Caligari: 1942, Super-Magician Comics #7. Much like Blackstone, the star of the comic, Caligari is a stage magician who gets called into solve mysteries.

Captain Flight: 1944, Captain Flight #1 (Four Star). Captain Flight is one of those heroic pilots. In his first adenture, he has a sidekick in Tom, an African-American male drawn and written in a more realistic manner. He loves and is loved by Lilly Duval, a reformed spy.

In issue 4, he's a member of the Doom Squad, but it's issue 5 that reveals who they are and how he hooked up with them. At this point, Flight is described as a freelance adventurer and pilot. He accidentally discovers a hidden base. He's immediately vouched for by Jerry McGuire who had flown with his father, Major Flight, in WWI. Chief Davis is a wealthy plane manufacturer who with McGuire started the base in 1939. With trusted mechanics and staff, the place is outfitted with planes of revolutionary design, capable of 400 mph as well as developing an aerial bomb. Other fliers are also WWI aces: Dale, Parker and Akely. The Chief's daughter Elsie rounds out the group. She takes a shine to Flight (Lilly hadn't been seen since issue 2).

Captain Freedom: 1941, Speed Comics #13 (Harvey). Newspaper publisher Don Wright dresses up in a patriotic costume to fight the evils of the Axis powers, frequently alongside the Young Defenders, one of the numerous child gangs of the golden age making him a cross between S&K's Captain America and Guardian. This particular group with names like Lefty, Whitey, Slim, Beanie, Blackie were collectively known as the Young Defenders and also featured a girl among the, Joanie. As often was the case, they'd uncover some crime or plot, get in trouble and word would get to Wright who'd put on his costume, rescue them and the group would clean house. In his first appearance, he operates alone and seems to possess some limited super-strength and invulnerability (he jumps off a building onto a car, wrecking it, later survives a car crash without a scratch that kills an enemy agent) though susceptible to gas. It should be noted, at this point, Speed was not published by Harvey and the various costumed characters would get significant revisions when Harvey takes over in just the following issue.

In an interesting little text story in issue #26, 1943, Captain Freedom is part of an invasion force, heading into Germany, forcing their surrender. Hitler commits suicide over capture. The story also reveals that he keeps a specially designed plane in a secret hanger underneath an orchard on his estate. He designed and built the plane himself, and it's able to do over 700 mph, getting him to Europe in no time.

Unlike many of the patriotic heroes, Captain Freedom's career managed to outlast the war, his final adventure in issue #44, 1947. A decent achievement, especially in those times for a patriotic themed superhero.

He became the cover star with issue 16, appearing on every cover after that, some in adventures with his co-stars and some by Simon & Kirby. The group covers often had text stories that teamed up the various heroes inside. Over time, he kept tweaking his costume, leastways on the covers, and could very well hold the record for the most variations of one costume, of which a few are presented here. Despite a steady presence, a healthy run and a few covers by a famous creative team, he never really broke away from being a pretty generic superhero, a merging of a couple of concepts with nothing really strong to recommend him nor a big push by the company whose sole character remembered from this time was the stunning Black Cat. Sure, he did better than almost all of Timely's heroes other than their big 3 and the vast majority of characters who never rated a cover and/or less than a half dozen appearances if they made more than 2. Yet, he never made it into other comics by Harvey, was not brought back in any of their subsequent forays with superheroes. He didn't even get brought out of retirement for Fem Force's assault against the Black Shroud at AC. The closest he got was that another hero over there co-opted his name..

Cat-man II: 1940, Crash Comics 4 & 5, Cat-Man Comics 1-32. 1940. David Merryweather was one of the many heroes who got his start when his parents were killed while in the jungle leaving the orphan to be raised by animals, but one of the few to actually adopt a costumed identity. His adventurous parents were killed by bandits while in Burma and he was raised by a tigress. Early in his career, he had all the attributes of the cat: agility, night vision and nine lives granted by a cat goddess. Eventually, he joins the army and gains an eleven year old ward, Katie Conn, who dresses in an identical outfit and calls herself Kitten (1941, Cat-Man Comics #5). Katie's acrobat parents were killed when their circus train wrecked and was already a trained acrobat. She was then being raised by her Uncle Jake, a drifter and thief until he tried to hold up Merryweather and she decided to intervene. She further proves herself on the case he was working on and thus, instant partner. She also worked with other side-kicks as part of the group Little Leaders. By war's end, Kitten is depicted as pretty much a late teen to full-grown woman.

Issue 27 gives a second version of the origins of Cat-Man and Kitten. In this one, Cat-Man's mom is is the best animal trainer in the country. As such, as a kid, he's completely at home with the big cats who accept him as their own. When his mom is killed under mysterious circumstances, he grows up to follow in his mother's footsteps. He also learns the ways of the cats, able to move as stealthily as them. One day he finds an orphaned baby in the pen with Tamara, his favorite cat who seems to accept the baby as well as she accepts David. The only name on the tag is "Rosetta" so he names her Katie "Kitten Rose" Rosetta in honor. The steps from there to them actually becoming the crime-fighting duo Cat-Man and Kitten are unclear though. The story does mean that David Merryweather had raised Kitten from baby to young teen, thus may be a bit older than your average mystery man of this time. If you buy the second origin that is.

The Champ: 1939, Champion Comics #2 (Harvey). As a young boy, he was a runt of the neighborhood, frequently picked on and beat up by other boys who gave him the nickname "the Champ" because of it. One day this was witnessed by a visiting Dr. Marlin. Intrigued, the doctor got lodgings at the Champ's Mom's house. He saw the boy was not eating healthily and that was the first change he put in place: plenty of cereals and vegetables. This was followed by regular sleep and exercise which the young boy responded to. It was then the doctor decided to try out his tonic, a special supplement full of vitamins and life-giving elements. He soon showed more energy and endurance. The doc was a boxing and wrestling champ himself in his college days and taught the boy himself. To the point that years later, the Champ is a champion athlete as well as a top student at Midwest University (sometimes Midwest College). Part of what makes him better than others is a special tonic prepared for him by his sponsor and mentor Dr. Marlin. It has a nut-like flavor and it adds zest to his cereal and heightens his already considerable physique to make him a perfect physical specimen. But, now that it has been seven years, so his body has reached the potential, that he no longer has to take the tonic as long as he eats right, exercises, and gets plenty of sleep. He originally wants to make the forumula available to all youth, but Dr. Marlin is killed by his assistant, a hireling of the Yellow Spider before he can reveal the secret formula to the Champ. Champ manages to kill the Yellow Spider, an act he feels remorse over though feels it was also necessary.

The formula goes missing again, having been mailed to a Dr. Koch by Sue Katsu. The Champ, his pal Henry and Sue go to Mexico to retrieve the formula and while Koch soon shows his villainy, the Champ is temporarily unaware of Sue's duplicity (she's related to the assistant who slew his mentor). However, once she's allowed to flee with a fake formula, this plotline seems forgotten and the Champ goes on to have more prosaic adventures.

The Champ is an all-around champion athlete. In addition to adventures in college sports, he also goes against criminals and spies. His friend Henry is of slight build and wears glasses. His real name is unknown, everyone just calls him "Champ".

Happy Chandler: 1941, War Comics #4 (Dell). Happy Chandler, ace flyer, high spirited adventurer, is the two-fisted, danger-loving son of the president of the American Broadcasting Co. His reckless antics, while they have earned him the title of the modern Don Quixote, are a constant source of annoyance to the elder Nelson J. Chandler..."

Clock: 1936, Funny Pages #6 (Comics Magazines). One of the oldest comic heroes and published by enough companies to cast his ownership in doubt (one of which was Quality). Brian O'Brien was a wealthy young man falsely accused of killing his own father for the inheritance. While in prison he met up with "Pug" Pulaski and struck up a friendship with him. While talking with Pulaski, O'Brien realized that no one was going to bother to find the evidence to free him from this frame-up except himself. That resolved in his mind, the two of them escaped from the prison. As they searched for evidence of their innocence, they wore kerchief's to conceal their identities. It didn't take long to find the evidence that they needed to legally release them both from prison. Having freed himself, O'Brien realized that there must be many other people out there in need of help. He and Pulaski kept their kerchiefs and pursued the truth to help the innocent for many years.

After he switched companies, the Clock eventually got a new sidekick, an orphaned tomboy living on her own by the name of Butch who was determined to help him out and would marry him once she grew up.

Commando Ranger: 1943, Ranger Comics #13 (Fiction). The Commando Ranger is an Olympic champion able to k.o. a hewavy weight contender, a scientist-explorer who fought a plague in the Congo, a mysterious ace pilot, a sole survivor of a ship sunk by pirates in China seas and climber of Mount Everest. In Tibet, he spent two years mastering mind over matter where he hears the plea of those enslaved and is sent by the lamas back into the world. Which leads him to put on a mask and costume to help conquered countries fight the Nazis regime. His girlfriend is a leader of the underground known as La Bastille. He is willing to kill and leaves behind notes with a diagram of a winged dagger to identify his work. He doesn't show any overt powers while fighting the Nazis but he is coldly efficient, and handy with his winged knife. In the following issue, he wears more conventional dark clothing, with emblems of the dagger over his heart and army helmet and he's off to meet and help more beautiful women to fight the Nazis and their allies.

Crimson Rider: 1939, Jumbo Comics #9 (Fiction). The Crimson Rider is a masked rider all decked out in red. The Rider is really a beautiful woman, named Mary Bennon, her father killed by the villainous Payson gang. Even after being brought to justice, she continues as the Crimson Rider, helping out Wilton of the West and Snorty.