearances: Master Comics #1–20 (1940–1941)

Ken Wyman, scion of Carterville's wealthiest family, preferred a newspaper job to working at his father's bank. He fought crime as the Devil's Dagger, driving a bulletproof car called the Speed Ghost.

Diamond Jack

Name: Jack Lansing
First appearance: Slam-Bang Comics #1 (Mar. 1940)
Appearances: Slam-Bang Comics #1–7 (1940) • Wow Comics #1

Diamond Jack possessed a miraculous diamond given him by an old magician. It enabled him to become "mentally and physically strong." It could also be used to turn people into objects and animals.

Doctor Sivana

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Whiz Comics #2 [1] (Feb. 1940)

» SEE: Doctor Sivana

El Carim, Master of Magic

First appearance: Master Comics #1 (Mar. 1940)
Appearances: Master Comics #1–32 (1940–1942)

Read backwards, El Carim's name spells "Miracle"! This master of "magic" used novel devices like the "spectograph" and magic monocle.

Golden Arrow

Name: Roger Parsons
First appearance: Whiz Comics #2 [1] (Feb. 1940)
Appearances: Whiz Comics #2 [1]–154 (1940–1953) • Golden Arrow #1–5

Golden Arrow had neither a mask nor powers, per se, but was described as a person of extraordinary strength and skill.

Prior to the U.S. entry to World War II, professor Paul Parsons was testing a nonflammable gas that could revolutionize balloon trips. His wife, Florian, and one-year old son, Roger, joined him on a test voyage.

A greedy saboteur named Brand Braddock followed Parsons and shot down the balloon; Roger survived but his parents were killed. Roger was stolen away by a lion but before the baby was eaten, he was saved a prospector, Nugget Ned, who shot the beast then adopted little boy. Ned kept Roger's past a secret from the boy — also so that Braddock would not come for him.

Growing up in the West, Roger became an extraordinary young man. He fought bears, ran faster than antelopes, and could see more sharply than an eagle. Most of all, he became a master archer. When Ned found some gold ore, they used it to make Roger's arrows which inspired an alter ego: the Golden Arrow.

When Roger was an adult, Ned suffered a heart attack. Before he died, he told Roger the whole truth about his origins, and Braddock. Roger swore vengeance, which came swiftly. With his stallion, White Wind, the Golden Arrow punished Braddock and retrieved his father's formula. He gave it freely to the U.S. government saying, "I think my father would have wanted me to do that."

After this, Golden Arrow decided to continue fighting injustice in the West.

Hoppy, aka Captain Marvel Bunny

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Fawcett's Funny Animals #1 (Dec. 1942)

» SEE: Hoppy the Marvel Bunny

The Hunchback

Name: Allan Lanier
First appearance: Wow Comics #2 (Summer 1941)
Appearances: Wow Comics #2–5 (1941–1942) • Gift Comics #1

Allan Lanier, son of a wealthy family, sought a way to fight crime. He chose to disguise himself as as the terrible Hunchback—an ugly dwarfed menace designed to elicit horror in the hearts of bad men. Lanier beat criminals with a club and even strangled a corrupt D.A. to death!

Ibac

» FIRST APPEARANCE:
Fawcett: Captain Marvel Adventures #8 (Mar. 1942)
DC: Justice League of America #135 (Oct. 1976)
Post-Crisis: The Power of Shazam! #1 (Mar. 1995)

Ibac the Cursed, originally a small-time crook with big ambitions — Stanley ("Stinky") Printwhistle, Prince Lucifer of Hell gave him, in return for his soul, the powers of evil from four of history's worst tyrants: Ivan the Terrible, Cesare Borgia, Attila the Hun, and Caligula. When he said their names spelled out by their initials, "IBAC," he was changed by green flame into a powerful being of pure evil. Each time Captain Marvel has defeated him, Printwhistle has vowed to reform, but somehow he wound up saying the word again, and once changed to IBAC, became evil. As Stanley, he is now a street cleaner. (Since he never defeated Captain Marvel, he did not lose his soul to Lucifer.)

Ibis + Taia

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Whiz Comics #2 [1] (Feb. 1940)

» SEE: Fawcett Comics Heroes > Ibis

King Kull

» FIRST APPEARANCE:
Fawcett: Captain Marvel Adventures #125 (Oct. 1951)
DC: Justice League of America #135 (Oct. 1976)

King Kull the Beastman, only survivor of an ancient race that enslaved the early humans. Eventually the humans revolted against their cruel masters and destroyed all but the Beastmen's king, Kull, who hid in an underground chamber where he lay in suspended animation for thousands of years. Awakened by an earthquake, he emerged to use the ancient scientific devices his race had invented to try to destroy humankind. He is immensely strong, and even gave Captain Marvel a good fight.

The Lieutenant Marvels

Fat Billy, Hill Billy and Tall Billy.

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Whiz Comics #21 (Sept. 5, 1941)

» SEE: The Lieutenant Marvels

Mary Marvel

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Captain Marvel Adventures #18 (Dec. 1942)

» SEE: Mary Marvel

Master Man

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Master Comics #1 (Mar. 1940)

» SEE: Fawcett Comics Heroes > Master Man

Minute Man

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Master Comics #11 (Feb. 1941)

» SEE: Fawcett Comics Heroes > Minute Man

Mister Atom

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Captain Marvel Adventures #78 (Nov. 1947)

Mister Atom is the creation of Dr. Charles Langley, a scientist who believed he could create artificial Iife through atomic energy.

Langley built a giant robot body that he planned to bring to life through a gradual process. However, his computations were wrong, and life came suddenly to the robot through an explosion that not only gave Mister Atom fantastic strength, but programmed him with great knowledge. Leaving Langley in the wreckage of his lab, the atomic robot went forth to the world of men. Seeing how much mightier he was than they, he determined to make himself ruler of Earth. The men could serve him or perish — it made no difference to him.

Meanwhile, Captain Marvel saved Langley, and the scientist had told him of his robot, so he guessed whom he was meeting when he went to battle a creature at the U.N. who was demanding the allegiance of the Earth — and had already killed one delegate with a blast of atomic power.

Through two encounters, the pair fought one another to a draw. Then each struck, one last mighty blow — and Captain Marvel won. Mister Atom was confined in a thick-walled lead underground prison from which even he could not escape — yet Cap himself could not destroy him.

It was beings from a giant comet who freed Mister Atom, teaming with him to subjugate Earth — though they planned to destroy him once it was done. To demonstrate his power, Mister Atom began destroying a town — but was stopped by Captain Marvel. He and the Comet Man headed by spaceship for the comet, only to see it blow up. Mister Atom insisted they help him conquer Earth anyway, and this led to a fight that seemingly wiped them all out in one blast.

However, Mister Atom had been hurled over 100 years into the future, to a world in which nearly everything was run by atomic power. This seemed the perfect world for him to rule. But Captain Marvel, warned by the spirit of Shazam, traveled to the year 2053 to foil the robot's plans. This time, Mister Atom was apparently destroyed by a burst of atomic energy.

In fact, when King Kull the Beastman took over the Rock of Eternity, he used this genius to bring Mister Atom from the 21st Century to aid him. A battle with the heroes of three Earths ended with Atom being propelled to a distant star.

Mister Mind's machinations returned him to Earth, and this time Captain Marvel hurled him into orbit around the sun. But the magic of Oggar again brought him back, to join the Monster Society itself. Now Captain Marvel tossed him from the Rock of Eternity into another galaxy, one in which life never developed, and where Mister Atom could do no harm.

Mister Atom is made of an ultra-powerful metal infused with the raw power of the atom. He is therefore immensely strong and virtually indestructible, and can emit nuclear blasts from his hands. He is also able to fly. Mister Atom has a brilliant mind, but he is untinged with human feeling. Hence he kills without mercy or remorse.

Mister Scarlet + Pinky

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Wow Comics #2 (Summer 1941). Pinky: Wow Comics #4 (Winter 1941/1942)

» SEE: Fawcett Comics Heroes > Mister Scarlet

Mister Banjo

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Captain Marvel Adventures #8 (6 March 1942)

Mister Banjo was a criminal, Dr. Filpots, who spied for the Axis and used a musical code to transmit American military secrets.

Mister Banjo was "a master criminal, an ingenious plotter of crimes — a fiend who would snuff out life as easily as he would blow out a candle." This unseen criminal genius terrorized the East coast in the days before the United States' entrance into World War Two. Law enforcement officials believed they had their big break when mobster Trigger Danny agreed to reveal all he knew about the mastermind in exchange for a lighter sentence. In early 1942, the stoolie was gunned down in retaliation.

As surgeons fought for Danny's life on a hospital table, WHIZ Radio newscaster Billy Batson slipped into the operating room, intent on getting the scoop on the wounded man's condition. Instead, Batson would determine Danny's fate. The plunking notes of a banjo heralded the arrival of a trio of gun-wielding hoods who were sought to finish what they'd started. With one magic word, Billy transformed himself into Captain Marvel and left the hitmen gift-wrapped for the police.

The local story was soon eclipsed by a national crisis. The United States' efforts in World War Two were being hampered by a saboteur, someone who was routinely leaking confidential military shipping routes to the Japanese.

Disguised by a rather obvious long white beard, Billy paid a visit to American Naval Headquarters. There, he witnessed a verbal altercation between a French "arteest" who wanted to see "zee commanding officer" and an oblivious secretary absorbed in her typing. Inevitably, a strapping sailor ejected the troublemaker. Billy followed the stranger, noting the curious detail that he was vigorously whistling as he strolled away.

The melody was overheard by a balding, well-fed gentleman with a bulbous nose, a tattered green three-piece suit and a porkpie hat. He rushed away, gasping, "Gotta hurry before I forget it!" Outside a printing shop, the fat man strummed the tune of his banjo until a man inside demanded that he "cut the racket!" Requesting "just a few pennies for Mister Banjo," the musician made his exit once he'd received a coin. In turn, a transmitter within the shop relayed the musical notes around the globe to a Japanese outpost and alerted them to bomb a "U.S. battleship nearing Guam."

Meanwhile, Billy had confronted the Frenchman at the moment that the spy was assassinated by the returning Mister Banjo. With his final words, the man identified his killer and explained that "they told me — they would release my family — in occupied France — if I carry their messages ..." Billy turned to find a gun in his face. "I'M Mister Banjo, buddy! Now it's YOUR turn!"

Calling out "Shazam," Billy changed into Captain Marvel just in time to beat Mister Banjo's bullet. Before he could interrogate the killer, Cap was distracted by a man in a Marvel Family uniform who'd just robbed a bank.

With "Cap" wanted for questioning, it fell to Billy to solve the case. Returning to Naval headquarters, the newscaster found Boogey, the man who'd pretended to be Cap, chatting with the still-typing secretary. Suddenly, everything clicked in Billy's head and he asked an officer to detain the woman and Boogey: "She's typing in Morse Code ... giving that man the secrets!"

"The girl learns the secrets ... and then one of the spy gang calls in here — she types out the message in code on her typewriter — that's how all the messages leak out. ... After they get the code down pat, the man walks along the street whistling it ... and then Mister Banjo picks it up and plays it to some more spies. By this method, it's carried halfway around the world."

Captain Marvel nabbed the conspirators at the print shop and trailed Boogey to a ship in the city's harbor. There, he smashed Mister Banjo's instrument over his head and tossed the unconscious musical murderer into the ocean. Boogey revealed that "Mister Banjo is really old Filpots — that business of killin' Trigger Danny was just a stall to cover his other activities. HE'S the real head of the international spy ring — he's been in cahoots with them orientals for years."

"OHO! Then instead of getting rid of ONE killer — I got rid of TWO!" (CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES #8, illustrated by C.C. Beck) Cap's tough talk for Boogey's benefit notwithstanding, the World's Mightiest Mortal presumably returned to fetch Mister Banjo out of the drink. The spymaster was, alas, long gone.

The Japanese assault on U.S. forces and Captain Marvel in particular continued when the evil Nippo came on the scene in CMA #9. Within moments of his capture, Station WHIZ had received an encoded message. His hair standing on end, Billy told station manager Sterling Morris that "it's our Captain Marvel code! And it's signed Mister Banjo!"

"BLF GSLFTSG R'W YVVM URMRHSVW LUU, WRWM'G BLF? DZRG GROO R TVG SLOW LU BLF MVCG NLMGS!"

Or, for those of you who left your Captain Marvel Code Cards in your other pants: "You thought I'd been finished off, didn't you? Wait till I get hold of you next month!"

And sure enough, Mister Banjo returned in the final story in CMA #10 (with art by Pete Costanza). The nation had been stunned by President Roosevelt's decision to recall the entire naval fleet from the Pacific. Fearing that the outcome of the war was in jeopardy, Captain Marvel flew to the White House and offered to single-handedly take over for the Navy. "I'll thank you to mind your own affairs, Capt. Marvel!" FDR snapped. "I'll manage to run the country. Good day!"

As he left the Oval Office, Cap realized that he'd just spoken to an imposter but, before he could act on the knowledge, the floor opened beneath him and he fell into a sub-basement. There, he faced Mister Banjo and his gang, who'd arranged a death trap, a heavy-duty compression elevator designed to crush Big Red Cheeses. By the time, he'd muscled his way to freedom, Cap had lost the villains.

A tip led Billy to the secluded Templar Mansion, where he was immediately captured by Mister Banjo and company. After his failure in the previous outing, the saboteur was now being watch-dogged by a beautiful Axis spy named Mata. She was mystified by Banjo's interest in Billy but the fat man knew there was a connection between him and Captain Marvel. Though he'd witnessed Billy's earlier transformation, the villain couldn't remember it because of the magic inherent in the lightning bolt.

When Batson refused to reveal his secrets, he was flung from the mansion via an ancient catapult. A bolt of lightning pierced the sky and one of the gunmen shrieked, "The kid's exploded!" Captain Marvel began a swift mop-up operation even as the ringleaders fled. Speeding away in a motorboat, Mata shouted to her collaborator that "you're through, Mister Banjo. The cause no longer needs you."

With Cap's hands around his throat, Banjo pleaded, "Don't hit me — I'll talk, I'll tell everything!" A heavy hook near the mansion's ceiling made a convenient holding device for the villain, who shrieked in terror as disturbed bats swirled around him. Captain Marvel concluded the case by freeing the President, who confirmed that "these rattlesnakes meant to kill me in cold blood."

Scheduled to be tried for war crimes, Mister Banjo escaped from prison in 1943 to participate in Mister Mind's Monster Society of Evil. Though present in Captain Marvel's first skirmish with the league of villains (CMA #22), Mister Banjo failed to return in any of the subsequent battles. His fate — and the role he was meant to play in the Monster Society — have never come to light.

» FEATURED APPEARANCES:

• Captain Marvel Adventures #8, 10, 22, 23
• Kingdom Come #3 (cameo)
• World's Funnest

Mister Mind

» SEE: Mister Mind and the Monster Society of Evil

» FIRST APPEARANCE:
Voice only: Captain Marvel Adventures #22 (March 26, 1943)
Fully revealed: Captain Marvel Adventures #26 (Aug. 1943)

Oggar

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Captain Marvel Adventures #61 (24 May 1946)

Oggar, the World's Mightiest Immortal, was once a disciple of Shazam in the times of ancient Greece. Shazam and Oggar were like gods themselves when they accessed the powers of Zeus and his kin, and so the wizard called himself "Shazamo," an anagram formed with the names of the gods — plus Oggar's.

Oggar attained godhood and immortality but then revolted against Shazam, who banished him and cursed him with cloven hooves instead of human feet. (Captain Marvel Adventures #61–62, 64)

He waited 3,000 years for the death of Shazam and the arrival of his new champion, Captain Marvel. He tried forming the Cult of the Curse, bestowing powers onto his followers, who all became madmen instead. (#63) Cap ultimately deduced Oggar's weakness: he was powerless against women. (#65) In pursuing Oggar, Marvel crossed paths with the witch, Circe, who was Oggar's ancient enemy. She turned Oggar into a wild boar and he plunged over a cliff — supposedly to his death. (#66)

In fact, he was still immortal, and when Mister Mind diverted much of the power of the universe, this broke the spell, returning Oggar to normal. Oggar participated in Mind's attempt to reform the Monster Society of Evil. (World's Finest Comics #264, 267)

Oggar could perform many types of magical feats: the translocation of things and people, giving power to others, changing human and animal forms, mind control. But he had no power to harm women with his magic.

» FEATURED APPEARANCES:

• Captain Marvel Adventures #61–66
• World's Finest Comics #264, 267

Phantom Eagle

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Wow Comics #6 (July 1942)

» SEE: Fawcett Comics Heroes > Phantom Eagle

Radar the International Policeman

Name: Private "Pep" Pepper

First appearance: Master Comics #50 and Captain Marvel Adventures #35 (both May 1944)

Appearances: Master Comics #50–87 (1944–1948)

Pep Pepper was the latest a long line of circus folks. His father was a strongman and acrobat and his mother was a "mentalist" and Pep inherited both their powers, along with clairvoyant "radar vision." He fought against the Germans during the war and then against international lawbreakers after.

Sabbac

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Captain Marvel Jr. #4 (19 Feb. 1943)

» FEATURED APPEARANCES:

• Captain Marvel Jr. #4, 6 (1943)

DC:

• World's Finest Comics #269 (1981)
• Adventure Comics #491 (1982)
• Outsiders vol. 3 (2006) #7–10, 29–30, 43
• Superman / Shazam: First Thunder #2, 3 (2005)
• Trials of Shazam #1, 3 (2006)

Timothy Karnes was a practitioner of black magic who enlisted with a gang of Nazi spies after an encounter with Captain Marvel Jr. He gambled on a spell that summoned powers from the demons of Hell – Satan (strength), Any (invulnerability), Belial (wisdom), Beelzebub (flame), Asmodeus (courage) and Careteis (flight). He became Sabbac, a fearsome brute. One by one, his benefactors deserted Karnes in the face of Junior's might. (Captain Marvel Jr. #4) He convinced them to grant him another attempt and he broke out of jail, but the result was the same. (#6)

Sabbac was a primary antagonist in the Black Adam film (2022); the character was played by Marwan Kenzari.

Shazam

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Whiz Comics #2 [1] (Feb. 1940)

» SEE: The Wizard Shazam

Spy Smasher

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Whiz Comics #2 [1] (Feb. 1940)

» SEE: Fawcett Comics Heroes > Spy Smasher

Tawky Tawny

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Captain Marvel Adventures #79 (Dec. 1947)

Born an ordinary tiger in India, Tawny was only a, small cub when a hunter shot his mother. Thoma Todd, son of a missionary,. adopted the cub and named him Mr. Tawny. As he grew older, however, people feared his savage nature would emerge and he would become a killer. When a man was killed by a tiger, Mr. Tawny was blamed. Tom leapt to his pet's back and fled into the jungle to evade those who would have killed the big cat.

Here they met an old hermit who was a brilliant scientist. He had invented a a serum to energize an animal's brain and alter its vocal cords, enabling it to speak. Tawny was a good subject to try it on, and he was soon able to think and speak like a human.

Now determined to clear his name, Tawny tracked down and killed the rogue tiger that had actually slain the man. When he spoke in his own defense, everyone was amazed.

Later, Tom's father was transferred, and the boy had to leave leave the tiger behind.

Tawny went to live with the hermit Now he found that the long-range effects of the serum were making greater changes in him. He could walk upright, like a human, using the full foot instead of only the toes like other tigers. His "hands" changed, too, enabling him to grasp things with his forepaws, like a human.

And now Tawny desired to see civilization, though the hermit advised against it

The tiger stowed away on a ship that took him to Fawcett City. The appearance of a tiger there caused panic. Captain Marvel caught him and put him in a zoo. He thought he had imagined that the big cat spoke. Tawny escaped and had no trouble getting food, as everyone fled from him and he took what he wanted. This went for clothes, too, as he now wanted to dress like men. The next time they met, Captain Marvel found him dressed and speaking clearly. The World's Mightiest Mortal got him a job as a museum guide.

When he moved into a house, Tawny came up against prejudice, as many people didn't like the idea of a tiger living in their neighborhood. However, some of the bigots accidentally started a fire that endangered people, and Tawny went to the rescue, earning his neighbors' respect.

Since he needed a first name, Tawny allowed Billy Batson to run a contest to find one. The winning name was Tawky, and he has used it ever since.

Though basically he remained a guide. Tawky also worked as a model for the Hubb Clothing Company. He tried his hand at inventing, though without great success. And he also did some detective work, demonstrating the skills of a feline Sherlock Holmes.

Tawky Tawny was one of those caught in suspendium for decades by the Sivana Family and eventually restored by Captain Marvel. He is one of the few people to whom Captain Marvel has revealed his identity, and he has actually met Shazam.

Mr. Tawny was not fully grown when he was given the serum; hence he grew to more human dimensions. (A full-grown male tiger can be 12 feet long, 5 feet high at the shoulder, and weigh 500 pounds.) However, he possesses strength greater than that of many men his size, combined with the claws and fangs of a tiger. As he has learned hand-to-hand combat. he is 'a truly formidable foe to anyone foolish enough to get into a fight with him.

Thunder

In a tale from the post-Zero Hour future, Billy Batson had assumed Shazam's role by the 853rd century. In this version of the future, Billy-as-the-wizard handed the reigns of champion to a young girl named Cece Beck, aka Thunder. Thunder traveled backwards in time, to the 31st century, to join the Legion of Super-Heroes.

» SEE: Thunder

Uncle Marvel

» FIRST APPEARANCE: Wow Comics #18 (Oct. 1943)

» SEE: Uncle Marvel

Warlock the Wizard

First appearance: Nickel Comics #1 (May 17, 1940)

Appearances: Nickel Comics #1–7 (1940)

Warlock the Wizard was the "last of the white magicians," who spent his life fighting evil aided by his magic Golden Hand. This wand-like artifact resembled the Ibistick of Ibis. Whenever he said the magic word, "Abraxas!" the hand would detach and fly through the air, growing to giant size and doing whatever he commanded. He was assisted by a talking pet raven called Hugin.