#stan aschmeier

[ufonaut]

Hang onto your hat, Doiby, we're going to pull a surprise!

Alan & Doiby in All-American Comics (1939) #52

(Bill Finger, Stan Aschmeier)

[cantsayidont]

November 1987. A retelling of the origin of Dr. Mid-Nite in SECRET ORIGINS #20 adds to the sense that this longtime JSA member may have been a gay man. Narrating these events after the fact, McNider remarks that his nurse and research assistant Myra Mason, a regular supporting character in Dr. Mid-Nite's solo strip in ALL-AMERICAN COMICS) was in love with him (which is apparent in the Golden Age stories), but that it was "a love doomed from the start" for reasons he "could never quite bring [himself] to tell her."

Roy Thomas, who wrote this adaptation, later asserted that he hadn't meant to imply that McNider was gay, but couldn't recall what he had intended, and in context, it's hard to see another way to take it. In Dr. Mid-Nite's origin story (both the original and this retelling), McNider does decide not to tell Myra that the explosion that has nearly blinded him somehow gave him the ability to see in the dark, and he doesn't tell her about his new career as Dr. Mid-Nite. However, the way Thomas frames it strongly suggests that whatever McNider couldn't bring himself to tell her existed before the explosion and his subsequent career as a costumed adventurer.

It was a truism of '40s pop culture that being blind or suffering some other serious permanent disability made someone an unsuitable romantic partner, so it wouldn't have been too surprising for McNider to spurn Myra's affections on those grounds, which was the implication in the Golden Age stories.

However, that's not the impression the SECRET ORIGINS story gives. Adding to that the fact that McNider spent the rest of his life as another of the JSA's confirmed bachelors, and that prior to his death during ZERO HOUR, his closest relationship was as a mentor to physician Beth Chapel, and it's hard not to come away thinking maybe he was gay.

[nerds-yearbook]

The anthology comic Flash Comics 1# with a cover date of January, 1940, introduced a multitude of characters. In the segment "Origin of the Flash" Jay Garrick/The Flash, Joan Williams, Major Arthur Williams, and Professor Hughes were introduced created by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert. In the "Cliff Cornwall: The Disappearing Plane" segment, Cliff Cornwall and Lys Valliere were introduced. They were created by Gardner Fox and Sheldon Moldoff. In the "The Origin of Hawkman" Hawkman, Shiera Sanders, Dr Hastor, Hath-Set, Prince Knufu, Chay-Ara and Nth Metal were introduced. They were created by Gardner Fox and Dennis Neville. In "The Kidnapping of Johnny Thunder" segment, Johnny Thunder, Thunderbolt, Simon B Thunder, Mildred Thunder, Priest of Aissor, and Badhnisisns were introduced. They were created by John B Wentworth and Stan Aschmeier. In the "Origin of the Whip" segment, Whip, Don Fernando Suarez, Wing, and Padre were introduced. They were created by John B Wentworth and George Storm. ("The Flash: Origin of the Flash", "Cliff Cornwall: The Disappearing Plane", "Hawkman: The Origin of Hawkman", "Johnny Thunder: The Kidnapping of Johnny Thunder", "Flash Picture Novellette: The Demon Dummy pt 1", and "The Whip: Origin of the Whip", Flash Comics 1, DC Comic Event)

[p-c-ba-dcforever]

Dr. Mid-Nite pt 3

[because-batcat]

‘Batman’ (1940) #3

[cantsayidont]

December 1946. A JSA stalwart, Johnny Thunder had a long-running feature in FLASH COMICS, which for its first 85 issues was written by John B. Wentworth (who eventually wrangled a byline, unusual for the era) and drawn by Stan Aschmeier (whose byline, typically "Stan Josephs," seemed to come and go). As explained above, Johnny was a handsome young man of good heart and thick head, stumbling through an endless array of comedic misadventures with the aid of his long-suffering Thunderbolt, a powerful magical being Johnny could summon for an hour at a time by saying the magic words "CEI-U," pronounced "SAY YOU!" (The Thunderbolt, whose actual name was either Archibald or Oswald — Wentworth apparently couldn't decide which was funnier — was not a djinn, and where Grant Morrison later got that idea is beyond me.)

In his own strip, Johnny generally did not fight crime, at least not on purpose, being more preoccupied with trying to find a steady job so his long-suffering girlfriend Daisy Darling would marry him, while managing the chaos wrought by his foster daughter Peachy Pet, a hilariously pugnacious sixth grader who would sooner slug you than look at you. (Peachy Pet for a while was able to summon her own magical assistant, Thunderbolt's son Shocko, by saying the magic words "SEZ ME!") It was zany nonsense in the vein of the contemporary Looney Tunes cartoons, and sometimes very funny. However, with FLASH COMICS #86, Wentworth and Aschmeier departed in favor of Robert Kanigher and Alex Toth. They downplayed the silliness and the magical Thunderbolt in favor of a new supporting character called Black Canary, who wasn't as funny, but looked better in fishnets. By FLASH COMICS #92, she'd booted poor Johnny out of his own strip.

[onlylonelylatino]

Two other DC villains called the Shade from the Golden Age.  The Vigilante art by Mort Meskin. 

[comicsodyssey]

From All-American Comics #3 (published April 1939)

Art by Stan Aschmeier, writing by Carl H. Claudy, from the 'Adventures in the Unknown' strip