Forgotten Heroes A to Z: Ibis the Invincible

There was a time when magician heroes were a staple of the comic book genre. This probably owes itself to numerous factors such as occult detectives in the pulp magazine and the success of Mandrake the Magician in the newspaper comic strips. My own theory about the popularity of the magician character in the first half of the twentieth century fiction lies almost entirely with Harry Houdini. 

Ibis the Invincible, from Fawcett Comics, was created by Bob Kingett and first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (February 1940). Dovetailing with another early twentieth century fascination, Egyptology by way of the Tutankhamen discovery, Ibis was a prince of Egypt revived in the modern era. With his beloved, Taia, who was also from the ancient era, Ibis the Invincible fought evil wizards, common criminals and (of course) Nazis. DC acquired Ibis as part of the Fawcett acquisition, and while he has never become the player in the DC Universe that Captain Marvel has become, he has made a number of modern appearances and served as the inspiration for a rebooted character. 

   

Getting Ibis into miniature form was not a difficult enterprise. He generally appeared in a variety of modern (for the 40s) clothing with only a red turban to distinguish himself. Here, I took a Harvey Dent 'clix and added a head from Sargon the Sorcerer. Unfortunately, this miniature does address one of the problems with a great many Heroclix figures. While there is some really good sculpting and poses in the Heroclix line, the soft plastic obscures many of the facial details. On top of that, I use acetone to remove the thick paint from the figures and to free up some of the details. But leave it in the acetone just a few minutes too long, and it will dissolve the plastic of the figure itself. 

Below, Ibis with Taia, from a figure simply labelled "Witch." 

That wraps up my month in the Forgotten Heroes challenge, having completed the letters F through I in golden age comic characters. There may be a bit of a break until I get to J, which will hopefully be my first solo (non-sidekick) female hero in the alphabet of forgotten heroes.