Mystery Men & Women:

The G's

 

G-Man Gene:1940, Funny Pages #34/v4 #1 (Centaur). Ace G-Man Gene (no last name given) investigates a strange case of a dead operative and a haunted mountain which pits him against the Asian crime-lord Wu Chang aka Mad Ming. Gene has enough authority to operate fairly independently of reporting to superior officers, has access to and flies an autogyro and has as a girlfriend the capable Jinny who describes herself jokingly as a "safe expert, burglar and all around confidence woman."

Mad Ming does escape to bedevil the world in further stories. It appears G-Man Gene becomes Detective Gene Gerold and gains a kid side-kick by the name of Joey.

  G-Man Jim: 1937, The Comics (Dell)?. Jim is an ace Federal investigator.
  Gil Galen: 1939, Funny Picture Stories v2n3? (Centaur). Gil Galen is a G-man on a counterfeit case.
  The Gargoyle: 1942, Captain Aero #4 (Holyoke). Playboy Dan Collins puts on formal wear including top hat and tails to fight crime. He's good in a fight and not above using guns. Guess the name is meant to be ironic.
  The Gaucho: 1942, C-M-O Comics #1 (Centaur). The Gaucho is a rich Argentinean rancher traveling in Montana to learn American techniques. Naturally this means he fights the bad owlhoots in the West. He uses a whip. He is sidekicked by his buddy Sanchez. They end up befriending Lois Young, the owner of the Bar CMO Rancho (notice the name). Gaucho and Sanchez both talk in a stereotyped manner, but otherwise when other companies were having Americans pretending to be Hispanic... I also wonder, how do you write someone of another nationality talking in English and get across they have an accent and it's not their primary language without being accused of writing them in a stereotypical manner? The first issue of this comic doubled as a catalogue, listing clothes and accessories worn by the various characters
  Gay Desperado: 1945, Red Seal Comics #14 (Chesler)?. In the Badlands, Jim Collins roams meting out justice while hunted for crimes he's innocent of making a legend for himself. He's sidekicked by the lad Patsy. Considering the presence of things like automobiles, the stories are set in the modern day West though everyone dresses and acts like it's the Old West. In Punch Comics, the location is given as Texas. Unsure if the above is the first appearance of the Desperado as Chesler liked to move his characters around not only from title to title but even to different companies.
  Toni Gayle: 1945, Red Circle Comics #4 (Enwil) AND/OR 1948, Guns Against Gangsters (Novelty). Toni is a globetrotting brunette model. But, being a comics heroine, it means she also gets into all sorts of adventures and mysteries along with her possible boyfriend Biff. NOTE: I'm only familiar with the one that appeared by Novelty. I'm not sure if the one from Enwil publishers is the same character or not.
  Ghanga/Gunga: 1945, Buster Brown Comics #11 (Brown Shoe Co.). A young Indian lad and elephant rider. His elephant is named Teela. He started off named Ghanga, but later issues featured an almost identical character named Gunga.
Ghost: 1940, The Ghost Super-Detective (pulp), Thrilling Comics #3 (Better). The Ghost is one of the few characters who started off in pulps and then had elements picked up for comics. In the pulps George Chance is a stage magician who uses various tricks, both sleight of hand and ability at disguise to fight crime as "the Ghost" (later "the Green Ghost"). George was raised in a circus and was taught his various skills there. He's assisted by girlfriend Merry White; freeloader and con man Joe Harper, angry midget Tiny Tim Terry, and Glenn Saunders. In his comic appearances, Chance knows real magic, learning it when he was raised in India as the foster son of an immortal yogi teacher. He was helped by a woman named Betty and his most implacable foe was time traveler Professor Fenton. Strangely, the pulp George Chance, the Ghost, is at the least the third man to go by the moniker of the Green Ghost: from FIVE NOVELS MONTHLY, December 1931. Michael Armstrong, professionally billed as "Signor Rubino, the World's Greatest Ventriloquist" is a young man with a mysterious past. His father was an American and his mother a Russian Countess and they were caught up with the revolution; his father killed and his mother captured. The guards promised her freedom if she showed them where she had hid a necklace of great value, but of course they lied and they divided up the stones of the necklace between them. So, Michael puts on a green silk mask adopts the identity of the Green Ghost to steal back his inheritance but is dogged by an old family friend, Patrick Hennesy who is also a police detective. The love of Michael's life is Jessica Grey and by story's end, the bad guys are punished, the necklace back where it belongs, the couple engaged and the Green Ghost retired. I don't know if Mr. Armstrong ever ventured out of retirement. Green Ghost number two is by Johnston McCulley in THRILLING DETECTIVE circa 1934 published by Standard Magazines, Inc. Danny Blaney was an honest cop until he was framed by crooks and lost his badge. While he was never tried, he was seen guilty by his comrades. So, he became the Green Ghost to capture and steal from the crooks the police were unable capture, showing up both the cops and the crooks. He pretended to inherit some money and ran a corner cigar store as cover. His costume was a green hood and gloves. Notice this is the same publisher as the one of George Chance's adventures.
The Ghost (II): 1941, Daredevil Comics #5 (Lev Gleason). Brad Hendricks had it a bit tougher than most heroes. Instead of starting as a star in his own strip, he starts out as an adversary against both Hitler and the monstrous Claw. He had no superpowers but he had the Ghost Plane to help even the fight.
  Ghost of Ivanhoe: 1941, Double Comics (Gilbert). From the cover where he probably only appeared: "Heeding England's peril, the ghost of Ivanhoe thunders in from the pages of history, crushing the foe with his mighty thrusts." He appeared as a full armored knight on horseback.
  The Ghost Rider: 1941, Miracle Comics #3 (Hillman). In the Old West, Ranger Bill Colt whose knack for stirring up trouble as well as his lightning draw and two-fisted ability is called the Ghost Rider. He doesn't wear a costume though.
Ghost Woman: 1945, Star Studded #1 (Cambridge House). Midnight on a slippery road, an unnamed woman is speeding through the countryside to contact a man named John who's about to leave overseas and thinks his wife and baby are dead. Only the child isn't. However, along a curve the car crashes and it's occupant is killed and becomes a ghost though she doesn't realize it. She is able to will herself to John's house but she can't be seen or heard by him. Despondent, John goes for a walk despite the fact a mad dog is roaming the countryside. He's spotted by a man who sees him and Ghost Woman. Turns out he can see ghosts because he's a werewolf. He grapples with Ghost Woman, while John flees. Ghost Woman finds she can touch supernatural things with no problem. She also realizes that silver can kill a werewolf and tries to give John clues by exerting her will and moving a blunderbuss and silver fork. The werewolf leads an attack with other werewolves. When he's shot and killed the others flee and John vows to make hunting them down his life mission. Presumably, Ghost Woman accompanies him to help.
  G.I. Jane: 1952, Rangers Comics #67 (Fiction). Jane Walters enlists as a WAC, goes through basic training and finds herself working at an atomic research laboratory and has herself a couple of adventures.
  Greg Gilday: 1941, Key Ring Comics #1a (Dell). At the moment, I know nothing else about this character.
  Girl Commandos: 1942, Speed Comics #23 (Harvey). In India, Captain Pat Parker, aka War Nurse and her lieutenant Ellen Billings meet up with a couple of other women who decide they want to do more for the War so they band together to become "free lance fighters for freedom". In addition to Pat and Ellen there's Tanya (Russian photographer), Penelope "Penny" Kirk from England, and Mei Ling. Pilots Don Fraser and Dick Lane are often embroiled in their fights whenever they need a couple of pilots and/or planes.
  Gladiator: 1941, Fantastic Comics #23 (Fox). Dressed as a Roman Gladiator, art aficionado Dan Kenneth fought crime. He only made two published adventures.
  Golden Archer: 1944, Catman #26 (Holyoke). Kitchen boy Ned becomes one of Robin Hood's men under the masked identity of the Golden Archer.
golden eagle
 Golden Eagle: 1944, Contact Comics #1-11 (Aviation Press, Inc). A pilot hero similar in appearance to Blackhawk, only his uniform and plane are gold in color. He's Dennis Quinn, and may have been formerly a pilot hero in WWI.
Golden Girl: 1946, Golden Lad #5 (Spark). Peggy Shane finds part of Golden Lad's Heart of Gold, the source of his powers. Thus, when she utters the magic words "Heart of Gold," she gains identical powers of flight and incredible strength.
  Golden Knight: 1939, Fantastic Comics #1 (Fox). Sir Richard Warwick is already a famed knight when he receives a vision of a beautiful woman directing him to go fight in the Crusades. So, he dons his golden chain mail and heads off to war, fighting evil along the way. In his adventures, he gains a magical cloak, ring and horn which gives him various magical abilities though he doesn't make extensive use of them. The strip takes a more surreal turn in issue #16, the brother kings of the moon and sun come to marry his sisters (promised by his father years earlier). Lord Lucifer comes for his youngest sister but takes his girlfriend Alice instead. Given aid by the third brother, King of the Wind, he goes to Hades to retrieve Alice. Payment for the help? Promise of his younger sister as bride. Following that he adventures on the sun and moon as well as Earth.
Golden Lad: 1945, Golden Lad #1 (Spark). Working in his grandfather's antique store, the lad Tommy Preston finds the "Heart of Gold," a Mixtec/Aztec artifact which through "the blood of a thousand martyred Aztecs" gives "strength and courage" to those pure of heart and devoted to justice. Qualifying, when Tommy only has to say "Heart of Gold" and he gains generic superstrength and flight to fight evil.
  Guy Gorham: 1941, Great Comics #1 (Great Comics Publications/Dell). Guy is "the world's greatest chemist" as well as a good scientist in other fields judging from advance equipment that he stocks in his lab like his televisor that he can use to monitor bugs that he's planed on suspicious evil scientists.. He's helped by his beautiful assistant Zarita.
  Grit Grady: 1941, Captain Aero #1 (Holyoke). Grit Grady is an adventurer and owner of the Suzy Q, a small tramp steamer in the South Pacific.
  Don Granval: 1940, Planet Comics #6 (Fiction House). Inventor Don Granvel invents the atomoscope, which allows him to study sub-atomic matter, specifically planets of atomic universes. When one planet is threatened by fierce monsters, he and a crew of atomic explorers shrink themselves and his space ship to help the tiny planet out.
  Corporal Grant: 1945, Major Victory Comics #3? (Chesler). American volunteer in the British Army. NOTE: Unable to verify if this is his first appearance or a reprint from an earlier story at this time.
  Greasemonkey Griffin: 1940, Wings Comics #1 (Fiction): A well meaning likeable airplane mechanic who gets in all sorts of jams and adventures. His love is a pretty little blond named Peggy.
Green Ghost (IV?): 1942, Champ #20 (Harvey): not sure of his relation to the pulp heroes of the same name...none of whom were published by Harvey. To further complicate matters, Harvey would also introduce the Green Ghost as a recurring villain in their Padlock Homes parody stories in Speed Comics. Don't think the two are the same but cannot be sure without seeing the actual stories. See The Ghost entry for other Green Ghosts.
  Green Ghost V?!: 1944, Scoop Comics #8 (Chesler). As Chesler supplied stories to Harvey, this Green Ghost may be the same as that one. He is not given a real name or description as he hunts the kidnappers of an inventor's son. He uses a bit of trickery to play up the ghost aspect to spook the villains and he uses green darts which criminals know to associate with him.
Green Giant: 1940, Green Giant #1 (Pelican). Little is known or revealed about this rare character other than his alter ego is "Brentwood". He stands roughly 15 feet tall (much taller on the cover) and has the invulnerability one would expect of such a being. His costume on the cover differs slightly from the interior art.

The Green Hornet. 1936, The Green Hornet (Radio show)/1940 Green Hornet Comics #1 (Helnit). Britt Reid is a crusading newspaper publisher by day and vigilante by night. Helping him in this is his sidekick Kato, a souped up automobile called the Black Beauty and gun that shoots knock-out gast. His extra-curricular activities soon have the police on his trail and he's thought to be the biggest crook of them all, a reputation he plays up. Former policeman and bodyguard of Britt, Mike Axford becomes a crime reporter thanks to his contacts on the force and one of the most persistant pursuers of the Green Hornet, trying to bring him to justice. This status quo is not to dissimilar to the pulp's Moon Man and would be used in slightly different variations with other comic heroes such as the Blue Beetle and the Black Hood.

Besides his sidekick Japanese/Oriental/Filipino Kato, only Britt's secretary Lenore Case knew his identity. Until a 1947 show where a reporter uncovered the secret while secretly working for Dan Reid, Britt's dad. Britt revealed his identity to his father. He was angry at first but then gave his approval, referring to a pioneer ancestor of Britt's in Texas and who acted as a vigilante, while the William Tell Overture plays in the background.

Green Knight: 1941, Dynamic Comics #2 (Harry "A" Chesler). Denis Knight dressed in a green costume in order to fight crime. In his first adventure he rescues a young lad who joins him as Lance.
Green Lama: Pulp: 1940, Double Detective (created by Kenneth Crossen); Comics: Dec. 1940, Prize Comics #7 (Hillman). After graduating Harvard, Jethro Dumont went abroad and studied in Tibet. In the pulps and early comic appearances, he had ventriloquism, various mesmeric abilities, disguise skills, able to generate electrical shocks due to radioactive salts he digested, and above average but not super strength as well as some scientific knowledge in addition to his philosophies. His adventures in the pulps, he was aided by a few assistants that were unaware of his true identity. He seemed to go through some pains to keep his identity a secret. While Jethro Dumont was known to be a lama, he did most of his investigating as a Dr. Charles Pali and was usually disguised as him when operating as the Green Lama, so if anyone did suspect the Lama's identity, it would be as Pali and not Dumont. In fact, his first two aides Gary Brown and Evangl thought just that, despite being well aquainted with Jethro Dumont, who served as best man at their wedding after which they shortly retired in September of 1940. However, his true identity was uncovered by a mystery woman who also was a student of Buddhism, who would slip him clues and information, giving as her name Magga. Possibly, his servant Tsarong knew his secrets as well. Magga seems to have been a woman by the name of Pat Dell, though I don't know if Dumont figured that out. During these days, his sole super power was a shocking touch that could knock out oppenents with minimum harm to them, come about by his digesting radioactive salts (can only guess at what that did to his life expectancy). Otherwise, he tried not to kill and carried no gun in battle though he didn't forbid his agents from doing so. He was decent in a fight but not superbly so, relying more on strategy and stealth to win the day.

His adventures were also chronicled in PRIZE COMICS #7, Dec. 1940 - 34, 1943, though one didn't see his aides. It had been a few months, so one can assume that Gary and Evangl retired from adventuring to lead a respectable life as farmers. Along the way in the course of his pulp chronicles, he had attracted the friendships and aid of Ken Clayton and adventuress Jean Ferrell as well as the continued presence of the mystery woman Magga, but they are all off scene from these exploits. Likewise, in these adventures Dumont seems to have shedded the Dr. Pali identity. These cases were covered apparently by the same man who did his pulp adventures. His foes were getting more powerful such as Stopwach, the man who was also a master of Tibetan hypnotism and helping the heroes Black Owl, Yank & Doodle, and Dr. Frost take down the Frankenstein Monster. One story that may be considered non-canonical, he fought the devilish Mephistopheles, and in this one case, he exhibits actual supernatural powers as he calls forth past American patriots to help fight his cause ala Kid Eternity.

In 1944, a year after both the pulp and Prize comic run came to a close, another publisher would take on publishing the Green Lama's adventures, starting off with a slight retelling of the origin. Though this too is supposed to be from Ken Crossen, the Lama had undergone some mighty big changes. He still wore a green hood, but instead of the green robes, his costume was green tights complete with cape and his long-time meditative phrase (Om! Ma-ni pad-me Hum! "Hail! The Jewel in the Lotus Flower!") now gave him super-strength and flight as it telepathically linked him to monks in Tibet who echoed the phrase. It all looked very good as done by Mac Raboy. By this point, Tsarong definitely knew his identity.

Around this time, another woman calling herself Magga would re-appear, only in a solo adventure sporting the powers and Raboy designed costume of the Green Lama and called Magga the Magnificent {April, 1946, Atoman Comics #2 (Spark)}
Green Light: 1941, Double Comics (Elliot Publishingt). Possibly a re-colored Masked Marvel (Centaur) character as MM graced the cover #2 and GL was cover #3 and the only difference seemed to be changing the colors. GL only appeared on the cover, as the interior pages were stories from other publishers.
 

Green Mask (I): 1939, Mystery Men Comics #1 (Fox) Michael Shelby's father is a Congressman and has been marked for death by the Grim Circle. When Congressman Shelby is gunned down, Michael is mortally wounded. Family friend Professor Lascomb rushes to save the young man and subjects him to his untested Vita-Ray machine that should heal him. The machine has a short, and subjects him to a super-charge, however. When he comes to, Shelby is not only healed but he's a miracle man, with super-strength, invulnerability and the ability to fly. He vows vengeance on his father's murderers and all crime and decides to take up an identity that will strike terror in the hearts of criminals, the Green Mask. A young orphan is hurt when the Circle tries to rub the Green Mask out. Subjected to the same treatment, minus an accident, he gains the same powers and takes on the identity, Domino ("little mask") and becomes the Green Mask's sidekick. Least that's what the text says, Domino doesn't seem to be able to fly. NOTE: This origin story wasn't told until GREEN MASK #1, almost a year after his first appearance and he didn't seem to have a side-kick for almost that long. Domino's first appearance in Mystery Men Comics #11 would have been on the stands about the same time as Green Mask #1. Before his origin, he possessed above average strength and capabilities, but not necessarily comicbook superhuman levels. He liked to skulk around in the shadows a lot, and had acquired a paralyzer gun that would temporarily paralyze opponents (gone after a few issues). In those days, his identity was only known to Daily Globe reporter "News" Blake whom he gave scoops to.

He also gains a girlfriend in Olivia Tracey and the loyal chunky chauffeur Mr. Peters.
  Green Mask (II): 1944, Green Mask #10 (Fox). Johnny Green is a young boy and bookwormwhose father Walter is supposedly the Green Mask fighting in the Pacific (Johnny knows his dad is overseas but not necessarily that he's the Green Mask).When Johnny gets angry at "crime and injustice." he changes into the adult costumed hero the Green Mask. As the hero, he's strong and capable, and seems able to fly. At first, after the excitement is over, the Green Mask goes to sleep and wakes up as Johnny who has no memory of his adventures. Later, he seems to know that he's the Green Mask and it takes anger for him to trigger the change. Other than having the same name and a similar costume, any link between him, his unseen father and the earlier Green Mask is unrevealed. Johnny also has a small white dog named Curly.
 

Green Turtle: 1944, Blazing Comics #1 (Enwill Publishing). The Green Turtle's real name and origin are unrevealed. He fought crime and evil mostly in China. His teenaged sidekick is Burma Boy. He had no powers but had the nifty "Turtle Plane". NOTE: The comic and character is fairly unique in that great pains were taken to never show his face beyond the covers. It is speculated because he was intended to be actually Asian, but there was reticence on having an Asian lead superhero. However, this speculation doesn't hold much water with further thought. The Green Turtle only wears trunks, gloves, boots and mask and cape, thus he shows a whole lot of skin. While the rest of the Asians are colored yellowish-brown, the Green Turtle is clearly colored pink ala a caucasian. And it would be far simpler to render his mask in such a way that the eyes couldn't be seen ala goggles or Batman's white slits than to stage each scene without seeing his face. So, it would be very disingenuous for that to be the reason behind not showing his face. There are two other instances where comic book creators have done this. Zack Mosley did something similar with the insanely handsome character Downwind Jaxon, a sidekick and co-pilot to Smilin' Jack. He was so handsome, his appearance would drive women crazy with passion. But, his face was never shown to the readers. Fox's Bronze Man kept his face hidden for the exact opposite reasons, it was horribly disfigured in the War so readers never saw his full face front on unless it was covered by his bronze mask.
Grenade: 1944 Captain Flight #5 (Four Star). When his brother is killed by a German grenade, Bruce Corbet puts on a costume and adopts the identity of Grenade to avenge his death. Only appearance.
  Grey Mask: 1943 Suspense #1 (Et-Es-Go ((Holyoke?))). Malcolm Muir was the Spirit-esque Grey Mask. His assistant is a peg-legged African American by the name of the Dove.

Grim Reaper: 1944, America's Biggest Comic Book #1 (Better). Bill Norris started off fighting the German menace ("hope for all freedom fighters -- nemesis of the Axis") but migrated at stopping crime. For the most of his run, he was merely good with his fists and guns. In his first story, he also used a noose to good effect.

A couple of curious moments in that first story, though. When the German says G.R. isn't human, the hero replies that he was wondering when he'd notice that. And, his trick with the rope to get the saber off the wall, it looks as if the rope is doing that under its own accord. Leads me to wondering if there was a bit more to the character than I have always thought.

Grimm, the Ghost Doctor: 1944, Bomber Comics #1 (Elliot Publishing). Dr. Grimm specialized in helping out the disbelieving police in solving crimes with supernatural angles. He is armed with a ghost disintegrator. Very similar to Quality's Fero, though sporting some white hair. My research into leads me to believe this is not coincidental. Elliot had already been involved in a lawsuit with Fawcett in 1942 over DOUBLE COMICS that Elliot just re-packaged other publisher's stories with a new cover, often featuring never seen elsewhere heroes such as the Green Light up above.

  Guardians of Freedom: 1941,Yankee Comics #3 (Chesler). Over the course of three pages of text stories, the kid heroes Yankee Boy, Johnny Rebel, and Dandy (Yankee Doodle Jones' sidekick) work on a related case individually before teaming up. The title of the story was "Guardians of Freedom" so I'm using it as the name to make note of this team-up.
Gunmaster: 1946, Clue Comics #10 (Hillman). A non-costumed adventurer and trouble shooter who is a crackshot with a gun.
  Gunsmoke: 1940, Gunsmoke #1 (Youthful). I don't know much about this cowboy. On the first cover, he had a mask, but went unmasked for the rest. Regardless, he and pal Pedro rode the plains fighting for justice. On one evocative cover, he's fighting an Indian skeleton on horseback!

 

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