The Worst Golden Age Superhero Costumes 

I desperately need a reboot of "The Vagabond" set in modern times. Instead of a homless clown, the DA should dress up as a Juggalo from the Insane Clown Posse. He can call his alter-ego "Chauncey Thug-Nutts."

The mostly forgotten superhero Captain Triumph, created in 1943, literally just wore a red shirt, white pants, brown boots, and a belt when he did hero work. Kinda hard to call this a costume at all, but it’s what he wore when he was crime fighting, so this is technically his hero getup.

The thing about the Vagabond is that hobos were a stock character for clowns in the 1940s, popularized by figures like Emmet Kelly's "Weary Willy" character (of course they pre-date that as a figure of comedy, but clown makeup tended to follow Kelly's specific design at the time). So, what we recognize only as a clown would probably have been much more recognizable to contemporary readers as a caricature of a hobo.

The Vagabond deserves a revival. The world needs the dark, gritty story of Chauncey Throttlebottom, the travelling clown, entering the hostile hell-scape of Middleton to liberate them from narcotics-dealing extraterrestrials.

Spider Widow seems to be a female take on the pulp hero, the Spider. In the pulp stories Richard Wentworth would eventually wear a face mask with grizzled hair and a false hunchback. For more fun, check out either of the movie serials based on the Spider; the serial makers chose a very different look for the Spider but modern audiences will find something rather familiar about the look.

The name "Spider Widow" works. It works in the same way "The Princess Bride" works using the first noun as a descriptor. She is a bride who is a princess. She is a widow who is a spider.

These are closer to Mystery Men/Women. It's a mystery why these choices were made by writers, editors and artists. It can work though -The Spirit by Eisner was as bare bones as possible in the costume department, but excellent writing and great art made it work.

I do love it when you talk about golden age wackiness!

The other issue with the Golden Age is some of those comic artists and writers who went to war might not have had the opportunity to come back cause they died during the war!

The Vagabond is clearly the hero we need

I actually like the Spider Widow! That artwork looks beautiful and had a noir feel to it! If we really wanna talk about bad costumes, let's talk about Batman's earlier concept before Bill Finger! Now that was HILARIOUS!😂

Spider Widow: "She weaves a web of justice to trap the insects of corruption." ... Oh my. My expression is like yours after seeing the Captain America Halloween costume!

A civilian adopting a witch gimmick just because she was thrown into a situation and that's the disguise that was available could be a fun explanation for a weird concept. I can't for the life of me understand why she's called the Spider Widow instead of, like, the Spider Witch or something more sensical. It's interesting to see her cross over with one of my personal favorite Golden Age heroines in the Phantom Lady, though.

I love that The Raven was defeated by getting shot in the back while watching a cat fight. Classy 1941, lol. Wouldn't it have been great if he was never seen again after that? lol. Also, I think it's funny that the "FBI agent" in the last story had a more interesting costume than all of them put together.

C'mon, let's demand Marvel revive Chauncey Throttlebottom the 3rd!!

All the Golden Age stuff is my favorite, it's such a fascinating look at all the bizarre beginnings of the genre

To be fair, the color reproduction on "The Vagabond" is excellent!

Super impressed with the Spider Widow art. There are some really great panels in there, this guy was pretty amazing especially considering this was still early days for comics.

A lot of costumes from this time give the impression of authors projecting their own phobias onto villains. Spider Widow and witches. The Mask and a mask. Vagabond and clowns. Batman and bats. I'm just grateful nobody designed a costume projecting their fear of Hitler.

One of my "favorite" bad superheroes had a really bad costume, but not even in a " it's so bad it's good" way. I'm talking about "Just N Right" (aka Justin Wright), whose only costume was wearing his mother's scarf over his face. He's another character that had no powers or anything else special. He didn't last long. I'm sure as soon as he said his superhero name, everyone instantly figured out his secret identity, so some mob boss probably had him killed off.

Why not just premiere it live?

The Vagabond is a Heroic Bum Clown we need instead of the Usual Monster Clown.

Across the board, this has been your best voice-acting for the page-readings. Had me laughing throughout. Is this something you've been working on? Either way, great work, lol! So much fun.

The "Oh Hi!" intros never get old.

Spookiest episode yet! I think I fainted about three times while watching!!

I love these Golden-Age characters. They're just so wild and out there.

Oh man, he looks like when Roger Moore had that clown disguise in Octopussy 🤣🤣 except he kicks butt without any consequences to himself. Oh Chris you make these dives into golden age characters so much fun. Happy Halloween 🎃

I like the idea of a female superhero dressing up to be purposely ugly. I'm not against how they dress right now or anything like that. I just like how opposing the idea is, she would defiantly stand out in the catalogue, though not necessarily be popular.

Today I learned that "alley oop" comes from the French expression "allez houp." Thanks, Chauncey Throttlebottom!

I really hope The Face doesn’t use “fainting in terror” as his dating technique.

Borth understood the whole "every line on a face adds age" concept.

4:22 Forget The Spider Widow! I want to read a comic about Bob Ableson! Just that name alone is filling my head with amazing adventures that Bob could end up having! His sidekick could be nammed Gary Goodnuff! They could even start a group of crime fighters called "The Averagers"!! Seriously. These are comics that need to exist!

I love it when you put a spotlight on obscure Golden Age characters. Your video on Midnight inspired me to do a deep dive on the character, and his stories are a lot of fun, especially in the Jack Cole era.

There is that weird section of clowns that look like hobos. They have the 5 o'clock shadow and shabby cloths.

I'm familiar with the Face thanks to the Dynamite series Project Superpowers. In that series the mask becomes permanently bonded to his face and he gains the power to instill fear, even hallucinations in anyone who looks at him. So now if someone faints it makes perfect sense.

Spider-Widow and Mr. Whiskers should have met up. They would have been an interesting team--criminals think they're an elderly couple, when instead they're spry 30-somethings (of 20-somethings--I'm not sure how old the characters usually are supposed to be). Makes me think of two other characters who were young people and dressed up as elderly people--Cat Man (created by Tarpe Mills, not related to the later Cat Man, or DC's even later Cat Man), who dressed as an old lady; and Madam Fatal, who also dressed as an old lady. Two different crossdressing heroes who dressed up as old ladies in Golden Age comics, both now in the public domain. To complete the mix, we need a couple young women who dressed up as old men (I mean, it's possible that such stories happened). But at least these characters had memorable costumes. There were quite a few characters who wore nothing of consequence. Better to be memorable, really.

The Vagabond is by far the most amusing golden age story I've heard of, especially with the fancy way he talked. That was one classy Hobo-Clown.

I saw that Frank Borth worked for Treasure Chest, a comic book that was distributed to Catholic schools, as a Catholic student during the 1960's I probably saw his work.

Not gonna lie. I liked the spider widow so much I did a fan art of her. But updated. I love these golden aged heroines. The sillier the motif the better. You're right, athletic doesn't mean a whole lot. She wasn't very, except the sword skills.

Halloween AND a Golden Age Comic Tropes episode?! It's my lucky day!

The Spider Widow and Mr. Whiskers could make a pretty good couple, if you ask me.

"We'll call him 'Doll Man'" "Perfect. No notes."

I enjoyed the added sound effects. It got into the Golden Age feel of the comics. These episodes on little known/forgotten heroes are fun!

I like the art in this spider widow one

Happy Halloween, and congratulations on your nomination! You certainly deserve it.

@4:58 WTF she's supposed to be athletic? Compared to who spongebob?

Do you think The Vagabond is like The Phantom, where the mantle is passed down generation to generation? Tell me the tales of Chauncey Throttlebottom the 1st.

My son loves unknown/underdog characters. One year (he was 13yo), he dressed as Forbush man. Easy costume as in the comic he wears red long johns with the letter F on the front, blue cape, black galoshes and a cooking pot with eye-holes on his head. He loved what we did, and he loved explaining to people whom he was dressed like. We loved this video with obscure and funny characters.

Ok, I’ll be THAT guy. The US wasn’t in the war for most of 1941. Just the last three weeks, so it was even more impressive that we knew we’d eventually be fighting Hitler.

The vagabond too funny and bizarre but it would be cool to see a reboot of him. Be the opposite of the joker as the clown prince of justice.

"Chauncey ThrottleBottom III" has to be one of the top worst alias names I've ever heard of in a long time even in comics from way back when. Like where in the world did they pull that out of? xD

The Spider Widow is goofy but the concept is pretty impressive for the time, a woman who takes fighting corruption into her own hands, but they ruin it by turning her into another Superhero's love interest and becoming a sidekick in a revealing outfit who has cat fights over him.

Throttlebottom because he'll choke your ass!😅

My costume this Halloween was Jay Garrick's Flash! Made the helmet myself and I'm really proud with how it turned out!

Yes, Spider Widow's art was great. The power to command spiders is also a great power. But like the others you featured, when a superhero lacks a plausible origin, everything else that follows will lack plausibility.

The "arouse" sound bite made me LOL 🤣🤣🤣 Hpi Spooky Mama Day, My Dood! 🎃🖤🇵🇭

I would pay to hear you read out loud golden age comics with your voices, Chris. Good video! Well done!

The detail drawing in The Spider Widow is exceptional. Look at the bad guys' teeth in the close-ups, like where the spiders are on their faces. Bad, but not cartoony - sort of realistically imperfect. For "rubberoid", which you showed wasn't found in search, it does have several results, and is pretty much what you'd think - trade name for synthetic rubber. In WWII, (1940), Goodyear created the first synthetic car tire -- natural rubber was one of the substances reserved in the US for use in the war effort, so it was scarce. By using "rubberoid", the author is again showing his anti-Nazi stance, and supporting the war.

love, love these videos about golden age comics, they're the best!

I demand to know what retail corpse was possessed to become that Spirit Halloween. Also, I don't trust ANYONE called "Dollman" unless they're played by Tim Thomerson.

I would not have commented who about the Vagabond. During 2019, but especially in 2020 and 2021, I was so in to researching Marvel that I read up on various Golden Age heroes, including him.

Hobo clowns are a legitimate form of clowns. One of the last tv clowns (aside from Bozo) was Blinky, host of Blinky's Fun Club, that ran from the 60s to the 90s (he had an earlier show with pretty much the same format that ran on another station from 58-65). Blinky was a hobo-themed clown.

The language of The Vagabond is epic, and your voice! 😂

Oooh... Timely Comics became Marvel Comics. They could have the Vagabond team up with Iron Man and go on a bender together. Or maybe he could repurpose all the clothes the Hulk breaks for his costume

I found a mention of a sheet roofing material called Rubberoid, made by GAF. But I doubt that it existed in the early 1940s, and roofing felt seems like a pretty undesirable mask material.

OK, the Vagabond is officially my new favorite Golden Age Hero! Just wished Roy Thomas had added him to the Invaders.

The hobo avenger is an interesting character. If one were to write a story like that today, similarly, it would have to deal with crime and wrongdoing among the destitute. It would not be for kids, but it could be very insightful in human abuses. A Rorschach type just before the events of The Watchmen.

I really like The Face. There's a kind of Ditko-esque charm to him, like he really seems kind of unstable and causes more trouble than he stops.

The Face reminded me a lot like a de-powered The Mask, particularly the scene when the main baddie stole the enchanted mask and used its power for his purposes.

I was a Witch this year lmao

I think that a lot of classic clown stuff is actually related to old archaic ideas about vagrants and drunks, but just it's been so long that nobody really remembers the details and we all just accept clowns as being a thing unto themselves.

I had thought & still do think one of the most terrible super/not-super hero costume choices was the original 1940s red tornado , it was basically red long johns & a pot on the head with eye holes

This was a really fun and silly episode, from the costumes to your presentation. You had me cracking up a bunch and I needed that. And I appreciate the Halloween theme for this one too! Keep up the good work Chris!

I spurted water out of my nose when I heard, 'Chauncey Throttlebaum III.'

I've finally collected a large amount of the Usagi Yojimbo series. Thank you for getting me into it!

Sub-par food is one thing but to intentionally get poisoned food is just that extra bit of evil. Reminds me of Moriarty in the 2nd RDJ Sherlock, where he buys not just ammunition in anticipation of the War but also buys up the linen to be able to also profit from the treatment of the wounds caused.

They need to bring back Vagabond!

The creator of the rubberoid face die because he looked directly at the mask right after finishing it.

Between Carstairs and Throttlebottom, what is going on with the Vagabond's last names here

Great video chris, it's been a long time since your last Golden age video

Now I want to see him talk about Funnyman.

We need the Vagabond in the MCU

I can't comprehend how if you could go back in time and convince your mother to name you something else it wouldn't be Chauncey Throttle Bottom.

I appreciated the usage of the Tim Allen grunt on this one 😆

God that Spider Widow comic! "I don't mind shootouts with the cops! But I can't stand spiders!" LOL And the mobster yelling "Howling Hitler!" That's hilarious!

For Halloween I dressed as Wesley Dodds “The Sandman”. Happy Halloween

Picked up an all-sales-final, rubberoid InfoTram mask at Spirit Halloween. Since I was the one who fainted, I'd appreciate the FDA taking a bigger interest in Big Rubberoid and where it comes from. In all seriousness, quality episode. I liked the art in all of these stories, didn't know much about Borth but he had a great line. Heartbreaking to hear about not getting his job back after serving, but at least it looks like he eventually got some comic strip work.

The new superheroes = Donald Biden and Joe Trump... Both of them are badass.... And don't forget women villain = Hillary Bush... Lmao

Chauncey Thottlebaum, I love it!!! He can loudly exclaim ,"evildoers beware" lol 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Been binge watching your channel love your takes!

Honestly I love homeless heroes. But a homeless clown? Do they travel by Circus?

Why did you make "Throttlebottom" sound like Art Fern of "Tea Time Movies" (Johnny Carson)?? LOL!

Yeah, obviously these characters didn’t catch on, and I’m surprised you weren’t demonetized by RU-vid, for the:”illegal aliens”, line💁🏻‍♂.

I gotta love Chauncey!!! He was the best we need a new Chauncey reboot in to 2023!!!! Chauncey Throttlebottom the III live action movie debut would fill theatres world wide!!!! Who was Chauncey the second and first?? Why is he so strong?? Was he bit by a radioactive PT Barnum clown?? Why is he so f$%kin cool?? I nominate Mickey Rourke to be Chauncey Throttlebottom the 3rd so we know we are getting a bad ass F$%kin Clown and keep that original hobo clown look and the accent and voice you gave him!!! Chauncey I never knew ye but you deserve a grand resurrection!!! Spider Widow and the Face can come in a second movie!!! please do another video on these forgotten short run heroes but Our Man Chauncey is definitely the leader of this Super Team!!! Can you find us more cool characters and are they copyright free now??? I'd love to continue Chauncey's adventures if so!!

Are you sure that was Spirit Halloween at the beginning? It looked more like Halloween Boo-tique, the shitty knockoff version of Spirit Halloween. Then again, maybe I'm just biased.

Wait a tick... a guy who can't pay rent, talks funny, and likes to get in fights..? ...guys, I'm pretty sure the vagabond is a juggalo!!

THE FACE legitimately has the most potential here as long as you make a few tweaks. What if his mask was actually supernatural and causes people to confess, freeze, faint or straight up drop dead by taking form of the thing they fear most instead of just being kinda ugly looking??

I love the episodes were you goof on Golden Age comics that are just beyond funny. I watched most of them multiple times Edit: also really enjoy the themed lighting in this episdoe. Maybe working with lighting could be interesting for standard episodes too? You look good btw.

Since these heroes were all Quality, I'm guessing they are still owned by DC. That could make an interesting miniseries, maybe have one of the quality heroes that are still around like plastic Man or the ray remember how they were all kinds of weirdos running around back in the forties like the face. He could say something like, he wasn't very effective. Sure he could knock a crook out as well as the rest of us, but he was no good at grilling em. They couldn't get past that ugly mask.

I remember reading Phantom Lady comics when I was younger. If I remember correctly, she ride a motorcycle with a special Black Light that caused complete darkness to form around the criminal's car, or wherever they were. Still a cool idea.