Today's episode of The Dan Cave
is brought to you by the Society of Virtue.
(energetic music)
Not every superhero manages to achieve the same level
of fame as Batman or Wonder Woman or Captain America,
but that doesn't mean they're not worth your while.
Take, for example, the Society of Virtue,
the hilarious YouTube series that features
all manner of heroes you've never heard of, but offers
incredible insights into the comics that we know and love.
And they are just the tip of the iceberg.
And on today's episode of The Dan Cave,
we're gonna dive deep into superhero history,
talk about these forgotten spandex-clad
vigilantes that are worth unearthing.
Olga Mesmer.
Before there was Superman, there was Olga Mesmer,
the girl with the X-ray eyes,
who, as you might intuit, had X-ray vision.
She also had super strength because her mad scientist
father exposed her to radiation, like dads do, and her mom
was from Venus but also ruled an underground kingdom,
which she was deposed from, because, comics.
Olga sadly only lasted from August 1937 to October 1938,
but she started what might be the single greatest name
for a comic ever: Spicy Mystery Stories.
Spicy.
Honestly though, she was pretty rad.
She laid the smackdown on her creepy legal guardian
when he got too handsy, she saved a man's life
by giving him some of her super blood,
and she even wound up preventing an interplanetary war,
all in a little over a year.
What have you done in little over a year?
Is it anything close to this?
No, I didn't think so, Becky.
The Fighting Hobo.
While The Fighting Hobo might not have been the first
vagrant vigilante, he was the only one named Butch Brogan,
and whose obsession was a copy of Hamlet he found
in the city dump that led to an
irrepressible urge to fight crime.
You know, plays within a play, weird thing.
His one and only adventure, in 1942's USA Comics Number 5,
saw Butch rescuing a stolen dog, bopping the kidnapper
on the nose, and getting a sweet reward
and a kiss on the cheek for his troubles.
He was never heard from again, but if you close your eyes
and rub trash on a copy of Hamlet three times,
legend has it that he just might appear.
But probably not, you just ruined your book.
The Blonde Phantom.
Now, before there was Black Widow,
Marvel Comics' premiere femme fatale was Louise Grant,
a secretary to a private investigator by day,
and a crime fighter adept in martial arts, marksmanship, and
pulling off a seemingly impossibly slinky dress by night.
She was the Blonde Phantom, and she kicked ass without
the aid of any superpowers, apart from
a superior sense of intuition.
While she came back a couple of times over the years,
most notably to help She-Hulk defeat the Stilt-Man
and then, weirdly, date her dad, she never quite caught on
in a major way, which is a damn shame, because with
Agent Carter out of the picture in the MCU, a noir-style
lady detective story would be the perfect
addition to Marvel's movies.
Stardust the Super Wizard.
No, Stardust the Super Wizard isn't just
what I have written on my business cards.
It's also the name of a truly bonkers golden-age hero.
Created by Fletcher Hanks in 1939, Stardust the Super Wizard
is an alien, and I quote, "whose vast knowledge of
interplanetary science has made him the most
remarkable man that ever lived," end quote.
Living on his private star, he monitors crime across
the galaxy and has a no-nonsense approach to fighting evil.
For example, he turned a mad scientist named Kaos
into a worm, then fed him to a giant army of vultures
from Venus that Kaos sought to unleash upon Earth.
And he hurled another scientist named Demon
into a tidal wave, killing him, and then used the guy's
disintegrating ray to destroy his body as well.
Long story short, don't be a scientist around
Stardust the Super Wizard, Kyle.
Jill Trent, Science Sleuth.
Now, speaking of science, there's a few characters
I wish would make a comeback, but none
more so than Jill Trent, Science Sleuth.
Using her elite detective skills and scientific smarts,
Jill kicked ass, took names, and used all manner
of awesome inventions, like indestructible cloth
and X-ray glasses, to save the day.
Plus, Jill Trent may have made comic book history.
Not only did Jill solve crime with her best friend
Daisy Smythe, the two frequently shared a bed together,
which suggests to some that she may have been
the first queer hero in comic book history.
So please, just give her a Netflix original series
and bring Jill back, dammit.
I mean, clearly the world is in
dire need of scientific sleuthing.
And those are some of the greatest, wildest,
and weirdest superheros that time forgot.
But which is your favorite?
What would you add to this list?
Let us know in the comments below, and give me
an obscure thumbs up while you're there.
Oh, haven't seen this one before.
Now be to sure to like and subscribe, or else you might miss
next week's episode about the story of a teenage girl
growing up in Sacramento in the early 2000s,
who meets an actor having a mental breakdown
because he once played a superhero,
who may or may not have been Charles Dickens,
in Ladybirdman Who Invented Christmas.
Until next time, keep on digging.
Special thanks to the Society of Virtue
for sponsoring today's episode.
What is the Society of Virtue?
Well, they're not just the greatest superheros in all of
Megalopolisville, they're also a prism through which
creator Ian SBF masterfully skewers the superhero genre,
using whip-smart writing, biting satire,
and ironic observation.
Meet characters like the Patriot Lieutenant
and his shield that is literally a target.
Or the Majestic, a superhero whose enemies
actually want to be spanked by her.
And if you dig cult classic comedies like
The Venture Brothers and Robot Chicken,
then you need to subscribe to the Society of Virtue
and get a dose of hilarious heroics every Tuesday.
(mysterious music)