Knock offs were a fact ‘o life back in the
Golden Age. It made good commercial sense to imitate aspects of your
competitor’s top properties whenever you could. So for every
Superman, Batman or Flash you’d find also-rans like Wonderman, the
Black Owl and the Silver Streak. Which brings us to today’s subject
Harvey Publications doppelganger for the Human Torch; Red Blazer.
Red debuted in the inaugural issue of
POCKET COMICS in August of 1941. It’s a strange origin indeed.
Cowboy Jack Dawson is shanghaied by scientist Dr. Morgan, who sends
his unconscious body into Earth’s upper orbit where it can absorb
“Astro-Pyro Rays”. When Jack wakes up he has evolved into “the
perfect man”, with (to quote a great TV show” “powers and
abilities far beyond that of mortal men” Chiefly the power to
control the weird flames that engulf him.
Al Avison who is noted for his work
over at Timely did the artwork for this debut adventure.
Here is the second tale, which
introduces his archenemy Dr. Skull. The artist for this one is
unidentified.
As a comic, the strip only lasted for
the 4-issue lifespan of POCKET COMICS but an odd thing happened to
the property. In 1946 Harvey recycled Red Blazer in the pages of ALL
NEW COMICS. Now ol’ Red boasted a snazzy new set of threads
complete with a hooded cowl. Plus he has a boy sidekick called
Sparkie. The thing is, despite boldly appearing on several of the
titles covers, he existed only as a text feature within in it’s
pages! Here they are the duo as they appeared on the cover of ALL
NEW COMICS issue 7.
In a further addendum to POCKET
COMICS, the periodical has further historical significance beyond
being the home of Red Blazer. It was the first magazine to be
published by writer-turned-businessman Alfred Harvey. It was also the
original home to the company’s most successful, original property,
the action heroine Black Cat. Finally it was published in an
experimental format where it’s 100 pages could fit in a kid’s
back pocket, hence the title. Harvey gave up on the format after 4
issues but it was revived in the 70’s by outfits like Gold Key, DC
and most successfully Archie calling the books digests. In fact
Archie digests can be found in grocery store checkout lanes to this
day.
Pat
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