Stardust, the Strangest Hero of the Golden Age

And that's sayin' something, let me tell you.

As I have attempted to demonstrate, the Golden Age was a very strange time for comics. Output and popularity were both tremendous (as this was before the spread of television, it was the most popular medium in America), and demand for stories was probably pretty high.

Which might explain why some were just so danged strange.

See, in the Golden Age, there were basically four kinds of "hero" characters. (I will use male pronouns only for the convenience of simplicity; do remember that most comic heroes were men anyway, those that weren't usually intended to be eye candy for a somewhat older audience.)

The "normal" hero was just a "regular joe" who through luck, toughness, and resourcefulness (all of which the "normal" hero had in spades, making this character less of a regular joe than you'd think), would bludgeon or reason his way through scraps to the end of the story.

The "gadget" hero had some kind of gimmicky ability or abilities given by one or more special devices that he or a (usually deceased) relative or friend had created.

The "powered" hero explicitly had one or more vaguely-to-well-defined abilities that put him above normal people, such as explicitly superhuman strength.

The last variety of hero is the "god" hero, or as I'm going to call the group, "super wizards." Why "super wizards?"

Because Stardust, the subject of this post, was called "Stardust the Super Wizard," and he was most definitely one of this archetype, perhaps the most extreme example. It's very evocative, and it makes clear the characteristic possessed by most of this type of hero-they used magic in really spectacular and over-the-top ways, and their foes didn't stand a chance. (Ironically, Stardust's powers came from the sorcery of super science instead of "actual" magic.)

Here's an example, in the form of a few panels from the very first Stardust story:

(FYI, Fletcher Hanks, the creator of Stardust, wasn't much of an artist. His "style," if one can call it that, is unmistakable-utterly bizarre faces and anatomy accompanied by rather Seussian architecture and incredible flatness. Not to insult the man-I just think he wasn't a very practiced artist. Does some weird stuff in his work, though.)

I kinda like the guy's reaction-I almost wonder if it was intended to be funny, because the rest of it seems to be taking itself way too seriously...

No duh.

The really strange thing about Stardust, though? Unlike most of the super wizard heroes, Stardust does not treat his foes with kid gloves.

It's kind of like what would happen if Superman and the Punisher had their minds swapped or something.

You know how some people complain "Why doesn't *insert insanely powerful character's name here* just kill 'em all?" Stardust might be these people's ideal hero.

I mean, this is about as gentle as he gets:

Suspending people in the air and making them stare at skeletons. (That's some weird secret ray there.)

Rip-the-Blood (yes, that's some guy's name) has a more typical fate. He plots...

...launches an attack...

...and fails. And then...

...Stardust throws him off a cliff for good measure.

Of course, then there's one of the most spectacular villain killings I've ever seen: Thrown to a giant tsunami, and then disintegrated.

I mean, wow. Talk about style.

And take what happens to "Wolf-Eye." Wolf-Eye has his own built-in super science powers...

(Gotta love the transition between the second and third panels there.) ...but is utterly helpless before Stardust.

Now, Stardust, that's really just insulting.

In all seriousness? I don't know why I'm investing this much energy in Stardust, but he's got some kind of really weird appeal.

He's just ugly, though. Man.

-Signing off.