Hero origins – Page 2 – Comics Archeology

USA Comics #7 (1942)
written by unknown
pencils by Bob Oksner
cover by Alex Schomburg

I guess that if any character had to be the star of “USA Comics”, it had to be Captain America.

But we’re not here for the Captain: this is Marvel’s second attempt at creating a character named Marvel Boy after the atrocious Daring Mystery Comics #6.
Sorry about the quality of the scans, Marvel hasn’t digitized this one.

We begin with a school teacher giving a tour to an Egyptian museum. I question her qualifications because as far as I can tell, the Egyptians placing “blood extracts” in their tombs was not a thing.
Historical inaccuracies: 1

As a reminder, the original Marvel Boy was absolutely bonkers and it reached 5 mythological inaccuracies. How many can we reach with this one?
Well this one ALSO brings up Hercules!!!
I’m not counting as a mythological inaccuracy the fact that he shows up in Egypt: the story doesn’t say how old this mummy is, and since Egypt was a Roman province for a while Hercules WAS indeed worshipped there for a while.
Buuuuut… he couldn’t have been mummified since, according to legend, he was cremated (kind of).
Mythological inaccuracies: 1

Likewise, I’m not counting the fact that the sacrophagus has “HERCULES” written on it: if this is indeed from Roman times, they would have written the name in Latin… which is also “Hercules”.

The museum director is right: there were A TON of Hercules(es) in comic books, but they tend to be from pre-war comics.

One of the students is being bullied by the rest of the class, and he’s going to be our protagonist.

And yes, his name is Martin Burns. In case you forgot, the other Marvel Boy was called Martin Burns… which means there are TWO Marvel superheroes named Mr. Burns.

This museum has terrible security! Unless that kid is superhumanly strong… do you have any idea of how much a sarcophagus weighs???

Mr. Burns Junior SOMEHOW manages to survive being crushed, with only getting a cut on his arm. How the heck did he cut himself with a sarcophagus???

Please note that the museum is not sued into oblivion from this, and that nobody finds it particularly weird that the kid’s “deep cut” heals in fifteen minutes.
Legal inaccuracies: 1
Medical inaccuracies: 1

As you might have guessed, this is because the kid now has the strength of Hercules.

Meaning that our hero gets his powers from the mummified blood of Hercules.
As far as superhero origins go it can’t beat Black Condor, or even the other Marvel Boy’s convoluted backstory, but it’s up there!

And then the spirit of Hercules (I think???) shows up at the kid’s house.

The ghost of Hercules then gives the kid “his cloak” and “his flying costume”. Meaning this is the SECOND Marvel Boy who is not only called Burns but who gets an awful costume from the gods.

And needless to say, Hercules did not wear a cape or a flying costume.
Mythological inaccuracies: 3

Marvel Boy is thus granted the strength of Hercules, the speed of Mercury and the wisdom of Lincoln. I’m guessing Hercules showed up with the costume because transforming by saying “HML” would’ve been difficult.

Fire is evil enough!
MARVEL BOY II, 1942

Jokes aside, this is already more heroic than the original Marvel Boy.

The man accused of starting the fire denies it, blaming it on one of the pillars of Golden Age villains: fifth columnists.

Also, I’m calling it: Superman is the only one who manages having his initials on the cape look cool.

Doesn’t this sound like a bit too much work for the fifth columnists?

Specifically, the saboteurs are working for Von Blubber.
Yes.
You read that right.

The genius plan of the Nazis here is to cripple New York City… by creating chaos during rush hour.

This looks like a job for Marvel Boy, SOMEHOW.

But it’s too late, since the Nazis have already signaled the trains to crash.

Marvel Boy saves the day by using the mythical strength of Hercules to… push a button.

All thanks to Your Friendly Neighborhood Hercules Junior.

So THAT’s where Hercules got the inspiration!

And so we end the story with showing that Miss Prim is a terrible teacher: first she allowed her student to be bullied, then injured, and then she insults him herself.

Historical significance: 0/10
It’s hard to believe, but this is the only story of the second Marvel Boy.

Silver Age-ness: 6/10
Given the premise of “a kid gets powers because the mummified blood of Hercules gets in his veins”, I was expecting more shenanigans.

Does it stand the test of time? 0/10

Mythological inaccuracies: 3
Which means that, up to this point, Marvel Boy 2 is the most mythologically accurate Hercules in Marvel comics.

How close is this to the modern character? What modern character?
To this day, nobody has ever referenced either one of the first two Marvel Boys.

But the Hercules connection does have one surprising return.
While Marvel will introduce a third Marvel Boy in 1950, he has no relations to Hercules.
However, a fourth Marvel Boy will show in in 2000…

…and as of 2024, THAT Marvel Boy is in a relationship with Hercules!

I’m not saying this is a nod to the first two Marvel Boy, but I’m also not saying otherwise.

What else was in USA Comics #7?

Surprisingly not as much Captain America as I thought, although he gets the first story.

But also we have the little known serial “Captain Daring and his Sky-Sharks”. The team only shows up in this story…

…but incredibly, Captain Daring himself shows up in 2015 on the pages of “Ant-Man: Last Days”, in a retirement home for Golden Age heroes. That’s him with the aviator gear.