Forgotten Heroes: Doctor Frost

Two of my previous forgotten heroes, Airboy and Cat-Man, should hardly be called forgotten. Both have been revived in modern times, and their influence, though not significant, is still noticeable. The same cannot be said of Doctor Frost. First appearing in Prize Comics #7 (Sept 1940), his feature ran for 27 subsequent issues. Though never given a cover, his stories were fairly strong and the art, by Ben Thompson, was a notch or two above what was often found in the smaller publishers. He is, as far as I can tell, the first hero with ice powers. And his costume has many of the features of later characters - Captain Cold, Justice League's Ice and the LSH's Polar Boy. 

A scanned copy of the origin in issue #7 is not currently available, but it is recapped in later issues. The man who would become Doctor Frost was found as an infant, the only survivor of a shipwreck in the Arctic, by a Professor Carlson. His powers were possibly naturally acquired, as some stories allude to these abilities being found among some people of the north. Most of his stories were set at sea, a natural fit for his ice powers. This, along with his general appearance, reminds one of early Aquaman. However, Doctor Frost predates Aquaman by about a year.


Like most of the early golden age comic heroes, his enemies were mostly conventional baddies: gangsters, saboteurs and Axis agents. In one issue (Prize Comics #24), Doctor Frost and the book's other heroes (Black Owl, Yank and Doodle, Green Lama and General and Corporal) teamed up to fight a modern incarnation of Frankenstein. 

I thought of using an Aquaman 'clix for my starting point, but a nameless Heroclix villain (I forgot the name) with an ice effect on his arm seemed a better fit. Unfortunately, he was bald, but this was easily fixed. Doctor Frost's hair and shoulder bands were done in green putty. 

Doctor Frost can be found in Prize Comics at the Digital Comics Museum 
My Pulp Alley entry for Doctor Frost is now on the Pulp Alley page linked at the top of the blog