Captain Freedom: 1941, Speed Comics #13 (Harvey). Newspaper publisher Don Wright dresses up in a patriotic costume to fight the evils of the Axis powers, frequently alongside the Young Defenders, one of the numerous child gangs of the golden age making him a cross between S&K's Captain America and Guardian. This particular group with names like Lefty, Whitey, Slim, Beanie, Blackie were collectively known as the Young Defenders and also featured a girl among the, Joanie. As often was the case, they'd uncover some crime or plot, get in trouble and word would get to Wright who'd put on his costume, rescue them and the group would clean house.

In an interesting little text story in issue #26, 1943, Captain Freedom is part of an invasion force, heading into Germany, forcing their surrender. Hitler commits suicide over capture. The story also reveals that he keeps a specially designed plane in a secret hanger underneath an orchard on his estate. He designed and built the plane himself, and it's able to do over 700 mph, getting him to Europe in no time.

Unlike many of the patriotic heroes, Captain Freedom's career managed to outlast the war, his final adventure in issue #44, 1947. A decent achievement, especially in those times for a patriotic themed superhero.

He became the cover star with issue 16, appearing on every cover after that, some in adventures with his co-stars and some by Simon & Kirby. The group covers often had text stories that teamed up the various heroes inside. Over time, he kept tweaking his costume, leastways on the covers, and could very well hold the record for the most variations of one costume, of which a few are presented here. Despite a steady presence, a healthy run and a few covers by a famous creative team, he never really broke away from being a pretty generic superhero, a merging of a couple of concepts with nothing really strong to recommend him nor a big push by the company whose sole character remembered from this time was the stunning Black Cat. Sure, he did better than almost all of Timely's heroes other than their big 3 and the vast majority of characters who never rated a cover and/or less than a half dozen appearances if they made more than 2. Yet, he never made it into other comics by Harvey, was not brought back in any of their subsequent forays with superheroes. He didn't even get brought out of retirement for Fem Force's assault against the Black Shroud at AC. The closest he got was that another hero over there co-opted his name..

Cat-man II: 1940, Crash Comics 4 & 5, Cat-Man Comics 1-32. 1940. David Merryweather was one of the many heroes who got his start when his parents were killed while in the jungle leaving the orphan to be raised by animals, but one of the few to actually adopt a costumed identity. His adventurous parents were killed by bandits while in Burma and he was raised by a tigress. Early in his career, he had all the attributes of the cat: agility, night vision and nine lives granted by a cat goddess. Eventually, he joins the army and gains an eleven year old ward, Katie Conn, who dresses in an identical outfit and calls herself Kitten (1941, Cat-Man Comics #5). Katie's acrobat parents were killed when their circus train wrecked and was already a trained acrobat. She was then being raised by her Uncle Jake, a drifter and thief until he tried to hold up Merryweather and she decided to intervene. She further proves herself on the case he was working on and thus, instant partner. She also worked with other side-kicks as part of the group Little Leaders. By war's end, Kitten is depicted as pretty much a late teen to full-grown woman.

Issue 27 gives a second version of the origins of Cat-Man and Kitten. In this one, Cat-Man's mom is is the best animal trainer in the country. As such, as a kid, he's completely at home with the big cats who accept him as their own. When his mom is killed under mysterious circumstances, he grows up to follow in his mother's footsteps. He also learns the ways of the cats, able to move as stealthily as them. One day he finds an orphaned baby in the pen with Tamara, his favorite cat who seems to accept the baby as well as she accepts David. The only name on the tag is "Rosetta" so he names her Katie "Kitten Rose" Rosetta in honor. The steps from there to them actually becoming the crime-fighting duo Cat-Man and Kitten are unclear though. The story does mean that David Merryweather had raised Kitten from baby to young teen, thus may be a bit older than your average mystery man of this time. If you buy the second origin that is.

Clock: 1936, Funny Pages #6 (Comics Magazines). One of the oldest comic heroes and published by enough companies to cast his ownership in doubt (one of which was Quality). Brian O'Brien was a wealthy young man falsely accused of killing his own father for the inheritance. While in prison he met up with "Pug" Pulaski and struck up a friendship with him. While talking with Pulaski, O'Brien realized that no one was going to bother to find the evidence to free him from this frame-up except himself. That resolved in his mind, the two of them escaped from the prison. As they searched for evidence of their innocence, they wore kerchief's to conceal their identities. It didn't take long to find the evidence that they needed to legally release them both from prison. Having freed himself, O'Brien realized that there must be many other people out there in need of help. He and Pulaski kept their kerchiefs and pursued the truth to help the innocent for many years.

After he switched companies, the Clock eventually got a new sidekick, an orphaned tomboy living on her own by the name of Butch who was determined to help him out and would marry him once she grew up.