The Skyman is a

fictional Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

that appeared stories during the

Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known char ...

. Created by writer

Gardner Fox Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986) was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC ...

and artist

Ogden Whitney John Ogden Whitney (May 1, 1919 – August 13, 1975) was an American comic-book artist and sometime writer active from the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of comics through the 1960s Silver Age of comics, Silver Age. He is best known as co-creator of t ...

, the character first appeared in the

Columbia Comics Columbia Comics Corporation was a comic book publisher active in the 1940s whose best-known title was ''Big Shot Comics''. Comics creators who worked for Columbia included Fred Guardineer, on ''Marvelo, the Monarch of Magicians''; and Ogden Whitne ...

omnibus title ''

Big Shot Comics ''Big Shot Comics'' was an American comic book series published by Columbia Comics during period in the 1940s that fans and historians refer to as the Golden Age of comic books. An anthology title, the series included a mix of superheroes, costum ...

'' #1 (May 1940). He is unrelated to the

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

character. The Skyman was Allan Turner, who was raised by his uncle to become "outstanding in mind and body". A brilliant scientist, he had no superpowers but did have a flying wing-shaped airplane, dubbed ''the Wing'', that flew by the power of Earth's magnetic poles. With this and money inherited from his late uncle's will, he fought crime. In 1944, he acquired an "Icarus-Cape", a huge pair of wings which allowed him to fly without an airplane. His love interest was detective Fawn Carroll. According to ''Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes'', "Skyman fights ordinary criminals, saboteurs, mad scientists, cursed idols, Soviet scientists, Emma the Spy Queen, the Gremlin, and Nazis on the moon".

Publication history

The Skyman was created by writer

and artist

in the

omnibus title ''

'' #1 (May 1940).Skyman
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...

After appearing in the first eight issues of ''Big Shot'', the character was spun off into his own series, in which one issue each appeared in 1941, 1942, 1947, and 1948. The Skyman went on to appear in virtually every issue of ''Big Shot'' through issue #101 (May 1949). That comic itself lasted only three more issues. The Skyman additionally appeared in a story in ''Sparky Watts'' #1 (1942).

New Media Publishing New Media Distribution/Irjax Enterprises was a comic book distributor and publisher active from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s. In 1978, the company's legal actions against the dominant distributor of the era, Sea Gate Distributors, widened the fi ...

reprinted a Skyman story in the unnumbered one-shot ''Golden Age of Comics Special'' (Summer 1982). A.C.E. Comics' ''Return of the Skyman'' #1 (Sept. 1987) reprinted his origin from ''The Skyman'' #1 (1941) and published a new story written by

Mort Todd Mort Todd (born Michael Delle-Femine, November 9, 1961) is an American writer and media entrepreneur, best known as an editor-in-chief of ''Cracked (magazine), Cracked'' magazine, and later, Marvel Music. He is owner of Comicfix, a media company ...

with art by

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

co-creator

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...

. Original artist

penciled and inked a new cover based on his cover for ''The Skyman #1'' from 1941.

AC Comics AC Comics (formerly known as Paragon Publications and Americomics) is a comic book publishing company started by Bill Black.

ran reprints in ''Golden-Age Men of Mystery'' #7 and 23 (May 1998 and 2000), ''Golden-Age Treasury'' #2 (2003), and ''Men of Mystery Comics'' #66 (July 2007). He was among the large ensemble of

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

characters appearing in

Dynamite Entertainment Dynamite Entertainment is an American comic book publisher founded by Nick Barrucci in 2004 at Mount Laurel, New Jersey. It is best known as the owners of '' The Boys'' franchise across several IP medias. Dynamite primarily publishes adaptation ...

's ''

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 and #3 (Jan. and May 2008), and ''Project Superpowers: Chapter Two'' #2, 5–6, with featured status in ''Project Superpowers: Chapter Two: Prelude'' and issues #7 and 10 (cumulatively Oct. 2008 – June 2010). Skyman was scheduled to appear in the ''Bounty Hunter'' series from Capture Comics.

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

released the ''Sky-Man One-Shot'' in November 2014, featuring their own version of the character: Sergeant Eric Reid.

References

External links

Skyman (1940)
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

br>Archived
from the original on June 4, 2017.

accessed 29 January 2006. {{GoldenAge American comics titles Dynamite Entertainment characters Golden Age superheroes Golden Age comics titles Aviation comics Comics characters introduced in 1940 Dark Horse Comics characters