DC's Son Of Vulcan!

After the collapse of Charlton Comics, their properties were divided up among lots of folks. Somehow Son of Vulcan was included in the "Action Heroes" purchased by DC Comics as a gift of sorts for then editor Dick Giordano. Son of Vulcan had more in common with the Fightin' 5 who were left behind in this deal than he did with any of the other Charlton heroes. Sarge Steel made sense because he was Giordano's baby, but Giordano only worked on one issue of Son of Vulcan, the debut issue for which he supplied a cover.


Whatever the case, Son of Vulcan became part of the DC Universe and apparently shows up in Crisis on Infinite Earths, though I have to confess I don't remember him and I can't find him among the multitudes drawn by George Perez. He does get a nice page in The History of the DC Universe by Wolfman and Perez.

Unlike Blue Beetle and Captain Atom, Son of Vulcan did not get his own series, and unlike Thunderbolt and Peacemaker he did not get his own limited series, and unlike Nightshade and Sarge Steel he did not get worked into a series as part of the cast.

He did get an appearance in the all-hands-on-deck comic DC Challenge where he was cover featured and got all of one page to show his mettle before disappearing back into the mists.

It's notable in this comic that he is again written by Roy Thomas, the scribe who wrote his last adventure at Charlton. Don Heck supplies the art. 

Son of Vulcan did rate his own entry in Who's Who in the DC Universe, specifically issue twenty-one. You can barely see our hero clinging to the edge of the back cover of the issue. 

Then he falls into obscurity once again. Alas Son of Vulcan doesn't even rate a doppleganger in Alan Moore's Watchmen series, but he is left once again to sit on the sidelines waiting for his next big break if it is to come.

It does come (sort of) in a four-part limited event titled War of the Gods, a massively complicated storyline in which Son of Vulcan does indeed appear and even makes a few covers before actually coming to his end.

That's right, they kill him off.

And that's the end of Johnny Mann, the anti-war reporter and veteran who challenged the gods and found his own destiny.


Johnny deserved better.

It's clear that DC could've done more with Son of Vulcan than they did. They just didn't appear to want to do much. Maybe it was merciful that he was killed off. Maybe they save him from some future indignity.

Maybe.

"Son of Vulcan" is a great name and many years later that name was used again by DC Comics. That will be the focus of tomorrow's post. 

More to come.

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Son Of Vulcan - The Second Trojan War!

Son of Vulcan Volume 2, Number 50 is dated January, 1966. The editor in chief and creator of Son of Vulcan is Pat Masulli. The artwork is supplied once again by Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico. They also supplied the artwork on the cover. The big news this time is that Roy Thomas, a neophyte writer from the fan community offers up the script, Roy "Not-Yet-The-Boy" Thomas begins his comics career here with this story in the final issue of Son of Vulcan. Here's a link to see what else was on the stands when this issue arrived.

"The Second Trojan War" begins with Johnny Mann of World-Wide Correspondents interviewing movie director A.J. Colosso who is making a movie about the Trojan War. Colosso regales Johnny with some background info, essentially laying out some of the more famous details from Homer's epic saga. But then a scream from Lisa Collins, the starlet of the picture sends Colosso running. Johnny takes that chance to transform into Son of Vulcan.

He finds the actress threatened by runaway horses pulling a chariot, and using his strength from the gods, the "Mightiest of Mortals" pulls horses, chariot and all into the sky and out of harm's way. Lisa is ecstatic and gives her hero a big kiss but then is frustrated when Colosso fails to get this moment on camera denying her the publicity. Then the actor playing Achilles quits the movie. Son of Vulcan agrees to play the part and help Colosso out.

The scene shifts to the secret lair of Dr.Kong, the arch-nemesis of Son of Vulcan who is using his defective robot assistant "Adam Klink" to undermine the movie production for reasons that go unstated.

Son of Vulcan starts his movie career but has it interrupted when Lisa is again threatened by a falling wall, but she is saved when Son of Vulcan puts himself between her and the falling debris. But she is unhappy he didn't just sweep her up in his arms out of harm's way. The section closes with Lisa unhappy with Colosso and her hero Son of Vulcan and SoV convinced there's more to her than meets the eye. Dr.Kong threatens to do more mischief.

"Green Goo" is a one-page text story about the sudden and dangerous appearance of a murky green ooze which rises from the ocean's waters and begins to creep across the ground. After much hubbub and speculation about its origins, and some significant damage a military officer suggests that great ditches be cut to allow the goo to follow the path of least resistance back to its origins in the sea. It works for now.


Part 2 "Prisoners of Doctor Kong" begins with Son of Vulcan using a great gladiator's net to throw the stone debris into space. He and Colosso then discover the metal footprint of Adam Klink and suspect sabotage. That night Adam Klink appears and kidnaps Lisa and Son of Vulcan sees and follows. But when Klink drops down a narrow hole in the ground, SoV is forced to change back to Johnny Mann to follow him down. This allows him to be captured by Dr.Kong and he manacled to the wall and gagged.

Kong then introduces his weapon, the Anima-Ray which he plans to use to animate great statues like the Statue of Liberty and the Sphinx and thus conquer the world. Kong leaves to start more trouble for the movie company and leaves Johnny being guarded by the clumsy Klink. But Johnny is at last able to remove his gag and transforms into Son of Vulcan and with one blow demolishes Adam Klink. He then follows Kong and is stunned at what he sees.


Part 3 "The Trojan Horse Walks!" starts as Son of Vulcan is confronted by the enormous Trojan Horse, built for the movie, and the behemoth is walking and promptly attacks Son of Vulcan. The battle rages, as SoV calls down a mace.

Ultimately he uses bow and a flaming arrow to begin a fire in the mouth of the giant false horse but it makes the Horse even more wild and out of control. Son of Vulcan saves the director Colosso from being crushed under the hooves, but then he realizes that Lisa Collins is captive inside the Trojan Horse.

Rushing into the monster, he frees Lisa and the Horse at last burns to the ground. Dr.Kong then animates a local stream of water and sends it against Son of Vulcan but with the water pursuing him wherever he went, SoV is able to turn it against Kong by flying right past him. Overwhelmed by the water, Kong's Anima-Ray is destroyed and the threat is at last over.

The scene shifts several months later to the Hollywood premiere of the movie "Warrior Against Troy" starring Lisa Collins and Son of Vulcan and Lisa Collins is interviewed by Johnny Mann. She is upset and throws a camera at his head when he suggests the star of the movie is Son of Vulcan and not Lisa herself, somehow Johnny interprets to mean Lisa might be interested romantically in the Son of Vulcan.

Dr.Kong plots further trouble from his jail cell in final panel.

"The Strangers" follows several aliens as they arrive one by one across the globe and are confronted by various creatures in various climates. They are startled by a snake, upset by a skunk, bothered by a hornet's nest, assaulted by a snapping turtle, attacked by a bull, and swatted by a housewife before deciding to leave the planet and head home with the words "Go!Man...Go!!". The artwork is by Ernie Bache.


This is the final issue of Charlton's Son of Vulcan series. With a costume redesigned by fan Dave Cockrum last issue and a complete script by fan Roy Thomas this issue, it's clear that Charlton is attempting to tap that base of dedicated comic book readers who have been kindled by the success of DC and Marvel especially. This script by Roy is a bit of a Hail Mary, a last-ditch attempt to generate some interest in Son of Vulcan, a hero who clearly seems not to have found an audience.
The stage is set for a change of editorial regimes as Pat Masulli will give way to Dick Giordano and the era of "Action Heroes" looms.

This particular story is very different from previous issues in that the gods are not present at all. Only Vulcan is referenced at all but he is not seen. Of course there's much mythology present in the shape of the movie about the Trojan War, but the whole feel of this story is different. Ironically in this story about the most famous war in history, the anti-war theme which has been a part of most previous issues is ignored.

One thing though that does alas come through is a change in personality for Son of Vulcan. He sounds more like the perpetual adolescents that populate early comics, the kind who are awkward around girls for no particular reason. That's clearly an attempt to characterize Son of Vulcan, but it's a bit of a cliche and doesn't fit him I fear.

"Adam Klink" is a clear reference to "Adam Link" the creation of Eando (Earl and Otto) Binder who appeared in science fiction stories and in comics tales. It's a clever spin, and the idea of a malfunctioning henchman robot is a neat one.

All in all this is a sturdy enough comic, but it turns away from what made Son of Vulcan distinctive, perhaps with good reason. It's regrettable the series ends with this story, but I imagine Dr.Kong is still in prison to this day. What a wretched little man.


With the next issue, the numbering will continue, but the title will change to Thunderbolt, the action hero created by Pete Morisi. Looking at the house ad above, it seems this was a last minute decision as the ad suggests that Thunderbolt will continue and so will Son of Vulcan. But apparently Thunderbolt's series gets cancelled after a single issue and he takes over for Vulcan's favorite Son.

Charlton apparently was able to get quick results from the sales of its books and the company wasted no time in making moves to maximize sales and the precious shelf space they battled for each and every day.


There is some evidence that Roy Thomas and fan artists Biljo White and Sam Grainger proposed a revised Son of Vulcan to Charlton Comics, but nothing came of it. A single page of this proposal can be found in Bill Schelly's Fandom's Finest Comics. It showcases a sleeker Son of Vulcan, minus the large helmet and the full armor.

Later Son of Vulcan will get sold to DC Comics along with the other "Action Heroes" (how he got grouped with them is anyone's guess)and next time we take a look at his brief time at DC Comics.

To read the complete comic book follow this link.   

More to come.

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Blue Beetle #54 - Eye Of Horus!

Blue Beetle #54 featuring the mystical Dan Garrett Blue Beetle hit stands in 1965. The series picked up the numbering of Mysterious Worlds. Novice writer Roy Thomas writes the script for the last issue of the classic Blue Beetle from Charlton. The team of Bill Fraccio and Tony Tallarico are still on hand to supply the artwork. 

Thomas creates a story which delves into Blue Beetle's origins and features the curse of the Eye of Horus. Beetle must seek wisdom from the ancient pharaoh who was himself Blue Beetle and defeated the Eye. This story has a real classic Shazam feel to it and I'm certain that if Thomas had been given a few more issues, he'd have given Blue Beetle a partner in the form of a young boy who gets zapped in the course of the story. 

This one features another great house ad. In the modern day of the internet, it's difficult I guess for fans to recollect just how evocative these ads could be. Often a fan would see a comic which was long gone and out of reach. It was gratifying to get my mitts on all of the classic comics featured in these Charlton ads. 

And this ad just cracks me up. It's just bizarre. For just a buck one could have their dreams shattered. Ain't capitalism a blast! 

Read the complete comic at this link. 

The all-new Blue Beetle makes his debut next time. 

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DC Finest Blue Beetle!

The DC Finest volume Blue Beetle - Blue Beetle Challenges The Red Knight gathers together not only the Steve Ditko Blue Beetle stories, but for the first time by DC presents the vintage Dan Garrett magical Beetle adventures by Joe Gill, Tony Tallarico and Bill Fraccio. Charlton picked up the Blue Beetle a decade earlier, but it was the superhero boom of the 60's which enticed them to finally launch a revised version. The Blue Beetle in these earliest stories is a vastly powerful figure, a mystical equivalent to the radioactively powered Captain Atom. When the first Blue Beetle fell away, it would take Steve Ditko to revive the character yet again, giving us a scientist named Ted Kord who use his technical skills to empower his crimefighting efforts. Ditko was fresh from his Spider-Man tenure and this Blue Beetle moved not unlike his arachnid predecessor. Oddly missing from this collection is the final unpublished Blue Beetle tale by Ditko, but in its place we get the debut issue of the second Charlton Bullseye which published a fanboy team-up between Beetle and The Question. It's an odd choice, but I'm glad it's here for a wider audience. 

Here are the covers of the issues in this volume. 

The Dojo will be taking a closer look at most all of these issues as the month tumbles along. 

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Alter Ego Day!

Roy Thomas was for many years my favorite writer. His work on The Avengers completely won me over. Roy was Stan Lee's hand-picked successor to the Marvel empire, but after a few years he dropped those duties to concentrate on Conan the Barbarian. Later he jumped to DC, and there went about creating a completely detailed narrative of DC's WWII years in the pages of All-Star Squadron. Roy's work with Alter-Ego began in the late 90's and I've followed every issue since. But that was not the first Alter-Ego. 

In the 1960's Alter Ego was a trail-blazing fanzine and in the 1970's it reappeared as a fascinating prozine. In the 1980's it changed once again and became the very thing which it once viewed with historical perspective, critical acumen and fanboy fervor. It became a comic book. In the 80's as we know the comic industry changed and the newsstands gave way to the comic book shop as the main means of delivering comics into the still oft sweaty hands of its readership, and with that change came many a new company to fill the expanded racks. Pacific, Capitol, Eclipse, AC, and many others. But for my money for a tiny time the cream seemed to be First Comics hailing out of Chicago, a company which seemed to combine the knew attitudes toward talent with a substantial business model. Turns out it was less impressive than I'd imagined and went away faster than I expected, but during its time among the many titles such as  a revived E-Man, Starslayer, Mars, and ground-breaking American Flagg was a humble little limited series with a famous name -- Alter Ego. 

Roy Thomas, an original contributor and eventual publisher of the fanzine Alter Ego got the rights to the name and using a concept he'd imagined back in the misty days of the Sliver Age, brought together a gaggle of public domain superheroes to form a "Limbo Legion" which was to led by a boy turned superman named "Alter Ego". The details are immense for a four-issue series as is the wont of a Roy Thomas effort. The artwork by Ron Harris is adequate to the task but just and is immensely helped by the addition of inker Rich Burhett on the final two issues. 

A boy named Ron Lindsay finds a comic shop and canny eye-patch wearing owner who gifts him a box of Golden Age comics. Soon that shop is destroyed and we discover the owner was none other than Captain Combat (a new name for the hero Captain Battle). In the box is a mask which when worn turns the wearer into the other-dimensional Alter Ego, a superhero of great powers who leads the likes of Skyboy (Airboy), Holy Terror (Black Terror), Scarlet Streak (Silver Streak), and other against the villain Scarlet Claw (The Claw) and his henchmen Rockjaw (Ironjaw), Uriah Heap (The Heap), and Emerald Empress (Green Sorceress) among others. 

It of course turns out there is much more to the story when we learn that the origins of the Scarlet Claw and Alter Ego are actually linked in a weird way. We see batches of airplane heroes battle the Claw's forces and later a squad of jungle heroes stand up to the evil threat, as Alter Ego comes and goes into this dimension which seems still to be fighting a variation of WWII. When not there he's just Rob Lindsay questioning his sanity and trying to deal with the questions of his caretaker Grandfather and his two absent and divorcing parents as well as the officials at the school he sometimes attends. It's the bouncing back and forth between dimensions which I feel is the greatest weakness in the storytelling as it forces the concoction of various motives to drive Rob back into danger. 

Ultimately of course the heroes win the day and it's not a spoiler to tell you that. The way in which it happens is not totally unclever at that. The weakest part of the storytelling is the incessant whining interior monologue by Rob as he moans about whatever situation he's in. It might have the veneer of realism, but it gets tedious to once again have to endure his questioning of the reality he's experiencing. He has a girlfriend who hangs by him for reasons that seem unclear, but that might just be life. Frankly I think the series needed much less of Rob's world (supposedly ours) and much more of the fantasy comic book universe into which he is propelled. But still it's a smart comic book series with a nice evergreen whiff of nostalgia, a Roy Thomas specialty. 

There is a fifth issue of this series celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary and was published along with the rest of the limited series in 2012, but of course it is not included in the 2005 reprint from Heroic Publishing and I do not have a copy of it alas. 

As it turns out, Roy was not the only one who had the spritely notion to harness the power of public domain heroes such as Airboy, Claw and Black Terror. Here are some others examples from the Eclipse, AC, and Dynamite publishing outfits. 

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