Nature Boy!

Nature Boy by Jerry Siegel and John Buscema debuted in 1956. It took over the series numbering of firefighting Danny Blaze and ran for three issues before surrendering the series to the Li'l Rascal Twins. Nature Boy is Dave Crandall, a young boy who was lost at sea and found by a multitude of gods who granted the youngster a raft of powers just by invoking their names. He was returned to his comfortable home with his parents and grew to young manhood where he used his abilities to master nature to fight crime and injustice. In the first issue he battles a dictator of a supposed "Utopia" and helps combat the devastation of a flood. We get a brief glimpse of Nature Man when an adult Dave Crandall wanders the land helping out folks who need it. Blue Beetle also appears in the debut issue in story drawn by Rocke Mastroserio. 

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In the second issue in stories written by Joe Gill and drawn by Rocke Mastroserio Nature Boy fights to bring peace to the world by attempting to contain worldwide aggression and confronts corporate powers who are bringing starvation to regions of the United States which should be generating lush harvests. Later he stops an air invasion and rids natives on a remote island of their oppressive leader. Nature Boy seems to have an endless array of powers but mostly he uses weather effects and lightning to get his way. There is also a story about Pecos Bill by Bob Powell. 

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Siegel and Buscema return for the third and final installment of the short series. In this one, adorned by one of comicdom's most outlandish yet memorable covers, we get our hero saving the town of Centerville from an invader from Jupiter and he goes on a journey across the globe and confronts evil in the Sahara. Later he battles for justice in the Khyber Pass and finally helps a youngster when kidnappers invade. We get a one-page glimpse of Nature Girl who fights to save an elephant from a hunter. Siegel seemed to want to evoke the Marvel Family with this series, and if it had been given time, we might've seen an origin for Nature Girl. But it was not to be as this wraps up the run of Nature Boy. 

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Nature Boy was brought to the attention of modern readers as he's given an entry in The League of Regrettable Superheroes by Jon Morris. 

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