ONES Upon A First Time Around

We've got a quickie today, only six pages long - but it counts double. Not only does she fit into the

feature, but also is the inaugural entry for another feature - one i'd yet to start simply because i don't know what i want to call it. It's a simple notion - spotlighting familiar names that were already used previously. Somehow, Before They Was Them lacks a certain je ne sais quois, n'est pas?

If you're unfamiliar, ONES Upon A Time features characters who were set up for ongoing series but only had One published appearance before disappearing into comic limbo.

Today's star appeared in Major Victory Comics #1 back in 1944. Major Victory came back for a second issue, but she did not. As is all too often the case, the creators' names are lost and unknown.

Meet Helen Goddard, who used the name Spider Woman decades before Jessica Drew -
 

SO many questions about why she had that costume just sitting around. What was she planning?

And, what do you think? Would the kid have turned out to be a sidekick, and that's why she introduced herself to him? 
Or was it just that the fields were barren, so she had none to give? (Yeah, it's one of them days - and the writing on T3C is starting to get a mite strange(r))

page art from Major Victory Comics #1 (1944)

Alec Could've Been Great

We're back with another edition of

Alec The Great comes to us from the first issue of Joker Comics back in 1942. Creator, writer, and artists are all lost to history, as are any plans they may have had for the character. What we're left with is an introduction to a character who might have been a lot of fun. And another character inspired to become a superhero by reading a comic book. (Always fun, eh, Mindbender?)

Meet the right man to clean up crime -

Nope. Not This Magazine nor any other.

But then, if he had, this wouldn't be a ONES Upon A Time feature, would it?

page art by ??? from Joker Comics #1 (1942)

Feature Feature - Once Upon A Rainbow

Well, if anyone is curious, i won't be stimulating the economy this week. Trekked out to the bank to make my monthly pull before next week's supply run - no sign of any stimulus was to be seen.

What we do have to see today is a new feature, with a logo and everything -

ONES Upon A Time is dedicated to the comic book equivalent of One-Hit Wonders - characters who appeared only a single time though planned for longer. So stand-alone stories are naturally ineligible. 

Today we feature The Rainbow.

Jim Travis made his single heroic appearance in The Arrow #3 in 1941. Written by Ed Herron (Bat Masterson, Captain Midnight, Challengers Of The Unknown, Green Arrow, and many others) and drawn by Al Plastino (Ferd'Nand, Superman, Superboy, Two Decades of DC Covers, among Many others), The Rainbow had a more-than-solid creative team. And  he sported one the more uniquely designed costumes with a very odd hood & cape combination. 

What The Rainbow did not have was a home. The third issue of The Arrow was its last, and the Rainbow dissipated into the limbo of lost comics.

Note that at this early time, he used the full Alfredo Plastino, later almost always seen as 'Al' Plastino.

Hmm...
Even that next issue blurb seems to know The Rainbow would not be returning. They left where he would be appearing blank.

page art by Al Plastino from The Arrow #3 (1941)