Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds #46 (1965)
by Pat Masulli & Bill Fraccio
cover by Dick Giordano
DC Comics and Marvel were not the only publishers to create new superheroes for the Silver Age.
Charlton Comics was also active, with some of its heroes like Captain Atom eventually transitioning into the modern era.
The “Son of Vulcan” was less successful, but he does have a weird publishing history.
Speaking of DC and Marvel, did they have a trademark on good lettering or something? Because I swear every time I look at smaller publishers, their lettering is just atrocious.
I was barely aware of Son of Vulcan when I started researching this, and the very first thing mentioned by sources was that he was the first Thor knockoff.
My first instinct was that this must have been overblown… but considering that our Don Blake analogue has an artificial leg, they might be onto something.
In other words, this guy is going to be even more lame than Don Blake.
(sorry, I couldn’t resist)
The guy makes the mistake of criticising the gods, and he’s promptly smitten.
This guy sure has guts.
Jupiter is just about to execute him, but a goddess (later identified as Venus) comes to his rescue.
As does Vulcan, otherwise we’d have to change the character’s name.
Neat parallel with the god seeing something of himself in the man, since they both suffer the same handicap.
The comic won’t do anything with this, nor will future Son of Vulcan stories.
The one god who’s not into this “let’s make a new hero” business is Mars, who apparently has been demoted from God of War to “mischief-maker”… as if the Thor parallels weren’t noticeable enough already.
This is big enough to Jupiter to ask all the gods to attend the trial, and I guess everyone else on Olympus is on vacation since it’s just the four we’ve already seen.
I forgot to mention that the protagonist’s name is John Mann, which makes it a little confusing to be sure if they’re talking about him specifically, about manking, or both.
Jokes aside, while it’s more than a little cheesy it’s hard not to get into Mann’s enthusiasm for calling out the gods.
While Jupiter refuses to take any responsibility… big shock there, I know… he does allow Vulcan to make this mortal his protegé.
While Venus just thinks he’s hot. The surprises keep on coming!
Vulcan’s gifts are an armor that makes you invulnerable and a magic spear he can summon.
Venus provides the strength and vitality of a god.
With these gifts, the mortal is allowed to return to Earth with the promise he will never misues his powers.
And that’s how it ends!
The second story sees Son of Vulcan return to Earth, specifically to the island of “Cyprete”… which I guess is a stand-in for Cyprus, which did indeed have a trouble history in the 1960s.
Also, Son of Vulcan can fly now? Where did THAT come from?
And now, ladies and gentlemen, is when the story turns absolutely bonkers.
Yes.
NOW.
As if the giant gladiator isn’t weird enough: his master is none other than the lamest Fu Manchu knockoff I’ve ever seen, Doctor Kong.
Who also employs a giant octopus.
After defeating the octopus, Son of Vulcan goes after the Giant Gladiator.
Dude, you’re not going to improve your image with the gods if you’re ALREADY asking for their help.
TWICE.
The Giant Gladiator was, unsurprisingly, just a robot.
And the story ends with Doctor Kong evading capture.
Historical significance: 0/10
Even if Son of Vulcan does show up later, he’s still one of the most obscure Silver Age heroes.
Silver Age-ness
First story: 6/10
Not only the gods listen to John Mann, but they even let themselves be insulted multiple times. If you know anything about mythology, that’s patently absurd.
Second story: 10/OCTOPUS
Does it stand the test of time?
First story: 4/10
On the good side, John Mann’s passion is genuinely compelling and all things considered the pencils could be a lot worse.
On the bad side, everything else. The lettering is VERY distracting and the story is story is just too short to go anywhere… with a length of 10 pages, it’s surprisingly decompressed for 1965.
Second story: 0/10
There are Silver Age stories from smaller publishers that can stand side-by-side their more famous counterparts.
This is not one of those.
How close is this to the modern character? What modern character?
Son of Vulcan is the protagonist for two more issues of “Mysteries of Unexplored Worlds”.
He was popular enough for the series to be retitled “Son of Vulcan” in issue #48…
…where he gets a better-looking armor.
No wonder: several sources credit Dave Cockrum himself with the redesign.
He wasn’t TOO popular, however, since issue 50 is the last one of the series.
Notice the cover advertising that the story is written by a fanzine reader.
That would be none other than Roy Thomas: this was his first-ever published story.
Given his passion for Golden Age characters, it’s no surprise that his very first story includes the line “from the great Golden Age of the fabled heroes”!
After issue 50 in 1966, Son of Vulcan would no longer show up in Charlton comics.
When DC Comics acquired the rights of Charlton comics in 1983, they had no use for Son of Vulcan. He wouldn’t show up until 1986, on the pages of DC Challenge #9.
Written by, who else, Roy Thomas.
This was a miniseries with an extremely complicated plot that was literally just an excuse to use a bunch of minor characters before they would be wiped out of continuity by Crisis On Infinite Earths, and one of the gimmicks was that every issue would be written and penciled by different creators.
Son of Vulcan does little more than show up.
And speaking of Crisis, Son of Vulcan does show up in the very last issue there.
He’s seen in literally one panel and he’s not even named.
A post-Crisis version is mentioned in 1987 on History of the DC Universe…
…and he would have a proper introduction in 1991 on War of the Gods #1.
This is BY FAR his most high-profile storyline, where he’s selected by the gods to be a champion against Wonder Woman and to take Captain Marvel’s place.
However Son of Vulcan is still too much of a hero to go along with him, and he eventually rebels against the gods.
As heroic as that was, it doesn’t prevent Wonder Woman supervillain Circe from killing Son of Vulcan in the last issue of the miniseries.
Well at least he gets to Ancient Roman Heaven at the end.
And that was it: after 1991, DC Comics apparently lost interest in the character.
Not for the name though, since in 2005 they had another “Son of Vulcan” series… but this one is completely unrelated (the protagonist is the son of a superhero named Vulcan).
I haven’t ready anything about this new character, but the original Son of Vulcan did have some potential… which was never used in the Silver Age, and by the time he was re-introduced it was too late.
I’m guessing he suffered a bad case of “We have Thor at home”.