Police Comics #1 (1941)
by Paul Gustavson
Let’s conclude the review of this very busy comic with the last debut of a Freedom Fighter: the Human Bomb.
His creator (under pseudonym) is Paul Gustavson, who we have already seen creating the original Angel.
We begin with the creation of an explosive 50 times more powerful than nitro-glycerin (here called with a less used but still valid spelling), which is apparently enough to destroy New York with a microscopic quantity.
Uhm, I might not be a famous explosives expert, but if that’s the case his calculations might be just a liiiittle way off. Unless nitro-glycerin requires anti-matter in the Quality Comics universe, you’re going to need A LOT more to blow off an entire city.
The safety concerns of Golden Age scientists in a nutshell.
So of course some foreign agents immediately sneak into the lab to steal the explosive…
…and the young scientist’s father succumbs to the dreaded Mentor Figure Disease.
To prevent the bad guys to get their hands on the capsule containing the explosive, the scientist SWALLOWS IT.
Side effects of 27-QRX include glowing hands…
…bulletproof skin…
…and explosive touch. Consult your doctor before assuming 27-QRX.
Turns out the way to contain the explosive is the “fibro-wax” around the explosive’s capsule, and that’s going to be the basis for a superhero costume.
Wait, how is he going to build the suit if “anything he touches” explodes?
And who keeps a large picture of himself in his own laboratory?
The criminals later return to the scene of the murder, but unfortunately for them NOBODY EVER WRITES ANYTHING DOWN in the Golden Age.
And we get our first look at the Human Bomb’s very unique costume.
This being the Golden Age, the Human Bomb is contractually obligated to get into a fistfight.
I like how one of the goons tries to pretend the boss is one of the guys that was just knocked out, and the fact Human Bomb doesn’t fall for it for a second. Nice scene.
And to intimidate the goon, he demonstrates what happens when he LITERALLY takes the gloves off.
Thanks to the intel, Human Bomb is able to find the head of the operation and pay him a visit.
Is the “fibro-wax” used for the costume also bulletproof, or does this work exclusively when Human Bomb wears it?
And finally Human Bomb avenges his father by EXPLODING HIS MURDERER.
That’s how the story ends! Very effective, not showing the explosion but jumping directly to the newspaper article.
Historical significance: 4/10
Human Bomb is one of the most visually distinctive members of the Freedom Fighters, but also the one with the smallest legacy.
Silver Age-ness: 2/10
Remind me again how much nitro-glycerin you need to destroy New York City?
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10
The short length (just 6 pages) doesn’t allow it to do much, but it’s quite effective. The pencils hold up remarkably well, not really a surprise since Quality definitely had some of the better artists of the time. But while it’s very direct in the typical Golden Age way that doesn’t leave much time for nuances, it also does what it needs to do.
How close is this to the modern DC Comics character? What modern character?
The suit being made of “fibro-wax” seems to be a retcon: I’ve seen several sources say that in his first appearances the Humb Bomb’s suit was made of asbestos. I’m reading from a reprint, so they might have included the retcon.
He also doesn’t wear the full suit all the time: already in Police Comics #2, he’s wearing JUST the gloves (which are not always colored). He also has a believable explanation for always wearing them, which is a neat detail.
He’s a regular on Police Comics and in #15 he gets his comedy sidekick.
Hustace Throckmorton, who gets the same powers of the Human Bomb but on his feet instead of his hands.
He gets this power thought a blood transfusion from Human Bomb. This is a 1943 story, so he pre-dates She-Hulk by 36 years.
Hustace shows up in about 30 issues, because the world can be a cruel place.
He’s also married to Honey-Bun, who I can barely believe is a member of the same species of Hustace.
But she later gets a complete re-design and is called Hustace’s girlfriend instead of his wife.
Unless she divorced… oh who am I kidding, obviously SHE divorced HIM.
As if Hustace wasn’t already embarrassing enough, Human Bomb was also joined by the Bombardiers in Police Comics #21 and #22.
The consist of, left to right: Red (the token girl), Curly McGurk (a former criminal who wasn’t accepted in the army) and Swordo (a fire eater and sword swallower).
Yeah I don’t get it either.
The Human Bomb serial lasts until Police Comics #58 in 1946, which ends with him calling Hustace an idiot.
Human Bomb doesn’t appear anywhere else in Quality Comics. I’m guessing he wasn’t a particularly popular character, since for Quality a 58 issue run is not all that notable.
Unlike most Golden Age comedy sidekicks, Hustace Throckmorton is NEVER brought up again in any later story because there is some justice in the world.
You know the drill at this point, because we’ve gone through this many times: Quality goes out of business in 1956, DC buys the rights but doesn’t do anything for years, and then he’s brought back as a member of the Freedom Fighters in 1973’s Justice League of America #107.
And FINALLY I’ve reached the last time I need to reference that comic!
Human Bomb then follows around the other Freedom Fighters in all their various adventures, from their own series to the All-Star Squadron.
And I guess he doesn’t really do much of note there: for all the other members of the Freedom Fighters I could find SOMETHING historically significant in this period, but not so much for Human Bomb.
He’s killed off in 2005 by Bizarro, of all people, on Infinite Crisis #1. But at least that’s after he has a badass moment against Doctor Polaris to avenge the death of the second Phantom Lady and the new Black Condor in the same issue.
The following year a new Human Bomb is introduced in “Battle for Blüdhaven”, and who later shows up in both “Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters” series.
No relation with the original and not particularly interesting, but I do like his costume.
I guess he might still be around, but DC hasn’t done anything with this version since 2009.
Yet another new version gets a 4-issue miniseries in 2013. This is the first time the Human Bomb gets his own series, after 72 years!!!
But he doesn’t even get the suit, so can we even really call him the Human Bomb?
The latest attempt to revitalize the character is from 2023, when “The New Golden Age” series introduces the new Human Bomb…’s sidekick.
In a handbook entry that claims she debuted on Police Comics #25, which is an outright lie.
But I’m not angry about it because Hustace was the Human Bomb’s sidekick in that issue, and ANYTHING is better than Hustace.
Although Cherry Bomb technically made a cameo in 2022’s “Earth-Prime #4” first.
She mostly appears on Stargirl, where thanks to time travel shenanigans she’s eventually brought to the present. And in 2024 she’s a junior member of the Justice Society.
Out of all the Quality characters acquired by DC, the Human Bomb was definitely the one I knew the least about before looking him up for the retrospective.
I’ve always liked heroes whose power is mostly a curse and I was hoping to find something interesting… but it seems to me that he’s been severely under-utilized.
Come on, you have your hands on a character who can’t touch anyone without killing them!
It’s not you have an example of a far more recent character that managed to become more popular than the Human Bomb has ever been, right?
Ugh, Infinite Crisis. Easily one of DC’s worst “Crisis” comics.