Wednesday, October 16, 2013

My Heroine Addiction : Fawcett Crossover


If we acknowledge Wonder Woman as the most successful superheroine of the Golden Age, then I assert that second place must go to Mary Marvel. This belief stems from her prolonged existence, lasting from 1942 through 1954, much longer than any other besides WW. She was the creation of writer Otto Binder, who would later go on to invent Supergirl at DC.



Besides the characters of Fawcett’s ‘Shazam Universe’, the publisher had many other popular heroic-adventure strips. In the pages of MASTER COMICS, it’s star was a superhero called Bulletman. Jim Barr’s dad was a policeman who gave up his life in the line of duty, inspiring his boy to devote his own life in the name of justice. Barr was a scrawny boy who’d developed his mind more than his body. Unable to meet the physical requirements of the police force he instead found himself working in the crime lab. Independently he developed a compound that gave him enhanced strength and a flying device that he called the Gravity Regulator. This invention was conical in form and was worn as a helmet. It’s shape resembled that of a bullet, inspiring the naming of his action persona. The Gravity Regulator also allowed him to repel bullets.

Over at the lab, Jim worked with an assistant named Susan Kent. Before long a romance developed and Barr shared his secret with Susan. But he took it a step further by providing her with the compound and building a second Gravity Regulator for her use. Together the pair worked as ‘flying detectives’ in the pages of Master and also in Bulletman’s own title. 



Now crossovers, where characters from separate strips join together were stunt events that had been going on almost from the beginning of superheroes. At their essence they create excitement as a special occurrence and commercially tried to draw fans of two different characters into buying a comic that they may not have ordinarily done. The following story is a rarity that pools together Fawcett’s two biggest female stars.

Pat


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