What in the Blue Blazes??

In the first two parts of my flight away from the current reality of WTAF, I looked at the debuts of Superman and Batman.

As I’m all about the obvious, I should now be switching over to perusing what Marvel’s precursor Timely were up to at the end of the 1930s/early 1940s. And – shock – that’s exactly what I’m going to do!

But instead of looking at the (original) Human Torch, Namor, the Sub-Mariner or even (again the original) the Angel in this post, I’m going to take a brief look at the Blue Blaze!

The Blue Blaze as he appears on the cover to Mystic Comics #3
The Blue Blaze leaping to the rescue on the cover to Mystic Comics #3

Who?

This guy!

Nope, that’s not a miscoloured Phantom, that’s the Blue Blaze!

Why am I singling out this character? After all he didn’t even rise to being a second-tier character for Timely. Or even third tier, if we’re being honest!

The Blue Blaze – Undead Superhero!

Well, the concept jumped out at me. It’s 1852 and young Spencer Keen is all dressed up in a (conveniently) blue costume and all set to go to a masquerade. His father, a scientist, calls him into his lab to show him his discovery – a blue flame/blaze which kills insects and mice only for them to later revive and live beyond their normal lifespans!

A page from Mystic Comics #1 showing the Blue Blaze's origin
The origin of the Blue Blaze

This discovery gives his father the fear so he decides to destroy it. BUT! At this exact moment a tornado strikes causing the blue flame to hit Spencer, killing him. Or did it?

He comes back to life in 1940 and surprises a pair of grave robbers as he rises from his own grave! During the time he was apparently dead, his body has been assimilating the power from the blue flame.

The Blue Blaze scaring some grave robbers
The Blue Blaze gives a pair of grave robber a fright as he rises from the grave!

So our hero is a kind of undead superhero and 88 years out of time! The rest of the Blue Blaze’s debut story plays out as much a horror story as a superhero story:

Mystic Comics #1 with the Blue Blaze on the cover
Mystic Comics #1 with the Blue Blaze as the cover star

The grave robbers tell Spencer the location of their boss, a certain Professor Maluski. The Blue Blaze is straight on the case (no being phased by it being 88 years later for him!) and finds the professor in a very large underground lab manned by his army of reanimated corpses (hence the grave robbing). Maluski intends to use this undead army to help him conquer the world but after the obligatory gloating explanation to the Blue Blaze, our hero trashes the place and it goes up in smoke. Job done!

Mystic Comics

Mystic Comics first appeared in early 1940 and I think, was Timely’s third title after Marvel Mystery Comics and Daring Mystery Comics. Hoping for lightning to strike again, Mystic Comics shows Timely throwing everything at the wall to see what might stick!

In the case of Mystic Comics, not much! However there must have been some hope that the Blue Blaze would be a break out hit as he was in the first four issues and was even the cover star on a couple (including #1).

Blue Blaze splash panel from Mystic Comics #2
The Blue Blaze comes out with guns blazing in this panel from Mystic Comics #2

Harry / Douglas or Harry Douglas?

There’s some doubt over who created the Blue Blaze. It’s marked as unknown in the Golden Age Mystic Comics Masterworks volume, but the Grand Comics Database has it down as Harry Douglas. From what I’ve read, it seems that Harry Douglas sometimes signed his work Harry / Douglas giving the confusing impression that it’s the names of two different people.

The next two issues feature Blue Blaze stories by unknown hands, but his fourth (and last) appearance is credited to Harry Douglas again.

Character and Costume Changes

Splash panel for the Blue Blaze story in Mystic Comics #4
The Blue Blaze rises up to combat crime!

Across the four stories there’s little in the way of consistency.

In the second story the Blue Blaze’s powers are described as ‘electronically’ powered. In this and the third story he also has a base of operations in a mountain retreat complete with an observatory.

Also in the third story he loses the odd looking balaclava-like mask. This leaves his face open and he looks a lot less like a S&M aficionado!

The biggest change is in his fourth story. This features the bonkers idea of the Blue Blaze returning to the ground after each case and an unknown force moving him towards centres of crime!

I can only assume they were trying to play up his macabre origin but I love the idea of him moving along underground hunting down crime!

Back to the Graveyard

While it certainly wasn’t unusual for Timely to shuffle it’s heroes around between its titles, after the fourth issue of Mystic Comics the Blue Blaze was sent back to the superhero graveyard.

To add insult to injury, even though relatively obscure Golden Age characters have been revived for more recent series by Marvel – titles such as The Invaders in the 1970s or The Twelve from 2008 – as far as I know the Blue Blaze has been left out of the revamp party.

Why this is, I don’t know. Perhaps the original stories were just too inconsistent or too odd. Perhaps there were already enough Golden Age blue related characters – Blue Diamond, Blue Blade anyone? – but our man Spencer Keen was left out.

I don’t know though, the idea of a bright blue super-powered zombie really made me sit up!