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Rackman: 1947, Clue Comics #12 (Hillman). Craig Mansfield is a dwarf
but he doesn't let that keep him from the mystery-man game. He uses stilts (racks) to appear to be normal sized and fight crime. He's independently wealthy enough to own a private island off the Atlantic coast. |
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Radior: 1941, Key Ring Comics #1a or 1e (Dell). I know very little about this character. He's billed as the "X-Ray powerman" and seems to possess super strength, able to make a subject's thoughts visible, and possibly some kind of electric/magnetic abilities. |
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Rag-man: 1941, Catman #1 (Holyoke). Jay Garson, Jr is a reporter for The Sentinel as well as a millionaire. His articles get him targeted by criminals, but they kill a bum by accident. Realizing that he and the bum bear an uncanny likeness, he switches clothes with him and thus the Rag-man is born.He has no powers but wears a patched up suit and hat as his costume. In at least one issue, he is wearing a bulletproof vest of finely woven steel that barely saves him from mortal harm. He's assisted in his mission by his man Tiny, a powerful African who was in his employ. Tiny talks with an uneducated slang and calls Rag-man "boss", but most of the time he's not drawn in any caricature manner nor played for laughs, but presented as a straightforward African American, wearing a suit and as capable as any sidekick, sometimes moreso. He seems to backslide a bit whenever the case involves ghosts and such. Rag-man's name often switches being hyphenated or combined. The earlier issues seem to prefer hyphenated for him and Cat-man while the later issues have a tendency to combine them.. Rag-man is built upon a similar premise as the Spirit in that he lets the world think he's dead. However, he is only occassionally shown with a mask and in the first story sends in an article after his supposed death. He keeps Tiny as an assistant, but people only recognize or identify him as Rag-man without mention of Jay Garson. Like his fellow Cat-man comics star the Deacon, it is as if his previous life is easily forgotten and people readily accept the hero in their midst who seemingly has no outside real life anymore. In the later stories, his clothes are more often not patched or ragged and he has an executive office at the newspaper that he was once a reporter as if everyone just now knows or has always known since near the beginning that Jay Garson and the Rag-man are one and the same. |
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Rainbow: 1941,
The Arrow #3 (Centaur).College graduate, Jim Travis announces to
his girlfriend Elsie Norris that he's been inspired by the comic
book heroes and how they fight crime and that he's going to become
one himself. She dismisses it as a "wild dream" and tells him, "but
you've got to have a costume, and you've got to be a he man." His
mind made up, Jim announces, "I'll get the costume and I'll be the
best he man the comics ever saw!" So, naturally he scrounges up
a very colorful costume and comes up with the awe inspiring name
"Rainbow". Despite all of this, he quickly finds some gangsters
headed up by Black Rufus, foils their kidnapping scheme and outfights
them. From his prison cell, Black Rufus swears revenge. |
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Rainbow Boy: 1942, Reg'lar Fellers Heroic Comics #14 (Eastern Color
Printing). Jay Watson is one of the youth heroes that is not a side-kick though he often did team up with Hydroman. He is able to fly but leaves a rainbow tail behind him. He's able to mold that rainbow into solid shapes for use such as wrapping up a bunch of crooks (similar to Music Master and his music notes). |
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Lance
Rand: 1941, Cat-Man Comics #1 (Holyoke). Lance is an extremely
capable soldier-of-fortune, aided by his pal Tubby who is only so-so
capable as is the wont of sidekicks. He also has a super-sub |
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Buck Ranger: 1946, Thrilling Comics #72 (Better). Buck Ranger is a cowboy hero of the Old West. |
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Rangers of Freedom: 1941, Rangers Comics #1 (Fiction House). The costumed Rangers
of Freedom are Percy Cabot, Biff Barkley, Tex Russell, and Gloria
Travers (as Ranger Girl) who band together to fight the Nazi menace. They had a super-villain opponent known as Super-Brain. |
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Rango: 1949, Thrilling Comics 71 (Better). Rango is a Tarzan type who is helping out Princess Pantha
with shooting a movie. After his "son" Hiku accidentally
dies, he retreats to a hidden city to be alone in his grief.
However, when financially strapped Director/Producer Bowers
finds out from his own son that Rango is sitting on a bunch
of gold and jewels he almost kills Rango in effort to get
them and almost loses his own son in the process. For a
comic book tale, there's some nice shades of gray here,
Bowers is not an outright villain and while Rango is a bit
of the "Me Tarzan, you Jane" jungle lord found
in the movies, he is still handled with sympathy. They even
manage to allow Princess Pantha do the real-life saving
in the comic not by down-playing Rango's own prowess but
by handicapping him: in one scene he's blinded and in another,
weakened by a shoulder wound.
As
I said, I found this story interesting. The popularity of
the Tarzan movies ended up feeding back into stories. Tarzan
himself in THE LION MAN found himself impersonating an actor
playing him in a movie on location while the amnesiac actor
found himself being confused for the hero (and as he was
a natural coward, he made a shoddy real-life Tarzan). |
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Raven: 1940, Sure-Fire Comics #1 (Ace). Police Detective Sgt. Danny
Dartin is also the Raven who preys on criminals and redistributes their ill-gotten gains among the needy and downtrodden with the help of his (adult for once) assistant
Mike. As such, he is also hunted by the police. His girlfriend is Lola Lash,
the daughter of the Chief of Police. Eventually, she seems to be in on the Raven's double life and works as an agent for him. The Raven is basically a comic version
of Frederick C. Davis' excellent Moon Man short stories also published by Ace with just the names of the characters changed and the look of the masked hero, of course. |
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Rock Raymond: 1944, Captain Flight #4 (Holyoke). Presumably a Flash Gordon type. |
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Reckoner: 1944, Catman Comics #25 (Holyoke). Taxi driver Michael Shawn puts on top hat and tux to investigate crimes as the dapper Reckoner alongside his boy sidekick Chipper, who doesn't wear fancy clothes or costume. In his origin story he's named as Matty Martin, by issue 27, he was already going by Michael Shawn. |
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Red Ann: 1948, The Black Terror #24 (Standard). "A ruthless murder turned her life into a nightmare of tormenting passions! Vengeance drove her into underworld byways where no woman had ever ventured before! But with the help of the Terror Twins, she found her way to life again!" Five years earlier, she was happily married to a man named Bart. Not married long, he was brutally murdered by a gang at the orders of a man called the Voice. She devoted her life to hunting this criminal mastermind down and killing him. When she, with the Black Terror and Tim do track down the Voice, he's revealed as Trent, a rival suitor who had been in love with her. She finds herself as unable to kill him though and lets him be arrested. She retires as Red Ann, looking to enjoy life again, possibly in the arms of infatuated reporter Dick Reagan of the Daily Star. |
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Red Avenger: 1936, The Comics Magazine Funny Pages #3 (Centaur), later just Funny Pages. Don't have any info on this strip or character but it ran for several issues of this early comic mag. |
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Red Blaze: 1940, Fantoman #4 (Centaur). While the artwork has a tendancy to portray him as a red-head and he has a foster-father, the dialogue refers to him looking like an Indian. He's an All-American athlete in college when he is summoned back home to Nevada where his foster father has been murdered. As this is a golden-age comic, the American West is still like the Old West. He tracks the killers West through the desert towards an almost mythical outlaw town of Boomburg. Once there, he proves himself to the local sheriff and is deputized. In addition to being good at tracking and detecting and an excellent athlete and fighter, his punches can set things on fire, a trick from his tribe. Although, the man he punched, the fire didn't seem to hurt him any other than surprise him, so it may be more a visual trick. As the story I had access to was incomplete, not sure if there were other fire powers or if that was the extent of it. |
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Red Blazer: 1941, Pocket Comics #1 (Harvey). Cowboy Jack Dawson is the unwitting subject
of a bizarre scientific process by Dr. Morgan who had spent the past four decades on Mars. Dawson is basically drugged and then sent on a pre-programmed automatic space flight that exposes him to space rays. He wakes up, his body super-charged with "Astro Pyro Rays" as well as evolved into the perfect man (which includes losing his Western accent and gaining a skimpy superhero outfit). With his now incredible intellect he reasons that Dr. Morgan wants him to go out and fight crime. Not to be confused (though often is) with Captain Red Blazer also by Harvey Comics. |
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Red Comet: 1940, Planet Comics #1 (Fiction House). The Red Comet ,among other heroes of Fiction line, is not treated consistently during his run. In some he's a standard Flash Gordon riff, in others he is crossed with Superman and has incredible super-human strength and various mental abilities. |
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Red
Cross: 1942, Captain Aero #8 (Holyoke). Not to be confused with
his spirtual brother Captain Red Cross, medical doctor Captain Peter
Hall of the U.S. Army puts on a costume to fight the enemy and protect
the victims when just saving lives as a doctor wasn't enough. Even
his nurse Lucy Feller wasn't aware of his dual role. He managed
to be fairly successful, serving in both identities in various areas
of the War, his adventures chronicled up to 1946, issue #25. |
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Red Demon: 1946/47 Black Cat #4 (Harvey). Judge Straight is also the costumed Red Demon to fight for justice when the Law is not enough. |
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Red Dragon: 1943, Super Magician Comics #8 (Street & Smith). After his parents are killed by the Japanese, young Bob Reed swears vengeance and studies ancient magic. Still a teenager, he sets out to wage war against the Japanese in the Pacific theatre using his powers. He's helped by his Chinese friend Ching Foo and a pet komodo dragon. His stories tended to be more
jingoistic than most magician strips, as one might expect with its focus on the War. |
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Red Hawk: 1944, Blazing Comics #1 (Enwill Publishing). Major Red Hawk
is a free lance Native American pilot liking to volunteer for dangerous missions. Besides a crack pilot, he's good at disguising himself, especially as Japanese. In the comics, he was stereotypically drawn as flying his plane not in pilot garb but bare-chested, buckskin pants and a headband with a feather. He was also jingo-istically anti-Japanese, common for many War strips. He made the cover for issue 6. |
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Red Knight: 1940, by Register and Tribune Syndicate. Dr. Van Lear uses
chemical "Plus Power" to turn his nameless subject into a superhero. The Knight
is armored from the waist up, is super strong and can turn invisible. He must
recharge his powers periodically though. |
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Red Knight II: 1940, Cyclone Comics #1 (Holyoke).
"Sir Miles of Lorraine, a young prince who has been robbed of his ducky by his uncle Sir Baldric, leaves his homeland to seek his fortune. He joins the army of Godefrey of Bouillon, one of the great leaders of the First Crusade to recapture the Holy Land from the infidels." He wears red chainmail armor, distinguishing him from the others. |
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Red Man of the Rockies: 1939, Star Ranger Comics v2 #5? (Centaur). Red Man is a Native American in what looks to be the Old West but hardly conclusive in the one story I read. He's the last of an ancient tribe and through secret knowledge, has above normal sight, strength, and even "character and foreknowledge". He also is privy to secrets of natural medicinal herbs and treatments and can throw a hatchet with enough strength to shatter a gun. |
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Red Mask: 1936 or 39 or 40, Best Comics (Better). The confusion over
the date is that Best Comics starting in "39 was a reprint book of work published
in 1936. The Red Mask is a safari guide in the
South Pacific. When evil is afoot, he puts on a simple red domino mask to hide his identity while he goes into action. |
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Red Mask (II): 1951, Tim Holt #20 (Magazine Enterprises). This Red Mask
kept order in the old west helped out by girlfriend Black Phantom. In addition
to his six-shooters, he used a lariat, bolo, and a crossbow with a grappling
hook. In reality, he is Easterner Tim Holt (based on the B-Western actor) who adopts the identity of the legendary Red Mask from a century ago in order to defeat the local bandit leader, El Terror. Discovering he is quite good at the Lone Ranger bit, he stays in the Old West using his six-guns to fight the bad guys. |
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Red Panther: 1940, Jungle Comics #2 (Fiction House). The Red Panther
is a costumed Tarzan type. He's never given a real name or origin story other than his mission to protect the peoples of the jungle. He did have two distinctly different costumes. The later Congo Raider appears to be the same character only re-colored. |
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Red Reeves: 1940, Silver Streak Comics #1 (Lev Gleason). Red is your average American boy until he meets a genie and is given magic powers.
Of course, he uses them for good and takes a bite out of crime. |
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Red Riot: 1945, Red Circle Comics #1 (Enwil/Rural). Red-headed Jack Chandler is Red, a professional trouble shooter for lumber camps. His friend Jake is an older lumberjack. |
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Red
Roberts, the Electro Man: 1940, Rocket Comics #1 (Hillman).
Got his electrical powers much the same way that Pyroman did, he
was framed for a crime and sent to the electric chair, here it was
a mixture between his straining against his bonds while being electrocuted.
In addition to the standard electric powers, Red could become pure
electricity and thus be invisible and travel and transmit over powerlines
and cables. Unlike Pyroman, he didn't wear a special costume. |
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Red
Robbins: 1944, All Top Comics #1 (Fox). Red Robbins is "the
fastest man in the world." and he "never uses a gun and never
kills! His socks are like bolts of lightning so that he knocks the
enemies of America unconscious." His first foe is "Reltih",
spell it backwards... Soonafter, he teams up with an African American
young man by the name of "Speed" Karr. Speed is under
the delustion he has superspeed as well when in reality he has the
dubious "power of slow motion". The adventure I read from
All Good Comics, the colors of his shirt and pants are reversed
from what's shown as well as the pants being jodhpurs. |
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Red Rocket: 1944, Captain Flight Comics #5 (Four Star). Rod Page is the costumed Red Rocket in the year 2042. |
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Red Rogue: 1945,
Star Studded Comics #NN (Cambridge). Private detective Rod Rooney
has built a reputation for solving impossible and bizarre crimes
to the consternation of the police he keeps showing up. The more
bizarre crimes, he investigates as the masked hero, the Red Rogue. |
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Red Rover: 1943, Red Dragon Comics #5 (Street & Smith).The
Red Rover is a legendary heroic figure of the night who through
the ages aids the downtrodden and the weak, reappearing each century.
Least that's how the story goes and young Jimmy Rover wishes he
could be like the Red Rover. Little does he know, he's about to
learn, beware what you wish for... As he goes to meet his parents
at the touristy/ amusment spot the Devil's Cavern, he rescues
a mysterious old man who gives him a ring to protect in secret.
Jimmy is elated, thinking that the Red Rover had a ring, although
this is only half a ring, part of it missing.
At the caverns Jimmy gets separated from his parents and the
rest of the group and finds a chest with a costume and the other
half of the ring. When he combines the ring he becomes invigorated
and the modern day Red Rover!
However, tragedy strikes. While missing, his parents and others
of the group are killed by man-sized bats and a red devil, the
guide is the only one able to flee to the surface to tell the
tale. RR secretly investigates along with the police. He unmasks
them as bootleggers headed up by Banker Bones who were using the
caves for running pipes and stealing gasoline from a local company
and needed to shut down the tours. In the origin story, other
than being very good in a fight, Jimmy doesn't show any obvious
super powers. |
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Paul Revere, Jr.: 1941, Banner #3 (Ace Periodicals). Paul Revere, Jr. is a boy in New York City who is friends with the likewise improbably named Betsy Ross and
Patrick Henry. The trio get into all sorts of adventures. This isn't as strange as it sounds in that it was common practice with dime novels and such to feature such heroes as Tom Edison, Jr |
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Rex: 1940, The Funnies #45 (Dell). Rex is the "King of the Deep," designer, builder, and captain of his own super-submarine. He is helped by girlfriend Nan Barlow and buddy
Dirk. |
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Jack Rhodes: 1939, Amazing-Man Comics #5 (Centaur). Rhodes is some type of investigator. In his one published case, he stopped a crew using a submarine in a river for smuggling in supplies picked up in international waters, bypassing customs and such. Rhodes is an able pilot and diver. NOTE: Some sources list Rhodes as being Minimidget, but this comic had individual stories with both characters and Minimidget's real name was unrevealed. |
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Rick Richards: 1947, Blue Bolt Comics v7 #8 (Novelty). Rick is heir to the Richards fortune. He's also a two-fisted type helping others out and sticking his nose into all sorts of trouble. What makes him a bit unique is that he has unique glands, a sudden loud noise alone can trigger temporary above average strength and endurance, allowing him to burst rope bonds and such. |
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Red Riley: 1941, Liberty Scouts #3 (Centaur). Red Riley is
a tough as nails cop of the River and Harbor Patrol. He's good in a fight, able to hold his own against several men at once. |
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Rio Kid: 1940, Thrilling Comics #2 (Better). Texan Captain Robert Pryor, calvary hero of the recent Civil War, is better known as the hero the Rio Kid in the American West. In addition to his comic run, he had a very successful run as a pulp hero where the above info came from. |
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Rod Ripley: 1943, Blue Beetle #27 (Holyoke). A mysterious disease is ravaging humanity and a world famous laboratory commissions a wizard of science, Rod Ripley to discover the cure. His search takes him to Cairo in search of the "lost formula of Rameses." With a small group consisting of Ripley, his assistant/girlfriend Zarita, Sir Balcolm, and Arab guides led by Ahmed, they make their way to the pyramid. Ahmed is killed and the guides leave with his body. The trio find Rameses sarcophagus and open it to get the formula which awakens the mummy of the pharaoh who curses them. Sir Balcom falls unconscious but the goddess Isis appears and allows them to leave with the formula as long as they seal up the tomb behind them which they do. And, this was all in just one issue.l |
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Robin
Hood: 1942, Green Hornet
Comics #7 (Harvey). Brilliant doctor and surgeon Dr. Fairbanks is
moved by the amount of crime in the city and with his valet Tuck
and truck driver "Big John" Sherwood who is a victim of
crime, he organizes and inspires them to follow him as Robin Hood
and his men. Fairbanks' nurse Elaine Barton is unaware of Fairbanks'
dual identity and of course wishes he could be a little more like
the hero. |
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"Mob Buster" Robinson: 1939, Wonderworld Comics #3 (Fox). Robinson is the crime-busting DA of Capitol City. |
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Robo: 1940, Cyclone Comics #2 (Bilbara Publications). Android of the
little people. |
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Rocket
Boy:1942, Scoop Comics #2 (Harry "A' Chesler)"Determined
to seek out and learn the truth of his father's strange disappearance
in the jungle of Africa, Billy Woods, husky little Rocketboy, braves
the Dark Continent with grim determination to solve the mystery."
As Rocket Boy (the name is clearly two words in the title, but spelt
as one throughout the story) red-headed Billy wears a red and yellow
outfit with small rockets on his back. He does find his father, who had been captured by a gang to force him to give up the details to a diamond mine. Don't know if it was ever explained where the jetpack came from, the story implies that he was Rocketboy before his father's disappearance. |
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Rocketman: 1941, Scoop Comics #1 (Harry "A' Chesler). Inventor Cal Martin creates a rocket pack that allows him to jet through the air. He builds one for himself and his girlfriend Doris Dalton; together they fight crime and the Germans as Rocketman and
Rocketgirl in matching costumes. In Punch Comics, Cal's job was that of an attorney. NOTE: When reprinted, Rocketman and Rocketgirl's costumes were
colored differently and their id's were changed to "Tech' Carson and Pat. |
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Rocketman II: 1949, King of the Rocketmen (movie serial). Despite the name,
other than his scientist friend subbing for him one time, there's only one Rocketman,
whose name happens to be King. Jeff King. King is after the insidious Dr. Vulcan. |
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Rocky X: 1952, Boy Comics 80 (Lev Gleason). FBI agent William Rockwell
is assigned to protect Dr. Frank Liebert as he builds the first moon rocket.
Upon its completion, he is inducted into the Rocketeers, newly formed by the
UN to explore space, and given the name Rocky X. In issue 100, he goes back
to being just an FBI agent. |
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Runaway Ronson: 1940, Blue Bolt #1 (Novelty). Runaway Ronson is
what is called a "stream engineer," an engineer of the Rocket, a super-train. |
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Private Rook: 1941, Army & Navy Comics #1 (Street & Smith). Private
Rook is a heroic buck private still in basic. |
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Rocket Rooney: 1940, Bill Barnes Comics #1 (Street & Smith). Rocket is a jack of all trades in the future: spaceship pilot, scientist, explorer and handy in a fight. He and his best pal Professor Watts of the Technical Research Bureau have various Flash Gordon/Buck Rogers type of adventurers.
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Randall Ross: 1941,
The Arrow #3 (Centaur). Ross is a plainclothes detective and master sleuth. In addition to carrying a gun, he keeps a switch knife strapped to his wrist in cases of emergencies, such as cutting through ropes when tied up. He's also schooled in the art of Jiu-Jitsu. |
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Rex Royce: 1941,
Whirlwind Comics #1 (Nita). Rex Royce is one of the finest Royal
Canadian Mounties keeping peace in the frigid far north. |
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Rulah the Jungle Goddess: 1947, Zoot Comics #7 (Fox). Jane
Dodge is a rich American orphan bored with the rich life. While out flying her plane
crashes in the African jungles. Stranded and left in rags, she takes to wearing animal skins and becomes the jungle queen Rulah, finding the excitement that civilized life was lacking. She has an abnormally intelligent pet panther named Saber. |
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Rurik: 1941, Spitfire Comics #1 (Harvey). Rurik is a Danish King in the times of the Vikings. He, his right-hand man Reith and crew sail the seas in search of a life of adventur. Their travels even take him to discovering a hidden land in the frozen North. |
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Reff Ryan: 1941, Planet Comics #13 (Fiction House). Fearless explorer of space from Earth. In issue #26, he teams up with the space man Flint Baker and become part of the crack team of Space Rangers commanded by Borla, the Martian. |
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Rocky Ryan: 1940, Big Shot Comics #1 (Columbia). Rocky Ryan is a "free-lance adventurer" and does his adventuring helping out the British in India. |
