The American Crusader: Defender of Democracy

[lordultimus]

When a recent request for more golden age characters came, I immediately thought of this guy, who's actually appeared in various comics in the modern age, including a webcomic called Heroes Inc. and even had a bit of a shout-out by Grant Morrison in Multiversity. I'm not sure why this character always stuck with me. Maybe it's because I like the name, maybe I find his costume simple but memorable, maybe it's because I like the idea of a patriotic hero with Superman level powers. Or maybe it's because his origin really, really should have just killed him.

But don't take my word for it. Take a look at his origin yourself.

Warning for female abuse.



From Thrilling Comics #19, copyright August 1941, now in public domain. Creators unknown, but possibly Kin Platt and Ned Pines, who are credited as artist and editor of this issue respectively.

Comments

[bizarrohulk]

in fairness, a lot of superhero origins should have been fatal, or at least debilitating. Being exposed to massive amounts of radiation or doused in a cocktail of unknown chemicals is rather more likely to result in you acquiring an aggressive form of cancer than superpowers.

[lordultimus]

Yeah, that's fair. I think the reason it sticks out to me here is because not only is an atom smasher at some random college, but apparently anyone can just wander into one while everyone's working on it.

I mean, at least the Hulk was created thanks to espionage.