Captain Strong!

Nick Cardy

One of my favorite Popeye stories doesn't technically involve Popeye at all. Captain Strong, a virile and excitable sailor who gets even more so when he munches on a radioactive plant called "sauncha" gave Superman, the vaunted Man of Steel a run for his money in several DC comics.

Here are three pages from the first Captain Strong story from Action Comics #421 written by his creator Cary Bates and the superstar team of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

The doughty sailorman survived and returned to give Superman what for in more issues of Action, as can be seen below.

Nick Cardy

Though he didn't always make the cover.

Mike Grell

Some years later he showed up in an issue of Superman itself.

Ross Andru and Dick Giordano

And years later still another issue of Action Comics, toward the end of that comics historic run.

Marshall Rogers and Jerry Ordway

I don't know what's become of Captain Strong in the DCU these days, but for sheer fun those stories were rock solid reliable.

But these days such things might seem old hat.

Rip Off