This was originally a catchall page for some different types of heroes and characters that don't get much play. Both Volto and Captain Tootsie hawked some food products as the source of their abilities. Sally the Sleuth... well, she's kind of the stand-in for the strips that appeared in various pulps, especially the "Spicy" line.
For additions, corrections, questions, email me! cash_gorman@yahoo.com
Captain Tootsie chronicled the adventures of a hero who received power from Tootsie Rolls and carried a supply of them in the ..um.. man-purse he's carrying. Art by studio of C.C. Beck giving him that gosh-wow innocence of Captain Marvel. He eventually graduated from short strips to two issues of his own book in 1950..
Captain Tootsie & The Haunted House
Captain Tootsie vs The Monster Man
Captain Tootsie vs Dr. Narfsty
Captain Tootsie and the log jam
Captain Tootsie and the Runaway Horse
Captain Tootsie and the Sailplane
Dynamo Tom Obviously, the art is from the Beck studio if not the man himself. The ad is along the lines of the Charles Atlas ads, though the process here seems to have turned Tom into a bully and gains him the interest of a girl who wants a man who can dish it out as well take it (making her quite shallow and marking her for the future wife of an abuser I would guess). The name is taken from the headline of the strip and the "hero" whose first name is Tom.
Dynamo Tom - Jungle Comics #146, 1952
Flyingman Top of matchbox. Sincere Match Factory is a company out of Malaysia which is where Port Swettenham (now Port Klang) is located. Given the slight build, obviously a pic of Captain Marvel, Jr., colored red and given curly hair. This area was formerly under British rule and the Marvel Family was popular with British readers, spawning several imitators such as Marvelman when Fawcett lost the lawsuit to National and folded their comics division in the early 1950s and Malaysiadesignarchive.org has this under their post-1957 section.
A slightly different color scheme for the inside cape and bottom half of boots.
Old Nick: 1948, Pep Comics #66 (Schutters/MLJ).
RC and Quickie appear to be an adventure strip starring a school athlete. Sometimes Quickie appears to be a young kid, but in the second strip here he seems to be about the same age as RC. The strips were advertisements for RC Cola (a Southern tradition is to drink them along with a snack of a moon-pie).
Sally the Sleuth appeared in these mini-comics in various pulps from the Spicy line such as Spicy Detective Stories (where this one came from) from about 1934-1953. A good little run. Her cases usually resulted in her clothes being torn leaving her in various stages of undress. Many of the comics read as the last act of a longer story. Although some were several pages and not quite so lascivious.
Sally Sleuth and the Avenging Corpse
U.S. Royal: Late 1940s-1950s, Various (U.S. Royal Tires). U.S. is a deputy in Elm City and a mentor to the Elm City Bicycle Club, a group of bicycling youths. Royal's own bicycle happens to be rocket powered which he makes use of to round up bad guys. He's good with a lasso as well. While espouses the virtues of good tires, he doesn't promote safety as neither him nor the kids wear helmets.
Volto, the magnetic man from Mars, appeared in various comics. While his magnetic powers were indeed formidable they apparently could only be recharged through eating Grape Nuts Flakes. Of note, Frank Robbins, the love him or hate him artist of Marvel's 1970's THE INVADERS comic and as well as newspaper strips Green Hornet and Scorchy Smith did a few of these tales.
Volto and the Diamond Bandits from Thrilling Comics #50, provided by Nigel Cantwell at the yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/betternedor/
