Greatest golden age hero, and possibly greatest ever, has to be Black Condor. He was raised by birds, taught himself to fly, became a senator through impersonation, didn't tell the senator's fiance that he was an imposter, fights crime shirtless, has a ray gun with no explanation and then spent 30 years punching Nazis. Truly he is the hero the world needs
@@orinanime oh he died. He just happened to be an identical stranger to Black Condor and a REALLY important vote was coming up. Identity theft and voter fraud seemed the easiest solution. And he got a fiance out of it!
@@andrewjefferson5097 I forget, but was the Black Condor character a Mongol? I know there was a superhero that was condor themed, despite being from a country that's entirely devoid of condors, as condors are native to the Americas.
@@i.m.evilhomer5084 his family was from either America or Europe and were killed traveling through Mongolia. Or maybe inner Mongolia? So he was raised by birds and then a kinda racist missionary
Those birds were drawn as Andes condors, but colored brown, so we had a Senator who identified as Black, Native American, (To be specific Native West-South American and Bird and had a decent Mongolian/South American/French upbringing, so he would have been a giant step for diversity in the US senate.
Aquaman had to spend the next fifteen years flipping fishburgers to pay his college tuition. I think Aquaman only got a 'secret identity' because he was under the delusional impression that he was a celebrity and he should try to keep a low profile.
I recently finished reading "Wonder Woman: The War Years 1940-1945," edited by the legendary Roy Thomas. It's a collection of Golden Age tales starring the Amazing Amazon, and quite simply one of the most amazing series of comics I've ever read. Any single issue from the WWII period might be more than enough for most mere mortals, but the craziest tale in my view is the very last one in the book, "The Invasion of Paradise Island" from Sensation Comics #27, cover date January 1945. Elevator pitch: Two bratty kids run away from a cruel orphanage matron and stow away on Wonder Woman's invisible plane (by hiding in a trunk she's carrying for Steve Trevor because reasons). Wondy lands at Paradise Island, the kids climb out and are surprised by a bunch of wonderful Amazon animals and customs. Everybody helps to fend off a Nazi U-boat force because it's wartime and no one likes bullies. Wondy says she'll take the kids back to the mainland in a month, but in the meantime they can hang out with their new Amazon friends. It's kinda tame by the standards of most Wonder Woman stories of that particular vintage, but the beauty of it for me is all the odd things the kids encounter on the island. Here's a few: precocious Amazon toddlers each with the strength of a dozen rhinos; a Christmas-type celebration where you pogo-jump to grab presents that grow on a special tree; boxing matches with kangarats versus giant bunnies. Not to mention you'd think Wondy or Steve would do something about that jerk matron from the beginning, but no, he's never really brought up again. Care to pass some of that spiked water?
They should do a remake of this story except aquaman’s tired twenty something roommates don’t even notice or care about the octopus cuz college just be like that.
there's an old story where Aqualad goes to highschool, but suffers a massive head injury right before his final exam. Naturally this leads Aquaman to play fish charades to jog Aqualad's memory during the test. Also the cave that Aquman and Aqualad lived in has a fish in a bowl sitting on a table.
Chris, Chris, easy brother. It's all good. Fish know where it's all at, man. They know things we mortals will just never fathom... wait-- fathom... get it ? Oh yeah
Hahahahaha! Awesome. When I was a little kid, there were these books that I would check out from our local library that collected these vintage comic book stories. Superheroes and old EC comics from the 40s & 50s. It was the beginning of my love affair with the library and these bat-shit crazy stories from this era.
This was a great, fun, short entertaining video. I'd love to see more vids like this in the future, diseccting some absolute wackiness in some old comic from the Golden Age.
I remember a Batman brave and the bold story where the joker, riddler, and penguin teamed up together to take down Batman. Joker bombarded the batmobile with a mysterious gas from the inside out whilst Batman was inside. Batman became a creature called Bat-Hulk, and sought help from Metamorpho and Simon Stagg. Bat-Hulk could shoot this unknown energy from his hands and made ridiculous puns. Can’t imagine that Bat-Hulk is going to make another appearance. I also recall a brave and the bold story where Batman slapped a girls butt as punishment, but I think that is in your background as a picture😂😂
A lot of golden age weirdness makes a lot more sense in context. Introducing kids to a college setting was pretty desirable in that era. There was a big post-war push for education, especially in the sciences, so it made sense to show a superhero in the 50's going to college.
Wouldn't be nice if the reason why the college is always losing is because the rival college has an Atlantian or Trench student? So Aquaman goes to swimming competition thinking it is going to be pretty easy, but instead he has a epic swin battle with a guy with same powers as him...
I remember seeing a underground comic from the fifties, and it was a Batman rip-off. It was in black and white, but the plots where good. One has Batman under bidding of govenment cotract to transport, and build bunkers for fort Knox gold. He under bids so he can secertly steal gold and replace it gold plated bars of Tungsten. With so much gold, Batman invest in stock market, and cheats. Batman makes so much money, he has to sneak the gold back into fort Knox so it's safe from the other crooks. Fort Knox is over crowded with gold, so Batman is paid to build more buildings, and make more money, and steals more gold, and make more money, and stores his ill got gain in fort knoxs. It was very funny, and well thought out.
Didn't read through the comments to see if this was addressed, Chris, but the hat you wonder about at 3:06 is a freshman beanie. A lot of colleges used to make freshmen wear them to help them identify other freshmen who were going through the same transition to the difficult world of college life. It was believed this fostered a sense of community, but often resulted in them being targeted for bullying by upperclassmen. Curiously, Riverdale High in the 50s used to make freshies wear the beanie too, although I don't think it was ever a high school thing. Thanks, enjoyed the episode!
Can we just talk about the name? Namor comes out in 1939, and a full two years later someone over at DC says, "Wait a minute! Are you saying they made a water guy and didn't just name him Waterguy? Boy did they ever make a mistake! Mort, get on it! I want the first issue of Waterguy out next month!"
I collect Golden Age comics and I’ve got several back issues of More Fun Comics which Aquaman first appeared in. One of the ones that is a favorite is More Fun Comics #104 (July-August 1945) in which a little boy looses his pet goldfish by accidentally dropping him into the ocean, and the little boy’s Millionare commissions Aquaman to find the goldfish, of course Aquaman promises to find the little boy’s pet and return it to him, however Aquaman seems to have no idea of course that a goldfish couldn’t survive for more than a few seconds in saltwater being a freshwater fish. But he somehow finds him swimming out in the ocean and brings him back alive and well. 🙄 This is why I prefer Namor the Submariner as a character from this era instead of Aquaman 😏 When Aquaman was going to fish school and hunting pet goldfish out in the ocean, Namor on the other hand was conquering NYC and slapping Mayor LaGuardia around and fighting the Human Torch And then realizing the error of his ways he went after the Nazis and the Japanese with a vengeance and fought them with a take no prisoners attitude during WW2.
There's a pre crisis Superman where he makes a cave to look like hell and dresses up as the devil all to convince some crooks they've died and to teach them a lesson. Slow day, I guess. He psychologically torments them to the point that when he drops the ruse and turns them into the police, they all happily confess just to get away from Superman.
The hat would be the same one as Jug Ears wears in the Archie’s. It’s a second hand trilby with most of the brim cut off, jaggedly, and popped into a dome. It’s head wear for poor people or people affecting to dress down.
Reed (after finding out Weston College Lost): Sorry I'm pulling the donation (Aquaman summons his Royal Guard from Atlantis who sieze Reed and dangle him over a cliff with sharks) On the other hand Also Golden Age Sillyness Captain America #2 where Cap crossdresses in order to sneak into Nazi Germany and Bucky decks Hitler and Goering
The episode just started and I'm already absolutely amazed ...at the fact that there is alcoholic water 🤯😳🤦🏻♂️ The lowest, cheapest alcoholic drink posible and someone bottled it and is a thing that sells and people buy it. That's what terminal alcoholics in my town drink and it cost pennies to DIY 🤣
Wow! This must've been written for 6 year olds! Man what a sorry story! No wonder Aquaman had an uphill battle for respectability. And trust me some of the situations many years later were just as ridiculous. Thanks to Peter David and Geoff Johns for bringing respect to the King of the Seven Seas!
Humm I'll have to think on my favorite golden age story. But to quickly comment yep anything pre 50's said continuity what's that? That's how New York district attourney Harvey Kent became Gotham city da Harvey Dent with no complaints. At least that's what new students Mr Batcaveous and Miss Wonderal said.
Waterman IS a name... If you pronounce it the Dutch way it means Aquarius - the astrology sign? It also literally means water man - in English AND Dutch. I'm not sure how much cred I should give the writers, and which name they were going for.
