Timeline of Earth-4 (1930s to 1950s)

Return to Timeline of Earth-4

Go to Timeline of Earth-4 (19th century to 1920s)

• The first atomic rocket ship from Mars lands secretly on Earth near Helena, Montana. By 1948, over the next 17 years, 411 Martian ships secretly land on Earth, leaving behind over 40,000 Martians, who look identical to humans. Helena, Montana, is their landing base. Note: This information was related in 1948 by a Martian calling himself Jason DeKoven, who may have been lying or exaggerating. Although at least two Martians are shown to have the strength of ten men, others may have no enhanced strength; certainly human-identical Martians depicted in other stories have no added strength. Still others may be affected by Earth diseases; it is possible that of the 40,000 Martians that landed on Earth over 17 years, most of them may have died from disease, since they lacked the immunity to fight it. Sometime after the failed 1948 invasion of Earth, most if not all of the remaining Martians are returned to Mars or otherwise die on Earth. It is also possible that Martian interference on Earth, whether intentional or otherwise, may have resulted in the age of super-powered men and women, beginning in 1939 with the debut of Wonder Man. [“Zero Hour,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

• The Feeder, a sentient pocket of parasitic energy that feeds on fear, lands on Earth and inhabits an infant named Gantry Babbitt, who grows up to be first a juvenile delinquent and then a television preacher. [E-Man (First) #7]

• April 19: William Donalley, an electric company repairman, is electrocuted by high tension wires. Although he is apparently considered dead for three and a half hours, he comes back to life with vastly increased intelligence and various mental abilities. [“Death Did a Double,” Unusual Tales #25 (December, 1960)]

• The Phantom XXI, real name Paul Walker, begins protecting the jungles of Bangalla as his ancestors have done for centuries. Note: The Earth-4 Phantom is not exactly the same as the Phantom who appeared in the Phantom comic strip. For example, Diana Palmer was born much later and became the wife of the 1960s/1970s Phantom. Also, this Phantom is named Paul instead of Kit, a name he gives his son. [The Phantom (King Features Syndicate newspaper comic strip)]

• July 7: The Second Sino-Japanese War breaks out.
• Reporters Jack Flynn and Joan Joyce, lost in an unknown region of Tibet while en route to cover the war in China, meet the immortal Shangra, the seventh son of the seventh son of Shangra the Great, king of Tibet many centuries ago. Shangra is a master of magic, supernatural ability, and sorcery. Flynn marries Shangra's great-great-great granddaughter Lonna and becomes the new king of Shangraland, learning everything that Shangra knows about sorcery. [Crash Comics #1-5]

• The Phantom XXI has an adventure that takes him to Casablanca, where he meets Rick Blaine. Note: Some characters from the films Casablanca (1942) and the Maltese Falcon (1941) appear in this story. [The Phantom (Charlton) #70]
• John Ordway, a research scientist afflicted with albinism, invents a serum that causes invisibility, and he uses it to commit burglary and murder. He dies before his brother Charles is able to administer the serum that reverses his invisibility. Charles goes mad and is put in an insane asylum for at least 10 years. [“The Man Who Vanished,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

• Fred Carson becomes the super-powered mystery man known as Wonder Man, has a single case. [Wonder Comics #1]
• Wonder Man ends the devastating civil war in Tatonia by stopping the corrupt Gen. Attila, one of the leaders of the rebel army. Note: Since the Spanish Civil War also ended at this time (officially ending on April 1, 1939), it is possible that Tatonia is either Spain itself, a province in Spain, or most likely a small country next to Spain. Gen. Attila is probably affiliated with Franco of Spain. [Wonder Comics #1]
• Patty O'Day, news reporter and photographer, begins adventures. [Wonder Comics #1]
• Dr. Fung, master sleuth of the Orient, begins adventures, with ally Dan Barrister. [Wonder Comics #1]
• K-51 (originally called K-5 and whose real name is Ken Flynn), agent in the Secret Service, begins adventures. Note: K-51's name is never revealed in his original series. [Wonder Comics #1]
• Richard G. "Gang-Buster" Robinson (also called Mob Buster Robinson) begins adventures. [Wonder Comics #1]
• Spark Stevens, sailor, begins adventures, with ally Chuck Lawton. [Wonder Comics #1]

• Yarko the Great, a magical mystery man considered the mightiest magician of all time, has his first public case. He defeats the second most powerful magician of the age, the evil Shaddiba, whom he had previously met in India. Note: Yarko the Great has been active since 1937 and has helped law enforcement several times already. Since the character Mr. Mystic, created by Will Eisner to act as a backup series for the Spirit Section, is actually a retooled version of Yarko the Great, also created by Eisner, Mr. Mystic can be considered the Earth-X parallel of Yarko the Great. [Wonder Comics #2]
• K-51 meets Claire Conos, alias agent Z-19 of the Secret Service. [Wonder Comics #2]

• Gary Preston becomes the super-powered mystery man known as the Flame. [Wonderworld Comics #11 (origin); Wonderworld Comics #3]
• Yarko the Great battles Death and the Devil. [Wonderworld Comics #3]
• K-51 battles recurring criminal foe Lin Sun, a Mongolian princess, for the first time. Although Lin Sun appears to die, she actually fakes her death. Note: K-51 and Z-19 (Claire Conos) become engaged sometime between this story and the next. [Wonderworld Comics #3]

• Walter Green, a former soldier whose wife was murdered by criminals, becomes the mystery-man and outlaw known as the Green Mask, a modern-day Robin Hood based in New York City. Only “News” Blake Doakes of the Daily Globe is aware of his true identity. In his first case, the Green Mask smashes an insurance scam ring and captures its leader, a corrupt politician named Cyrus Boomer. Note: It is evident that the non-powered, tall, and lanky Green Mask from Mystery Men #1-12 is a different individual than the more muscular, super-powered Michael Shelby, who first appears as the second Green Mask a year later. Walter Green is the father of Johnny Green, the third Green Mask, who is introduced as the son of the original Green Mask. Johnny is ten years old in 1939. [Mystery Men Comics #1]
• Chen Chang, criminal mastermind who is accompanied by the sultry River Lily, begins his criminal adventures, opposed by the heroic Richard Kendall. [Mystery Men Comics #1]
• Wing Turner, air detective, begins adventures. [Mystery Men Comics #1]
• Zanzibar, magician mystery man, begins adventures. [Mystery Men Comics #1]
• Inspector Bancroft of Scotland Yard begins adventures. [Mystery Men Comics #1]
• Dan Garret, a rookie policeman, becomes the mystery man known as the Blue Beetle, originally a non-powered crime-fighter in a blue business suit, hat, and mask. His only confidante is Dr. Abe Franz, a druggist who keeps a special room in the back of his store for the Blue Beetle to operate from. In his first case, he avenges his policeman father who was killed. As a police officer himself, Dan is partnered with his father's old partner, Mike Mannigan. [Mystery Men Comics #5] [Blue Beetle #1 (origin); Mystery Men Comics #1]
• D-13 (Richard Anthony), secret agent, begins adventures. [Mystery Men Comics #1]
• Captain Denny Scott of the Bengal Lancers begins adventures. [Mystery Men Comics #1]
• Lt. Drake of Naval Intelligence begins adventures. [Mystery Men Comics #1]

• The Blue Beetle begins wearing a short-sleeved chainmail costume devised by Dr. Abe Franz that makes him bulletproof. [Mystery Men Comics #2]
• For weeks, mysterious radio broadcasts announce the impending arrival of Stardust the Super-Wizard, an extraterrestrial crime fighter who has vast powers and has battled organized crime on other planets and will do the same on Earth. Upon Stardust's arrival, he prevents the attempted assassination of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, stops a bombing raid on Washington, D.C., and rounds up all the foreign spies responsible for this attack, delivering them to the FBI. Note: Stardust's arrival on Earth is heralded by radio messages and newspaper headlines that speak of his successful battles against crime on other planets. However, since it is highly unlikely that interplanetary rumors would spread so easily, Stardust is likely the individual responsible for the radio broadcasts announcing his arrival, which the newspapers reported on. The general public probably does not believe Stardust is an extraterrestrial. This story takes place sometime before the outbreak of World War II in September, 1939. Stardust probably has a specific mission on Earth to battle the effects of criminal extraterrestrial interference, since most of his enemies all use super-science far more advanced than remotely possible by human standards. This would explain why he does not simply stop all crime and war on Earth, since most crime and war merely results from the human condition. [Fantastic Comics #1]
• Dr. Harry Kane, a brilliant young government chemist on a special assignment working on a formula for a new steel compound, is murdered by enemy agents who steal the formula, leaving his wife and assistant Shannon Kane a widow. Finding a formula for a spider-web fluid in his records, which Harry never found a use for, Shannon develops the formula and finds that when shot into the air the fluid becomes a thin, adhesive filament. Later inventing a set of special bracelets to contain the fluid and release it as needed, Shannon eventually uses it to become a mystery woman called the Spider Queen. Note: The Spider Queen begins fighting crime sometime before her official debut two years later in July, 1941. The enemy agents are never identified; it is possible that these are agents of the Soviet Union rather than Nazi Germany, explaining why she hates communism. [Eagle #2 (September, 1941)]

• K-51 seemingly averts the coming war in Europe, apparently stopping the plans of Hitler (who supposedly murdered Mussolini and is supposedly killed himself) and convincing Stalin not to cooperate with Hitler. Unfortunately, immediately after these events Stalin signs a secret non-aggression pact with Hitler, planning the division of Poland, and the deaths of both Mussolini and Hitler turn out to be false. Note: In this story, the three European leaders who began World War II are named as follows: Adolf Hitler is called Rudolph Morga, Benito Mussolini is Carlo Riano, and Joseph Stalin is called Diableff. This story as presented is either fictionalized or leaves much of the actual story out, since both Mussolini (Riano) and Hitler (Morga) die and war is averted, which doesn't happen in real history. Probably doubles of Hitler and Mussolini, and possibly also Stalin, are used to create confusion for K-51. [Wonderworld Comics #9]
• A powerful man known only as Rip-the-Blood, who secretly controls the governments of several leading nations and owns many munitions factories, makes plans to start a new world war. He stages a fake attack by a Japanese bomber on President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's fishing yacht and has him abducted. Stardust the Super-Wizard once again rescues President Roosevelt, returning him to the White House, thus preventing the outbreak of war with Japan. Stardust then captures Rip-the-Blood and destroys one of his munitions factories and imprisons his conspirators on an interplanetary jail, then kills him. Afterwards, Stardust leaves for the planet Mars to stop the world war there. Note: This story takes place before the September, 1939, invasion of Poland that began World War II. It is probably connected in some way with K-51's battle against Hitler and Mussolini. Rip-the-Blood's true name is not known (possibly a name such as Rip Van Bludd), but he is likely one of the influential financial powers that hold much control over governments and is not known by the public as anything more than a businessman. While Stardust is away on Mars, World War II begins in earnest, and he does not return until December, 1939, too late to prevent the war. This story mentions the Interplanetary Guardian of the Peace, who is connected with the Interplanetary Police first mentioned in Fantastic Comics #4. [Fantastic Comics #2]
• Stardust the Super-Wizard arrives on the planet Mars, where he battles individuals trying to start a world war there for the next four months. One of those individuals is an Earthman named Dr. Martinious, who traveled to Mars in his own rocketship sometime earlier and began making himself the warlord of Mars by stirring up Martian nations against each other. [Fantastic Comics #6]

• September 1: Germany invades Poland, sparking World War II.
• David "Yank" Wilson, a super-spy known as secret agent Q-4, has his first known case when Nome, Alaska, is attacked by the nation of North Polaria – led by the dictator Raxola – beginning a short but heated war between the United States and North Polaria. Wilson is appointed stratosphere commander in the air attack. While North Polaria has a slight advantage at the beginning of the war, it is soon sorely outmatched, and Raxola and his troops surrender within hours. Note: This story probably takes place shortly after the invasion of Poland. North Polaria on Earth-4 is likely an unrecognized nation existing in the northern countries (much like Kurdistan exists in parts of Turkey, Iraq, and Iran) only in the early 20th century, and which is funded and armed by the Soviet Union as a defense against an attack from the U.S. over the Arctic Circle. Raxola likely takes it upon himself to invade the U.S. without consulting the Soviets. North Polaria as a nation and a political idea ceases to be after this moment. [Fantastic Comics #1]
• Captain Savage, sea rover, begins adventures on the high seas. [Mystery Men Comics #4 (November, 1939)]
• The Blue Beetle now wears his familiar long-sleeved chainmail costume devised by Dr. Abe Franz that provides almost full-body protection from bullets. [Mystery Men Comics #4 (November, 1939)]
• The Green Mask gains a paralyzer-gun invented by a criminal scientist named Nicoli, alias the Professor. [Mystery Men Comics #4 (November, 1939)]

• During the 1939 World's Fair in New York City, scientist Montague Dexter and his wife leave on a rocketship of his own invention, the destination: Mars. The public believes it is merely a publicity stunt but wonder about it when the couple is never seen again. Note: Montague Dexter is the father of Rex Dexter of Mars, who becomes an interplanetary explorer in the year 2000 of an alternate timeline. [Mystery Men Comics #1]
• Sam, a super-strong, modern-day descendant of the Biblical hero Samson, becomes the mystery man known as Samson and has his first public case as a mystery man. [Fantastic Comics #1]
• Captain Kidd, pilot, begins adventures. [Fantastic Comics #1]
• Flip Falcon (originally Flick Falcon), scientist and explorer, invents a fourth dimension machine and uses it to travel through the fourth dimension to explore various destinations, including other planets, other dimensions, the future, and the past. [Fantastic Comics #1]
• Lin Sun, recurring criminal foe of K-51, has her last recorded battle with K-51. [Wonderworld Comics #8]

• Inspector Bancroft's last case. [Mystery Men Comics #6]
• Mob Buster Robinson's last case. [Wonderworld Comics #9]
• Dr. Fung battles recurring criminal foes Karno the Chessman and his henchmen (several costumed, winged henchmen who use jet-packs to fly; one is dubbed the Moth by the press). [Wonderworld Comics #9]

• Bill Powers (sometimes called Ted Powers) becomes the super-powered mystery man known as the Eagle. [Science Comics #1]
• Jim Andrews gains electrical super-powers and becomes the mystery man known as Electro. [Science Comics #1]
• Marga, the Panther Woman, is infused with panther blood and begins adventures alongside aviator Ted Grant in the jungles of Africa. [Science Comics #1]
• Navy Jones, able to breathe water and equipped with a special submarine, begins adventures in the deep sea, protecting the Undersea Kingdom populated by the fish-men (also called the gill-men) and ruled by Princess Coral and her father, the king of the sea. Note: The Undersea Kingdom is also known as the Hidden Empire as seen in Doomsday +1 #4; although the events of Doomsday +1 take place in an alternate future, the Hidden Empire has existed for many centuries by that time and exists in the main timeline of Earth-4. Other underwater races include the chalk-white-skinned amphibians, who created the gill-men as well as their enemies, the shark-men. [Science Comics #1]
• At the end of the four-month-long Martian world war, Dr. Martinious has become the warlord of Mars. [Fantastic Comics #6]
• Stardust the Super-Wizard battles the Demon, a criminal scientist who believes the world is overpopulated and plans to destroy every large city in the world to reduce the population. The Demon creates a huge tidal wave that destroys an ocean liner, killing all 2000 passengers. Stardust kills the Demon and saves New York City from being destroyed by the tidal wave. Note: Stardust the Super-Wizard has been on Mars stopping the world war there since August, 1939, and is thus too late to prevent the world war on Earth. It is possible that he is bound by strict rules concerning which criminals he can stop (such as those possessing super-scientific weapons that can immediately change the balance of power), explaining why he doesn't simply invade Germany and kill Hitler. [Fantastic Comics #3]
• Recurring criminal foe Karno the Chessman with his henchman, the Moth (who dies), battle Dr. Fung for the last time. [Wonderworld Comics #10]
• The Crime Syndicate is formed when gangsters Frankie Ciconi of New York City, Rod Riley of Chicago, “Shive” Parker of St. Louis, and “Goldie” Gates of San Francisco join forces, beginning a nationwide crime wave. They invite the Green Mask, thinking he's a criminal leader thanks to his outlaw reputation, but instead the Green Mask captures the Syndicate leaders when they try to destroy the S.S. Britannica. [“The Crime Syndicate,” Mystery Men Comics #7 (February, 1940)]

• Doctor Doom, criminal scientist and mass-murderer, travels back through time to 1940 from the mid-21st century and attempts to take his revenge on Earth by causing widespread destruction and death, thereby changing history. He is pursued from the 21st century by Jan Swift and Wanda, who establish cover identities as reporters for the Daily Star and manage to stop his every scheme, including an early invasion from Venus. Note: In all but the last two (or possibly three) stories, Doom exists in the future, while in the final stories he exists in the present, as do Jan and Wanda; only time travel can explain why exact doubles of all three could exist in the past. [Science Comics #8, Green Mask #4, Big 3 #1]

• Denny Scott's last case. [Mystery Men Comics #8]
• Electro changes his mystery man name to Dynamo. [Science Comics #2]
• A giant unnamed mad scientist based in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia uses a chemical substance to create a volcano in the middle of Lake Michigan, but Stardust the Super-Wizard prevents it from destroying Chicago, Illinois. Stardust then delivers the giant to the Interplanetary Police. Note: This is the first mention of the Interplanetary Police, which is not pictured. [Fantastic Comics #4]

• The wealthy Jim Blake, endowed by a famous biologist with the power of flight and tremendous energy to overcome almost all obstacles, creates a winged flying costume to control his flight and becomes the mystery man known as the Moth. [Mystery Men Comics #9]
• Grant Farrel is given super-powers by the god Thor and begins adventures as the mystery man called Thor. [Weird Comics #1]
• The Sorceress of Zoom, sometimes a villainess, sometimes a heroine, begins adventures in Zoom, a traveling city in the clouds. Note: The city of Zoom is probably originally from a magical dimension, such as the Land of the Nightshades. [Weird Comics #1]
• Dr. Mortal, criminal scientist, begins adventures. [Weird Comics #1]
• The Voodoo Man, witch doctor, begins adventures, opposed by young Dr. Bob Warren. [Weird Comics #1]
• The Bird Man, gifted with the ability to fly, begins adventures on the plains. [Weird Comics #1]
• A group of super-scientific criminals known as the Miracle Men led by a criminal scientist called Wolf-Eye abduct the wealthiest men in the United States using invisible vacuum tubes, then demand outrageous ransom sums for each of them. The FBI decides not to cooperate, and Stardust the Super-Wizard arrives just in time to save several FBI agents from being destroyed by Wolf-Eye's death-ray. Stardust then prevents a powerful artificial tornado created by Wolf-Eye from destroying New York City. Stardust captures Wolf-Eye and the Miracle Men and delivers them to the FBI, at the same time returning the abducted wealthy men to their homes. [Fantastic Comics #5]

• Flip Falcon stops the plan of his recurring foe, the fallen angel Lucifer, to destroy the Earth. [Fantastic Comics #6]
• March 15: Dr. Martinious, the warlord of Mars, uses Martian technology to invade the Earth during the Ides of March. The Brain Men of Mars, working for Martinious, begin an invasion of Earth by bombarding it with meteorites containing disease germs and Martian insects. Stardust the Super-Wizard delivers crucial chemicals to scientists on Earth to combat the disease germs and insects, then attacks the Martian laboratory of the Brain Men. The governments of the world, including both the Allies and the Axis, unite to combat the Martian invasion of microbes using Stardust's chemicals. Stardust destroys the stronghold of Dr. Martinious, presumably also killing him and the Brain Men with him. Note: Since his lifeless body is not pictured, it is possible that Dr. Martinious survives his stronghold's destruction. [Fantastic Comics #6]
• March 21: Victor Sage is born in Crown City.

• A criminal gang led by “Gyp” Clipp uses an anti-solar ray to begin canceling Earth's gravity, using other rays to cancel the effect of the ray on everything except human bodies, in order to take the Earth for themselves. While Clipp kills the other members of his gang in a greedy attempt to have everything for himself, Stardust the Super-Wizard cancels the effects of the anti-solar ray before it causes much more than a slight weightlessness in Earth's population. Stardust then captures Clipp and imprisons him in an interplanetary prison called the Floating Prison of Eternal Ice, which has the strange effect of preserving the criminal's frozen body while enabling his mind to remain active so that he can ponder his crimes. Note: It is obvious that the anti-solar ray pictured in this story could not have been invented by Clipp and probably not by any Earthman, but is instead an extraterrestrial weapon given to criminals on Earth to do mischief. This story erroneously pictures the entire population of Earth floating into the upper atmosphere and being returned to their exact places on Earth by Stardust. In fact, what happens is that Stardust stops the anti-solar ray before it is able to do much more than cause the Earth's population to feel a sense of weightlessness, but gravity is never entirely canceled out, and the population does not float into the upper atmosphere. [Fantastic Comics #7]
• Percy Van Norton, wealthy playboy, becomes the super-powered mystery man known as Strongman. [Crash Comics #1]
• Buck Burke, a zoologist commissioned to capture wild animals in Africa for American zoos, begins adventures with the help of his interpreter, Jo Jo. [Crash Comics #1]
• Z-2, secret agent, begins adventures. [Crash Comics #1]
• Don-Vin becomes the super-fast mystery man known as Blue Streak. [Crash Comics #1]
• The Flying Trio (Ray, Mac, and Low), aviator soldiers of fortune, begin adventures. [Crash Comics #1]
• Jane Drake, teenaged daughter of attorney Sheldon Drake, begins adventures as a detective aided by her boyfriend, Jerry King. [Crash Comics #1]
• Tom Kenny, a farm hand, gains super-speed after being caught up in a cyclone and becomes Tornado Tom. [Cyclone Comics #1]
• Mister Q, master detective, begins adventures. [Cyclone Comics #1]
• Koroo the Black Lion begins adventures. [Cyclone Comics #1]
• Sgt. Buzz Sawyer, state trooper, begins adventures. [Cyclone Comics #1]
• Ted Cameron, soldier of fortune, begins adventures. [Cyclone Comics #1]
• Anthony Conrad, explorer, discovers the lost kingdom of Artica below the Arctic Ocean and becomes its new king. [Cyclone Comics #1]
• Lt. Nick Nelson of the U.S. Navy begins adventures. [Cyclone Comics #1]
• King Vito of the ancient kingdom of Verdina flees his nation after the Germans invade. He, Queen Elga, and their child are taken to the Moon in a spacecraft invented by the elderly scientist, Nerim. King Vito establishes the Kingdom of the Moon. [Cyclone Comics #1]
• Guy Newton, a scientist, creates a device that turns him into the mystery man known as Volton, the human generator. [Cyclone Comics #1]
• Peter Blake becomes the mystery man known as Cyclone. [Whirlwind Comics #1]
• Smash Dawson, reporter for the New York Record, begins adventures. [Whirlwind Comics #1]
• Inspector William Blake of Scotland Yard begins adventures. Note: Blake (born circa 1881) was the boy named Billy, who was the protege of Sherlock Holmes in the 1890s (see the 1939 film The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), and he is recognized as Holmes' successor at Scotland Yard. [Whirlwind Comics #1]
• Wings Bordon, aviator, begins adventures. [Whirlwind Comics #1]
• Lt. Jim Landis of the U.S. Coast Guard begins adventures. [Whirlwind Comics #1]
• Dick Blaze, college sports hero, begins adventures. [Whirlwind Comics #1]
• Marga, the Panther Woman, gains super-strength from a serum created by the evil Dr. Meier, who had sought to change her into one of his monstrous winged beasts, but her panther blood kept her from transforming. [Science Comics #5]
• Navy Jones meets Captain Nemo. [Science Comics #5]

• Bird Man's last case. [Weird Comics #4]
• Lt. Nick Nelson's last case. [Cyclone Comics #2]
• Robo, an android of the little people, begins adventures. [Cyclone Comics #2]
• Scoop Hanlon, reporter, begins adventures. [Whirlwind Comics #2]
• The Emerald Men of Asperus, based on an asteroid between Mars and Jupiter, bombard the Earth with special missiles meant to knock it out of orbit, but Stardust the Super-Wizard causes them to become inert. Stardust then battles and defeats the Emerald Men, then relocates Asperus to another solar system that is uninhabited. Note: The Emerald Men use the same type of transmitting suits later used by Space Smith in the 22nd century. [Fantastic Comics #8]

• Michael Shelby and his father, Senator Dan Shelby, are gunned down by agents of the Grim Circle; the senator dies, but his son barely clings to life. Prof. Martin Lascomb uses his experimental vita-ray machine to revive the injured Michael, but an accident causes him to be struck by thousands of volts of electricity at the same time, granting him the super-powers of strength, vitality, and limited flight. After meeting Walter Green, who retires as the original Green Mask, Shelby becomes the Green Mask II. An orphaned boy named Don Mason is injured and also healed by vita-rays, which grant him vitality but doesn't give him super-powers; he becomes Domino the Miracle Boy, the Green Mask II's teenaged crime-fighting partner, who uses a boomerang as his primary weapon. Together, the two bring down the Grim Circle in their first case together. Note: Michael Shelby's vita-ray-induced super-powers begin to wane a few months after he gains them; it's likely that repeated vita-ray treatments are necessary to give him powers again. Don's last name is never revealed in the comics, so we have given him the last name of Mason in honor of Hollis Mason (Nite Owl) of Watchmen, who like Don Mason wore a domino mask and wrote a memoir about his heroic second life. It should also be noted that Don's surname is not Tracy, since that is the surname of Olivia Tracy, who is Michael Shelby's love interest. Domino is first referred to as Don in Green Mask #6. [Green Mask #1]
• The Blue Beetle begins using Vitamin 2X, created by Dr. Abe Franz, which originally grants the Blue Beetle super-energy but later enables him to gain full-fledged super-powers. [Mystery Men Comics #13]
• Jim Blake changes his costumed name from the Moth to the Lynx. He adopts an orphaned boy named Phil, who becomes Blackie the Mystery Boy, the Lynx's teenaged crime-fighting partner. [Mystery Men Comics #13]
• The Eagle loses his wings and gains flight power through his cape. [Science Comics #7]
• Caius Martius, an ancient Roman, awakens from a 2,200-year sleep and becomes the mystery man known as the Dart, taking the name Caius Martius Wheeler in his everyday identity as high school history teacher. Andy Barlow becomes Ace the Amazing Boy, the Dart's teenaged crime-fighting partner, nicknamed the Amazing Boy. [Weird Comics #5]
• Thor's last case. [Weird Comics #5]
• The Sorceress of Zoom attacks the city of Nagpur, India, but the aging Hindu sorcerer Rana Bhat (Rani-Bey) and his son Loknath Bhat (Lani-Bey) successfully fend off her attack. Note: Since Bey is a Turkish-based title and a Muslim surname, it would be unusual to say the least for a Hindu family to bear this name; therefore, we have assumed that the names “Rani-Bey” and “Lani-Bey” are incorrect transliterations of similar-sounding Hindu names. [Weird Comics #5]
• Jag, a jaguar cub, begins adventures. [Cyclone Comics #3]
• In deep space, Stardust the Super-Wizard battles the interplanetary space warlord Moloka, destroying his fleet and preventing him from invading the solar system. [Fantastic Comics #9]

• David Merrywether becomes the mystery man known as the Cat-Man. [Crash Comics #4]
• Peter Thor gains super-powers and begins adventures as "Dynamite" Thor. [Weird Comics #6]
• An unnamed amnesiac boy becomes David, Samson's teenaged crime-fighting partner. [Fantastic Comics #10]
• Anthony Conrad's last appearance. [Cyclone Comics #4]
• Reynard the Fox begins adventures. [Cyclone Comics #4]
• Cyclone's last case. [Whirlwind Comics #3]
• Smash Dawson's last appearance. [Whirlwind Comics #3]
• Inspector Blake's last case. [Whirlwind Comics #3]
• Wings Bordon's last case. [Whirlwind Comics #3]
• Lt. Jim Landis' last case. [Whirlwind Comics #3]
• Dick Blaze's last appearance. [Whirlwind Comics #3]
• Scoop Hanlon's last appearance. [Whirlwind Comics #3]
• An extraterrestrial criminal scientist called the Super Fiend of the Lost Planet uses a thermal ray spore to cause the Martian moon of Phobos to burn, killing its entire population of Martian colonists in the process. The Super Fiend then sends the burning Phobos toward Earth to set it afire as well. Stardust the Super-Wizard saves Earth, stops the fires on Phobos, and returns Phobos to its orbit around Mars. Stardust battles the Super Fiend and leaves him on the ruined moon of Phobos, alone with the charred bodies of all the Martians he murdered. Note: In the story, the entire population of Mars is killed by fire, while the planet itself is sent to strike Earth. Since other stories show the Martian population still thriving, there must be another explanation. We theorize that it was the largest of Mars' two moons, Phobos, that was populated by Martian colonists and that was sent to Earth. [Fantastic Comics #10]

• A huge criminal gang led by “Skullface” Kurd carries out a planned terror assault on New York City, causing explosions in the subway system and dropping bombs on the streets and bridges using planes. The gang then begins slaughtering the police and rescue teams, but Stardust the Super-Wizard prevents the slaughter of any more, disintegrating the bombers and bringing the entire NYPD out of harm's reach. Stardust then captures the entire “Skullface” Kurd gang and takes them all to a distant planet full of gold and precious gems, where the gravity is too great for them to do anything with this mineral wealth. Note: It is probable that patrolman Dan Garret (the Blue Beetle) is among the NYPD officers saved by Stardust. Possibly the first team-up of the Big Three occurs as a result of this story. Although this is not explained in the story, “Skullface” Kurd is most likely acting under the direction of a foreign power, such as Germany or Japan, which is somehow able to supply Kurd with the resources required for his assault. [Fantastic Comics #11]
• The Blue Beetle begins regularly working alongside Joan Mason, reporter for the New York Chronicle (later for the Daily Star). Note: Since Joan Mason is already known to Blue Beetle in this story, it is possible that the Blue Beetle actually met Joan Mason in an earlier story featuring an unnamed kidnapped female reporter with strawberry blonde hair as seen in the 6th story (about an arson ring) in Blue Beetle #2 (May, 1940). Joan Mason is depicted as a blonde in this story. [Mystery Men Comics #15]
• K-51 begins using special vitamins that make him super-strong or increase his mental powers and hearing. Note: The vitamins K-51 uses are probably very similar to Vitamin 2X, invented by Dr. Abe Franz and used by the Blue Beetle. It is possible that K-51 began using these vitamins in the previous story or even earlier. [Wonderworld Comics #18]
• The Sorceress of Zoom briefly travels through time to the 6th century of Camelot, where she meets Sir Gareth and outwits the sorceress Morgana Le Fay, only to be outwitted herself by the wizard Merlin, who sends her back to her own time. [Weird Comics #7]
• The Blue Beetle teams up with the Green Mask II and Domino. [“The Brave and the Bold: Blue Beetle and Green Mask: Times Past, 1940: Anno Domino”]

• The Blue Beetle begins to gain super-powers from Vitamin 2X. [Blue Beetle #5]
• Bob Preston, explorer, has a single adventure. [Crash Comics #5]
• Flip Falcon saves Earth from a destructive beam created by an alien being from the fourth dimension named Chongo. [Fantastic Comics #12]
• Tornado Tom's last case. [Cyclone Comics #5]
• Sgt. Buzz Sawyer's last case. [Cyclone Comics #5]
• Ted Cameron's last case. [Cyclone Comics #5]
• Volton's last case. Note: At some point after this story, the original Volton – dying because of the device that gives him electrical powers – creates an android with his powers and dies while transferring his memories and consciousness into it. He was assisted in the creation of the android by Anthony Dunn, the future NoMan. [Cyclone Comics #5]
• Mister Q's last case. [Cyclone Comics #5]
• Koroo the Black Lion's last appearance. [Cyclone Comics #5]
• King Vito's last appearance. [Cyclone Comics #5]
• Robo's last appearance. [Cyclone Comics #5]
• Jag's last appearance. [Cyclone Comics #5]
• Reynard the Fox's last appearance. [Cyclone Comics #5]
• Kaos, a criminal scientist on the planet Venus, attempts to conquer Earth using gigantic vulture-like creatures able to fly at incredible speeds and crush concrete and bend metal between their powerful talons. Using a special beam, Kaos transmits the vultures into Earth's atmosphere, where some head for the battlefields in North Africa and Europe and cause havoc and destruction, while the majority head for North America and attack the large cities. Stardust the Super-Wizard stops the invasion and captures Kaos, then rescues a woman abducted by the vultures who was intended to be the Venusian's empress. After transforming Kaos into a worm and sending him and all the vultures back to Venus, Stardust invites the orphaned and homeless woman back to his star-shaped asteroid home. [Fantastic Comics #12]

• Bud Huston becomes Buddy the Daredevil Boy, the Eagle's teenaged crime-fighting partner. [Weird Comics #9]
• Flip Falcon stops the plans of Chang, a Tibetan lama who has invented his own fourth dimension machine and tried to loose all the monsters of the fourth dimension on Earth in an attempt to conquer the world. [Fantastic Comics #13]
• Stardust the Super-Wizard uncovers a gigantic Fifth Column in the United States led by a scientist named Yew Bee. The Fifth Column installs its own officers at crucial defense points along the East Coast, where they cripple the defense and early warning systems, allowing a fleet of transport ships to bring in thousands of super-tanks to New York City and a fleet of bombers to reach U.S. airspace. Stardust causes the bombers to destroy the line of super-tanks, then destroy themselves by diving into the ocean. Stardust then transforms the lesser leaders of the Fifth Column into ice, which melts away, and the greater leaders into monster rats, which are chased into the river by Stardust, who is in the form of a panther. All except the transformed Yew Bee (who has his human head on a rat's body) are drowned, and Stardust delivers Yew Bee to the FBI for questioning. The FBI then makes several arrests of Fifth Column members all over the country. [Fantastic Comics #13]
• October 7: The Blue Beetle, the Flame, and Samson team up for the first time as the Big Three. [supposition based on the cover of Big 3 #1]

• Stardust the Super-Wizard learns that large numbers of the Fifth Column have survived and plan to take over South America and then the United States. He also learns that Nazi Germany has been approached by emissaries from Mars known as the Sky-Demons, who send a fleet of rocketships to assist Germany's planned invasion of the Americas. Stardust creates a decoy Earth created from Moon vapor, then causes the Earth to become invisible from space. Meanwhile, the Axis is able to quickly conquer the nations of South America with the assistance of the Fifth Column. As the Martian fleet arrives at the decoy Earth, it gives the signal to the Axis invaders to begin its invasion of North America. But Stardust uses rays to cause all members of the Fifth Column to become paralyzed and then transports them all through the air into outer space and into the decoy vapor Earth. The arriving Martian fleet destroys the vapor Earth with disintegration bombs, then heads back to Mars after discovering they had been tricked. Stardust then selects the loyal youth of the United States and forms an army of boys called the Sixth Column, temporarily granting them some of his powers. The Sixth Column attacks the Axis armies that are preparing to invade Panama and sends every soldier back to his own country. The boys form a youth civilian defense organization called the Stardust Sixth Column Club, with chapters all over the United States. [Fantastic Comics #14]
• George Davis becomes the mystery man known as Black Lion. His nephew, Larry Davis, becomes the Cub, the Black Lion's teenaged crime-fighting partner. They battle their recurring criminal foe, Blitz. [Wonderworld Comics #21]
• The Lynx battles recurring criminal foe the Rook (who uses a hypnoray) for the first time. [Mystery Men Comics #18]

• Stardust the Super-Wizard, planning another assault on the Fifth Column in the U.S., communicates simultaneously at every Stardust Sixth Column Club and gives a number of youthful members star-metal uniforms like his own with thought-recording collars. The Sixth Column members telepathically track down members of the Fifth Column, who they learn are conspiring with racketeers to take over the country. They also learn that the Fifth Column is preparing to assist with another attempted invasion of the United States, using magnets that will draw powerful shells fired from Europe to crucial defense points and big industrial plants throughout the country. Stardust equips the leaders of the Sixth Column with powerful ray belts, which the boys use to destroy most of the incoming shells. After one shell accidentally destroys an ocean liner, Stardust causes all the other shells to destroy the approaching fleet of warplanes. While the Sixth Column rounds up as many Fifth Column members it can find, Stardust kills the Fifth Column leaders and then disintegrates all the remaining members. [Fantastic Comics #15]
• The Eagle and Buddy fight recurring criminal foes the Beast and the Gimp (rivals) for the first time. [Weird Comics #11]
• The Flame battles recurring criminal foe Doctor Drool for the first time, after the villain was brought back to life after being executed for his crimes. [Flame #4]

• Yank Wilson foils a planned Japanese (“Hondo”) attack on Hawaii. [Fantastic Comics #16]
• A gangster named “Master-Mind” De Structo attempts to kill every person of power and authority in the United States at the same time, using vials containing a ray that destroys all oxygen in its vicinity. De Structo remotely activates the vials, causing every American leader to begin to suffocate. Stardust the Super-Wizard destroys De Structo's controls and counteracts the vials' rays, saving the lives of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and all members of Congress as well as anyone else affected. Stardust captures the fleeing De Structo, transforming him into a bodiless head, and brings him into an area of deep space known as the Space Pocket of Living Death, where he delivers De Structo to the Headless Headhunter, which absorbs him into its body. Returning to Earth, Stardust gathers De Structo's gang and transforms them all into one person, then shoots him into space. [Big 3 #2]
• In his last known case on Earth, Stardust the Super-Wizard uncovers a plot by a criminal gang led by “Slant-Eye” to rob the U.S. gold depository at Fort Knox in Kentucky. The gang uses a fleet of planes to bomb Fort Knox and attack it with an army of parachutists. After using explosives to gain access to the gold bullions, the criminal army is paralyzed by Stardust, who leaves the army in the hands of the U.S. military but takes “Slant-Eye” with him. Stardust brings “Slant-Eye” back to the criminal's island headquarters, where he torments him before giving him over to a gigantic yellow octopus-like creature called the golden octopus. Work on rebuilding Fort Knox begins immediately. Note: It is likely that Stardust the Super-Wizard left the vicinity of Earth for several decades, becoming occupied in interstellar cases on several other planets without returning to Earth until 1985. His reason for leaving the solar system at this time is probably that he has stopped all the major menaces to Earth's peace caused by extraterrestrial technology and interference. [Fantastic Comics #16]
• K-51 is promoted to Chief of the Espionage Bureau of the National Defense Committee. Note: It is possible that K-51 gained this rank in the previous story or even earlier. [Wonderworld Comics #23]

• John Perry becomes the mystery man known as the Black Fury. Chuck Marley becomes the Black Fury's teenaged crime-fighting partner, known only as Chuck. [Fantastic Comics #17]
• February 5: Steve Austin – the future cyborg OSI agent nicknamed the Six Million Dollar Man – is born to Capt. Carl Austin of the U.S. Army Air Force and his wife Helen. Note: Austin's driver's license as shown in the episode “Ghostly Teletype” says his birth year is 1942, but this is a mistake made by the production designer, according to the Bionic Wiki. [The Six Million Dollar Man (1974 ABC television series)]

• Blaze Baylor, anti-arsonist, begins adventures. [Cat-Man Comics #1]
• The Deacon, a reformed crook, begins adventures with sidekick Mickey Matthews. [Cat-Man Comics #1]
• Dr. Drake Gorden gains a black diamond that gives him super-strength and becomes the mystery man known as Doctor Diamond. [Cat-Man Comics #1]
• Lucky Landers, war correspondent, begins adventures. [Cat-Man Comics #1]
• Hank "Hurricane" Harrigan, cowboy adventurer, begins adventures in India. [Cat-Man Comics #1]
• Reporter Jay Garson, Jr., becomes the mystery man known as the Rag-Man, assisted by Tiny. [Cat-Man Comics #1]
• Linda Masters becomes the mystery woman known as the Black Widow and has a single case in which she brings to justice the men who murdered her husband. [Cat-Man Comics #1]
• Lance Rand, explorer and soldier of fortune, begins adventures. [Cat-Man Comics #1]
• The Black Fury and Chuck battle recurring criminal foe the Fang, who can become invisible, for the first time. [Fantastic Comics #18]

• "Chute" Harmon, aviator, and the Flying Legion begin adventures. [Cat-Man Comics #2]
• The Commandos of the Devil Dogs begin adventures. [Cat-Man Comics #2]
• The Beast and the Gimp, recurring criminal foes of the Eagle and Buddy, apparently die (the Beast kills the Gimp, and Eagle kills the Beast, but the two villains have both come back from the dead before). [Weird Comics #15]
• Doctor Drool, recurring criminal foe of the Flame, has his last recorded battle with the Flame, in which he dies for the third time but apparently revives (he was brought back to life already twice before). [Flame #5]
• The Rook, recurring criminal foe of the Lynx and Blackie, battles the Lynx for the last time. [Mystery Men Comics #23]

• Lawyer Steve Prentice becomes the mystery man known as the Pied Piper. [Cat-Man Comics #2]
• Lucifer, recurring evil foe of Flip Falcon, battles him for the last time. [Fantastic Comics #20]
• The Eagle joins the U.S. Army. [Weird Comics #16]
• Dr. Mortal's last appearance. [Weird Comics #16]
• Black Lion and the Cub's last case. Last appearance of their foe, Blitz. [Wonderworld Comics #27]
• Wing Turner's last case. [Wonderworld Comics #27]
• K-51's last case. Note: Sometime after this story, the man known as agent K-51 helps found the Command for the Hindrance of Espionage, Sabotage and Subversion (CHESS), becoming its first director, called the King. His first Queen, or co-director, is Claire Conos, alias agent Z-19. Probably his role as Chief of the Espionage Bureau of the National Defense Committee enables him to transform the Espionage Bureau into what would later be called CHESS. K-51 and Claire Conos are also married sometime after this story. [Wonderworld Comics #27]
• The Green Mask II regains his power of flight for the first time in months through a vita-ray treatment. [The Green Mask, Mystery Men Comics #24 (July, 1941)]

• After he is visited by the spirit of his Revolutionary War era ancestor, John Fearless dresses in buckskins and becomes the mystery man known as Captain Fearless. [Captain Fearless #1]
• Sgt. Dick Carter of the United States Border Patrol begins adventures guarding the U.S.-Mexico border. [Captain Fearless #1]
• Joe Smith operates as the mystery man known as Alias X (he is actually just called X). Note: According to the initial story, X has been fighting crime for about a year by this time. [Captain Fearless #1]
• Diamond Jim, adventurer, begins adventures. [Captain Fearless #1]
• Capt. Hannibal Stone (originally called Capt. Hannibal Storms), ace investigator of the Naval Marine Intelligance, begins adventures. [Captain Fearless #1]
• The unnamed son of the Unknown Soldier becomes the mystery man known as Citizen Smith. [Captain Fearless #1]
• Pat Corrigan, trooper, begins adventures. [Captain Fearless #1]
• Joan Wayne, stenographer, becomes the mystery woman known as Miss Victory. [Captain Fearless #1]
• Corp. Rusty Dugan begins adventures as a member of the French Foreign Legion. [Captain Fearless #1]
• The magical mystery man known as Mister Miracle begins adventures. [Captain Fearless #1]
• Michael Shelby (the Green Mask II) meets Olivia Tracy, his love interest, when the Green Mask II proves that her uncle John Healey is innocent of murdering his partner, who faked his death. They also meet Olivia's driver and mechanic Peters, who is an amateur inventor. [2nd story, Green Mask #6 (August, 1941)]
• “Dynamite” Thor's last case. [Blue Beetle #8]
• Jim O'Donnell becomes the mystery man known as the Banshee after his father is killed in Ireland by the masked villain the Scorpion. [Fantastic Comics #21]
• The Fang, recurring criminal foe of the Black Fury and Chuck, has his last recorded battle with Black Fury. [Fantastic Comics #21]
• Flip Falcon's last case. [Fantastic Comics #21]
• Captain Savage's last case. [Flame #6]
• In Navy Jones' last case, he defeats the criminal scientist Dr. Anton Berchtoldt, who begins an undersea criminal enterprise and seeks to create a robot army. [Green Mask #6]
• Chen Chang's last appearance. [Green Mask #6]
• Lens Crockett, photographer, becomes the mystery man known as Nightbird. [Green Mask #6]
• Lt. Drake's last case. [Mystery Men Comics #25]
• Jack Cody becomes the western-based mystery man known as the Black Rider. [Weird Comics #17]
• U.S. Jones becomes a patriotic mystery man under his own name, accompanied by his plainclothes pal, Grumbler Harris. [Wonderworld Comics #28]
• Lu-Nar arrives on Earth and begins adventures as a mystery man. Note: Lu-Nar (often called Lunar) is likely a member of an offshoot of the Martian race, which is ten times stronger than humans. [Wonderworld Comics #28]
• June 9: Modifying a useless black-light ray device sent to her father to create her blackout ray, Sandra Knight decides to start adventuring as a costumed mystery-woman called Phantom Lady, and soon creates a yellow and green costume for herself, as well as equipping the front and the back of a black roadster with blackout rays. In her first case as a costumed mystery-woman, Phantom Lady saves a bomb inventor named Raphael from Wenner, a man who planned to steal his uranium explosive and sell it to foreign powers. Don Borden, a State Department investigator, is Sandra Knight's boyfriend. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #1 (August, 1941)]

• Shannon Kane becomes a mystery woman known as the Spider Queen, often assisted by plainclothes detective Mike O'Bell, who becomes her boyfriend. [Eagle #2 (September, 1941)]
• Nagana, the Queen of Evil, a criminal mastermind, begins adventures. [Fantastic Comics #22]
• Captain Kidd's last case. [Fantastic Comics #22]
• D-13's last case. [Mystery Men Comics #26]
• Samson battles the Japanese agent known as the Dragon and his sister, Orchid (Earth-4), in only two cases. [Fantastic Comics #22, Samson #6]
• The Wasp, recurring criminal foe of Samson, has his last recorded battle with Samson. [Samson #6]
• Dirk Delancey, convict-turned-special agent, begins adventures. [Samson #6]
• Barry Graham becomes the tuxedo-clad mystery man known as the Topper. [Samson #6]
• Peg Miller, girl detective, begins adventures. [Samson #6]
• Swoop Curtis, aviator, begins adventures. [Weird Comics #18]
• Doctor Diamond's last case. [Cat-Man Comics #4]
• Blaze Baylor's last case. [Cat-Man Comics #4]
• Citizen Smith's last case. [Captain Fearless #2]
• The Green Mask II battles a costumed killer called the Manx, who is equipped with a steel claw on a band on his right wrist. Note: The Manx, a male minx, resembles DC's Wildcat, except with a brown costume. [The Green Mask, Mystery Men Comics #26 (September, 1941)]
• Samson battles recurring criminal foe the Wasp, a bald midget killer, for the first time. [Big 3 #5]
• When the Hermese Embassy in Washington, D.C., burns down, killing the ambassador, the tiny Asian nation of Herma blames the U.S. and threatens war. Phantom Lady discovers that the fire was caused by agents of Imperial Japan, who plan to step in and take over Herma in the guise of protecting it from the U.S. Phantom Lady finds and rescues Ambassador Kivoya of Herma, ending the threat of war between the U.S. and Herma. Note: Imperial Japan is referred to in this story as Kioland. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #2 (September, 1941)]

• Jack Castle, a criminal scientist, has his brain transferred into the body of a gorilla and begins his war on mankind as the Gorilla. [Blue Beetle #9]
• Jake Baxter becomes the aviator mystery man known as the Blackbird. [Blue Beetle #9]
• Davy the Wish Master is an ordinary, poverty-stricken boy suddenly given the magical ability to have his wishes granted. [Blue Beetle #9]
• Two adventurers from the 19th century, the Yank and the Rebel, arrive in the 20th century to help America in her hour of need. [Flame #7]
• Tumbler, a mystery man, begins adventures. [Green Mask #7]
• Gary Kennedy dies and returns as the ghostly mystery man, the Wraith, able to briefly possess people as well as create a solid form of his Gary Kennedy identity when needed. [Mystery Men Comics #27]
• Linda Dale gains super-powers and becomes Flame Girl, the Flame's female crime-fighting partner. Note: It's possible that Linda Dale is related to Alan Dale, also known as Captain V/The Puppeteer, and Barry Dale, also known as Atoman. [Wonderworld Comics #30]
• U.S. Jones joins the Secret Service as an agent. [Wonderworld Comics #30]
• After Don Borden is kidnapped by a Nazi spy nest, Phantom Lady frees him and helps subdue the spies after being framed for the kidnapping herself, and Don begins to notice her resemblance to Sandra Knight. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #3 (October, 1941)]

• Samson and David's last case in the 1940s. [Fantastic Comics #23]
• Dan Kenneth, art aficionado, becomes the Roman-themed mystery man known as the Gladiator. [Fantastic Comics #23]
• Dynamo's last case. [Weird Comics #19]
• The Gorilla's last appearance. [Blue Beetle #10]
• Phantom Lady saves Don Borden and the English ambassador from two Nazi spies named Kurtz and Heine, who sabotaged a dirigible before a test flight with a time bomb and replaced the American crew with Germans. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #4 (November, 1941)]

• Katie Conn becomes the Cat-Man's teenaged crime-fighting partner, the Kitten. [Cat-Man Comics #5]
• FBI agent Craig Williams becomes the mystery man known as the Hood. [Cat-Man Comics #5]
• Captain Aero, a pilot fighting the Japanese in the Pacific Theater of World War II, begins adventures. [Captain Aero Comics #1]
• Major Hornet, aide to U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, becomes the mystery man known as Flagman, assisted by his teenaged crime-fighting partner, Rusty. [Captain Aero Comics #1]
• Solar, master of magic, begins adventures. [Captain Aero Comics #1]
• Blackbird's last case. [Green Mask #8]
• Tumbler's last case. [Green Mask #8]
• Phantom Lady exposes Captain Ortega of Parador as a Nazi spy and stops him before he can sink a U.S. Navy ship. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #5 (December, 1941)]

• Rusty (Flagman's partner) forms the Pals of Freedom, a kid gang. [Captain Aero Comics #2]
• U.S. Jones battles the fang-toothed villain Moloch, who is a Nazi agent and master of disguise, during a single case, but Moloch may have appeared earlier. [U.S. Jones #2]
• U.S. Jones battles his recurring criminal foe, the Crimson Saint, in two cases. [U.S. Jones #2]
• Grumbler Harris, pal of U.S. Jones, makes his last appearance. [U.S. Jones #2]
• Dirk Delancey's last case. [U.S. Jones #2]
• Topper's last case. [U.S. Jones #2]
• Peg Miller's last case. [U.S. Jones #2]
• Spider Queen's last case. [Eagle #4]
• Voodoo Man's last appearance. [Flame #8]
• The Yank and the Rebel's last case. [Flame #8]
• Eagle and Buddy's last case. [Weird Comics #20]
• Sorceress of Zoom's last appearance. [Weird Comics #20]
• Dart and Ace's last case. [Weird Comics #20]
• Marga, the Panther Woman's last case. [Weird Comics #20]
• Black Rider's last case. [Weird Comics #20]
• Swoop Curtis' last case. [Weird Comics #20]
• The Rapier, a mystery man, has a single case. [Weird Comics #20]
• Patty O'Day's last case. [Wonderworld Comics #33]
• Yarko the Great's last case. [Wonderworld Comics #33]
• Dr. Fung's last case. [Wonderworld Comics #33]
• Lu-Nar's last case. [Wonderworld Comics #33]
• Olivia Tracy, girlfriend of Michael Shelby (the Green Mask II), becomes the guardian of her infant nephew, Joseph Nemo. [“Horror Sings a Lullaby,” The Green Mask #9 (February, 1942)]

• Phantom Lady captures a group of Nazi spies after Sir Edward Hendville is murdered at the English Embassy during a war-relief masquerade. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #7 (February, 1942)]
• December 7: With the entry of the United States into World War II, several mystery men abandon their costumed identities and enlist. Some die during the war, while most of the others that survive the war simply never return to their costumed identities. [speculation based on the fact that Fox Feature Publications went bankrupt in early 1942 and ceased publishing, ending the adventures of a number of mystery men and adventurers]
• Inspired by the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the entry of the United States into World War II, the patriotic Jerry Steele joins the V-Agents and becomes V-Man, leader of the V-Boys, teenaged crime-fighting partners of V-Man led by Mickey Malone (the future Captain USA). [V…-Comics #1]
• On December 9, U.S. war correspondent Jack Wayne is blinded by the Nazis while in Germany. A doctor calling himself Doctor Dismal gives him a special pair of glasses that enables him to see, and he becomes the mystery man known as Blackout, fighting the Nazis in Germany. [Cat-Man Comics #10]
• After being shipwrecked, Billy, his sister Betty, and their friend Mike become the rulers of the tribe there after the death of the king. [Cat-Man Comics #7]
• Al Addin, a young boy, gains a magic lamp with a genie at his command and begins adventures. [Cat-Man Comics #7]
• Flame and Flame Girl's last independent case. [Big 3 #7]
• V-Man takes Samson's place in the Big Three's current and final case. [supposition based on the cover of Big 3 #7]
• Davy the Wish Master's last adventure. [Blue Beetle #11]
• Gladiator's last case. [Blue Beetle #11]
• Nightbird's last case. [Green Mask #9]
• Green Mask and Domino's last case. Note: Sometime after this case, possibly several months later, Michael Shelby retires as the Green Mask II in order to join the army. [Mystery Men Comics #31]
• Wraith's last case. [Mystery Men Comics #31]
• Lynx and Blackie's last case together. Note: Immediately after this case, the Lynx becomes the Moth once again. [Mystery Men Comics #31]
• Zanzibar's last case. [Mystery Men Comics #31]

• Adolf Hitler gains the Tabriz Rose, a Persian rug woven by rugmaker Haji Al Ub centuries ago and cursed to drive any man of evil who owns it mad. [“The Room of Madness,” Haunted (Charlton) #1]

• The Mystery Men of America is formed by eight costumed mystery-men: the Black Fury, Blue Beetle, the Eagle, the Green Mask II, the Moth, Phantom Lady, Spider Queen, and U.S. Jones, though the lineup changes over the years. [speculation]
• Lee Ainsley, counter-espionage agent, is believed to be killed but fights Nazi agents under the name Black Friday. [Cat-Man Comics #8]
• Volton II appears. Note: This is an android with all of the original Volton's memories who believes he is human. [Cat-Man Comics #8]
• Mickey Matthews and Katie Conn (the Kitten) form the Little Leaders, a duo team of teenaged crime-fighters. [Cat-Man Comics #8]
• Queen of Evil's last appearance. [V…-Comics #2]
• Banshee's last case. [V…-Comics #2]
• Yank Wilson's last case. Note: Sometime after this story, Yank Wilson helps found the Command for the Hindrance of Espionage, Sabotage and Subversion (CHESS), becoming its first director, known as the King. [V…-Comics #2]
• Sandra Knight, Senator Henry Knight, and Don Borden visit Havana, Cuba, where Phantom Lady and Don round up a group of Nazis planning to take over the island nation in a coup. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #8 (March, 1942)]

• Captain Aero's Sky Scouts (youngsters Jimmy Blair and Bobby Blair) begin adventures. Note: The Sky Scouts may have appeared in earlier issues. [Captain Aero Comics #4]
• Dan Collins, playboy millionaire, dons a tuxedo to become the mystery man known as the Gargoyle and has a single case. [Captain Aero Comics #4]

• World War I flying ace Chuck Benson returns to his old identity of the Phantom Falcon, costumed aviator, and begins adventures fighting the Axis in the skies above Europe and Asia. [Cat-Man Comics #10]

• Black Fury and Chuck's last independent case. Note: John Perry (the original Black Fury) eventually becomes a newspaper publisher, while Chuck Marley grows up to become the second Black Fury in the 1950s/1960s. [Blue Beetle #12]
• Sparkington J. Northrup, an American orphan raised in England by his adoptive father, Lord Wellington Northrup of Suppleshire, England, is sent by boat to the United States to ensure his safety. On the way there, the convoy is attacked by Nazi U-boats, which causes a delay in the voyage by some months. [3rd story, Blue Beetle #15 (September, 1942); Blue Beetle #14 (August, 1942)]

• Volton II's last case in the 1940s. [Cat-Man Comics #12]

• Blue Beetle battles Death Mask, a villain wearing a green death's-head mask. [“The Death Mask,” Blue Beetle #13 (August, 1942)]

• Dr. Peter Hall becomes the mystery man known as the Red Cross. [Captain Aero Comics #8]
• Hammerhead Hawley begins adventures. [Captain Aero Comics #8]
• Blue Beetle battles the Red Robe (who is likely the Death Mask), whom he unmasks as Otto Bohm, head of the Nazi Gestapo in the United States. [“Red Robe of Death,” Blue Beetle #14 (September, 1942)]
• Blue Beetle battles the Japanese agent called the Yellow Fang. Joan Mason begins volunteering part-time as a nurse. [“The Terror of Yellow Fang,” Blue Beetle #14 (September, 1942)]
• Blue Beetle battles the Eye, who uses powerful, instantaneous hypnotism to make people do his bidding. [“The Blue Beetle Matches Wits with the Eye,” Blue Beetle #14 (September, 1942)]
• Sparkington J. Northrup arrives in the United States, and patrolmen Dan Garret (Blue Beetle) and his partner Mike Mannigan are assigned to protect him from Nazi Gestapo agents led by an assassin named Hautman, who seek to kidnap the boy, who is sent to live with the Cartwright family in New York City. After the Nazis make a second attempt to kidnap Sparkington, the boy saves Blue Beetle's life and learns his secret identity after the hero's mask fell off. Blue Beetle makes Sparkington vow to keep his secret, and the boy agrees on the condition that he become the Blue Beetle's partner. Sparkington gains a blue and red costume and becomes Sparky, the Blue Beetle's teenaged crime-fighting partner. Together, the two capture Hautman. Note: The full moon in this story places it around July 27, 1942. Although Sparky originally speaks using an English accent and uses English idioms, he adopts an American accent when crime-fighting alongside the Blue Beetle. Sparkington is portrayed originally with blond hair and later with red and auburn hair; we believe he used dye to make his hair blonder when in costume, but the rest of the time his hair was red/strawberry blond. [3rd story, Blue Beetle #15 (October, 1942)]
• Sparkington J. Northrup, alias Sparky, joins the League of Infinity, comprising members from several historical and future eras. [speculation]
• One rainy night, Phantom Lady helps capture a group of Nazi saboteurs in Washington, D.C., after Sandra Knight and Don Borden find the corpse of a federal investigator. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #11 (September, 1942)]

• The Blue Beetle and Sparky battle Madam Fang, a Japanese agent. Note: Madam Fang's lieutenant, Moto, may be the father of the villainous scientist Dr. Tetsuo Moto and the grandfather of the heroic boy scientist Akira Moto; see “Sentinels of Justice: Fantastic Giants.” [1st story, Blue Beetle #15 (October, 1942)]
• After Sandra Knight and her father Senator Henry Knight visit U.S. Army testing grounds to find new army tanks in poor shape, Sandra goes undercover by getting a job in the factory as a riveter, where she makes a friend named Maisie. Phantom Lady quickly discovers saboteurs at work damaging one tank with acid, sledgehammers, and wrenches as it is built in the factory. A few days later, the same saboteur gang commandeers a tank during the test, while Phantom Lady drives the faulty one, and thanks to her action, the good tank passes the test instead of all the tanks being dismissed because of the faulty one. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #12 (October, 1942)]

• Sherlock Holmes, somehow retaining his youth since the Victorian Age, is brought out of retirement to assist the Allied war effort in a series of cases. In his first case, Holmes is enlisted by the inner council of British Intelligence to assist them in stopping Nazi saboteurs in Britain whose activities are announced in advance on the radio. Dr. Watson, still retaining some youth himself, assists him. Note: The Sherlock Holmes of this film series is the same Sherlock Holmes of the 1956 Charlton series. The original stories written for The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939 radio series), which were broadcast beginning in 1943 after the radio series ran out of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle-written stories, take place in the Victorian Era. [Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942 Universal Studios film)]
• The Phantom Falcon dies while destroying a Japanese base and killing 20,000 Japanese soldiers, preventing an attack on the Allied forces. [Cat-Man Comics #15]
• The Devil Dogs' last appearance. [Captain Aero Comics #9]
• Phantom Lady is framed for bombing a neutral foreign consul in Washington, D.C., and hunted by the law. While driving with her friend Maisie, Sandra Knight gives a ride to a woman wearing a Phantom Lady costume beneath her coat, and Phantom Lady discovers that she is an impostor working for Nazi agents. Phantom Lady stops their next plan, which is to bomb the White House. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #13 (November, 1942)]

• The Blue Beetle and Sparky battle the Mimic, a master of disguise named Chalmers, who supposedly dies. [“Who is the Mimic?” Blue Beetle #17 (December, 1942)]
• October 24-25: While Sandra Knight and her spinster Aunt Priscilla are visiting the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, Phantom Lady stops two criminals working for a German spy from drugging the soldiers' breakfast, and delivers them to the police. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #14 (December, 1942)]

• Sparky changes his nickname to Spunky. [Blue Beetle #18]
• The Blue Beetle and Spunky battle the Red Knight, a German officer capitalizing on an ancient curse dating from the Crusades to gain a huge, invaluable diamond. [“The Case of the Red Knight,” Blue Beetle #18 (January, 1943)]
• Hammerhead Hawley's last appearance. [Captain Aero Comics #13]

• Sandra Knight visits the home of Baron Thorpe, who runs an informal school instructing gullible women on how to be a spy. One young woman named Melinda uses her knowledge to plant a clock containing a dictagraph within it, then delivers it to Baron Thorpe, not realizing he is a real Nazi spy and has helped him learn when the U.S. Navy ship the S.S. Ambria is sailing the next day. Phantom Lady, suspecting Thorpe, rescues Melinda from from her imprisonment in Thorpe's home and, with Don Borden's help, warns the Coast Guard that a U-boat is on its way to the ship, then they capture Baron Thorpe and his gang. Note: A calendar places this story in December. Phantom Lady begins wearing a yellow full-face mask in this story, but only wears it for this case and the next. [“The School for Spies,” Police Comics #15 (January, 1943)]

• Ian Heath, the Iron Corporal, has adventures as an American volunteer in the Australian army in New Guinea. [Army War Heroes #22-37]
• Captain Rufus Archer and Corporal Jack have adventures. [Army War Heroes #24-29]
• The American Eagle, the most-feared fighter pilot in Europe's skies, has adventures with his team, the Eagles (Reb Folsom, Hotrock Hutchins, and Ugly Harrison Clymes). [Fightin' Air Force #50-53]
• The Devil's Brigade, two rogue American and British tank crews, have adventures in North Africa. [War Heroes #27; Fightin' Army #79, 81-83]

• V-Man's last case. [Blue Beetle #19]
• Spark Stevens' last case. [Blue Beetle #19]
• Spider Queen and Mike O'Bell battle and defeat the Spider Man, a German saboteur riding a mechanical spider. [Feature Comics #66]
• The Masters of the Elements (minor incarnations of the Olympian gods) save the life of a toddler named David Crandall, son of Floyd and Myra Crandall, also imbuing him with some of their power over fire, earth, air, and water, which will turn him into Nature Boy thirteen years later. [Nature Boy #3]

• Sherlock Holmes battles arch-foe Professor Moriarty, who is still alive and in league with the Nazis. Moriarty supposedly dies at the conclusion of this case, but in reality he survives once more. [Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon (1943 Universal Studios film)]

• In the city of Knickerbocker, radio station WWGL owner Don Wickett becomes the mystery man known as Shaman, and his assistant Kandy Wilson becomes the mystery woman known as Flame II; together, as Shaman and Flame, they have several undocumented cases. Note: although Shaman and Flame only appeared once in a 1946 story they were supposed to have been operating for several years by that time, which probably means at least three years. [Golden Lad #5]
• Sherlock Holmes has a case in the United States. [Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943 Universal Studios film)]
• Dan Garret (Blue Beetle) quits the police force to enlist as an intelligence agent, spending a few months in training until his graduation at this time, alongside his new friend Bill Dailey. [“The Case of the Transformation,” Blue Beetle (Holyoke) #22 (June, 1943)]
• Phantom Lady (Sandra Knight) saves her father Senator Henry Knight from being killed by a time-bomb set beneath his house by criminals. Note: This is the first of three murder attempts on Senator Knight or his daughter over two months. [“Mystery of the Black Cat,” Police Comics #19 (May, 1943)]
• April 25: During an Easter egg hunt at the Knight estate, Sandra Knight and Don Borden uncover a plot by a man dressed as the Easter Bunny to kill Senator Henry Knight with explosives in the shape of golden eggs. Phantom Lady unmasks the Easter Bunny as Killer Dan, a criminal whom Knight sentenced to prison ten years ago when he was a judge. Note: Phantom Lady wears a black domino mask in this story. This is the second of three murder attempts on Senator Knight or his daughter over two months. [“Golden Egg,” Police Comics #18 (April, 1943)]

• Captain Willy Shultz, an American officer in North Africa (the Germans withdrew from North Africa in May of 1943, hence the first half of the series takes place before and during that withdrawal) of German extraction is falsely accused of a battlefield murder, supposedly having killed his commanding officer who was actually killed by a German soldier. He gets railroaded into a court-martial and is convicted of murder and sentenced to hang, though he escapes into the desert and dons the uniform of a dead German soldier, seeking refuge in the Afrika Corps. [“The Charge Is Murder,” Fightin' Army #76]
• Sandra Knight (Phantom Lady) is nearly murdered by two assassins working for a gang boss who wants to get even with her father Senator Henry Knight for his racket-busting. Note: This is the third of three murder attempts on Senator Knight or his daughter over two months. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #19 (May, 1943)]

• Sgt. Rip Jagger, the last remaining U.S. soldier on a small island in the South Pacific, is taught martial arts by a Japanese martial arts master known only as Sensei after saving the life of his granddaughter, Suzikawa. After some time of training, he is presented with a costume with which he becomes the martial arts mystery man known as Judomaster. [Special War Series #4]
• Receiving a note from Detective Mike O'Bell that Senator Henry Knight is being held prisoner, Phantom Lady rushes to the docks, where she fights a gang and frees both O'Bell (who was captured shortly before) and Senator Knight. Note: In the original story, the Raven appears instead of Mike O'Bell, but since Spider Widow and the Raven are Earth-X characters, their closest equivalents, Spider Queen and Mike O'Bell, must be substituted. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #20 (July, 1943)]
• Detective Mike O'Bell introduces Sandra Knight (Phantom Lady) to Shannon Kane (the Spider Queen), in order to capture the gang responsible for the assassination attempts on Sandra and her father, Senator Henry Knight. But after the Spider Queen and Phantom Lady track down the gang leader and fight the gang with O'Bell's help, the two mystery-women's jealous bickering enables the leader to escape. [The Spider Widow, Feature Comics #69 (July, 1943)]
• The gang responsible for trying to assassinate Senator Henry Knight lures Phantom Lady, the Spider Queen, and Detective Mike O'Bell into a trap by sending a note to Phantom Lady purportedly from the Spider Queen challenging her to a duel, while the Spider Queen receives a similar note. Spying on the two as they duel, the gangsters recognize them without their masks before they start shooting at them, striking O'Bell with a bullet in the back. Phantom Lady and the Spider Queen capture the killers and hand them over to the police, while O'Bell is hospitalized for a few weeks. [“Phantom Lady Versus the Spider Widow,” Police Comics #21 (August, 1943)]

• While talking on the phone with Sandra Knight (Phantom Lady), Shannon Kane (the Spider Queen) is kidnapped by a gang and taken to the remote Lookout Hotel. There Shannon finds that Detective Mike O'Bell has supposedly joined the gang responsible for assassination attempts on Sandra and her father, Senator Henry Knight. The big boss, Larkins, arrives soon after disguised as Senator Knight, since he intends to replace him for a few days in the U.S. Senate. Phantom Lady arrives to rescue the Spider Queen but ends up needing a rescue by O'Bell. On the run from the gang, the trio manage to capture Larkins, but he is accidentally shot by his own gang when they fire on the getaway car. [“The Spider Widow with the Raven and Phantom Lady,” Feature Comics #70 (August, 1943)]
• Detective Mike O'Bell attempts to end the feud between the Spider Queen and Phantom Lady by forcing them to work together, only to put all their lives in danger when gangsters try to kill them. Working together, they defeat the gang, and the two heroines become friends at last. [“Peace… It's Wonderful, “Feature Comics #71 (August, 1943)]
• Saying goodbye to the Spider Queen and Detective Mike O'Bell, Phantom Lady learns that her father Senator Henry Knight is involved in tests of a super-submarine, and upon arriving at the launch she is invited to participate. While on board the submarine, Phantom Lady stops a saboteur from destroying it. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #22 (August, 1943)]

• In her last solo case, Phantom Lady (Sandra Knight) fights a group of lunatics who have escaped from the asylum and taken over her home after tying up the servants. [Phantom Lady, Police Comics #23 (October, 1943)]

• Durrand Draw, detective, begin adventures. [Blue Beetle (Holyoke) #27]

• Dr. Malcolm Muir becomes the mystery man known as the Grey Mask, assisted by the Dove. [Suspense Comics #1]
• Martin Corliss, a private detective known as the Tracker, begins adventures. [Suspense Comics #1]
• Sunset Kid, private detective, begins adventures. [Suspense Comics #1]
• Boxie Weaver, prize fighter, begin adventures. [Blue Beetle (Holyoke) #28]
• October 22: Phantom Lady leaves the Mystery Men of America to form the All-Girl Squad with Miss Victory, Spider Queen, and Marga the Panther Woman, fighting Nazi agents. [speculation based on Femforce Special #1]

• Kid Terrific, adventurer, begins adventures accompanied by teenaged crime-fighting partner Jimmie. [Terrific Comics #1]
• Juggernaut, an adventurer given his nickname because of his size and whose real name is unknown, begins adventures in the logging camps of the north woods. [Terrific Comics #1]
• Mister Nobody, mystery detective, begins adventures. [Terrific Comics #1]
• Buck Jordan and Broncho Boyd, soldiers, begin adventures. [Terrific Comics #1]

• The Mysterious Traveler first appears, telling tales of mystery, detection, and suspense. Note: A number of early episodes state that, prior to becoming the Mysterious Traveler, he practised medicine or worked as a coroner, usually under the name Dr. Smith. [The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series); Mysterious Traveler Comics #1; The Mysterious Traveler Magazine]

• Eve Eden is born sometime this year, the daughter of Sen. Wayne Eden and his wife Magda, an exiled princess of the Land of the Nightshades.

• Capt. Lloyd Raleigh of U.S. Army Intelligence becomes the mystery man known as Boomerang, fighting German and Japanese agents. He is accompanied by Diana of British Intelligence, who is a champion archer. [Terrific Comics #2]
• Molly O'Moore and Scoop Scanlon, reporters, begin adventures. [Terrific Comics #2]
• Captain Flight, aviator, begins adventures. [Captain Flight Comics #1]
• Ace Reynolds, war correspondent, begins adventures. [Captain Flight Comics #1]
• Professor X, crime doctor, begins adventures. [Captain Flight Comics #1]
• Dash the Avenger has a single case. [Captain Flight Comics #1]

• Martin Corliss' last case. [Suspense Comics #3]

• Professor X's last case. [Captain Flight Comics #2]

• The Hell's Angels, a trio of soldiers (Lank Strong, Clem West, and Gil Little) in the Pacific Theater of World War II, begin adventures fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific. [Sparkling Stars #1]
• Joan Mason, reporter friend of the Blue Beetle, begins solo adventures. [Blue Beetle #31]
• Dusty Dugan has a single case. [Power Comics #1]
• Jerry Jr. begins adventures. [Power Comics #1]
• Terry Moore, detective, has a single case. [Power Comics #1]
• Dr. Richard Dale visits the elderly Prof. Clark, for whom he was a lab assistant ten years earlier. He learns that Clark and his assistant Barton have invented an advanced robot named Alpha, which has an artificial brain of protoplasm combined with a small amount of brain tissue from an executed murderer named Richards. Believing that Clark plans to destroy it, Alpha kills Clark, then destroys a car and kills its driver, Jed Thompson, leaving the passenger Fred Jennings as a witness. Barton explains that Clark asked Dale there to help them build more robots and shows him Beta, the second robot built by Clark that looked perfectly human but was insane because it also had Richards' brain tissue. Clark had to destroy Beta, because the humanoid robot planned to build dozens of robots like himself and use them to enslave mankind. When Sheriff Ramsey arrives to take Clark into custody to save him from an angry mob, then learns of his murder, Barton has Alpha kill the sheriff. Dale tries to stop Barton using the sheriff's gun, but he learns that Barton is actually Beta, the humanoid robot. Just as Beta is about to kill Dale, the mob arrives, and Beta escapes. Dr. Dale, his story disbelieved by the authorities, is taken to a psychiatric hospital. [“Beware of Tomorrow,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

• Michael Shawn, taxi driver (originally named Matty Martin), dons a tuxedo and top hat to become the mystery man known as the Reckoner, accompanied by uncostumed partner Chipper. [Cat-Man Comics #25]
• Dennis Quinn, air ace of World War I, fights in World War II as the aviator mystery man known as the Golden Eagle, accompanied by his pet eagle, Liberty. [Contact Comics #1]
• Col. Moore Williams becomes the mystery man known as the Flamingo. [Contact Comics #1]
• Mary Roche, a physical therapist and aviator, becomes the leatherclad mystery woman known as Black Venus. [Contact Comics #1]
• Tommy Tomahawk, pilot, begins adventures accompanied by his pal, Red Wing. [Contact Comics #1]
• Speed Spaulding, boy adventurer, begin adventures. [Sparkling Stars #2]
• ZB-3, secret agent, begins adventures. [Captain Flight Comics #3]
• Zaan of the jungle begins adventures. [Captain Flight Comics #3]
• Captain Willy Shultz's last appearance. Note: The series was cut short with the Germans still in Italy, which places the second half of it in 1944, running no later than May or early June of that year. [Fightin' Army #92]
• Jerry Jr.'s last adventure. [Power Comics #2]
• Visiting Canada for a conference on the occult, Sherlock Holmes solves the mystery of the legendary monster of La Mort Rouge. [The Scarlet Claw (1944 Universal Studios film)]

• On his 15th birthday, schoolboy Johnny Green becomes the super-powered mystery man the Green Mask III when he screams emotionally. Note: Johnny's father is the original Green Mask, alias Walter Green, who quit his mystery-man career to serve in the military, where he is active in the Pacific Theater of War. Walter Green is the original, unpowered, unnamed Green Mask who appeared in Mystery Men Comics #1-12 and is not to be confused with Michael Shelby, the second Green Mask. The general public is likely unaware that there was more than one Green Mask. Johnny transforms into the Green Mask, complete with super-powers, whenever he becomes agitated. The reason behind this is likely mystical in nature rather than pseudo-scientific. [Green Mask #10]
• Capt. Patrick Kelly, a U.S. Army Air Force pilot in the Pacific Theatre of War, becomes known as Rocket Kelly after he is shot down on the Burma Road, is imprisoned by Japanese soldiers, and finally escapes by affixing a rocket to his plane that he got from a dying fellow prisoner who is a brilliant engineer. Capt. Kelly is accompanied by Corp. Whacky, a former Brooklyn cab driver who acts as his gunner and mechanic in their modified plane, the Rocket-Avenger. Kelly's father is Prof. Kelly, a noted astronomer at Mt. Glacier Observatory. Note: Whacky is later called Punchy, but both Punchy and Whacky must be nicknames, possibly for a difficult-to-pronounce name such as Prokop Waclawski, a Polish name. [Green Mask #10]
• Satan, the evil prince of darkness and the king of racketeers, begins adventures. [Suspense Comics #5]
• Black Raider begins adventures. [Power Comics #3]
• Doctor Mephisto begins adventures. [Power Comics #3]
• Miss Espionage begins adventures. [Power Comics #3]
• Merlin the Boy Magician begins adventures. [Power Comics #3]
• Spunky's last known case with the Blue Beetle. Note: This story may actually take place some months earlier, just before Dan Garret leaves his intelligence agent job to rejoin the police force as a so-called rookie policeman. He intentionally keeps himself from gaining any glory as a policeman in order to keep from being promoted. Probably he does occasional work as a secret agent from time to time. [Blue Beetle (Fox) #33]

• Vince Harley, crime fiction writer for Dark Detective Magazine, becomes involved in a jewel robbery as source material for a story, and he is discovered by the thieves who use a carton of yellowjackets to finish him off. Harley discovers he is immune to bee stings, which actually grant him superhuman strength, and he soon acquires the ability to control them. He seeks revenge as the costumed mystery man known as Yellowjacket and continues his costumed career after capturing them. Note: Yellowjacket's full name is Vincent Jeffrey Harley. [Yellowjacket Comics #1]
• The goddess Diana the Huntress, glum due to the suffering that has befallen the world, leaves her secure habitation atop Mt. Olympus and journeys to the United States, where she has her first public case as a mystery woman accompanied by a young child named Billy Kirby. In addition to being skilled with the bow and arrow, Diana is an expert fighter and has superhuman strength and agility. [Yellowjacket Comics #1]
• Danny King, the famed circus animal trainer called the King of the Beasts, begins adventures. [Yellowjacket Comics #1]
• Juan Martinez becomes known as Fip, the Filipino Kid, Phillippine resistance fighter and spy who works against the Japanese occupation of the Phillippines and spies in Japan for the U.S.. [Yellowjacket Comics #1]
• Anteas (Antaeus) of Greek myth, in the form of a statue sculpted by his descendant, artist Adam Anteas, Jr., becomes the mystery man known as the Bouncer. [The Bouncer #10]
• Kitty Kelly, adventuress, begins adventures. Note: This is the Earth-4 version of Kitty Kelly, not to be confused with the Kitty Kelly character earlier published by Dynamic/Harry A. Chesler or the unrelated Yankee Girl character published by the same company, or Kit Kelly the girlfriend of Manhunter on Earth-X. [Captain Flight Comics #4]
• During the “Threat from Saturn” adventure, the Blue Beetle battles the evil Saturnia and Gloat, two criminals exiled from Saturn in a meteor who have the ability to possess human bodies (much like Jericho of Earth-1's Teen Titans) and plan to set themselves up on Earth as the king and queen of evil. At one point, Gloat manages to possess the Blue Beetle himself and goes on a super-powered rampage in order to discredit him as a hero, but Blue Beetle forces him out before Gloat is able to commit mass murder using his body. After the conclusion of the case, Saturnia and Gloat make no further appearances. Note: This story ended at Chapter 6, with Joan Mason kidnapped by Gloat and Saturnia, who fled into one of several underground tunnels. The story was never concluded; although we know that Joan Mason survived, the fate of the villains from Saturn remains unknown. [Blue Beetle #34-36, 38-39, 41]
• Boomerang and Diana's last case. [Terrific Comics #5]
• Doctor Mephisto's last case. [Power Comics #4]
• Miss Espionage's last case. [Power Comics #4]

• Tetsuro Tanaka, a 13-year-old Japanese orphan, becomes Tiger, Judomaster's teenaged crime-fighting partner. Note: Tiger's real name of Tanaka is revealed in the post-Crisis L.A.W. series, and it is the same in Earth-4's continuity as well. This name is obviously inspired from Tiger Tanaka, an ally of James Bond – inspired by real-life Japanese author Torao “Tiger” Saito – who appears in the novel You Only Live Twice and the film based on it, where he is played by actor Tetsuro Tamba. In tribute to that actor, we use the name Tetsuro as Tiger's first name. [Judomaster #93]
• Rocket Kelly and Whacky meet the mysterious Manta, leader of a primitive tribe in Burma. She soon joins Kelly and Whacky in their adventures. [The Bouncer #12]

• Alan Dale (also called Alan Hale), a puppet shop owner, becomes the mystery man known as Captain V. Note: It's possible that Alan Dale is related to Linda Dale, also known as Flame Girl, and Barry Dale, also known as Atoman. [All Top Comics (1944)]
• Merciless the Sorceress, an evil jungle sorceress, begins adventures. [All Top Comics (1944)]
• Red Robbins, super-speedster mystery man, begins adventures. [All Top Comics (1944)]
• Titan, detective, begins adventures. [All Top Comics (1944)]
• Johnny Earthquake begins adventures. [All Top Comics (1944)]
• Kid Terrific's last case. [Terrific Comics #6]
• Juggernaut's last appearance. [Terrific Comics #6]
• Buck Jordan and Broncho Boyd's last appearance. [Terrific Comics #6]
• Flamingo's last case. [Contact Comics #3]

• Captain V changes his name to the Puppeteer. [All Good Comics (1944)]
• Anita (Ann) Morgan becomes the mystery woman known as the Purple Tigress. [All Good Comics (1944)]
• In Harlem, Red Robbins meets black teenager Sam “Speed” Karr, who becomes his teenaged crime-fighting partner. [All Good Comics (1944)]
• Jethro Dumont becomes the Green Lama and begins his adventures. Note: this version of the Green Lama is the one designed by Mac Raboy and published by Spark Publications; he is not the same character as the version first seen in Prize Comics #7 or the earlier pulp magazine character from Double Detective. [Green Lama #1]
• Tuffy, Mickey, and Wellington Smith team up as the boy gang known as the Boy Champions. [Green Lama #1]
• Nerdy, bespectacled boy Wilbur Klutz gains super-powers and hires out his services as Lieutenant Hercules. [Green Lama #1]
• Rick Masters, aviator, and his sidekick Mike, together nicknamed the Twin Eagles, begin adventures. [Green Lama #1]
• Mischievous magical fairy Angus MacErc begins adventures after being awoken by a V-2 rocket outside London, England. [Green Lama #1]
• Cap'n Grim, an old sailor, tells youthful sailors stories from his younger days as a harbor pilot in the South Seas (probably some 40 years ago). [Yellowjacket Comics #6]
• Deep Sea Dawson begins adventures. [Captain Flight Comics #5]
• Durrand Draw's last case. [Sparkling Stars #7]
• Rocket Kelly learns that his female ally Manta is really American nurse Susan Diana Andrews (daughter of Prof. Andrews, founder and head of a Burmese hospital). After a tribesman kills Prof. Andrews, Sue joins Kelly in his further adventures. Note: Sue Andrews is originally known as Manta, then called Sue Andrews, and finally called Diana; we guess that Sue is her first name and Diana is her middle name, while Manta is a completely fictitious identity. [The Bouncer #14]

• Steve Drake, FBI agent, becomes the mystery man known as the Black Cobra, spy smasher. An office boy at the FBI becomes his teenaged crime-fighting partner, the Cobra Kid. Note: This is the Earth-4 version of the Black Cobra, a character originally published by Dynamic/Harry A. Chesler. [Captain Flight Comics #6]
• Rocket Kelly, Whacky, and Sue Andrews travel to the planet Selura. There, with the help of a dwarf ally named Sabio, they liberate the planet Selura from an Earthman named Dr. Malik, a scientist. Contacting Earth, they receive a reply stating that Kelly is the official Earth ambassador to Selura. On Earth, a rocketship capable of interplanetary travel called the New Yorker is built and launched into space, where it is magnetically pulled to Selura by Kelly. From this point on, Rocket Kelly becomes an interplanetary explorer and hero, traveling in a rocketship. Note: Although it is not evident, the building of the New Yorker and the communications with Kelly on Selura are actually completely classified and top secret, known only to the highest levels. The public merely believes that a science fiction movie is being filmed. Probably the New Yorker was built using the same classified technology as that of Dr. Hans Zarkov, ally of Flash Gordon. It is never explained how Dr. Malik first traveled to Selura, but presumably he also had access to Zarkov's technology and may even have been a collaborator. [Everybody's Comics #1, The Bouncer #10]

• Rocket Kelly meets his arch-nemesis Diablo the master of evil, who seeks to rule outer space. While saving the mystical Flame of Democracy, Kelly becomes the new Keeper of the Flame after the old Keeper – a man of ancient Rome – dies. Note: The home of the Flame of Democracy is apparently a small planetoid with an artificial gravity field that looks much like Earth on its surface. It seems to exist in real space, despite the fact that the Flame of Democracy is also a symbolic concept. It is probable that the home of the Flame only exists in physical space whenever the Keeper of the Flame is replaced. [Rocket Kelly (1944)]
• Rocket Kelly battles his arch-nemesis Diablo again. [Rocket Kelly (1944)]

• Steve Lane, zoo keeper, becomes the mystery man known as Jaguar Man and has a single case. [All Great Comics (1945)]
• The White School on the multi-dimensional island of Tourmaline is attacked and bombed by a group of former students turned Nazi mystics from Earth-X, members of the Thule Society who seek to use the Clock Tower to conquer parallel universes and other dimensions. To defend itself, the island disappears into the mystical dimension of Darkworld, causing the Nazi mystics to drown in the ocean. Most of the instructors and students are saved, each returning to his or her world of origin and given partial amnesia about the island and the school. [”The Brave and the Bold: Mary Marvel and Atom Blake: Magic and Demons and Ghouls, Oh My!”]

• Col. Carver, retired, becomes the aviator mystery man known as the Phantom Flyer (also called the Flying Phantom), accompanied by his ward, Kenny, and has a single case. [Contact Comics #5]

• Black Raider's last case. [Mask Comics #2]
• Merlin the Boy Magician's last case. [Mask Comics #2]
• Shroud has a single case. [Mask Comics #2]

• Kitty Kelly gains super-strength and briefly calls herself by the patriotic mystery woman name of Yankee Girl. [Captain Flight Comics #8]
• Don Wallace creates a flying suit and becomes the mystery man known as Torpedo Man. [Captain Flight Comics #8]
• The Bouncer's last case. [Book of All-Comics #1]

• April 30: According to official reports, Adolf Hitler commits suicide. He had partly been maddened by the Tabriz Rose, a Persian rug woven by Haji Al Ub centuries ago and cursed to drive any man of evil who owns it mad. A Russian officer takes it back to Moscow. Note: According to “Death Comes for Adolf Hitler” and “Death at Fifty Fathoms,” Hitler actually died on May 9, 1945, by drowning while in a German submarine. [“The Room of Madness,” Haunted (Charlton) #1]

• May 9: Adolf Hitler supposedly dies in the U-boat Wolf after having escaped Germany during the Battle of Berlin and substituted a corpse double for himself to be found by the Russians. Note: This story may not necessarily be true, since it comes through a radio message by a German submarine officer, which may not be a reliable source. [“Death Comes for Adolf Hitler,” “Death at Fifty Fathoms,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]
• Tommy Preston discovers the Heart of Gold in his grandfather's antique shop and uses its magical power to become the super-powered mystery boy Golden Lad. [Golden Lad #1]
• Armed with a crossbow, editor Jon Dart of the Weekly Star becomes the mystery man known as Swiftarrow. [Golden Lad #1]
• Johnny Hopper, air rover, begins adventures. [Golden Lad #1]
• Stretch, Rags, and Dickie team up as the boy gang known as the Kid Wizards. [Golden Lad #1]
• A small party of Nazis reach the Moon in an experimental rocket ship. There, they meet a race of telepathic aliens who do not breathe but live on cosmic rays. At first the Nazis are given free reign to live among the aliens, but their hatred soon causes discord among the alien civilization, and they are kept isolated for at least the next twenty years. Note: Although this story implies that Adolf Hitler was one of these Nazis, it is more likely these were all SS officers. [“Objective Moon,” Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #2 (January, 1957)]

• While on a mission to free several Allied POWs from the Japanese, Judomaster (Rip Jagger) disappears from history, witnessed by Tiger and a Chinese national named Kwan Li. Judomaster is presumed to die in the war, but in reality he is transported through time because of the Crisis on Infinite Earths to the year 1985, where he remains. His teenaged partner Tiger (Tetsuro Tanaka) retires. Note: In 1953, eight years after Judomaster's disappearance, a grown-up Tetsuro Tanaka becomes the Tiger, Japan's first costumed crime-fighter. In 1958, Tiger trains a 14-year-old Eve Eden in martial arts; she grows up to become Nightshade in 1966. Tiger himself becomes Judomaster II for a brief period in 1965 and trains another young man to become Tiger II. Finally, sometime in the late 1970s, Tiger completes the training of his last student, a young woman who becomes the Japanese action hero, Tyger. [“Judomaster: Mozambique: Situation Critical”]
• The Hood's last case. [Cat-Man Comics #29]

• Sherlock Holmes battles his arch-foe, Professor Moriarty, for the last time when the villain dies from a fall. [The Woman in Green (1945 Universal Studios film)]
• Kitty Kelly drops the name Yankee Girl but continues to act as a mystery woman under her own name. [Captain Flight Comics #9]

• The All-Girl Squad has its last case as World War II ends. [speculation]

• An 11-year-old schoolboy named Tom “Buzz” Burton is nicknamed Yellow Jacket Jr. because of his control over his trained bees just like his uncle, Vince Harley (Yellowjacket), though he has no costume or other identity at this time. [Yellow Jacket Jr., Zoo Funnies #1 (November, 1945)]
• After New York City is flooded, Rocket Kelly, Whacky, and Sue Andrews learn that the ones responsible are extraterrestrials based on a planetoid led by Indus. The trio travel to Indus' planetoid (actually an asteroid in the asteroid belt) and stop the aliens before fleeing just as the alien base there is destroyed by its own folly. [Rocket Kelly #1]

• Captain Flight's last case. [Captain Flight Comics #10]
• Ace Reynolds' last case. [Captain Flight Comics #10]
• ZB-3's last case. [Captain Flight Comics #10]
• Zaan's last adventure. [Captain Flight Comics #10]
• Deep Sea Dawson's last case. [Captain Flight Comics #10]
• Captain Dash' last case. [Captain Flight Comics #10]

• The Old Witch (also known as the Ancient Witch) appears for the first time, regaling listeners with tales of terror. [Yellowjacket Comics #7]
• Rocket Kelly battles Diablo for the last time. [Rocket Kelly #1]

• Scientist Barry Dale, working at the Atomic Institute, gains atomic super-powers after being exposed to radiation and becomes the mystery man Atoman. Note: It's possible that Barry Dale is related to Linda Dale, also known as Flame Girl, and Alan Dale, also known as Captain V/The Puppeteer. [Atoman Comics #1]
• John Kendrick, crusading district attorney, has a single case. [Atoman Comics #1]
• Henpecked husband Marvin Smith (an ordinary-looking short man) is magically given super-powers by the god Mars and becomes the mystery man Marvin the Great (who looks the same as Marvin Smith, except for a Roman-themed costume), having a single case. [Atoman Comics #1]
• Red Cross' last case. [Captain Aero Comics #25]
• Zaro, jungle magician, begins adventures. [Sparkling Stars #10]
• Ted Hart, detective, begins adventures. [Sparkling Stars #10]

• Green Lama's last case. [Green Lama #8]
• Lieutenant Hercules' last case. [Green Lama #8]
• Rick Masters' last case. [Green Lama #8]
• Angus MacErc's last case. [Green Lama #8]
• Ted Hart's last case. [Sparkling Stars #11]
• Zaro's last case. [Sparkling Stars #11]
• Golden Eagle's last case. [Contact Comics #11]
• Black Venus' last case. [Contact Comics #11]
• Tommy Tomahawk's last appearance. [Contact Comics #11]
• Rocket Kelly travels to Mars and defeats the Robot Ruler of Mars, freeing Martirois, the capital city in Zenoba, one of the three Martian nations. Returning to Earth, he discovers that the Robot Ruler is actually a disguised Prof. Mogul, assistant to Prof. Kelly, Rocket Kelly's father. Note: Although the Martian nation of Zenoba is not identified as such, it is most likely this nation because all of its men are bald or balding, just like Zeltan Zamba, the Zenoban ruler of the year 2016 as seen in Space Adventures #30. [Rocket Kelly #2]

• Golden Lad battles criminal recurring enemy the Minstrel for the first time. [Golden Lad #4]
• Atoman's last case. [Atoman Comics #2]
• Boy Champions' last case. [Atoman Comics #2]
• Magga the Magnificent, super-powered mystery woman with the costume and powers of the Green Lama, has a single case. [Atoman Comics #2]
• Johnny Mason has a single case. [Atoman Comics #2]
• Click Hunt, police detective, begins adventures. [Sparkling Stars #12]
• Phil Gant, actor and star of the Jungo movies, loses his memory and becomes the real Jungo (also called Jungol), the strong, athletic man-beast. [Sparkling Stars #12]
• Sherlock Holmes battles his old foe, Colonel Sebastian Moran, for the last time. [Terror by Night (1946 Universal Studios film)]

• Merciless the Sorceress' last appearance. [All Your Comics #1]
• Red Robbins' last case. [All Your Comics #1]

• Diana the Huntress' last case. [Yellowjacket Comics #10]
• Danny King's last adventure. [Yellowjacket Comics #10]
• Cap'n Grim's last appearance. [Yellowjacket Comics #10]
• Filipino Kid's last case. [Yellowjacket Comics #10]
• The Old Witch's last appearance in the 1940s. [Yellowjacket Comics #10]
• Kit of the Canyon begins adventures. [Rocket Kelly #3]
• Golden Lad's last case. [Golden Lad #5]
• Peggy Shane, a schoolgirl, finds a shard of Golden Lad's Heart of Gold and uses its magic to become the super-powered mystery girl Golden Girl, having only a single case. [Golden Lad #5]
• Shaman and Flame II's last case. [Golden Lad #5]
• Golden Lad is knocked unconscious by the Minstrel and put into suspended animation for 36 years by the Keeper. [Charlton Bullseye v2 #10]

• Maj. Randy Ronald becomes the mystery man known as Bronze Man. [Blue Beetle #42]
• Johnny Mace has a single case. [Contact Comics #12]
• Ace Diamond has a single case. [Contact Comics #12]
• Kitty Kelly's last case. [Red Seal Comics #17]

• Cat-Man and Kitten's last case. [Cat-Man Comics #32]
• The Deacon's last case. [Cat-Man Comics #32]
• Molly O'Moore and Scoop Scanlon's last case. [Cat-Man Comics #32]
• Little Leaders' last case. [Cat-Man Comics #32]
• The Reckoner's last case. [Cat-Man Comics #32]
• Captain Aero's last case. [Captain Aero Comics #26]
• Sky Scouts' last case. [Captain Aero Comics #26]
• Miss Victory's last case. Note: It is possible that Joan Wayne married a man with the surname of Dean and became the mother of Caroline Dean, the action heroine known as Liberty Belle. [Captain Aero Comics #26]
• Sherlock Holmes' last case in the 1940s. Note: Sherlock Holmes retires once again after this case, while Dr. Watson returns to his home in California, where he has retired, and continues to tell untold Sherlock Holmes stories for a few more months. [Dressed to Kill (1946 Universal Studios film)]

• Johnny Earthquake's last case. [Blue Beetle #44]
• Mister Nobody's last appearance. [Suspense Comics #12]
• Satan's last appearance. [Suspense Comics #12]
• Grey Mask and the Dove's last case. [Suspense Comics #12]
• Rocket Kelly travels to the planet Turo and frees it from the grip of the Minstrel of Death. Kelly also prevents the invasion of Earth by the Minstrel's fleet of space ships. [Rocket Kelly #4]

• Green Mask III's last case. [Green Mask #17]
• Yellowjacket's last case. [Jack-in-the-Box Comics #11]
• Kit of the Canyon's last case. [Rocket Kelly #5]

• The United Nations forms a secret intelligence and enforcement agency called THUNDER (The Higher United Nations Defense Enforcement Reserves), recruiting some of the best available minds in the free world, including brilliant inventors Prof. Wallace Jennings and Dr. Anthony G. Dunn. At this point it is little more than a think tank patterned after the OSS and MI5, with a small number of special military agents. [T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #4]

• Fangs, the wolf boy, begins adventures. [Sparkling Stars #20]
• Titan's last case. [Jo-Jo Comics #4]

• Speed Spaulding's last appearance. [Sparkling Stars #21]

• The Blue Flame, fire-powered mystery man, has a single case. [Captain Flight Comics #11]
• Black Cobra and Cobra Kid's last case in the 1940s. [Captain Flight Comics #11]
• Torpedo Man's last case. [Captain Flight Comics #11]
• After five years of work, Prof. Jonathan Davis creates a form of artificial life from protoplasm. After a reporter writes a false story claiming the protoplasm is slowly gaining humanoid form, a public controversy about it develops when the readers believe it is a monster, and the artificial life slowly begins to grow larger and more monstrous even as the public's fear about it grows. It must be destroyed after causing the death of Davis and killing the reporter that fabricated the story. [“If You Believe,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

• Rulah, jungle goddess, begins adventures. [Zoot Comics #7]

• Puppeteer's last case. [Blue Beetle #46]
• Jo-Jo, Congo king, begins adventures in the jungle with first name Gwenna and second mate Geesha. [Jo-Jo #7A]
• Bronze Man's last case. [Jo-Jo #7A]
• Purple Tigress' last case. [Jo-Jo #7A]

• Sandra Knight resumes her solo mystery woman career as the Phantom Lady with a new costume. [Phantom Lady #13]

• Junior Hancock, typical teenager, begins adventures. [Junior Comics #9]
• Dr. John Watson's last appearance, as he tells the story of the Iron Maiden. Note: At some point after this story, Dr. Watson (who has retired to California) dies of natural causes, and Sherlock Holmes retires once more until he has a series of cases in 1955 in the United States. [The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939 radio series)]

• Dagar, desert hawk, begins adventures in the Middle East. [All Great Comics #13]
• Sunny Sender, teenage girl and America's sweetheart, begins adventures. [Sunny #11]

• Click Hunt's last case. [Sparkling Stars #31]
• Jungo's last case. [Sparkling Stars #31]

• Tangi, jungle girl, begins adventures. [Dagar #14]
• Safari Cary, jungle pilot, begins adventures in the Congo. [Dagar #14]

• The multi-dimensional island of Tourmaline emerges into the physical realm from the Darkworld, appearing as a seemingly new island in the South Pacific simultaneously on Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-S, Earth-X, and Earth-4. Gareth Gallowglass, a 12-year-old psychic prodigy from Earth-1, takes up residence on the island, now called Grim Island, after his fellow Sentinels of Magic of Earth-1 are killed protecting the five Earths from being invaded by Hell. [“Showcase: The Sentinels of Magic: Times Past, 1948: Sacrifices Must Be Made”]

• Fangs' last case. [Sparkling Stars #33]
• Hell's Angels' last appearance. [Sparkling Stars #33]
• On January 13, Mars seemingly explodes, causing widespread panic on Earth. In Rocket Kelly's last case, Kelly and his companions Sue Andrews and “Punchy” Waclawski return to the planet Selura and free it once more from Dr. Malik, who was thought long dead. Afterwards, Mars is visible once more, the explosion having been an optical illusion caused by Malik to extort money from Earth. Note: The supposed explosion of Mars and Malik's involvement is probably also connected with the Martian invasion of Earth on June 22, 1948, later this year. Probably Malik conspires with the Martian invaders. Sometime after this story, Kelly and Sue Andrews are married, and they have a daughter named Patricia Kelly who becomes a secret space explorer herself in the 1960s. Presumably, Rocket Kelly himself as the Keeper of the Flame of Democracy retires to the home of the Flame to live for centuries until a new keeper is chosen. [Tegra, Jungle Empress #1]

• Louie Lue, detective sergeant in the Honolulu Police Department, has his first public case accompanied by his number one son, Lee Lue. Note: Although this series features the character Charlie Chan, his Earth-4 counterpart is named Louie Lue, renamed following Charlton's loss of character license in his appearance in Zaza the Mystic #10. Only these Charlie Chan stories (starring Louie Lue) take place on the primary Earth-4 timeline. [Charlie Chan (Prize) #1]
• Sunny Sender's last adventure. [Sunny #14]

• Junior Hancock's last adventure. [Junior Comics #16]

• Tegra, jungle empress, begins adventures. [Tegra, Jungle Empress #1]
• Prof. Dana Freidberg and writer Keith Roberts visit the site of a meteor crash in Helena, Montana, and discover that it was an extraterrestrial space ship. They then learn from Jason DeKoven, a Martian already living on Earth, that 411 atomic rocket ships from Mars have secretly landed in the same place on Earth since 1931, leaving over 40,000 Martians (who look human but are ten times as strong as humans) on Earth, with 7,000 in the United States and the rest scattered all over the world. The two learn that Mars will invade Earth on June 22. Note: The Martian invasion does begin on June 22, but the story of how it was repelled has yet to be told. The hostile Martian nation of Luravia (one of three Martian nations) is behind the invasion, and it is probable that the ruler of Luravia (which has existed since at least 1931) is overthrown at this time by the other two Martian nations, Zenoba (led by Zeltan Zamba) and Cloland (led by Queen Thula) and assisted by Montague Dexter (father of Rex Dexter of Mars). The actual invasion fleet is likely stopped by a large team of super-powered mystery men, with assistance by Rocket Kelly. [“Zero Hour,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

• Zago, jungle prince, begins adventures. [Zago, Jungle Prince #1]
• Blue Beetle's last case in the 1940s. Dan Garret temporarily retires as the Blue Beetle to do work overseas for the Criminal Intelligence Corps, a division of the U.S. Army, for nearly two years. He spends this time doing occupation duty in Germany and Japan. [All Top Comics #13]

• Tegra (who originally has brown hair) dyes her hair blonde and changes her name to Zegra. [Zegra, Jungle Empress #2]

• Prof. Carl Engstrom, accompanied by his wife Alice Engstrom and infant daughter Gloria Engstrom, discovers the Land That Time Forgot (a land populated by dinosaurs) in the depths of Africa. There, his wife dies and his daughter Gloria goes missing. He is forced to return home and will not return for 14 years, during which time Gloria grows up to become the White Goddess of the prehistoric ape-men there. [Gorgo #15]

• Zago's last adventure. [Zago, Jungle Prince #4]

• Safari Cary's last case. [Dagar #23]
• Zegra's last adventure. [Zegra, Jungle Empress #5]

• Phantom Lady's last case in the 1940s. [All Top Comics #17]

• Rulah's last adventure. [All Top Comics #18]
• Dagar's last adventure. [All Top Comics #18]
• Jo-Jo's last adventure. [Jo-Jo #29]

• June 22: Jaime Sommers – the future cyborg OSI agent nicknamed the Bionic Woman – is born, the daughter of James and Ann Sommers. [The Bionic Woman (1976 ABC television series)]

• Martin Kane, private eye, begins adventures in New York City. [Martin Kane, Private Eye (1949 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series, 1951 NBC radio series); Martin Kane, Private Eye (1949 NBC television series); Martin Kane, Private Eye #4 (#1)]

• Magda Eden, exiled princess of the Nightshades, teaches her six-year-old daughter Eve and her eight-year-old son Larry how to use their Nightshade powers. Bringing them back with her to her homeland, the Land of the Nightshades, Magda and her children are attacked by agents of the Incubus, who had taken over the Nightshade Realm and forced her to flee years ago. They kidnap Larry and mortally wound Magda, who is only able to return back to Earth with Eve. Before she dies of her wounds, Magda makes little Eve Eden promise to go back for Larry someday. Eve's father, Sen. Wayne Eden, never learns the truth about his wife's death or his son's disappearance. Distraught by the family tragedy, Eden eventually resigns his seat in the Senate and moves with Eve to Japan. [“The Image's Idyl,” Captain Atom (Charlton) #87; “The Poetry of Peril,” Captain Atom (Charlton) #88]

• January 1: The Mystery Men of America break up the day after their last New Year's Eve dinner of the 1940s. [speculation]
• Jungle Jo begins adventures in the jungle. [Jungle Jo (no number, 1950)]

• Dan Garret returns to the U.S. after a year-and-a-half absence and becomes the Blue Beetle again. [Blue Beetle #58]
• Jungle Lil begins adventures in the jungle. [Jungle Lil #1]
• Bwaani begins adventures. [Jungle Lil #1]
• Prof. Hodges, a physicist at a Pennsylvania college, invents a time machine able to send a man's mind back in time to occupy a person in the past. He enables the mind of Tom Morrison (author of a book called If Lincoln Had Lived) to travel back in time to April 13, 1865, where Morrison plans to save President Abraham Lincoln. Unfortunately, his mind occupies the body of John Wilkes Booth, whose will is too strong to be overpowered, and history remains unchanged. [“The Man Who Tried to Save Lincoln,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

• Romeo Tubbs, typical teenager, begins adventures. [Romeo Tubbs #26]

• Prof. Wilbur Malcolm of New York's City University invents a time machine. He sends his assistant Fred Andrews into the future date of April 10, 2050, where Andrews discovers that America has become a totalitarian state that has been at war for 95 years (since 1955), leaving the surface uninhabitable and driving the civilization literally underground. He learns that an accident in 1955 will spark the 95-year war, and he returns to the present to prevent the war, but upon his return his memory is completely lost. [“Operation Tomorrow,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]
• At Red Rock, Arizona, work begins on the first space rocket. Eventually the site is abandoned in favor of Cape Canaveral as the preferred base for NASA. The abandonment of Red Rock as a space base inadvertently prevents a war from breaking out in 1955. [“Operation Tomorrow,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

• Bwaani's last adventure. [Frank Buck #71 (#2)]

• Blue Beetle's last case in the early 1950s. Note: After this case, Dan Garret joins the CID (Central Intelligence Department) as a special agent and spends several more years of classified work overseas. During this time, Dr. Abe Franz probably dies or retires, since he is never seen again. [Blue Beetle #60]
• Jungle Lil's last adventure. [Feature Stories Magazine #3]
• Monty Hall of the U.S. Marines has his first adventure as the Korean War breaks out. [Monty Hall of the U.S. Marines #1]
• Sgt. Sam "Tripoli" Shores, fighting U.S. marine, has adventures as the Korean War breaks out. [Fightin' Marines (St. John) #15 (#1)
• Sgt. "Leatherneck" Jack Rogers has adventures as the Korean War breaks out. [Fightin' Marines (St. John) #15 (#1)]

• Captain Atom, a costumed adventurer equipped with devices based on proven scientific principles, begins adventures accompanied by friends Professor King, Rusty, Jeff, and Jill. [Captain Atom (Nation-Wide) #1]
• Canteen Kate has adventures in Japan during the Korean War. [Fightin' Marines (St. John) #2]

• Little Al Conway of the FBI begins adventures. [Little Al of the F.B.I. #10]

• Yarko the Great battles ninja-like shadow creatures in San Francisco. Tracing their origin, Yarko reaches Grim Island and meets Doctor Occult of Earth-2, Doctor Mist of Earth-1, Captain Marvel of Earth-S, and Margo the Magician of Earth-X. Together, the mystical heroes of five Earths confront Gareth to stop his island from being a menace to each of their worlds as a gateway to Hell. After a short battle commences, a time-traveling Abby Cable of Earth-1 from 1987 convinces Gareth to allow the other mystics to help him ward off the forces of Hell by founding a new school of magic called the Grimoire Academy to defend five Earths from a demonic invasion. Yarko the Great becomes one of the school's founding fathers. Grim Island is renamed Grimoire Island. [“Secret Origins: The Books of Magic: Times Past, 1951: Founding Fathers”]

• Jungle Jo's last adventure. [Jungle Jo #6]
• Tangi's last adventure. [Jungle Jo #6]

• Captain Atom's last adventure. [Captain Atom (Nation-Wide) #7]

• Little Al Conway joins the Secret Service. [Little Al of the Secret Service #10 (#1)]

• A radioactive comet dubbed Comet X passes through the solar system, causing a brief panic, but does not come close enough to the Earth to cause damage. Note: In the original story, which is an alternate timeline, Comet X's tail passes through the Earth and its radiation kills most life on the surface, leaving only a handful of survivors hiding a thousand feet underground. [“Fire in the Sky,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

• Clint Curtis, hot rod racer, begins adventures. [Hot Rod Comics #1]
• Speed Davis and Buster Camshaft, hot rod racers, begin adventures. [Hot Rods and Racing Cars #1]

• Jon and Susi Doon travel back from the alternate future year of 2228 and assassinate a politician named Farrington Farnsworth, preventing him from later becoming the U.S. President in 1964 and then the first U.S. dictator in 1972, beginning a 200-year-long dictatorship. Farnsworth is believed by the world to have died from a natural heart attack. The assassination causes Susi (Farnworth's direct descendant) to vanish into nothingness before Jon returns alone to the changed future era of 2228. [“The Most Famous Man in the World,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]

• Mr. and Mrs. Chase, private detectives, begin adventures. Curtis Chase is a famous mystery writer and amateur sleuth, and Merry Chase is his wife. [Crime and Justice #5]

• During an experiment, a physicist named Dr. Eustus Riko transports an ape into Dimension 2-K-31, resulting in the Creature from Dimension 2-K-31 (a genetically engineered, shape-changing, telepathic monster from that dimension) crossing into this world. The Creature appears on the battlefields of the Korean War and battles both American and North Korean soldiers before being trapped in a Russian tank within an air-sealed crate. Note: The Creature was created by the otherdimensional Katu of the world of Erehwon (“nowhere” spelled backwards) to be an unstoppable force to end all war. The fact that it was captured fairly simply on Earth simply means that it is still young and is still learning and adapting; it is possible that the Creature cannot be destroyed at all but only detained or transported away. Its only weakness seems to be steel, which draws the Creature magnetically to it and can trap it. [The Thing! (Charlton) #1]

• The Grimoire Academy of Applied Learning on the multi-dimensional Grimoire Island opens its doors to students from Earth-4, Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-S, and Earth-X. This school is built and founded by the 16-year-old prodigy Gareth Gallowglass of Earth-1, Yarko the Great of Earth-4, Doctor Mist of Earth-1, Doctor Occult of Earth-1, Shazam of Earth-S, and Margo the Magician of Earth-X, who each contribute their knowledge and experience to the curriculum. [“Secret Origins: The Books of Magic: Times Past, 1951: Founding Fathers”]

• Two men, USAF Lt. Daniel Walker and Pete Mendez, crash land on Bikini Island in the Pacific, where they discover it is populated by monstrously huge, atomic-irradiated animals such as 20-foot-tall crabs. [“Strange New World,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]
• A scientist named Dr. Lazarus creates a growth solution that can enlarge someone for a brief time, and he uses it to defeat his muscular bullying assistant in the wrestling ring. He plans to keep using the solution to become the most powerful man in the world, but instead one of his white rats ingests the solution and possibly him as well. Note: Although the story implies that Dr. Lazarus is eaten by the giant white rat, he may have somehow escaped that fate. [The Thing! (Charlton) #2]
• Associate Prof. Steve Reynolds of State University creates Formula 87, a chemical that can rapidly accelerate plant growth. It inadvertently causes not only rapid plant growth but also causes plants to grow to monstrous size. Note: This story does not explain the fact that the simultaneous appearance of a new small planet entering Earth's orbit is the reason for the rapid plant (and fungus) growth caused by Formula 87. [“Green Death,” The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series)]
• A boy named Freddy stops the extraterrestrial invasion of a traveling gas planet populated by gaseous humanoids, who planned to poison the Earth and kill all its inhabitants. Note: Although the gas planet is strangely called Mars, other depictions of Mars contradict this story, so it must be another planet entirely. This planet is likely the same one destroyed by the Creature from Dimension 2-K-31. [“The Sentinel,” Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #2]
• Several places across the world are afflicted by strange funguslike growths, although the effects are mostly localized. During this fungus epidemic, the Creature from Dimension 2-K-31 escapes from captivity as the Russian tank it is imprisoned within is taken apart by military scientists at the Pentagon in Washington, DC (which has been particularly afflicted by the fungus growths). The military hunts the Creature while the public mistakenly believes it to be the cause of the fungus growths, and several people try to hunt it down, leading to the biggest search the nation has ever known. After the Creature is cornered and forced to flee into a forest of fungus growths, it encounters a scientist named Dr. Zupa and learns by reading his mind that the cause of the fungus growths is the gravity pull of a small new planet entering Earth's orbit. The Creature takes action by changing into a gaseous form and rising into the outer atmosphere and into space, where it surrounded the small planet in the form of a cloud formation and struck the planet with lightning all across its surface, burning and sterilizing it for three days. The Creature finally succeeds in pulverizing the small planet into dust. It then returns to Earth in a small gaseous form but becomes magnetically drawn into a molten iron meteor and is entrapped within it as the meteor buries itself into a desert, where it presumably still lies entrapped. Meanwhile, the fungus growths around the world all disappear with the destruction of the small planet. Note: The cause of the strange growths is undoubtedly Formula 87, which was created by Prof. Steve Reynolds (see “Green Death”). It is probable that the simultaneous appearance of a new small planet in Earth's orbit somehow creates a hothouse effect enabling extreme plant growth. Although it is not depicted in this story, there is also a great deal of plant growth in addition to fungus growth. [The Thing! (Charlton) #2]

• Police Inspector J.J. O'Malley begins his adventures as leader of the Racket Squad. Note: although this series is based on a television show called Racket Squad, O'Malley and others that appear in the series are original characters not based on the television continuity, which thus does not take place on Earth-4. [Racket Squad in Action #1]

• Hap Holliday, the time skipper, invents a time-craft with the help of Professor Eon Tempus and has adventures throughout various time periods. In their first adventure, they rescue Queen Ula of Futuropolis in a future era and bring her with them on their adventures. [Space Adventures #1]

• Spurs Jackson, a cowboy, rancher, and electronic engineer, meets men from Mars led by Korok who land their flying saucer at Jackson's Bar-Z Ranch in Arizona, attracted there by Jackson's experimental moon missiles. When the Martians bring Jackson, along with a horse and his ranch hands Hank Roper and Strong Bow, back to Mars with them, Jackson learns that Queen Thula must give up her rulership over Mars because Korok claims to have conquered the Earth. Jackson wins Thula's throne back for her and ends up becoming prime minister of Mars. Becoming known as the Space Vigilantes, and equipped with a Martian spaceship and armed with six-guns that fire miniature atomic bombs,“ they fight various menaces on both Earth and Mars, including outlaws, evil Martians, and Nazis in space. [“The Saucer Men,” Space Western Comics #40 (September-October, 1952)]

• On the trail of missing scientists, Spurs Jackson and Hank Roper are captured and put into a rocketship that lands on the lush planet Venus, where they find robotic winged horses they use to fly back to Earth. After defeating the crooks and freeing the scientists, Jackson returns to Venus on a robotic winged horse, then flies the rocketship back to Earth. Note: The robotic winged horses are never explained, but they must have been built by a spacefaring race and equipped with force-fields to keep breathable air during space voyages. [“Death from U-235,” Space Western Comics #40 (September-October, 1952)]

• The Mysterious Traveler's last appearance in the early 1950s. [The Mysterious Traveler (1943 Mutual Broadcasting System radio series); Mysterious Traveler Comics #1; The Mysterious Traveler Magazine]
• Hap Holliday's last known adventure. [Space Adventures #2]

• Dr. Tom "Ramar" Reynolds, jungle doctor, begins his adventures. [Ramar of the Jungle (1952 syndicated television series); Ramar of the Jungle (Toby) #1]
• Romeo Tubbs' last adventure. [Romeo Tubbs (Green) #27]

• Somewhere in Europe, a scientist named Dr. Karasz invents robots and a device allowing him to control the robots remotely with his mind. A criminal scientist named Marko murders Dr. Karasz and seizes his robots and attunes the thought-control device to his own brainwaves. Marko then tries to use the robots to take over the city but is not taken seriously. After giving the order to destroy all humanity, the robots first turn on him and then stop working. The military destroys the robots and the thought-control device, deeming it too dangerous to exist. [The Thing! (Charlton) #9]

• Johnny Dynamite has first public case as a private investigator in Chicago. [Dynamite #3]
• Monty Hall of the U.S. Marine's last adventure in the final month of the Korean War. [Never Again #8]
• Canteen Kate's last adventure in Japan in the final month of the Korean War. [Fightin' Marines #16]
• Sgt. “Leatherneck” Jack Rogers' last adventure in the final month of the Korean War. [Fightin' Marines #16]
• Sgt. Sam “Tripoli” Shores' last adventure in the final month of the Korean War. [Fightin' Marines #16]
• A Martian named Gord, who has been masquerading as a human named Edmund Cranston, donates plans for a rocketship with the proviso that he be allowed to be one of the crew. On the way to a planned Moon landing as part of a secret space program, Gord reveals himself as a Martian and hijacks the ship in order to return to Mars. He explains that flying saucers are from Mars, and he and his crew crashed in the Himalayas, and he has sought to return to Mars ever since. Back on Earth, the four people on the rocketship are believed to have died in space in a failed mission. Note: The rocketship and space flight, as part of a secret space program, are classified and unknown to the public. It is probable that the Martian from this story was part of the failed Martian Invasion of June 22, 1948. [Space Adventures #7]

• Tetsuro Tanaka, the former teenaged crime-fighting partner of Judomaster, at the age of 22 becomes the Tiger, Japan's first costumed crime-fighter. [speculation]
• Rip Ryan, U.S. marshal of the western city of Cowtown, has first public case. [Cowboy Western Comics #46]
• Spurs Jackson, Hank Roper and Strong Bow's last known case. [Cowboy Western Comics #46]

• A middle-aged man identified only as the Teller of Tales begins telling stories of horror from his personal library. He keeps company with monsters who also act as storytellers called Freddie Demon, Garry Ghoul, Victor Vampire, and Walter Werewolf, although it should be noted that these are not their real names, since the Teller admits to making up these comical aliases for his own amusement. The Teller's true name is Walker, a former scientist who was caught in an explosion while experimenting with radioactive isotopes and through the accident gained amazing mental powers and the ability to see through walls and read anyone's mind. While he originally attempted to use his powers to help people, he soon found that he could not change fate and became an observer. [Horrific #8]

• A morally bankrupt scientist named Herman Lindsay creates a formula that enables his dog Fido to speak and have human intelligence. After teaching him English and how to read, Lindsay uses Fido to case his friends' houses and find out combinations to safes and other information that enables him to steal from them. Unfortunately for him, Fido is an honest dog and turns him in to the police. Presumably Fido retains his intelligence and ability to speak and finds another home. [“The Day Fido Sang,” Space Adventures #9]
• A criminal scientist named Max Murphy invents a substance in pill form that vastly increases his metabolism and enables him to move at a speed up to a thousand miles per hour. Using his super-speed, Murphy robs a bank but only ends up with decoy money. When he attempts to rob a bank in another city, he is instantly killed when he crashes into metal doors at high speed. [“Screaming Shoes,” Voodoo (Ajax-Farrell) #13]
• Dr. James Boyle invents a drug called muiclac, which is meant to treat people with brittle bones by softening them. Taking muiclac, his patient Lawrence Dawson gains the ability to stretch his body and manipulate it like rubber, and he realizes he can become rich and famous because of this ability. Dawson, fearing Dr. Boyle will give the drug to another who will gain the same ability, kills him. Fleeing from the law, he finds that his stretched body is becoming loose and won't return to his original appearance. He seeks the help of scientist Dr. Harrell, a friend of Dr. Boyle, but murders Harrell out of fear before receiving a treatment. When the police track him down at his apartment, he takes the rest of the bottle of muiclac, and his body liquifies, apparently killing him. [“Stretching Things,” Fantastic Fears #5]

• Death itself appears in the form of Doctor Death for the first time. [This Magazine Is Haunted (Charlton) #15]
• The mummy of Rah Kamsis, an ancient Egyptian sorceress and witch of the dead, is briefly brought back to life by a ray invented by the famous scientist Prof. Vincent Huntley, who happens to be a direct descendant of Tutankhamun, the Pharaoh who entombed Rah Kamsis. After Prof. Huntley brings the mummy of Rah Kamsis back to his estate to display his revival ray, the mummy murders Huntley and drains his life force, then kills several other scientists there. The mummy then attempts to place Rah Kamsis' soul into Huntley's daughter Karen, Tutankhamun's last descendant. Huntley's assistant Steve Drake uses the black book entombed with the mummy to summon the spirit of Tutankhamun, who finally defeats Rah Kamsis once and for all. Note: Rah Kamsis is likely a protege of the Egyptian sorceress Hatshepsut II, known as Princess Evila, sorceress of the Nile, who rose to power some 50 years before Rah Kamsis' own rise to power in ancient Egypt. Steve Drake and Karen Huntley survive and probably marry and reproduce sometime after this story, allowing the descended line of good King Tut to continue. [The Thing! (Charlton) #12]

• Three members of the U.S. Navy – Capt. Small, Robert Crane, and Huey – are rescued during the destruction of submarine R-93 and brought to an underwater, domed city of Atlantis by fish-men (also known as gill-men) ruled by air-breathing humans. There, they meet Queen Shar-La who asks for their help to restore their light source with a repaired atomic engine. Unfortunately, after Crane and Shar-La fall in love and she chooses him as her royal consort, the Atlanteans led by elder Valyon rebel. Then the weight of the atomic engine causes the destruction of the city's dome and kills the entire population, along with Shar-La and Crane. Only Capt. Small and Huey survive to tell the tale. Note: This city of Atlantis is only one of several, and it is the only one in which the survivors have not become water-breathers, instead allying themselves with the frog-men who act as their underwater messengers and servants. [“Dead Reckoning,” Space Adventures #11]

• Rip Ryan's last case. [Cowboy Western Comics #48]

• Martin Kane's last case in the early 1950s. [Martin Kane, Private Eye (1949 NBC television series)]

• Last appearances of the Teller and his associates, Freddie Demon, Garry Ghoul, Victor Vampire, and Walter Werewolf. [Horrific #13]

• After a few years of special classified work overseas for the Central Intelligence Department, Dan Garret returns to the U.S. Still a CID agent, he rejoins the New York Police Department as his cover and resumes his Blue Beetle mystery man career, marking the beginning of a new (although brief) era of mystery men, which finally ends with the disappearance of Nature Boy at the end of the 1950s. Note: This story is a reprint, and the first new Blue Beetle story is not until Blue Beetle (Charlton) #20, but this issue can be marked as Blue Beetle's return. Although Joan Mason (now a redhead) and Mike Mannigan call Dan Garret a rookie, they mean it as a friendly jibe aimed at him after his return to the NYPD after his third absence from the police force (the first was from 1942-1944, the second was from 1948-1950, and the third was from 1950-1954). As part of his cover as a secret CID agent, Dan also acts much less competent than he really is. [Space Adventures #13]
• The Black Cobra resumes his mystery man career as a communist spy smasher. An office boy at the FBI becomes his teenaged crime-fighting partner, the Cobra Kid II. [Black Cobra (Ajax-Farrell) #1]
• In an unnamed U.S. city, Lt. Detective Paul Andrews encounters an extraterrestrial shapeshifter who kills a few people while in the guise of another alien species. After informing Andrews that the human race has no chance of surviving without outside intervention, and that it hasn't decided whether humanity is worthy of their help, it flies away in the form of a flying saucer. [“Monster in the Building,” Strange Fantasy #14]

• Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Chase's last case. [Crime and Justice #21]
• Doctor Death's last appearance. [This Magazine Is Haunted (Charlton) #21]

• Sandra Knight resumes her mystery woman career as Phantom Lady. [Phantom Lady (Ajax-Farrell) #5 (1)]
• Kip Adams becomes the mystery man known as the Flame III. [Flame (Ajax-Farrell) #5 (1)]

• Crime Smasher, a man who is considered America's number one private detective and who owns and operates Crime Smasher, Inc., has a single known case. He is assisted by his girl friday, Eve Corby. Note: The individual known as Crime Smasher may or may not be Sam Spolo, known in the 1960s by the nickname of the Spy Smasher. In any case, this Crime Smasher is the Earth-4 counterpart of the Crime Smasher of Earth-S, while Eve Corby is the Earth-4 version of the Earth-S Eve Corby. [Badge of Justice #22]

• Yarko the Great, mightiest magician of all time, returns for a single case in which he combats a group of Viking warriors that had been preserved in the ice for a thousand years and thawed out by a criminal. Note: This story is actually an Ibis the Invincible story reprinted from Whiz Comics #45, with the year updated from 1943 to 1955. Since this is merely a reprint and not an original Ibis story, we conclude that there is no Ibis the Invincible on Earth-4. Rather, Yarko the Great acted as a substitution in this story, assisted by an unnamed wife (in place of Ibis' wife Taia) whose identity has not yet been revealed. [Danger and Adventure #22]
• Wonder Boy, an alien boy with super-strength, begins adventures. Note: This is the Earth-4 version of Wonder Boy and is not the same character as the original version published by Quality Comics, as this version is a boy in the 1950s, while the original was a boy in the 1940s. The Quality version of Wonder Boy exists on Earth-X. [Terrific Comics (Ajax-Farrell) #16]
• Black Cobra and Cobra Kid's last case. [Black Cobra (Ajax-Farrell) v2 #3]

• Samson resumes his mystery man career. [Samson (Ajax-Farrell) #12]
• Donning a power-suit slightly boosting his agility, speed, and strength, Rip Regan becomes the globetrotting mystery man known as the Red Rocket and has a single case. Note: This story is edited and slightly redrawn from a Power-Man story from Fight Comics #14, published by Fiction House. Because of this, the Red Rocket can be considered the Earth-4 version of Power-Man. Although the Red Rocket's identity is never stated in this story, he probably has the name Rip Regan, which is Power-Man's identity. This Red Rocket is not the same character as the Red Rocket of the year 2042 AD, published in Captain Flight Comics by Four Star Publications. The 2042 Red Rocket (Rod Page) is probably a descendant of Rip Regan. [Phantom Lady (Ajax-Farrell) #3]
• Capt. Michael Gallant of the Foreign Legion begins his adventures. [Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion (1955 NBC television series); Captain Gallant #1]

• Flame III's last case. [Flame (Ajax-Farrell) #3]

• Mike Danger begins his adventures. [Danger and Adventure #24]
• Johnny Adventure begins his adventures. [Danger and Adventure #24]
• Bo, a dog, begins his adventures. [Bo #1]
• Inspector John K. Farnsworth of Scotland Yard has first public case. [Scotland Yard #1]
• Capt. Brooks, secret agent, has only two cases. [Danger (Charlton) #12]
• The USSR builds a space platform and puts it into orbit. On a reconnaisance assignment from the CID, Blue Beetle is attacked by Soviet weapons and retaliates by bringing the platform out of orbit and back into Earth's atmosphere, ending the nuclear threat to the world. [Blue Beetle (Charlton) #20]

• Phantom Lady's last case. [Wonder Boy #18]
• Wonder Boy's last case. [Wonder Boy #18]

• Samson's last case. [Samson (Ajax-Farrell) #14]
• Danny Blaze, firefighter, begins his adventures. [Danny Blaze #1]
• The Unknown Soldier, the spirit of an unidentified fallen soldier who represents them all, appears for the first time to tell tales of the tragedy of war. [Never Again #1]
• "Gumbo" Galahad, screwball of the hills, has various comedic adventures with his friends and relatives in the Ozarks. [Hillbilly Comics #1]

• Bo's last adventure. [Bo #3]
• Danny Blaze's last case. [Danny Blaze #2]
• Little Al Conway of the Secret Service's last case. [Scotland Yard #3]
• The great English detective Sherlock Holmes, still not having aged after nearly a century of sleuthing, has a series of adventures in the United States working alongside local law enforcement and by request of the U.S. government. Note: The 1940s Sherlock Holmes series featuring Basil Rathbone – beginning with Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (1942) and ending with Dressed to Kill (1946) – may feature the same character, a Sherlock Holmes who operates in contemporary times (in that case World War II) without having aged at all since the Victorian Era. [Sherlock Holmes (Charlton) #1]

• Sam Barton begins adventures as a rookie police officer. Note: an earlier “Rookie Cop” series appeared in the final issues of Crime and Justice, which became this series, but that rookie appears to have a different name. [Rookie Cop #27]

• Brett Carson, alias Mister Muscles, “the World's most perfect man,” has first public case, accompanied by Kid Muscles. Another ally is Miss Muscles. [Mr. Muscles #22]
• On the thirteenth anniversary of his rescue, David Crandall learns that he has powers over fire, earth, air, and water, given to him by the Masters of the Elements (minor incarnations of the Olympian gods led by King Neptune, ruler of the seas, that include King Gusto, ruler of the wind; King Fura, ruler of fire; Queen Eartha, ruler of the earth; Queen Allura, ruler of love; Queen Azura, ruler of the skies; King Electra, ruler of electricity; King Friga, ruler of the cold; King Blasto, ruler of explosives; Queen Vega, ruler of plant life; King Fridge, ruler of cold winds; King Sol, ruler of the sun), and he becomes Nature Boy. [Nature Boy #3]
• Blue Beetle's last case. Last appearance of Joan Mason. Note: At some point after his last case, Blue Beetle falls victim to a mad scientist's bomb, which knocks him unconscious, according to Americomics #3. The mad scientist then delivers him to the Keeper, who keeps him in suspended animation for several years before he is released. Although his friends and co-workers in the NYPD notice his absence, they assume at first that he is on another of his extended absences overseas. [Nature Boy #3]
• Inspector John K. Farnsworth's last case. [Scotland Yard #4]
• Richard Manning, public defender, has first public case. [Public Defender in Action #7]
• Tim Bennett, reporter for the National News Service, has only three known cases. Note: Tim Bennett may have appeared in the previous issue as well. [Foreign Intrigues #14]
• Sherlock Holmes' last case. [Sherlock Holmes (Charlton) #2]

• A Hollywood film producer named Paul Protto is funded by a mysterious Texas billionaire named Egro Setus to film a flying saucer movie featuring an attack on Washington, D.C. Protto plays along but secretly conspires with the U.S. Army to put in place a real defense plan in Washington, D.C., since the so-called Texas billionaire is actually a Martian named Egro. The U.S. Army successfully defeats this entire small Martian fleet as it attacks the city. Note: Egro and his servant Sporo are both bald, short, human-looking men who look similar to the inhabitants of the nation of Zenoba on Mars. It is likely that the public was told that this invasion was actually staged as part of the flying saucer film production. [“Paul Protto Productions,” Unusual Tales #3]
• Zaza the Mystic, a woman of Romani (Gypsy) descent with psychic abilities, has first public case. [Zaza the Mystic #10]
• Louie Lue's last case. [Zaza the Mystic #10]

• The mysterious Doctor Haunt makes his first appearance. [This Magazine Is Haunted (Charlton) v2 #12]
• The Unknown Soldier's last appearance. [Never Again #8]
• Nyoka the Jungle Girl, begins adventures as a jungle guide in Kenya. Note: Nyoka of Earth-4, who is blonde, has strange speech patterns, and appears only in new Charlton stories, is a parallel Earth version of Nyoka Gordon of Earth-S, who is brunette and appears in the original Fawcett series and the film serials. Therefore, the Fawcett series does not take place on Earth-4. [Nyoka the Jungle Girl (Charlton) #17]
• Mike Danger and Johnny Adventure's last case. [Nyoka the Jungle Girl (Charlton) #17]
• “Gumbo” Galahad's last appearance. [Hillbilly Comics #4]

• Mister Muscles' last case, as well as that of Kid Muscles and Miss Muscles. [Mr. Muscles #23]
• The Mysterious Traveler, who claims that nothing is unknown to him, reappears for the first time since his last appearance in 1952. He is a figure wearing a dark trench coat and hat who is able to observe events unseen, has vague mystical powers, seems to be able to travel through time and space effortlessly, and rarely intervenes (but does intervene occasionally). [Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #1]
• The Mysterious Traveler meets the spirit of time itself, Father Time, who prevents a plot to destroy a Swiss watchmaking factory that makes the greatest timepieces in the world. [Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #1]
• Johnny Dynamite's last case. [Foreign Intrigues #15]
• After helping establish a brief period of worldwide peace, Nature Boy stops an air invasion of the United States by a treacherous Eastern European leader named Malo who seeks to take advantage of the disarmament talks. Nature Boy meets President Dwight Eisenhower. [Nature Boy #4]

• Zaza the Mystic's last case. [Zaza the Mystic #11]
• Dr. Tom “Ramar” Reynolds' last case. [Ramar of the Jungle #5]

• Nature Boy stops another invasion attempt on the United States, this one from atomic submarines. [Nature Boy #4]

• Nature Boy battles the extraterrestrial being known as Ikzip, the so-called Man from Jupiter, after Ikzip plays like the pied piper and takes away the teenagers of the city of Centerville, USA, as payment for his services. [Nature Boy #5]
• Grier Grant, a white teenage girl living in Africa, is given powers by the Masters of the Elements and becomes Nature Girl. She has a single case in which she saves her pet elephant, Bonga, from a hunter. [Nature Boy #5]
• A reporter named Tom Blake uncovers a circus stuntman named Invulnerno, who seems impervious to any harm. At first believing he's an extraterrestrial, Blake finally guesses that Invulnerno may actually be an angel after witnessing his unusual departure. [“The Man Who Could Never Be Killed,” Strange Suspense Stories (Charlton) #31]

• Nature Boy's last public case. Note: Sometime after his last case, Nature Boy and Nature Girl fall in love and accompany each other on several untold adventures over the next two years. [Nature Boy #5]
• A boxer named Tony Malento is sent through a time-warp to the distant past of ancient Rome, where he becomes one of Emperor Nero's pugilists before returning to the present. [“The Man Who Came Back,” Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #3]

• Sam Barton's last case. [Rookie Cop #33]
• Police Inspector J.J. O'Malley's last case. [Racket Squad in Action #26]
• [Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #4]

• Richard Manning's last case. [Public Defender in Action #12]

• Martin Kane, private investigator, resumes adventures as a globe-trotting detective after setting up shop in London, England. [Martin Kane, Private Investigator/The Return of Martin Kane/The New Adventures of Martin Kane (1957 syndicated television series)]
• Nyoka's last adventure. [Nyoka the Jungle Girl (Charlton) #22]

• An Englishman named John Potter, who has never needed food but only water and whose skin has turned green, prompting people to call him the Green Man, learns that he is a plant-man and leaves civilization in search of a green girl like him. No further appearances. [“The Green Man,” This Magazine Is Haunted (Charlton) v2 #14]
• Lance Cabot, a chemistry student at a state university, has an accident with chemicals that changes his atomic structure, causing him to shrink. He is able to tell his story to Capt. Samuels of the Bureau of Missing Persons just before he shrinks to microscopic size and even smaller. [“The Man Who Disappeared,” This Magazine Is Haunted (Charlton) v2 #14]
• A man named Mister Evriman becomes a hit on quiz game shows when anyone looking at him sees a person just like himself. Mister Evriman, calling himself Homer Evriman at this time, is nothing less than the collective spirit of humanity itself, appearing at its hour of need. [“Mister Evriman,” Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #6]

• Sgt. Joe Pride of the Racket Squad police division, with partner Hank O'Hare, has his first public case. Note: this appears to be a story intended for a comic based on the Dragnet television series, since Sgt. Joe Pride is identical to Sgt. Joe Friday. Because Ms. Michael Tree is Joe Friday's daughter in her own continuity, Ms. Tree is Joe Pride's daughter in Earth-4's continuity. [Racket Squad in Action #28]
• The Mysterious Traveler rescues the Soviet dog Laika from Sputnik 2 while in orbit. The general public believes that Laika died in space. [Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #12]

• Capt. Michael Gallant's last case. [Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion (1955 NBC television series)]

• Brilliant criminal scientist Jarvis Kord creates the first model of a series of super-strong robots. [Blue Beetle (Charlton) v4 #2]
• The 14-year-old Eve Eden (who later becomes Nightshade) receives training from Tetsuro Tanaka, the Japanese hero known as the Tiger. [“Masque of Mirrors,” Captain Atom (Charlton) #89]
• Martin Kane's last known case. [Martin Kane, Private Investigator/The Return of Martin Kane/The New Adventures of Martin Kane (1957 syndicated television series)]

• Sgt. Joe Pride's last case. [Racket Squad in Action #29]
• An elderly door-to-door salesman named Ezra Benton drinks an elixir given to him by extraterrestrial visitors and inadvertently regains his youth as he de-ages 30 years. Benton vows to make the most of his newfound youth. [“The Elixir,” Strange Suspense Stories (Charlton) #36]

• Doctor Haunt's last appearance. [This Magazine Is Haunted (Charlton) v2 #16]

• May 6: Two time-traveling Cro-Magnon men from the Upper Paleolithic era (Late Stone Age) briefly visit Prof. Howard Gaines using a time machine of their own invention, proving Gaines' theory that Cro-Magnon men had brains that were superior to modern man's. [“The Professor's Visitors,” Strange Suspense Stories (Charlton) #38]

• Walter Dykes, a young man afraid to face the world who spends his life reading books, discovers a cave containing an alien device with a helmet. Putting the helmet on, he seems to be instantly transported to the planet Kotura, where he saves the intelligent inhabitants from beasts that rule their world. After returning to his own world, he realizes that the helmet creates the illusion of living in a story or history, and he never actually left Earth. He escapes from the cave as an earthquake seals it off, vowing to now face life rather than retreat from it as he has been doing. [Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #10]

• After Nature Girl dies of illness, Nature Boy rebels against the Masters of the Elements who granted them powers. They retaliate by taking away his memories, and David Crandall wanders the world as an amnesiac who doesn't know his powers until 1985, when his memories return during the Crisis on Infinite Earths. [“The Natural: Masters of the Elements”]
• In Los Angeles, Assistant District Attorney Larry Davis (formerly the Cub, kid sidekick to the original Black Lion, George Davis) becomes the Black Lion II and takes on the Mafia single-handedly as a vigilante. Sometime later he goes missing, and he is rumored to have been killed by the Mafia, with his body buried under Dodger Stadium (which began construction in September, 1959, and was officially opened in 1962). [”The Paragons: Deus Ex Astra, Book 1, Chapter 2: The Dart“]

• A college student named Bart Corey, who possesses telekinesis that enables him to levitate and move himself and other objects, seeks to rid himself of his powers in order to be normal. Instead, his college dorm janitor, Simms, saves him from making this mistake and reveals himself to also have strange powers. Simms takes Corey with him to a secret retreat where he will learn how to use his powers to benefit mankind alongside others who also have strange powers. [Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #12]
• A truck driver named Johnny Layton helps a group of benevolent aliens stop an invasion of Earth from their own home planet. [Tales of the Mysterious Traveler #12]

• Clint Curtis joins the Road Knights. [Hot Rods and Racing Cars #42]

• A seemingly ordinary man named Eustace Brazod, who works as a janitor in a laboratory where the most advanced computer is being constructed, averts an invasion from his home dimension. He had been sent to Earth to connect a device to the computer allowing a dimensional bridge to form for invasion, but instead he has grown to love Earth, and after informing his leader of his success, he returns to Earth and causes the dimensional bridge to explode, killing his leader and the army and sealing off his dimension for good. [“The Threat from Beyond,” Strange Suspense Stories (Charlton) #44]
• On his 18th birthday, Alex Lorraine begins seeing visions of strange objects and events, such as a futuristic tank, a sea monster, a fleet of spacecraft, and others. A mysterious figure tells Alex that his visions are real, and that he is taking him away to begin his studies in the realm of all understanding, for Alex has been selected to lead and would one day return to bring the world permanent peace and happiness. Note: This story need not be taken too literally. [“The Visionary,” Unusual Tales #19]

• October 7: While on vacation in Rock City, Carl Daniels discovers a time machine in a cave and is sent a day forward into time in the form of a transparent phantom, only returning to normal when the time machine vanishes. He does not know this, but scientists of the year 2159 were experimenting with a time machine they call the Time Skipper. [“The Time Skipper,” Strange Suspense Stories (Charlton) #48]

Go to Timeline of Earth-4 (1960s to 1970s)

Timeline of Earth-4: prehistory to 18th century | 19th century to 1920s | 1930s to 1950s | 1960s to 1970s | 1980s to present | the future | Special timelines: Timeline of Earth-4 during the Crisis | alternate timelines