Champion Comics Primer
Champion Comics was a comic series published by Harvey Comics in the 1940s. After issue #10 the title was shortened to Champ Comics. The reason why these issues are included in this index is because many of Harvey Comics did not renew the copyrights on many of their superhero characters and they have since entered the public domain. Particularly, the Human Comet, who appeared in Champion Comics from issue #6 through 25 was later adapted into Marvel continuity. The character appeared as a member of Battle-Axis a team of American superheroes who defected to the Nazis who appeared in Invaders (Vol. 2). The jury is still out on if these stories are considered part of Marvel continuity. Upon personal examination, none of these stories interfere with what has been established in Marvel continuity, so you could include this continuity without so much of a problem. Personally, I am taking the liberty of including them in my index.
Let’s talk about the Human Meteor for a second: He sucks. Oh dear god does he suck. The character started off as a Texan who worked for the French Foreign Legion. That lasted two stories and with the popularity of superheroes, the Duke literally crash landed into the got-powers-from-a-Tibetan-society trope that seemed to be common at the time. Although his “Wonder Belt” gave him a plethora of powers the only one he regularly used was his power of flight. His costume was apparently being as naked as legally possible for the 1940s since he only wore shorts and a cape. The character then got a boy sidekick named Toby, an orphaned shoeshine boy whose only skill was getting captured. The Comet had Genghis Khan as a recurring enemy for a few issues. Yes, that Genghis Khan. Only for some reason instead of being a Mongolian warrior he was a giant caucasian with a flaming sword. When World War II kicked into full swing, the Human Meteor spent his time going after Nazis but this usually led to him also discovering Japanese spies to hurl racial slurs at.
If you really hate yourself and want to check out these comics yourself they are, as I said, in the public domain and you can download most of the issues for free at the Digital Comic Museum.
Index Scope
This index will only be documenting the Human Comet stories that appeared in Champion/Champ Comics.
Incomplete Collection
I used the DCM as a resource when compiling this section of my index. As such it is incomplete because the DCM does not have every issue. I am currently missing issues #10, 18, and 20. If you happen to have a copy of these books and they aren’t entombed in CCG carbonite plastic for all eternity do the world a favor and scan them and submit the scans to the DCM they are a valuable resource that is preserving public domain comics so they are not lost to time.
