Forgotten Heroes A to Z: Cat-Man and Kitten

Cat-man, like the previously discussed Black Owl, was obviously another golden age hero highly influenced by the success of the DC (then National Comics) character Batman. Like Batman, Cat-Man had murdered parents, a kid sidekick and an animal influenced motif. Unlike Batman, Cat-Man had some super powers, was not wealthy and his kid sidekick was a young girl. Cat-Man was created by artist Irwin Hansen and an unknown writer for Holyoke Comics. After first appearing in Crash Comics #4, cover dated Sept. 1940, he then headed 33 issues of his own title. Like many other golden age characters not published by DC or Timely (later Marvel), Cat-Man and Kitten fell into the public domain. From there, they have appeared in various other publishers, including AC Comics and Dynamite’s Project Superpowers. 

An interesting follow up, Irwin Hansen later created another feline themed hero for DC Comics, Wildcat, in 1942. 

Summary: Young David Merryweather, on a trip with his family in the jungles of Burma, was the only survivor of an attack by bandits. He was cared for by a tigress, and acquired the skills and strength of the great cat. After returning to America as an adult, he used his powers to fight crime. Shortly after becoming Cat-Man, he rescued a young girl from her con artist uncle and adopted her. Katie Conn became Kitten, and was a skilled acrobat and fighter in her own right. 

His powers included the ability to climb and leap, see in the dark and recover from damage as if he truly had nine lives. 

Super	Health	Brawl	Shoot	Dodge	Might	Finesse	Cunning
Cat-Man	d10	3d10	2d8	3d10	3d10	3d10	2d8

Climb	You can move at your normal speed up vertical surfaces. You cannot shoot this activation.
Danger Sense	You automatically pass the first peril you encounter each turn.
Nine Lives	You  roll 1d8 for all  Recovery checks — rather than  1d6.
Daredevil	Once per turn, you receive a +1d bonus when rolling for a Peril.

Sidekick	Health	Brawl	Shoot	Dodge	Might	Finesse	Cunning
Kitten	d8	3d8	2d6	3d8	2d6	3d8	2d6

Agile	Add +1d to your Dodge.
Intrepid	When you have the option to Dodge Move, you may move in any direction.
Daredevil	Once per turn, you receive a +1d bonus when rolling for a Peril.

League: Cat-Man (Leader), Kitten (Sidekick), Daredevil Adventurers, Keen Senses, Resourceful, plus two slots for other colleagues 

To make a miniature of Cat-Man and Kitten, I started with the most obvious Heroclix, DC's Catman. This 1960s villain was clearly inspired in costuming by the original Cat-Man, so a minor repaint was all this required. Kitten began as a Wondergirl figure that I gave a mask and cape from greenstuff putty. To stat them out for Pulp Alley, I invented a new ability, "Climb." It's one of a few house rules I've created to get some early superheroes into PA. It probably should be a level one ability, since it is less powerful than "Winged" or "Speedy" which are both also first level abilities.

Forgotten Heroes A to Z: Black Owl

Today’s entry in forgotten heroes is Prize Comics’ Black Owl. The Black Owl has an interesting evolution, not unlike a few other characters in the early days of superheroes. As Doug Danville he first appeared in Prize Comics #1, in the guise of K the Unknown. As K, he wore a orange bodysuit and black mask. In the next issue, he has already changed to the Black Owl, a situation that is not explained as his girlfriend Terry Dane is already comparing him unfavorably to the superhero. As Black Owl, he is costumed as a pulp hero in a suit, hat and mask. A few issues later, he is wearing the more common superhero costume of tights and a cape.

First Appearance: Prize Comics #1 (As K the Unknown), Prize Comics #2 (as Black Owl), March 1940
Summary: The Black Owl was secretly Doug Danville, a wealthy New York playboy. Wanting to fight crime, he briefly called himself K the Unknown. He changed alter egos shortly afterwards, and became the costumed hero the Black Owl. He became socially (or romantically) involved with old acquaintance of his, Terry Dane. She was a private investigator, and as the Black Owl, Doug often became involved in her cases. Terry frequently compared Doug to the Black Owl, urging him to be less lazy and more brave, though one suspects she must have known the two were the same person.

Eventually, Doug dropped the pretense of being a coward, and gave up being the Black Owl so that he could join the military. He urged his friend Walt Walters, father of the crime fighting twins Yank and Doodle, to continue as the Black Owl in his absence.

The Black Owl has no powers and rarely used a gun in most of his later appearance, but he was an extremely capable brawler. 

Leader	Health	Brawl	Shoot	Dodge	Might	Finesse	Cunning
Black Owl	d10	4d10	2d8	3d10	3d8	3d10	2d10

Fierce	Add +1d to your Brawl. (Included above)
Flying Tackle	Once per turn, shift your Brawl dice-type down to give one engaged enemy a -1d penalty to all combat skills.
Moxie	You ignore the multiple combats penalty when rolling your Brawl dice.
Daredevil	Once per turn, you receive a +1d bonus when rolling for a Peril.

Sidekick	Health	Brawl	Shoot	Dodge	Might	Finesse	Cunning
Terry Dane	d8	3d8	2d6	3d8	2d6	2d6	3d8

Crafty	Once per turn, you may re-roll one Dodge or Cunning die.
Shrewd	Your Dodge and Cunning dice-type are not lowered due to injuries.
Daredevil	Once per turn, you receive a +1d bonus when rolling for a Peril.

League: Black Owl (Leader), Terry Dane (Sidekick), Daredevil Adventurer, Resourceful, plus three points for temporary allies (policemen)

Modeling the Black Owl: 

To create the Black Owl, I started with a Batman Heroclix. This is appropriate since the Black Owl was obviously a Batman stand-in. To be fair, he never adopted a kid sidekick and his relationship with Terry Dane was far more interesting than any relationship Bruce Wayne ever had with a female supporting character in the golden age. Anyway...I added a little putty to the cape and mask, and repainted the Owl in his dark blue and reddish brown color scheme.

Further Reading: The Black Owl (in Prize Comics) at the Digital Comic Museum

Airboy

I'm starting with Airboy because I have been familiar with him longer than most of the heroes that I will cover on this site. That is largely due to the great 1980s comics produced by Eclipse Comics, my first introduction to great comic talents like Chuck Dixon and Tim Truman.

Airboy first appeared in Air Fighters Comics #2, cover dated November 1942 and was created by Charles Biro, Dick Wood and Al Camy. In the war years, hero pilots were probably more popular than super heroes in the comics and Airboy proved to be one of the most popular. In 1945, the title was re-titled "Airboy" and lasted until 1953. Legendary artists who worked on the title included Carmine Infantino, Fred Kida and Dan Barry.

After Hillman's discontinued comic publishing in 1953, the character lapsed into the public domain. When Eclipse comics revived the series in 1986, the story picked up in the modern era with the son of the original Airboy.

First Appearance: Air Fighters Comics #2 (Nov 1942)
Summary: David Nelson was the son of a famous pilot, and was orphaned at an early age. He was raised in a monastery in Capistrano, California. Drawing his inspiration from the famous swallows, David, along with a monk skilled in aircraft engineering (??) built an advanced fighter plane, the "Birdie."  It's wings "flapped," as a birds, and was tremendously agile. In addition to his piloting and engineering skills, Airboy was a formidable hand to hand combatant.

Leader	Health	Brawl	Shoot	Dodge	Might	Finesse	Cunning
Airboy	d10	3d10	3d10	3d8	2d8	4d10	2d10

Savvy	Add +1d to Finesse (included above)
Captain	You gain +1 Gear point for selecting vehicles before each scenario.
Hardboiled	Targets of attacks receive a -1d Dodge penalty
Daredevil	Once per turn, you receive a +1d bonus when rolling for a Peril.

League: Airboy (Leader), Daredevil Adventurers, Garage plus six slots for colleagues

Airboy in Miniature

My Airboy miniature started as a Bucky Heroclix, with a little green stuff for a scarf and to turn the mask into flight goggles. 

Further Reading: 

Public Domain Airboy comics at Digital Comics Museum
The Airboy revival from Amazon  

Forgotten Heroes A to Z

This blog was set up to explore some of my ideas and projects on miniature gaming with heroes and villains of the golden age of pulps and comics. I hope to also squeeze in a few historical heroes and villains, many of whom served as the inspiration for the pulps and dime novels of the early 20th century.

With a little luck and some planning, I will keep this updated with new content for a good while. Dozens of posts are written and ready to go. In the next two months, I will run through the alphabet of public domain comics heroes from Airboy to Zanzibar, with miniatures and stats for Pulp Alley or other wargames.