Smash Comics #14

Smash Comics #14 (1940)
by Will Eisner & Lou Fine
cover by Gill Fox

I can’t believe “Bozo The Robot” isn’t the breakaway character from this issue.

We’ll get back to Bozo later, but first let’s have a look at The Ray.
Which according to the credits was created by E. Lectron.

We begin with a journalist covering “the hottest story in months”… a scientist testing a balloon.
Obviously front page news: I can’t think of anything more important happening in 1940.

This balloon is going into space (!!!), so the only passengers are convicts and a journalist.
Sounds legit.

21 years before the Fantastic Four, the balloon is hit by cosmic rays.

Admittedly I’m no aerospace engineer, but I’m reasonably sure you should close the hatch BEFORE YOU GO INTO SPACE and you most definitely shouldn’t close it FROM THE OUTSIDE.

As the journalist is CLINGING FOR DEAR LIFE TO THE BALLOON, he gets a massive dose of Origin Rays.

The incident gives him tremendous powers…

…but no pants.

The disappearance of the journalist makes the news, together with the scientist recovering from space “a new gas with the power of 100 tons of TNT in one cubic inch”.
WTF was up there, anti-matter???

So of course some criminals show up at the scientist’s house to rob him.

They escape with “the formula” to make the gas, and The Ray shows up when the scientist is already dying.

The scientist is fine, by the way. I guess it was too much to ask a ruthless gangster to hit an old man at point blank range.

I suppose The Ray is turning his body into light before the bullets hit him, but it’s not spelled out. Something rare for the Golden Age.

I’ve said it before: Golden Age heroes are contractually obligated to win their fights with their fists, no matter what other abilities they have.

You might expect The Ray to only have light powers, but he can also magnetically attract men.

In fact, The Ray’s magnetic telekinesis is his most used power in this story.

Along with his uppercut, because Golden Age.

And that’s it!

At least wait until you’ve done something impressive before you brag, The Ray, by this point you already have plenty of competition among superheroes.
And most of them wear pants.

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Historical significance: 4/10
While The Ray is one of the oldest superheroes, he doesn’t really have a huge impact until waaaaay later

Silver Age-ness: 10/10
Closing the hatch until you’re BASICALLY IN SPACE.

Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
A fun romp, but far too formulaic and way too short.

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 How close is this to the modern character? What modern character?
The Ray has a relatively short career: he appears on “Smash Comics” from #14 to #40, and in one issue of “Uncle Sam Quarterly” as a member of the Freedom Fighters.
See the Uncle Sam review for more on the Freedom Fighters.

Most of the Freedom Fighters tend to stick together in all future appearances.
The two exceptions are the legacy characters: Phantom Lady and Ray.
For the latter, it’s thanks to 1992 introducing his son Raymond, created by Jack C. Harris and Joe Quesada (yes, that one).

The second Ray proved to be more successful than his father: he has a 6-issue miniseries in 1992, a 29-issue series from 1994 to 1996, and joining a bunch of teams.
He’s been a member of *deep breath* the Freedom Fighters, the JLA, the JSA, the JLA Task Force, JLI, Young Justice and the Forgotten Heroes.
I’ve read a bunch of his appearances but not his regular series, although I’ve heard good things about it. He’s a fun character, and let’s admit it: he looks waaaaay cooler than his dad.

Raymond is not the only successor to The Ray.
There’s also Stan Silver, a less heroic version of the character showing up in “Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters” from 2006.

And for seemingly no reason, 2012 saw the introduction of a THIRD Ray: Lucien Gates, who doesn’t even look like he belongs in the legacy.
I’ve never read a single story with this guy, but his series only lasts 4 issues and he only has 3 other appearances so far.

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Unlike DC which basically advertises only its superheroes and Marvel which doesn’t seem to be advertising at all, Quality Comics advertised EVERYTHING it was publishing. 

 Despite the cover, the first story is the “Black X” serial by Eisner & Zolnerowich with GORGEOUS artwork.
Black X was one of the longest-running Quality serials: the super-spy debuted in 1938 and would appear until 1949, with an incredible total of 95 appearances.

By contrast, “Magno The Magnetic Man” only has 9 stories.

Then there’s the adventure serial “Abdul the Arab”, which lasted 24 stories.

Another shockingly long-lasting serial is “Archie O’Toole”, a Will Eisner creation under pseudonym (I can’t confirm if he wrote THIS story though), which also started in 1938 and ended in 1949 after 69 stories.

This story goes, uhm, places.

By 1940 there aren’t as many sports comics as before, but the racing serial “Clip Chance” lasted 25 issues.

More and more stories are focusing on WWII, which the US hasn’t joined yet.
Including the “Wings Wendall” serial (25 issues).

Plus a surprisingly dark one-page comic…

…”Invisible Justice” (32 stories), “Chic Carter” (58 stories), “Purple Trio” (25 stories)…

…and “Wun Cloo: the Defective Detective”, on which I can’t find much information.

I WONDER WHY.

And ALL OF THAT was before “Bozo The Robot”, which is the last story of the book.

The villain of the story is a blatant Frankenstein ripoff, while the protagonist is a wealthy inventor.

But more importantly, “Bozo The Robot” is a terrible name for this series: because he’s not a robot, he’s the first superhero with a power armor!!!

Yep. THIS IS GOLDEN AGE IRON MAN.

The armor doesn’t need its creator to fight. Admittedly Iron Man eventually also did that, but Bozo was already there in 1940.
And it lasted 41 issues, all the way to 1943!!!

Iron Man wouldn’t fight Frankenstein’s Monster until 37 years later.