Pulp-Free Superheroes

Beginning as the mysterious narrator of the Detective Story Hour radio program in 1930, the Shadow quickly became the star of his own adventure magazine...not to mention one of the most famous figures of the so-called "pulp era". Naturally, the Shadow's popularity spawned a legion of imitators, complete with their own flowing capes, blazing guns, and wide-brimmed hats.

Two of those imitators were DC's Crimson Avenger (1938) and the Sandman (1939), both of whom tried their level best to strike intimidating Shadow-like poses and grimly punish evil-doers.

However, once the colorful duds of Superman sparked the superhero fad of the 1940's, the cape and fedora crowd had some tough decisions to make. They either faded away entirely, or they adapted to the superhero fad by creating their own skintight togs.  Sounds good in theory, right? Well, in the case of the aforementioned Crimson Avenger and Sandman...well...you be the judge.

First up, the Crimson Avenger...dumping the cape and scarf for a trunks-on-the-outside costume, a random mohawk-fin thing, and a coordinating boy sidekick.

Next, the Sandman...whose genuinely eerie gas mask and fedora were traded in for an utterly generic purple-yellow get up and (of course) a boy sidekick.

Really...I'm for change as much as the next guy, but some sixty years later, these are two of the most nonsensical makeovers in comics history...trading the moody cool of their pulp-era costumes for such goofy polar opposites.

Comments

[Mr Element-Dr Alchemy]

I totally agree, I always dug the trench coat look. Why not just create new characters.

[Desca]

Great post; I like the noir look of the suits, especially matched with masks- you're so right about the creepiness of Sandman's gas-mask.

[J. Kevin Carrier]

The Crimson Avenger was more of a knock-off of the Green Hornet, wasn't he? Owned a newspaper, had an Asian sidekick/chauffeur, etc.? Although I guess you could say that Green Hornet owed a bit to the Shadow in the first place.

[ShadowWing Tronix]

Both characters have returned to their original looks. I don't know if Crimson Avenger ever had comics again like Sandman, but he does appear in Justice League Unlimited. That's one odditiy in the show for me. CA, Shining Knight, and the cowboy-themed version of Vigilante all show up in both the cartoon and comic versions of Justice League Unlimited quite often for not being the original show team, but how many kids ever heard of them? I didn't know their names until the closing credits and comics, and I still don't really know who they are.

[Mark Engblom]

"I don't know if Crimson Avenger ever had comics again like Sandman..."

Well, there's a modern incarnation of the character who's a blindfolded African American woman who executes criminals with mystic bullets. She has some kind of connection to Lee Travis (the original Avenger), but I can't recall what it is. She's an intriguing character, to be sure. But as for the original, I think he's officially six feet under.

"CA, Shining Knight, and the cowboy-themed version of Vigilante all show up in both the cartoon and comic versions of Justice League Unlimited quite often for not being the original show team, but how many kids ever heard of them?"

I think I recall the episode you're talking about. They were all officially members of the JLU (all superheroes on Earth were technically members), but in the episode you're referring to, the creators of the show were doing a little nod to the Seven Soldiers of Victory, which was the Golden Age super-team they all belonged to (sometimes known as The Law's Legionaires).

The characters in question were the Vigilante, Shining Knight, Crimson Avenger (as you mentioned), as well as Green Arrow, Speedy (or whatever his codename was on the JLU show), Stargirl and the robot S.T.R.I.P.E.

[suedenim]

Of course, the reason we like the "cape and fedora" look today is that in our modern era, it's a very distinctive, unusual look; in 1940-something, it was literally and figuratively "old hat."

I'd imagine Sandman and Crimson Avenger gave off a vibe to readers of the time not unlike what we'd think of some guy with a mullet, claws, a jacket, and random pouches all over his uniform today.

(Which brings up the scary possibility that *that* look will be "fresh" again in a decade or so....)