Project Superpowers

Captain Comics June 16, 2026 at 2:15pm

The problem with this idea is that so few of the features have been reprinted that a modern audience would have no way of gauging how faithful the "continuation" is.

That was a problem I had with Project Superpowers itself. When it came out, I knew very little about the Pines and Lev Gleason characters. Were they being introduced accurately? Were the current stories referencing actual Golden Age stories? I didn't know, and had no way of knowing. And then, as you note, a character would come along whose name I had never heard before (Masquerade, et al) and I wouldn't know if that was an update or an entirely new character. At first I entertained the idea that Masquerade might be Lady in Red, whom I had heard of ... until she showed up later. At least, I think she showed up later.

Which is another reason I'm glad you're doing this, Jeff. I know considerably more about the Golden Age now than I did in 2008, plus it's easier to research those books now. I'd have never re-researched Project Superpowers on my own, and here you are helping me clean up that area of my brain. It's exactly the sort of project I enjoy.

Also, now I'm reminded of something else that bothered me about Project Superpowers: All the women looked exactly alike. Since many of them wore red or mostly red outfits, sometimes I couldn't tell who was who without effort. Just now I looked up the name of the interior artist: Carlos Paul. Can't say I'm familiar with him, beyond this series.

The Baron > Captain Comics June 16, 2026 at 3:15pm

Since many of them wore red or mostly red outfits, sometimes I couldn't tell who was who without effort.

This is similar to the problem that I have with the Ultrman manga, where there's half a dozen characters wearing similar armor, and since it's in black and white, you don't even have colors to help tell them apart.

Jeff of Earth-J June 16, 2026 at 3:11pm

Thanks for the kind words, Cap. the more you bring to the series, the more you get out of it, that's for sure. I know more about the Golden Age now than I did in 2008 as well, and I'm learning more every day. Case in point, I learned the following after I posted my summary of #3 earlier today.

"After retreating to Shangri-La, the Superpowers are pursued by the American Crusaders, Dynamic Man's shock troops."

From Bruce Carter's war journal entry on the American Crusader (in #6): "Archie Masters dedicated his life to science and the study of the stars... and he also escaped his time in the urn as I was never able to locate him after the war. I'm not sure of the connection between these faceless 'crusaders' and the original atomic powered hero Archie became, but they're every bit as powerful as the original America Crusader."

NOTE: The American Crusader story from Thrilling Comics #24 leads off IDW's Super Patriotic Heroes edited by Craig Yoe.

Richard Willis June 16, 2026 at 5:00pm

MASQUERADE:

No, she is obviously "Miss Masque" of Exciting Comics. But I still don't know of any of her original stories that have been reprinted. If anyone knows where I can find some (or even one), please let me know.

Here is her debut issue. Her first appearance starts on a two-page spread, pages 27 and 28 :

https://comicbookplus.com/?dlid=15101

I found it by looking up her name on Wikipedia, which told me her debut issue followed by searching for Exciting Comics 51 on Comic Book Plus. You might be able to find others this way. The Wiki entry lists all of her appearance in all eras.

She appears in issues 51-54, then moves to America's Best Comics 23, where she again makes the cover, showing a little more skin.

Jeff of Earth-J > Richard Willis June 16, 2026 at 5:47pm

Thanks, Richard. I didn't know this site existed. I don't generally like reading comics online, but if I can't find something on paper I may look here in the future.

Jeff of Earth-J June 17, 2026 at 8:10am

ISSUE #4 - Hydro & Pyroman

When the Superpowers battled Dynamic Forces in #1-2, the Green Lama caused vegetation to choke the DF headquarters. This vegetation has now spread over all of Manhattan, causing Dynamic Man to move his base of operation to their Philadelphia location and allowing the Superpowers to move to New York City, rechistening it "New Shangri-La." But Black Terror is being tracked somehow by Dynamic Forces. Green Lama is able to track the other heroes' "vibrations" and the two set about tracking them down one-by-one and bringing them to New Shagri-La.

In California, Hydro and the Flame meet the press. (They think they are being interviewed for a newsreel.) The terrorist organization known as "The Claw" has claimed responsibility for the destruction of the "Hollywood" sighn and the Police Corps (see below) has shut down Santa Monica. Assuming that the Police Corps are good guys, Hydro and the Flame turn themselves over to them, but Pyroman has caught the news coverage on TV and flies to their rescue.

The Crusaders have taken posession of the Fighting Yank's body, but he is being kept alive by his grandfather's cloak. He regains consciousness and learns, from the America Spirit, that the ghost of his grandfather is using him to free himself from a curse for somehow betraying General Washington. the Fighting Yank rallies and defeats the Crusaders tasked with transporting his body.

In the Middle East, the Scarab shows takes Samson to a field hospital filled with the zombie soldiers of the "F" Troop (see below). Samson was friends with the actual Frankenstein Monster (I have no idea whether or not this is something that actually "happened," but I suspsect not) and was responsible for "giving him peace." He destroys the "F" Troop soldiers in the Monster's memory.

In Philadelphia, Dynamic Man gets word that both the Crusaders and the "F" Troop have been destroyed. Dynamic Boy flies to confront Hydro, Pyroman and the Flame in Santa Monica, but I'm not certain "which" Dynamic Boy this is.

In Paris, Devil confers with his ally, Justine. She is a police officer who has been investigating the "Claw" terrorists. they almost kiss before being interrupted by Terror and Green Lama, with Fox's V-Man in tow.

HYDROMAN: Now known as "Hydro" (presumably to avoid legal troubles with Marvel's villainous Hydro-Man).

"Harry Thurston, a young chemical engineer, accidently compounded a formula to convert human flesh and blood into water. A huge container of the remarkable solution was spilled, and splashed over Bob Blake, Harry's friend, causing him to disintegrate and become a pool of water on the laboratory floor! Promptly an antidote was cobcocted, and with the aid of this, Bob regained his natural form. He hen discovered that he could control this phenominal change merely by the power of thought, -- Thus was created HYDROMAN!"

Due to the success of Timely's Sub-Mariner, the publisher Eastern Color contacted Bill Everett to create a water-based characther for them. Everett created Hydroman for Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics and remained on the feature for the first nine issues. After Everett's departure, Hydroman contibued until #29. All nine of Everett's stories can be found in the two volumes of Fantagraphics' Bill Everett Archives, "Amazing Mysteries" (v1) and "Heroic Tales" (v2). I bought these volumes in 2012 and 2013 respectively and devoured them, but haven't read them since. That was a mistake. For this project I have re-read all of the Hydroman stories, but I really must make time to re-read both of these books in their entirety.

PYROMAN:

When Black Terror wasn't teaming up with the Fighting Yank and Doc Strange, he was palling around with Pyroman (again, at least on the covers). Other than that, Pyroman is a character I know little about, not even whether or not any of his stories have been reprinted. All I really know about him is what Bruce Carter wrote about him in his war journal: "Dick Martin Stayed a friend during the years after the war... up until I grabbed him with the urn in '49. Not sure he'll think of us as friends now. He came into his power through his own death, being born as a powerful being of electricity and primal fire. How that power and energy were affected by the urn... well, that remains to be seen."

POLICE CORPS: Along with American Spirit and Scarab, the Police Corps is a new creation of Ross and Krueger. Here's what Bruce Carter had to say about them in his war journal: "I didn't think about it so much then, as I was away from the streets for so long, but we fought long and hard about jack-booted fascism, only to welcome it with open arms when the Dynamic Family delivered the shiny metal hides of the Police CORPS to our city neighborhoods and streets. 'To serve and protect" -- but who are they really serving?" (Sounds like ICE.)

THE "F" TROOP: Both the Police CORPS and the "F" Troop were foreshadowed in issue "zero." I was sure the Police CORPS was a new correction, but when I mentioned the "F" Troop I wasn't sure whether or not is was a new creation or something from the Golden Age. (I didn't know at the time that the "F" stood for "Frankenstein.") The "F" Troop technology was developed by Dynamic Forces and sold to the highest bidder. Basically, fallen soldiers are resurrected as zombies. It was spun as a way for countries to continue to wage war yet avoid casualties. (That is the F Troop in the background on the cover of #4.)

Captain Comics June 17, 2026 at 11:44am

You've probably mentioned already that there was a Golden Age Scarab, who appeared in Startling Comics. He's in public domain, so even though Dynamite's character is considerably different, they're still using the name. Dynamite's Scarab seems to be a combination of Charlton's Dan Garrett (he found a scarab, albeit made of stone), Ted Kord (he's a genius) and Jaime Reyes (He wears high-tech armor). With Fox's version already referenced as "Big Blue." That accounts for all the Blue Beetles!

You've probably also mentioned that Scarab was revived (along with some other Nedor characters) in Alan Moore's Tom Strong.

I can't think of anything to inspire American Spirit except maybe Quality's Uncle Sam. Since there are no other Quality-inspired characters, that's probably not the case. But since everybody else is based on something from the Golden Age, I keep pounding my brain looking for what might be his "inspiration." Could he really be an entirely new character? He is pretty useful, plot-wise, so maybe they made him up for exposition purposes.

As with American Spirit, I keep looking for an "inspiration" for Police Corps. Are they people in armor or robots? If the latter, there are lots of robots in the Golden Age that could have been the basic building block. Mekano at Pines/Nedor, for one. Or, come to think of it, they could be crude versions of Dynamic Man himself. If they're humans in robot suits, there might be some villains who qualify, but I don't know of any specifically. Or they could just be "upgrades" of existing groups, like the V-Men or Freedom Rangers. We need to know more!

The F-Troop seems "inspired" by the many Frankenstein's monsters and/or zombies of the Golden Age,. Samson and Dick Briefer's Frankenstein were at different publishers, so we know they never met, but Samson did specifically fight zombies in Samson #4 and Samson #5. That might be where F-Troop came from.

We do know that Dick Briefer's Frankenstein met Green Lama, Black Owl, Yank & Doodle, General & Corporal and Dr. Frost (in Prize Comics #24). If that's ever mentioned, it could shine some light. If it's not mentioned, I'm going to go with Samson's zombies.

So now we learn that Fighting Yank's grandfather betrayed George Washington, just as Yank betrayed all his friends with the urn. I'm detecting a pattern!

I find it strange that they elected to make "Dyamic Forces" an evil organization, since that's the name of a Dynamite subsidiary. If anybody else did that, they'd probably sue.

Jeff of Earth-J June 17, 2026 at 1:35pm

PROJECT SUPERPOWERS EXTRA! - Dynamite Special - "The Death-Defying Devil/Claw" (FCBD 2008)

"Unleashed from their imprisonment in the Urn of Pandora by the Fighting Yank, the Superpowers have returned and once again walk the Earth. Now banded together after their battle with Dynamic Man and the Dynamic Family, the superpowers have made their home in a transformed New York City -- now named New Shangri-La. It is here that they meet and discuss threats both new, and old..."

I'm not entirely certain where this falls in continuity [EDIT: after #7], but it's mainly a rehash of The Claw's backstory. In his war journal entry pertaining to the "Death-Defying Devil," Bruce Carter asks, "I wonder whatever became of his Wise Guys...?" That question is answered (after a fashion) by Erik Larsen in his...

THE NEXT ISSUE PROJECT:

Silver Streak Comics came to an end in 1946 with issue #23; 63 years later, Image Comics released #24. Larsen himself handled the "Daredevil" story (in his own inimitable style). Other features were handled by...

Paul Grist - Silver Streak
Michael T. Gilbert - The Claw
Steve Horton and Alan Weiss - Captain Battle

Now if anyone can hook me up with a copy of Next Issue Project's Crack Comics #63 I'll be happy.

I'm soon going to be in the market for Superpowers Project "Chapter Two," so I took advantage of today being Wednesday to take stock of what my LCS has on the shelves. I can either buy "Chapter Two" v1 (#0-6) for $10 and "Chapter Two" v2 (#7-12) for $20, or I can buy the Project superpowers omnibus, comprising "Chapters One and Two" in their entirety, for $40. They also have a volume of Meet the Bad Guys, one of The Death-Defying Devil solo series, and three of Black Terror. I don't know about the spin-off series, but I'm determined to get "Chapter Two" in some format.

You've probably mentioned already that there was a Golden Age Scarab, who appeared in Startling Comics.

Actually I wasn't aware of that. I thought I read somewhere that the Scarab, along with American Spirit, was a "new" character. The "Superpowers" version is very much an amalgam Blue Beetle, though.

You've probably also mentioned that Scarab was revived in Alan Moore's Tom Strong.

Wasn't aware of that, either. I've read all of the ABC material... once, as it was coming out. I really must make it a point to read it again someday.

I keep pounding my brain looking for what might be [American Spirit's] "inspiration."

You know what Project Superpowers is severely lacking? Any kind of editorial material explaining who these characters are and where they came from. Can you imagine if Roy thomas were writing or editing this? (Perhaps I should track down a copy of Wizard #202.)

Are they people in armor or robots?

People in armor.

So now we learn that Fighting Yank's grandfather betrayed George Washington, just as Yank betrayed all his friends with the urn.

Yes, but in #4 American Spirit told Yank that his blood is "clean" (whatever that means).

Oh, you were also right about "The Lady in Red." She has already had a cameo (but whether or not her involvement goes any deeper than that I have yet to learn).

There are so many cameos I haven't even mentioned (but take a look at that character list on the initial post).

Jeff of Earth-J June 18, 2026 at 8:10am

ISSUE #5 - The Arrow & The Target

"Though gravely wounded in battle with the America Crusaders, the Fighting Yank contimes to live while Green Lama secures New York from the Dynamic family, and officially creates a new haven for the returned heroes. Though they have fled their New York headquarters, the Dynamic Family regroups as Dynamic Boy prepares to bbattle a trio of newly released heroes."

Pyroman "kills" Dynamic Boy (still not sure which one he's supposed to be). Black Terror appears and whisks Pyroman, Hydro and the Flame off to New Shangri-La. After emerging from the urn, V-Man has been affected in such a way that anyone he touches becomes deathly ill for some reason. The Dynamic Family stage a "funeral" for Dynamic Boy (who is believed to be human by the people at large). Dynamic Woman manipulates public opinion against the Superpowers.

The Target appears in Amsterdam. (I don't know much about this character, but his power set seems to be an amalgam of DC's Triplicate Girl and Marvel's 3-D Man; he may even be three different people, I'm not sure). The Terror arrives in the Middle East to whisk Samson and Scarab off the New Shangri-La. The Fighting Yank is being kept alive by his grandfather's cloak, but it is failing. A flashback reveals that he captured the Arrow just as he was about to loose three shafts at him. Just then, the Arrow reappears and the shafts finally find their mark, six decades later.

THE ARROW:

Another Centaur Publications character. From Wikipedia: "The Arrow is actually Ralph Payne, a military intelligence agent who uses his archery skills to fight crime. He delivers messages via arrow, both to criminals and the police, and uses his bow to kill the evildoers. Today, the Arrow is mostly remembered for being the first American superhero to rely on archeryas a primary gimmick."

THE TARGET:

Like Silver Streak, the comic book predated the character. From Wikipedia: "Metallurgist and U.S. spy Niles Reed created the identity of the Target, using a bulletproof costume with a bullseye on the chest, to save the life of his brother Bill, who had been wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to be executed. Bill was killed during the jailbreak, and Niles avenged himself on the gangsters responsible for Bill's conviction, after which he continued to fight evil as The Target."

Those are the POLICE CORPS in the background on the cover (of Project Superpowers #5).

Captain Comics June 18, 2026 at 2:10pm

Those are the POLICE CORPS in the background on the cover.

You mean the Targeteers? They're Dave Foster and Tom Brown, the Target's sidekicks, introduced in Target Comics #11.

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