Perhaps the most blatantly named superhero in comics, Red Man Of The Rockies had only two appearances. The first was a five page short in Star Ranger Funnies in late 1939; the second in Funny Pages eight months later.
I've never seen an actual copy of Star Ranger Funnies v2#5, in which the first tale appears. There are black and white Xerox copies, and we might come back to that later. Especially if that urge to play with colours on the pages keeps rising.
Before we get to the longer second tale, let me give you the full introduction from the first, and confirm his 'superhero' status -
Art Pinajian wrote and drew the strip. That's another one of those names we've yet to visit, though you may know him by another - Art Gordon, the name he used on Invisible Justice.
The title lasted four more issues, but Red Man Of The Rockies never returned.
I've never seen an actual copy of Star Ranger Funnies v2#5, in which the first tale appears. There are black and white Xerox copies, and we might come back to that later. Especially if that urge to play with colours on the pages keeps rising.
Before we get to the longer second tale, let me give you the full introduction from the first, and confirm his 'superhero' status -
A lone Indian, high in the Rockies, last of an ancient tribe, with secret powers of Sight, Strength, Character and Foreknowledge which his ancestors handed down through the long generations. - His home is the Great Open - His purpose is to use his powers for the good of Mankind -
Art Pinajian wrote and drew the strip. That's another one of those names we've yet to visit, though you may know him by another - Art Gordon, the name he used on Invisible Justice.
The title lasted four more issues, but Red Man Of The Rockies never returned.
page art by Art Pinajian from Funny Pages #38 (1940)
I find it interesting that in this installment, Red Man has more shamanistic "magic Indian powers", while in the previous outing, he seemed to have more super-heroic levels of strength & speed, kind of making him a Golden Age counterpart to the X-Men's Thunderbird.
ReplyDelete-Mindbender
Indeed. That's what prompted including the description from the first episode - he seemed more in a superhero mold at launch. I would have liked to see how he developed over time.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really click on Thunderbird, but that tracks better than going over to DC & the Superfriends to try to find an analogue.
Red Man seems more closely analogous to Thunderbird in his super-hero mode, while he's closer to Alpha Flight's Shaman in his "magic Indian" mode than anyone at the DC Universe. It's kind of sad when flimsy characters like Apache Chief & Dawnstar are the best of a bad lost that includes such ethnic jokes as Flying Fox & Raven Manitou. Frankly, I find Centaur's Native American lead characters, like Red Man, Red Blaze (I don't suppose you have access to his complete story from Fantoman #4? The scan I've seen is only half there.) & Mantoka Maker of Magic far more sophisticated than the more recent Native American heroes coming from DC & Marvel.
ReplyDelete-Mindbender
Sorry to say i'm missing the last page to that Red Blaze tale.
DeleteI've got the third Mantoka story lined up, but i was trying to find the first two that Jack Cole did. No luck thus far. Pity. There's some other Jack Cole sitting in the wings, and that would make a nice lead-in.
I know i've passed a few other heroes from the old days of comics that were also far superior characters to the what the Big Guys put out. But i cannot think of any examples from other publishers at the moment. (I can barely think, so maybe that's it)
Hells - I'm still trying to get back to my favorite caveman hero, so i guess i've got time. So to speak.