Injecting Foreign Materials Into Your Blood is a Great Idea Wednesday!

Yesterday's look at the Shield (who was actually "the Golden Age Shield" because there was another one put out by the same company years later) was so awesome, what choice do we have but to check out the Comet?

Wow.  Who came up with that mess of a costume?  He looks like he's wearing Lucky Charms cereal on his arms.  Moons, stars... and yet no comets?  Maybe the arrow is meant to represent him moving through space or something.   Maybe I just think it's a terrible costume.

Origin time!

WHAT?  I have suspended my disbelief for radioactive spiders, hammers from Olympus, aliens and rings that create fully functional objects out of something called "hard light," but I draw the line here.  

I mean, I'm no scientist, but come on!

Oh, wait.  It gets better:

Hydrogen is actually very flammable, so they actually could have scored some points if his eyes set things on fire.  The Hindenburg?  Hydrogen.  So at least they were close.

And check this out:

Kind of reminds you of a certain X-Man who would appear more than 20 years later, doesn't it?

But I have a question: If the shield is just blocking the ray, wouldn't the hydrogen molecules (that are very small) accumulate in the visor while he has it closed?  It seems like eventually you would effectively have a firebomb attached to your eyes.

Although if you just never closed the visor like you were supposed to, I suppose that wouldn't be an issue. Thusly:

So, is he just disintegrating things all over the place while he's flying around?  Hey!  Wasn't I just looking at a cow?  Where did that school bus go?  Why doesn't that helicopter have a propeller?  It did just a second ago... Aw, beans.  Did I leave my visor open again?

And don't even get me started on what would happen if you glanced down at your lap...

See you tomorrow!

In Which I Say "Pull My Finger" Three Times in One Post Tuesday!

Okay, so I'm taking a Flash break to check out Pep Comics #1, from 1940:

Yup, it's the original Shield, the Man with the Humongous Chest Insignia.  What is his origin?  Well, we're not going to waste any time drawing it, that's for dang sure!

Got all that?

Seriously, would your average child have read that?  When I was a lad, I never read the caption boxes.  Ever.

Anyway, Higgins is a government agent, so he gets orders from some FBI Chief muckety-muck:

Your first assignment is TO PULL MY FINGER!

Forgive me for asking, but I am a product of American public schools and I have no idea what "Stokian" is. Is or was that a thing?  Because Google is telling me nuthin'...

AND I SAID PULL MY FINGER!

WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?  THE PUBLIC IS CLAMORING FOR ACTION... AND CLAMORING FOR YOU TO PULL MY FINGER!

I don't know that I would want to be known as "The Dreaded Shield."  I mean, does everyone dread him?  Why is that?  Is he a poor house guest?

Anyway, with an origin like that, I guess you can just have whatever super-powers that pop into your writer's head:

There's always a way in... for the Shield!  

You can tell he's got low self-opinion by the way he refers to himself in the third person.  Adam has been known to do that himself.

This is my favorite part: He takes down the spies, and then just stands there for what had to be a really long time:

I mean, I suppose if you're invulnerable, it's not a huge deal, but why make life harder than it needs to be?  And I have to point out, this is taking place in a hotel, so I presume some folks were blown to smithereens when the bomb went off.

Oh, well.  The Shield still gets his man, but not wishing to reveal his identity (kind of a weird priority for a man who refers to himself in the third person), he puts his business card into the hands of his foes.  You know, because the best way to keep your identity a secret is to leave physical evidence of your identity in the hands of others.

Not the best strategy for keeping things on the down-low, but he didn't ask for my advice! 

Hey, is that spy wearing fingernail polish?  It sure looks like fingernail polish.

See you tomorrow!

Strange yet Manly Garment Tuesday!

Hercules has had maybe one good outfit, from that mini-series back in the 1980's. I'll see if I can dig it up. Other than that, he's always bordered on "fashion challenged." Case in point:



What is with that weird metal bra-like thing? Goliath wore that back in the Silver Age, and it looked goofy on him as well:


Then again, after Goliath ditched that outfit, he came back as Hawkeye without pants, so I guess a little metal chest harness is the least of his worries.

Things you should never see:


Namor laughing. Granted, his head is shaped better than it was in yesterday's post, but he's one of those folks that should only go so far as a smirk. My grandmother used to say the same thing about Raymond Burr.

Hey! It's a Second-String Pickoff!(tm!):


That's what we're going to call any slaughterings of minor characters who never really amounted to anything. This was when the Melter got taken out by Scourge. Not that anyone cared. Which is why it was.... A Second-String Pickoff!(tm!)

And while we're at it, how about some Fun with Out of Context Dialogue!(tm!):


What makes this special is that it's a two-stager:



Yeah! Good stuff! See you tomorrow!