Magic Golden Age Heroes

Been working on my golden age comic scans and decided to put in a few pages of magical heroes of the golden age.

Yankee Girl - flies, is strong but not overly strong, and can burst through glass without being cut but can be laid low by a sap.

Mr. "E"
Origin
Mr. "E" appealed for guidance and assistance to a statue of a ancient tribal god named King Kolah which he found in the ruins of a prehistoric city. Housed in a hidden subterranean temple beneath his home, Kolah presented Mr. "E" with visions that led him to criminals. The idol also gave Mr. "E" the assistance of his elven messengers, the Messengers of Justice. The messengers were small gnome-like creatures who could shapeshift into blackbirds and wreaked mischief against enemies of Mr. "E." The names of some of the creatures were Butch, Zipper, Tim and Spike. Mr. E used his visions and assistant gnomes to fight crime in Washington, DC.

Mr. "E" dated a girl named Miss Terry.

Ace Comics
The Unknown Soldier is a mysterious being who claims to be the physically manifested spirit of all who died to protect the United States; during World War II, he came to the aid of American soldiers whenever they needed his help. He wears a costume patterned after a U.S. soldier's uniform (complete with garrison cap) and a mask; he possesses super-strength and the ability to fly, and he carries a "nitro gun" that fires explosive bullets.

Kid Eternity is actually in public domain.  DC doesn't own all of the Quality characters, just the ones they bought in the mid-50s - Blackhawk and the war titles

A few mixed bags there! Mr E is probably a 450HP character with the pet advantage (his gnome guys and various doo dads) which might up him to a 900HP character.
Kid Eternity is an oddity. Maybe a stiff breeze could knock him over so he'd just summon hercules to do his fighting for him. Hard to stat... everyone!

Unknown soldier is quite powerful I'd say. He's a ghost from the looks of it. 900 points should do him.

Yankee Girl is a 450hp character all day long I'd say

Captain Wizard is tricky. These kinds of characters seem to pull a rabbit out of a hat whenever they need anything. Probably make the cape a gadget with 7-10AP sorcery to cover everything, which makes him an expensive 900-1350HP character in this company.

Out of these, Yankee Girl and Unknown Soldier look the easiest to stat and most interesting. Any of those 'can do anything are the greatest ever and no one can ever defeat them' type characters instantly glaze me over.

I agree, magic characters are all over the place.  Honestly, that's why I've never been a fan of magic casting superheroes.  They are all "I've got just the spell for any situation" types.  Now those with clearly defined powers that come from magic like Captain Marvel and Wonder Man are different.  But Dr. Fate and Dr. Strange tend to be boring after a bit because of that "anything goes" magic.  Thought, honestly, Dr. Strange didn't start out that way.  He had a dozen or so spells and that was what he could cast but as new writers came on the strip, new spells were added until he is Deus Ex Machina Man.

Kid Eternity has Flight, Invisibility and Intangibility, Dimensional Travel to "Eternity" and normal athletic kid stats. The summon power would be ... hmmm ... Insta-Change or some sort of animation power with the limitation it has to take humanoid form in the shape of any historical or mythical character? He has summoned Sherlock Holmes, Knute Rockne - a famous college football coach, Mercury, Jesse James among others.

Next up, two Merlins.  One who needs a magic cloak to use his magic and has to speak his spells backwards.  And the other a boy magician with a magic coin that lets him cast magic.

Merlin of the magic cloak and backwards speaking spells.

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different Merlin with a magic coin

The Sword, his origin

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Sorcery exacts a cost for its huge range of powers (APs used as a direct attack on the characters spirit score for instant headache). So does OMNI power (needs a pile of HP for starters) but it does the same thing which is give all the powers and skills that this lot (and that horrible Stardust the Super Wizard character - if what I've read is true the author of that comic was a terrible human being as well)

The sword looks more interesting.

let's see...



Not a very powerful character, had points left over from 450! Maybe in other issues he might be revealed to have some ability to transport the sword to his hand or some such. Note sealed systems... not effective against gas attacks!

I have a few stories for him. Most of his stories appeared in Super-Mystery Comics

https://digitalcomicmuseum.com/index.php?ACT=docharactersearch&terms=The%20Sword

He probably had a few more powers or increased power after the first couple of issues and the writers got a better grasp on his character.

he had what I always called Golden Age Situation Invulnerability. Basically, any lethal attacks did no or very little damage but non-lethal attack like a sock to the jaw or a blow from some object like a blackjack could knock out the hero. Lots of strong characters during that age were bullet-proof but not punch-proof. Weird times.

Up Next -- Golden Lad! Sort of a Captain Marvel type - strength invulnerability and flight plus he can peer into the golden heart to see some vision pertaining to the heart.

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Origin of Golden Girl, she appeared in the last issue of Golden Lad comics, same powers as Golden Lad, maybe a little weaker since she is a girl after all.

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kind of interesting that a young teenage girl had her stomach exposed with her costume in that day and age.

Then we have the Green Lama, an interesting character in that he had his own pulp magazine, his own radio show and his comic book. In the pulps, he took some special salts that energized his body and allowed him to become a human taser able to shock anyone he touched up to 3 times. In the comics, his powers slowly increased or changed depending on which publisher was doing his stories. The last publisher basically turned him into Captain Marvel, used the same artist who did much of the early Captain Marvel Jr stories.

They don't seem dramatically strong, maybe 6-7APs strength enough to lift maybe 3 tons. Technically speaking that's still the strength of thirty grown men, mind. I'm amazed DC didn't sue left right and centre. Basically they are all Superman rip offs in one way or another. Was Superman flying by the time these guys came about? With regards the Yogis' cave in Prof Wyndes game can you make a list of some characters who might be worth resurrecting? They should be:

1) reasonably interesting
2) quite obscure or unheard of, or have a backstory like the Fox/DC/lawsuit Wonder Man
3) not be a total Mary Sue with powers that they pull out of their backsides
4) not all be the same. tricky that one.
5) not too many mages. trinkets or gadgets are fine but I would think most are 450-900hp characters...

There is Ibis the Invincible from Fawcett.  Always thought he was an interesting character.  Got his origin here.  While he is in that way really powerful area, he is also a "normal" man, also no spell could be used to harm people because he is the master of White Magic.  Take away his Ibisstick and he is powerless and anyone can use it with one little exception, any spell hurled against Ibis is hurled back at the one possessing the Ibisstick.

entering into the 1950s, here is one of his stories
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He and Zatara from DC comics, I think, are the only mages to continue having storied until the early/mid-1950s