Blue Bolt is a fictional American comic book superhero created by writer-artist Joe Simon in 1940, during the period fans and historians refer to as the Golden Age of Comic Books.

Publication history

Initially published by

Novelty Press Novelty Press (a.k.a. Premium Service Co., Inc.; a.k.a. Novelty Publications; a.k.a. Premier Group) was an American Golden Age comic-book publisher that operated from 1940 to 1949. It was the comic book imprint of Curtis Publishing Company, publ ...

, ''Blue Bolt Comics'', one of the earliest comic books titled after a single character, ran 101 issues, cover-dated June 1940 to August 1951. Its namesake hero was created by writer-artist Joe Simon for Funnies Inc., one of the earliest comic-book "packagers" that produced outsourced comics on demand for publishers entering the fledgling medium. By the second issue, Simon had enlisted

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gre ...

as the series co-writer/artist, starting the first pairing of the future comic book legends who shortly thereafter created Captain America and other characters. As Simon recalled in a 1998 Comic-Con International panel in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

: The two teamed until issue #10, turning over the book to successors including Dan Barry, Tom Gill, and

Mickey Spillane Frank Morrison Spillane (; March 9, 1918July 17, 2006), better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American crime novelist, whose stories often feature his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 million copies of his books have ...

(before Spillane's creation of the detective character Mike Hammer in novels). Other enduring features in ''Blue Bolt'' included ''

Dick Cole, The Wonder Boy ''The Adventures of Dick Cole'' was a 1940s comic book series, created by Bob Davis. It was published by Novelty Press, and later, Star Publications. Dick Cole is a heroic cadet at the fictional Farr Military Academy. The character was introduced ...

'', ''Sub-Zero Man'', ''Sgt. Spook'', ''Old Cap Hawkin's Tales'', ''White Rider and Super Horse'', ''Edison Bell'', ''Runaway Ronson'', ''Phantom Sub'', ''Krisko and Jasper'', ''Fearless Fellers'', and ''Rick Richards''. As the popularity of superheroes began to fade in the post-

World War II 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 opposing ...

era, the character of Blue Bolt was transformed from a superhero into a plainclothes type of hero. In 1949, Novelty Press sold its assets, including Blue Bolt, to series cover artist L. B. Cole due to the growing criticism over violence in comic books. Using his new assets, Cole began his own company, Star Publications.

Transition to horror title

By 1951, ''Blue Bolt Comics name had been changed to ''Blue Bolt Weird Tales of Terror'' and featured the type of horror covers epitomized by

EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950 ...

. A couple of issues after the name change, the Blue Bolt was dropped in favor of horror stories. With issue #120 (published in 1953) the title was changed to ''Ghostly Weird Stories'', which published four more issues under that title before folding after issue #124 (September 1954).

Fictional character biography

After college football star Fred Parrish is struck by lightning during practice he boards a plane in order to seek help. This plane is struck by a second lightning bolt, causing the plane to crash. Finding himself underground, Parrish is found by a scientist named Bertoff who heals him using an experimental radium treatment. This treatment gives Parrish super powers. Using his powers and a lightning gun given to him by Bertoff, Parrish takes up the name the Blue Bolt and battles the underground forces of his arch-enemy, the evil Green Sorceress. After a year, the Blue Bolt discovers that

has started. He journeys back to the surface to fight against the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in N ...

. After the war, Blue Bolt becomes a pilot for ''Glimpses'', the picture magazine, and works with daring photographer Snap Doodle.

Powers and abilities

After being struck by lightning twice and being healed via an experimental treatment, Fred Parrish gained the ability to project lightning bolts. He also possessed a lightning gun which could shoot lightning bolts.

References

External links

Grand Comics Database Project: Blue Bolt ComicsGrand Comics Database Project: Blue Bolt Weird Tales of TerrorA Simon&Kirby Blue Bolt story
{{GoldenAge Comics characters introduced in 1940 Characters created by Joe Simon Golden Age superheroes Novelty Press