Bill the Magnificent

Where once Quality had been an innovator in its features, Busy Arnold eventually threw himself into the “winds of change.” In 1943–1944 most anthology titles began shifting away from super-heroes, towards a humorous tone. Elsewhere in the industry Captain Marvel was outselling Superman, and MLJ’s Archie Andrews had taken off like wildfire. “Bill the Magnificent” channeled both of those characters. Bill’s red hair recall’s Archie’s, and his powers were accessed by a magic phrase, “jeepers creepers!”, like Captain Marvel’s. Bill’s adventures lacked the heart or passion of those characters, and the feature lasted for only ten issues. Still Quality must have been betting on its success; the feature was awarded eleven pages, which was second only to the cover feature, “Kid Eternity.”

Bill’s creator is a bit of a mystery, though some of the middle adventures were clearly drawn by Paul Gustavson. The Grand Comics Database credits Tony DiPreta, but a visual comparison with DiPreta’s contemporary work yields no obvious parallels.

Bill Hanson was an average Joe from the town of Middleburg who inexplicably found himself living with incredible powers (and an amnesia that went with them). A newsreel reporter called Roscoe came to town one day hoping for a juicy story about this new hero. He instead found Bill, a humble copy boy. Everyone in town knew about Bill’s fantastic powers—except Bill himself. By chance, whenever Bill uttered the phrase “jeepers creepers!”, he became possessed with great speed and strength. Unfortunately for him, Bill retained no memory of anything he did while in this state, and with his powers came a personality change. He laughed at danger, and was more confident with girls. 

Bill’s sweetheart, Peggy, noticed the difference too. When her father was kidnapped, she encouraged Bill to say the magic words, but he resisted, citing an “ill feeling” when doing so. Inevitably, Bill would say “jeepers creepers” in passing, and then the game was on. But easy come, easy go… whenever Bill was struck on the head, his powers subsided. (Hit #25)

The cowardly local Sheriff Poodle quickly got into the habit of asking Bill to do his dirty work, especially when it came to standing up to the likes of Grego the Grisly. (#27)

News of Bill’s abilities spread quickly, and in the name of science, he was kidnapped by the pint-sized Professor Twerp, who tried to discover the root of his powers. By this time Bill had also moved on to another girl named Jean. But when he was in the thrall of his powers, Bill forgot all about her and he took a plane to Hollywood to ask Hedy Lamarr for a date! Jean intervened and brought him back to reality. (#29) He also defended Jean’s honor against the diminutive Dr. Batso Belfry. (#30)

Bill’s last three adventures were drawn by Milton Stein in a more cartoony style. Still, the adventures concerned Bill’s desire to impress girls, even if it meant entering a boxing ring. (#33) The love interest in Hit #34 was named Peggy, but in his last adventure, Bill was back to wooing Jean. There he sought to compete with a suntanned lifeguard by going under a tanning lamp himself. The result left him a bit “overdone,” and he was mistaken for an Indian prince. (#34)