Number 1934: By vacuum spiral to Mars

A “secret current” has turned Brad Spencer into Wonderman. Any good superhero needs a villain, and Wonderman’s main villain is Dr Voodoo. Dr Voodoo has invented a “vacuum spiral” for instant travel to other planets.

Since I haven’t read Wonderman’s origin story I’m not sure what any of it means or how it works, but in the 1940s someone did. Wonderman appeared in the four issues of Nedor’s Mystery Comics, and then Wonder Comics. The art is by a young Bob Oksner, who went on to comics fame with funny comic books published by DC, Jerry Lewis, Bob Hope, and others.

In this story, from Mystery Comics #3 (1943) a race of primitive Martian dullards had a genius born amongst them “thousands of years ago.” The genius, Yondok, looked at Earth through his atomic telescope and decided to duplicate the climate and atmosphere. After that this particular group of primitive Martians evolved into humans, and by the time Brad and his girlfriend arrive on Mars the Martian/humans not only speak English (!!) but have subjugated the unevolved Martians. I’m not sure I how any of that works, either. In the main no one cares, and certainly not Brad, because in best comic book fashion Wonderman handles the problem the way he knows best, mano a mano. In comic books there is no time for diplomacy; every problem is handled wth guns or fists.

It’s not a scene from the story, but the nifty cover is by the master of action covers, Alex Schomburg.

I showed another Brad Spencer Wonderman story in 2013. Just click on the thumbnail.

Posted in: Pappy Comics