Featuring: Marvel Boy
Release: August 24, 1950
Cover: December 1950
10 cents
Credits: Russ Heath
12 pages
No credits are given in the issue. The art is generally recognized as being by Russ Heath.
I was thinking of waiting a long time to introduce Marvel Boy. He’ll show up in the Marvel Age in the pages of What If…? in 1978. The following year, a new hero named Quasar will be introduced, a character modeled partly after Marvel Boy. But it’s going to be a long time before I get to those comics. We’re still in 1963, after all.
And Marvel Boy is a significant superhero. Introduced in 1950 at a time when the company was starting to shy away from superheroes. Plus, his very name will have some significance to the company. Marvel Boy.
So let’s read his origin now, on the pretense that we’ve just been introduced to Marvel Girl.
The origin is a pretty good one, though if you squint a bit, you’ll see some resemblance to Superman’s origin. Marvel Boy’s father, Professor Matthew Grayson, was an early atomic scientist, able to build an atomic rocket in 1934. (Hey… maybe this allows us to add 5 years to Xavier’s age if people were experimenting with atomic power as early as 1934). When his wife and daughter are killed by Nazis, he retreats to space with his son, ending up on the planet Uranus, and discovering an advanced utopian society.
Continue reading “PRELUDE: Marvel Boy #1”