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Looking for the
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The Commanding Presence
by Donald Swan
 When
I first heard there would be a Commander Courage
feature film, I immediately tried to think of how
they would do the costumes for the Commander and
Liberty Lad. Knowing how Hollywood had messed with
other characters' looks in the past, I was worried
they might go with a polished leather (or worse,
spandex) rather than the true-to-the-comics rough
finished buckskin. I even started drawing costume
design sketches to help me anticipate problems the
real Hollywood costume designers might face.
more...
Captain
America, Serial Killer?
by Daniel DeFabio
 Sure
he suits up in a pretty familiar red, white and
blue spandex suit but this is not super-soldier
Steve Rogers. Instead Dick Purcell plays Grant Gardner
the District Attorney. There are other differences.
The mask has no wings at the ears. This Captain
America never carries a shield. And he uses a gun.
more...
Commander
Courage:
Proud Symbol of Conservation
by Donald Swan
 The
one aspect of Commander Courage's world given short
shrift would turn out to be the thing that set the
character apart from other popular heroes like Captain
America, The Shield, and Superman. From the very
beginning of the strip, Jackson tried to ensure
that his hero represented a deep reverence for nature,
just as the Wisconsin autodidact had developed through
his own studies.
more...
The
Effeminate Five
by Daniel DeFabio
 There
have been lists published on this very site of which
heroes are probably
gay and which ones are way
too straight in one man's opinion. But comics
are rarely that black and white. Some heroes fall
into a phantom zone between the extremes. Sixty
years before the trendiness of metrosexuals made
it okay to be well...stylish, they dared to be different.
These misunderstood heroes now come together to
form the Effeminate Five!
more..
The
Top 5 Not-So-Latently-Gay
Golden-Age Superheroes
by Terrance Griep
 5)
THE RED BEE. Oh, I know you think you had this one
nailed because of the pink sleeves, but you're buzzing
up the wrong hive. See, the Apis Avenger keeps a
swarm of trained bees—including his favorite,
named Michael, unnaturally enough—in his belt.
His belt! Accessorizing like this says two words,
my little drones: wayyy gayyy.
more...
When
Marvel Was Timely:
Part 2 -- The Big Three
by Jason Sacks
 The
king of Atlantis. A robot who could burst into flames.
And America’s first super-soldier. The Sub-Mariner,
the Human Torch and Captain America were by far
the most popular heroes to emerge from Timely Comics
in the 1940s. Timely, which would in the 1960s become
known as Marvel Comics, was a second-tier publisher
during World War II.
more...
Catwoman,
First Lady of Crime
by Daniel DeFabio
 People
can argue for days over the greatest superhero:
Superman, Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, Green Lantern,
Batman, maybe the Hulk. But when it comes to female
super-villains there can be only one name at the
top of the list: Catwoman. The whipsmart sexy foil
to Bruce Wayne’s Dark Knight first seduced
comic fans in 1940. .
more...
One
For The Ages:
Barbara Gordon and the (Il)Logic
of Comic Book Age-Dating
by A. David Lewis
 When
undertaking the question of the comic book Ages,
one could look no further than a character from
that selfsame medium, Barbara Gordon, as a guide.
Best known as DC Comics' Batgirl, Barbara Gordon
provides a useful entry point into the discussion
of comic book classification and dating nomenclature.
The heroine long ago hung up her chiropteran tights
out of necessity: a gunshot would to the spine left
the librarian-by-day/vigilante-by-night permanently
paralyzed from the waist down.
Page
1, Page 2, Page
3, chart and citations
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Running
a fanzine and a comic shop sure has its perks. How
else could I get an interview with Stan the Man
Lee? Stan talks about the changing role of superhero
sidekicks. Watch a video clip.
A
gas mask and a business suit. This is the costume
that the Golden Age Sandman wore to fight crime.
Sounds absurd, right? So why is the character so
memorable and interesting? One of the first costumed
characters to emerge from DC Comics after the success
of Superman, the Sandman seems as much a pulp magazine
character as a super-hero as we think of them.
Though
his own courage shortened his career in comics,
Jackson Whitney had a keen grasp of what the burgeoning
superhero field would need. In the very first Commander
Courage story, "The Origin of Commander Courage,"
Whitney had fleshed out polio-stricken junior high
school teacher Jefferson Dale's supporting cast.
No mere crutches these, the staff and students of
Nathan Hale Junior High would each and every one
prove to be crucial to the mythos of Commander Courage.
(First of Two Parts)
I
wanted to like the script for Codename: Courage.
I wanted to love it. 
When
I was growing up in Reeseville, comic book superheroes
were really the best role models I had. Everything
I know about being a man came from that four-color
world, which may be one reason I still cherish those
old comics handed down to me by my bachelor uncle.
They taught him, too. 
Thanks
to Don Swan a dream of mine came true. I met Stan
"the Man" Lee. Stan is for me (as I'm
sure for many of you) a mixture of hero, muse, patron
saint, guiding creative force and more. Friday the
18th at Comic Con San Diego, Stan stopped by the
booth for Comic Book the Movie. (He is interviewed
by Don Swan in the film.) I had only time to shake
his hand and exchange the basic praises "It's
a great thrill to meet you." I think I said.
When
the first issue of Codename: Courage appeared in
comic shops, nobody expected the success that it
would become. Peter David had yet to become embroiled
in other controversies, and Nathan Kane was just
a fan making a dream come true; now, of course,
he's a household name. At least in some households.
A
lot of people talk about the Comics Code Authority
and the effect it had on the industry. But I don't
think very many people have actually read the code.
Of course its intention was noble and there are
many laudable ideals set out in it. Other restrictions
may seem laughable to our modern tastes but we have
to bear in mind it was a more innocent age...
