Comic book question

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#1

Random question/trivia test for everyone.

My dad recently told us a story that all started with a comic book he read when he was a kid and we are trying to find out what comic it was.

His memory of the super hero is very sketchy. He thinks the name of the hero was Mr. America but he can’t remember any details. We don’t know what his costume looked like or any other details. What we know is that in the last scene the hero was on the ground (presumably mortally wounded) and there was a hand and arm coming out of a grey cloud reaching down to the hero.

We speculate the comic date was around 1950 or 1951 and based on the temperature outside may have been around March or April.

This isn’t much to go on but I’m betting that it might be enough for someone to recognize it.

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#2

Is he confident it was a new comic? Might check out character designs for Tex Thomson (Thompson). He apparently had Golden Age Appearances into the 40’s.

Edit: Cheap, fragile comics can have a shockingly long lifespan in the hands of kids that love 'em, heh.

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#3
#4

He thinks it was a current comic because he couldn’t find out how it ended until the new comic came out. He said he thought the comic always ended with the hero in trouble and you had to read the next comic to find out how the hero survived. That description sounded like Batman to me but when I asked he said he was sure it wasn’t Batman. “like superman but not superman”

#5

My personal comic knowledge ranges from the LATE '50s so I probably missed this one. Unfortunately, I do not remember an ending like that. If in fact, this was his last comic appearance, it was probably not a major player like D.C or Marvel as they rarely neatly ended a character. Plus, in the '50’s, comics were supposed to be fun so deaths were “hidden” like a villain disappearing into a volcano so you never saw anything serious (Batman used to even smile). Additionally, any hint of a divine presence, such as a hand from a cloud, even if it was a ruse, ended by the '60s. You might try visiting a comic shop, though most of the locals are relatively new, a true affictionato might be known to an owner. If you are lucky, they may have a copy of a comic book with Mr.America squirreled away somewhere. There ARE comic book historians but they are far and few. For all those reasons I mentioned before, I’m skeptical the Tex Thompson character is the one you are looking for but I can neither confirm or disprove. Hope you find him.

#6

Could be Captain Marvel (later renamed to Shazam by DC Comics) Captain Marvels first run ended in 1953 because DC Comics sued the Captain Marvel publisher for copyright infringement claiming that the Captain Marvel character was too similar to Superman)

#7

With the information I have Captain America sounds like he might be the best fit. I suspect some of the information my dad gave me may be remembered less accurately but he seems pretty sure about the following details:

  • The forearm and hand came down out of a grey cloud.
  • The hero was laying on his back on the ground.
  • The hero always wore his costume (didn’t change into street clothes at any time)
  • The hero wore red, white, and blue.
  • My dad was in the 9th grade when he read the comic. (born in 1936)

I found a site where I can look at old comics but I couldn’t find anything that fit the above description. Link

#8

clicky link didn’t work for me, so trying this.
Archive.