Number 2116: Stormy Foster was a jerk

Stormy Foster the Great Defender may have had one of the longest superhero names, but his run was of short duration. He appeared in Quality’s Hit Comics from issues #18-#34 (1942-44). Stormy, in his civilian identity, was a soda jerk in a drug store. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a soda jerk was a person who prepared ice cream confections for customers of pharmacies, many of which featured that service in days gone past. Long past, I might add. I had experienced them a time or two in my youth, and my youth is as long gone as those soda fountains. Enough said about that.

Stormy found a “supervitamin” which gave him the strength of 10 men for a limited period of time. Some kind of super steroid, perhaps? Stormy should have turned that “vitamin” over to the War Department for the sake of national defense, but he kept it to himself. Even patriotism has its limits, I suppose.

He was also a grown man with another minor child as a sidekick. In this case it was Ah Choo, a Chinese youngster. The Public Domain Superheroes website, from which I am taking this information on Stormy, calls Ah Choo “horribly stereotypical,” yet if compared to Blackhawk’s hideous teammate, Chop Chop, at least Ah Choo looks human. (A note for my readers in non-English speaking countries: “Ah choo” is a sound effect many comics used for a sneeze, so Ah Choo’s name is a lowbrow pun.) And speaking of lowbrow, Stormy’s costume looks incomplete. He forgot to put on his pants. Stormy wears white briefs along with his white socks and slip-on shoes.

Grand Comics Database gives Max Elkan credit for the sharp artwork. From Hit Comics #24 (1942):

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