Captain Courageous is a fictional
superhero character who first appeared in ''Banner Comics'' #3 (
cover-date
The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unu ...
d September 1941) from
Ace Comics
''Ace Comics'' was a comic book series published by David McKay Publications between 1937 and 1949 — starting just before the Golden Age of Comic Books. The title reprinted syndicated newspaper strips owned by King Features Syndicate, follow ...
.
[Captain Courageous]
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original on April 9, 2012.
Publishing history
Captain Courageous appeared in ''Banner Comics'' from issue #3 to #6 (September 1941 - March 1942); issue #6 was renamed ''Captain Courageous Comics''. He then moved to the Ace title ''Four Favorites'' in issue #5 (May 1942) to #21 (January 1946).
In 2008, Captain Courageous appeared in flashback in ''
Project Superpowers
''Project Superpowers'' is a comic book limited series published by Dynamite Entertainment beginning January 2008. It was co-plotted by Jim Krueger and Alex Ross, with scripts by Jim Krueger, covers by Alex Ross, and interior art by Doug Klaub ...
'' #0.
The one-shot ''Project Superpowers: Chapter Two Prelude'' shows the Captain as part of a group called The Super-Mysterymen.
Fictional biography
Ace
Captain Courageous is an omnipresent supernatural being who comes to the aid of brave people who ask for courage; during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
he aids the Allied forces. He appears as a man dressed in a red-and-blue costume with stars on it and a star-shaped mask. His powers include super-strength, flight, limited invulnerability, and the ability to exist underwater unaided.
[ According to ]Jess Nevins
Jess Nevins (born 1966) is an American author. Nevins is the author of the ''Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana'' and other works on Victoriana and pulp fiction. He is employed as a reference librarian at Lone Star College-Tomball.
Comic boo ...
' ''Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes'', "he assaults Nazis who have catapult planes concealed in a skyscraper and planes disguised as American planes, as well as man-eating locusts and Yellow Peril
The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror and the Yellow Specter) is a racial color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East and Southeast Asia as an existential danger to the Western world. As a psychocultural menace from the Eastern world ...
superhumans like the costumed Captain Nippo, a recurring character". Nippo, who had a hook hand and commanded an army of white apes, first appeared in ''Four Favorites'' issue #9 (Feb 1943) and was finally tried and executed by a military court in issue #24 (July 1946).
''Project Superpowers''
At some point after the war, the misguided Fighting Yank
The Fighting Yank is the name of several superheroes, first appearing in ''Startling Comics'' #10 (Sept 1941).
Fall 1941 was a boom period for patriotic superheroes as the country prepared to enter World War II; during this period, comic book p ...
trapped the Captain and other heroes in the mystical Urn of Pandora; decades later, the Urn was broken and its inhabitants freed.[ Captain Courageous and seven other heroes — including Lash Lightning and Lightning Girl, Mr. Raven, Soldier Unknown, and the Sword — are then brought together to form a team called the Super-Mysterymen.
]
References
External links
*
{{GoldenAge
Comics characters introduced in 1941
Dynamite Entertainment characters
Golden Age superheroes