Captain Savage head shot. Artist: Charles A Winter.

CAPTAIN SAVAGE

Original Medium: Comic Books
Published by: Fox Feature Syndicate
First Appeared: 1939
Creator: Unknown writer and Art Peddy, artist
If this site is enjoyable or useful to you,
Please contribute to its necessary financial support.
Amazon.com or PayPal

Many Marvel Comics fans are familiar with Captain Savage, even tho that 1960s character wasn't the most prominent of that era — or even the most prominent one whose adventures …

continued below

… took place during World War II, the one he was spun off of, Sgt. Fury. But almost none of them have ever heard of the Captain Savage who actually did appear in comics of the prior generation, the one published by Fox Feature Syndicate (Dagar.The Sorceress of Zoom), starting in 1939.

This Captain Savage not only has nothing (except the name) to do with the Marvel character — he also had nothing to do with DC's World War I hero, Lt. Steve Savage, or with their earlier western character, Matt Savage. He also wasn't related to the pulp and (later) comics hero Doc Savage, or to His Name Is … Savage, by Gil Kane (The Atom). He was just Captain Savage, more minor than any of them, and he didn't even have a first name.

Cap made his first appearance in Mystern Men Comics #4 (November, 1939), where the cover featured The Green Mask (tho the biggest character in it was The Blue Beetle). As is frequently the case in these very early comic books, it isn't known who wrote his 3-page adventure there. The artist was Art Peddy, who also co-created The Phantom Lady for Quality Comics and The Red Panther for Fiction House.

Like Shark Brodie and Lance O'Casey. who both came along the following year, Cap plied the Pacific. But he operated on a much larger scale than those guys. Captain Savage commanded a big freighter, which limited his mobility but didn't keep him from tangling with some pretty dastardly villains. Shanghai businessman Sin Lee, whom he clashed with several times, seems to have been his favorite villain.

Even for a Fox Comics back-pages guy, Cap was a minor character. His adventures never exceeded three pages, his last appearance was in Mystery Men #16 (November, 1940), and even at that, he skipped #s 8 and 11. The confluence of names with a '60s Marvel guy is the only reason anybody notices him at all.

— DDM

BACK to Don Markstein's Toonopedia™ Home Page
Today in Toons: Every day's an anniversary!

Google
Web www.toonopedia.com

Purchase Toon-related Merchandise Online


Text ©2008-11 Donald D. Markstein. Art © Fox Feature Syndicate