Abigail: 1947, Wow Comics #57. Abigail is an orphaned child of a WAC that died during the war. The WAC was a friend of Cherry Wade who also served and takes Abigail as a ward. Miss Wade buys and opens a boarding house to save up money to send her to boarding school. However, she told Abigail all about her friends Brian Butler and Pinky and their dual careers as Mr. Scarlet and Pinky. She develops a crush for Pinky and has Miss Wade make her a costume based on theirs (no mask and skirt instead of leggings). She helps them capture the Lady Killer, a dead gangster's gun moll and widow who once owned the house and was looking for loot that was hidden there.
Melody Ames: 1949, Cowboy Love #1. Melody Ames is a romantic and talented singing cowboy, hence his nickname of "Melody". He is helped in his endeavors by his non-stereotypical Mexican sidekick Pedro.
Atom Blake the Boy Magician: Wow Comics #1. Atom Blake is a scientific wizard, with all sorts of fantastic abilities. He is being raised by the Pages: Aunt Nora and Uncle Joe when he realizes he's not like the other kids. He's as strong as several men, fast, and a mental marvel. When he asks his Uncle Joe about it, he finds out that Joe was best friends with Stuart Blake and Blake left a coded message for Atom. Atom is able to read the code that tells him how his father and mother were scientists and creating a metal that was bonded with all the known elements and make the energy available to mankind. However, exposure to the rays given off kill an ape, and the Blakes realize that someone would have to be slowly treated to handle the rays. They begin the treatment on their son. The rest of the message outlining the source of the element and his parents' fate is missing. Also left for him, is a magical ring with an inscription in the same mathematical code as his father's message. All he has to do is make a wish, and the ring makes it happen, sort of a cross between Wonderboy, Green Lantern, and Ibis. He has all sorts of adventures with friends Janey Smart and Homer "Dusty" Davis.
Atom Blake's magic ring utilizes the energy of that his father created, sometimes called a sun energy and because of the treatments Blake underwent as an infant, he's able to control this energy and make it do all sorts of things such as turn dogs to stone. Although he does not wear a costume he takes pains to do his deeds secretly, his friend Dusty being the only one to know he has special abilities.
Balbo, Boy Wizard: 1942, Master Comics #32. In his first appearance, he and his father help out El Carim. In the following issue, he gets his own strip where his father Valdini is killed. Balbo continues as a stage magician in order to support his younger brother Buddy. He's assisted by the adult non-stereotypical African American John, and there's Trixy, the little white dog. He uses his stage craft to bring his father's murders to justice and solve other crimes.
Johnny Blair: 1943, Captain Midnight #10. Johnny's story starts off as a young teen that's gung ho about flying and wants to join the Army Air Force to fight in the War. Unlike most strips, he ages over the course of the stories, joins the Civil Air Patrol and has adventures, and finally enlisting and achieving his goal. After the War, he joins the Flying Police.
Buck Jones: Master Comics #7. Comic book western adventures based on the B-Western actor Buck Jones. At the time Buck Jones was probably as famous as Tom Mix or Roy Rogers and was licensed as a comic book character.
Bulletgirl: 1940, Nickel Comics #1 (as Susan Kent). Early on, Susan Kent is secretary to her police sgt father who is head of the local police (and a bit old school in the early issues, constantly demeaning the work of Jim Barr over the use of a rubber hose). Susan is the only one that seems to value the work of police scientist Jim Barr. When she discovers he is Bulletman, she decides she wants to help him combat crime. He makes a helmet and costume like his for her and they become a crime-fighting duo. She's a member of the Crime Crusaders Club. The helmet allows her to fly and repel bullets. As the stories progressed, her father came to appreciate the duo more and the stories suggested that he actually was aware of his daughter and police scientist's moonlighting activities.
Bulletman: 1940, Nickel Comics #1. Jim Barr's father is a police officer mortally wounded in the line of duty. On his death-bed, he gets young Jim to promise to become a cop when he grows up. As a lad he studies criminology and science to the point that he is able to use science to solve a crime which earns the frail lad the nickname of "Bullet" from his peers. When he fails to get on the force for being too short, thin and bad marksmanship he becomes a police scientist instead. He believes the criminal element is made into criminals by toxins in their brains and he comes up with a serum that will attack such toxins. Trying it out on himself, he discovers that it instead turns him into a super human, that his frail body has grown tall and muscular overnight and rid of all harmful germs and toxins. He chooses to keep the serum a secret, afraid that it would result in creating supercrooks instead of curing them. He then creates a helmet that allows him to fly and later repel bullets (actually the helmet attracts bullets to it instead of the body but why quibble). Originally slight of build, he wears oversized clothes to disguise the change in his build. Eventually he's partnered with the similarly garbed Bulletgirl, their dog Slug as Bulletdog thanks to a gravity collar. He's a member of the Crime Crusaders Club. In his early appearances, he obviously has close to GA Superman level super-strength and may or may not be bulletproof but the bullets do not bounce off his helmet. In later appearances, his strength is not noticeably super-human. NOTE: Comic aficionado's are quick to point out that Barr discovered the formula before puny Steve Rogers underwent a similar transformation to become Captain America.
Captain Kidd: A young boy wears a home made cape and goes around having adventures as Captain Kidd. A humor strip, the boy's age seems to vary with the stories as well as the level of seriousness of the stories. He's sometimes a young boy at other times possibly a young teen.
Captain Marvel: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. Newsboy Billy Batson lives on the streets after the death of his parents and being thrown out by his greedy uncle. One evening a stranger approaches him and takes him into the subway and on a fanciful train that transports him to the wizard Shazam. The wizard reveals he knows all about Billy and has chosen him to become a champion with abilities granted by gods and past champions. When Billy speaks the wizard's name he becomes the adult Captain Marvel. Cap has the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Hercules, the stamina of Atlas, the power of Zeus, the courage of Achilles, and the speed of Mercury. When as Captain Marvel he manages to stop the radio destroyer (Dr. Sivana), Billy is given a job as radio broadcaster. NOTE: Captain Marvel's face is based on actor Fred McMurray who would later appear as a Captain Marvel-esque hero in a dream sequence in a movie.
Captain Marvel, Junior: 1941, Whiz #24. During a battle with Captain Marvel, Captain Nazi is knocked unconscious into a lake where he is rescued by young Freddy Freeman and his grandfather. Nazi repays this kindness by killing the grandfather and almost killing Freddy if not for Captain Marvel. When doctors hold out no hope for Freddy's recovery, Billy takes him to the wizard who claims he can do nothing to change things, but Captain Marvel can grant a portion of his own power. Billy says Shazam and changes to Captain Marvel and Freddy awakens and speaks the hero's name. Suddenly Freddy is healed and costumed like Captain Marvel only in blue instead of red and a red cape instead of white. As Freddy, he is lame as a result of his injuries. NOTE: Captain Marvel Jr. marks the first attempt in comics to create a kid version of a hero that was not a side-kick. Also, he was not really marketed to the exact same audience as Captain Marvel in that his adventures were drawn more realistically initially by the incredible Mac Raboy. Junior has the almost unique problem of being unable to say his own name since it's the words "Captain Marvel" that trigger his change. The Fawcett villains Ibac and Sabbac share this affliction with their respective names.
Captain Midnight: 1938 on the radio. At Fawcett: 1942, Captain Midnight Comics. Captain Albright had served as Captain Midnight years ago comes out of his retirement now that his country needs him once more and does so as a costumed hero. His costume has a glider chute and he carries blackout bombs and a knife as well as leading his Secret Squadron made up of assistants Joyce Ryan, Chuck Ramsey, mechanic Ichabod "Ikky" Mudd, and two teenage sidekicks. Once when radioing them for help by "Calling S. S.! Captain Midnight calling S. S.!" he instead reached Fawcett's original aviator hero Spy Smasher.
Captain Venture. 1940, Nickel Comics #4. Sci-fi adventurer ala Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. He rescues Princess Zyra (aka The Planet Princess of the title of the strip), the last survivor of Earth colonists on the planet Saturn and they travel the spaceways.
Commando Yank: 1942, Wow Comics #6. War correspondent Chase Yale not only reports the news but puts on a loose fitting blue and gray costume to fight the enemy, sort of a working man's Captain America. When the war ended, the strip continued with him narrating his war-time adventures and he becomes a radio telebroacaster of the news, aired by Station WHIZ. But, like many of the patriotic heroes, he quickly faded from view now that his reason for being was gone.
Companions Three: 1940, Whiz Comics #15. Don, Spike, and Nifty are three pals. They possess not much money but an adventuresome spirit and good in a fight. Don is the dark wavy haired leader and a talented boxer, Spike is blond-haired and Nifty is the slightest of the bunch with slicked back dark hair.
Crime Crusaders Club: Master Comics 41. The Crime Crusaders Club met only the once and consisted of Bulletman, Bulletgirl, Captain Marvel Jr., and the Minute-Man. In it, Minute Man charges villains for bullets with which they have a limited amount of time to catch him and kill him.
Dan Dare: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. Dan Dare, Private Eye.
Devil's Dagger: 1940, Master Comics #1. To quote his own blurb: "Striking terror into the hearts of criminals in the city of Carterville is the shadowy figure famed as the Devil's Dagger! But only one person, Pat Gleason, knows that the mysterious gang smasher is, in real life, Ken Wyman, star reporter of the Carterville Daily Blade." Ken was born to wealthy parents but turned down a job at his father's bank, preferring to be a reporter to the chagrin of his fiance Sandra Cole. As a reporter he reports to City Editor Burton. As the Devil's Dagger, he wears a top hat, suit mask and red cape and Pat is his chauffeur driving the souped up Speed Ghost. His weapon of choice is a red-handled stiletto. In issue 20, he finally defeats the mastermind of crime, Mr. H and appears to retire from the crime-fighting, admitting to his boss his secret identity.
Diamond Jack: 1940, Slam-Bang #1. As described in the text of his first adventure: "Diamond Jack, in possession of a miraculous diamond given him by an old magician, becomes physically strong and mentally beyond all ordinary mortals. As instructed by the aged magician, Diamond Jack uses the wizardry of the magic gem to aid the worthy." In his first adventures, he is able to do all sorts of magical things such as turning bullets into flowers, healing a man mortally wounded, etc, making him more of a magician hero along the lines of Dr. Fate or Ibis than most reports on this obscure hero would lead to believe.. Later, his powers seem to have been downgraded, the ring allowing him to produce solid objects as well as giving him various Superman-like abilities: strength, invulnerability, super senses etc. Like Green Lantern the effects only lasted as long as he concentrated on them. However, he never wore a colorful costume which may be why he's not remembered by many nor has ever been revived outside of fan fiction. Which is a shame really.
Dr. Voodoo: Whiz Comics #7. In the jungles of Brazil, Dr. Hal Carey's parents gave their lives tending to the native headhunters, specifically a tribe appropriately called the Blancas, and raised their son Hal to take over for them. One day he meets Maxinya (translated as Heaven-Woman). Maxinya can talk with her massive jaguar Jappa. When he defeats the medicine man Okoro, he's made the leader of the Blancas tribe and called Dr. Voodoo because they think his medical skills to be magic. In issue #17, Maxinya is kidnapped by medieval style knights taken to their king and castle in the heart of Africa. First Voodoo defeats their best knight and then is sent into the past to retrieve the Golden Flask. In issue 34 he finds it but the strip ends there with him still in the past.
Jim Dolan: 1940, Slam-Bang #1. Former FBI agent and editor of Daring Detective Magazine. He solves unsolved cases for his magazine.
Don Winslow: For Fawcett: Don Winslow of the Navy. Before Fawcett, Winslow appeared in juvenile novels, big little books, a radio show, movie serial and a newspaper strip. Publishers before Fawcett reprinted the strips, but Fawcett offered new material though pitting him against some of the same enemies. Jess Nevins: Don Winslow. Don Winslow, a WW1 vet, was an agent of naval intelligence who was assigned to handle the major individual threats to world peace. He was assisted in this task by his friend, the squat and portly Lieutenant Red Pennington; Winslow's girlfriend was Mercedes Colby, the daughter of Winslow's commanding officer, Admiral Colby.
El Carim: 1940, Master Comics #1. One of those turban wearing stage magician detectives who seem to possess real magic ability.. In the early issues, he seems to straddle the fence of using real magic and using devices that might be meant to mimic magic such as his spectrograph that takes a name and then shows a scene of that person on his monocle. It can be used to also place the location of the scene. His monocle also attracts and deflects a bullet in the first story ala Bulletman's helmet. Eventually, the science-fiction/magical inventions don't appear any more. El Carim is assisted by the lovely Gladys who's picked up a few tricks of her own. On one case (Master Comics #22), he helps out the "Little People Of the Mountain" ie Gnomish Dwarfs along the lines of Snow White whose leader is Rumpilstiltskin. They reward him with a cart of gold, so he's not hurting for money.
In issue 15, he's visited by Wizzar, the father of all magic and thus a master of El Carim. Wizzar only appears when some crime against the dead has been committed and he needs El Carim to address it. In this case, it's not even on Earth but some far off planet.
Elephant Queen: 1940, Master Comics #7. When her father is murdered by the Leopard Men, this young woman is taken in by Togo, the leader of a herd of elephants and she soon becomes the Elephant Queen, ruling over the herd and able to command them. She seeks out the Jungle King to help her with the raiding Leopard Men.
Flyin' Fool: 1941, Master Comics #16. Apparently a somewhat popular name that circulated around at this time (see the F section of the general GA heroes for the more famous one). In this case the heroic pilot is Larry Dean and ran in the text pages of the comic. Larry was a Yank pilot flying for the English before America entered the war and his commander was Major Pelton who gave him the moniker. He knows a little of the German language as his mother was born there.
Frontier Marshall: 1940, Master Comics 1. Bill Crane is the marshall of the town of Big Savage
Golden Arrow: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. Professor Paul Parsons develops a revolutionary gas and he and his wife are killed for the secret. His infant son Roger is raised by a prospector Nugget Ned, keeping his identity a secret less a similar fate befalls him. Being raised in the wilderness, Roger grows up strong, quick and eagle-eyed. And as it's the American wilderness, he becomes proficient with the bow and arrow. On his deathbed, Nugget Ned tells Roger about his real family and their deaths. As the Golden Arrow he avenges his father's death and goes on fighting crime. Originally, the series seemed to be set in the Old West but later it became apparent that it was in the present day of the 1940s such as when he appears in a War Bond Drive in a Captain Marvel story.
Penny Graves: 1944, Wow Comics #22. Penny gave up a promising stage career to do her part for the War effort as a WAC. She works her way up to being a LieutenantAfterwards, she joins the State Department, becoming an ace detective and anti-spy operative. Her boss is Craig Marshall. She is described first as having black hair and later as having auburn hair. She is quick witted and daring as well as being a good detective. In one adventure, she exhibits a talent at ventriloquism. Marshall is described as having iron-gray hair and large hands. She also gets a special assignment to clean up the racketeering and crimes in Ocean City and there, she reports toss Ben Morgan, Chief of Police. Text stories.
Hoodoo Hannigan: 1942, Master Comics #29. Hoodoo Hannigan runs the traveling circus South Seas Floating Carnival in the South Pacific. Which sets them against the Japanese who destroy the circus on Luaca Island. He is nicknamed ‘Hoodoo’ because he's bad luck's favorite son. He is assisted by circus strong man Atlas Jones, Chee-Chee the monkey and the beautiful trick rider Dawn Wade who's Hoodoo's girlfriend (so his luck cannot be all bad).
Hoppy the Marvel Bunny: Funny Animals #1. A Captain Marvel funny animal rabbit.
Hunchback: 1941, Wow Comics #2.. Playboy Alan Lanier puts on the horrific costume of a hunchback to track down and eradicate crime.
Hurricane Hansen: 1940, Slam-Bang Comics #1. This red-headed young man is a two-fisted yankee skipper for the British navy.
Ibis the Invincible: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. In 12th Dynasty Egypt Prince Amentep wields the magic wand, the Ibistick and uses it to fight evil. When his love Princess Taia in Prince Amentep is put in a deep sleep that will last centuries, Ibis puts himself in a like sleep and awakens in mummy rags in an American museum. He clothes himself in modern clothes though with a turban and then tracks down Taia and awakens her. The duo decide to continue his fight against crime and mystical evils in the present day. The Ibistick could originally do most anything Ibis commands ie create food, restore buildings. Also, should it fall in his enemy's hands, any command given to harm Ibis will be visited upon the wielder instead. It will glow in the presence of evil and was later given a weakness against black magic.
Jon Jarl: Space policeman of the year 2261 AD.
Jungle King: 1940, Slam-Bang Comics #1. Lee Granger is a brilliant scientist in addition to being an adventurer, a very Doc Savage-like hero. He travels to Africa to help out a native pygmy tribe there, and helps them build a modern city and defend themselves against marauders. His partner is Eric, a lion he has taken and given human intelligence and the ability to speak.
Jungle Twins: 1940, Nickel Comics #1. When one jungle lord is not enough, there's Bill and Steve Dale fighting evil wherever they find it. When the two were babies, their parents' expedition to Africa is attacked. Bill is able to be rescued by a native and taken back to civilization, leaving the other to surely perish. When Bill grows up, he travels back to Africa to investigate rumors of a jungle-man by the name of Sti-vah whom he thinks is his twin. He's accompanied by Dagoo, faithful pygmy who can charm animals by playing music on his pipes. Bill finds Steve in a hidden land where natives and fauna are giant versions of the outside world and whose land is bordered by a phehistoric caveman race. Steve is recognized as king of this land, ruler of the 12 foot tall natives. Bill recognizes the normal-sized Steve by a cross-shaped scar on his chest. Along the way they meet up with crooked white men, the pretty Janna and Bill convinces Steve to travel back to civilization where he has the usual trouble fitting in (preferring raw meat to cooked, thinking the ship's captain tries to poison him when offered a cigar, etc). To the point, the twins return to Africa with Dagoo but not Janna. An interesting strip done in a serial style, chapters ending on cliffhangers.
Lance O’Casey: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. Helped by his pet monkey Mr. Hogan, Lance is an adventurer sailing the South Seas. For a while he hangs out with an old two-fisted sea salt with long white hair and beard called Cap'n Doom and a female monkey friend for Mr. Hogan called Mabel. Later, Lance's mate is Mike
Lucky Lawton: Slam-Bang Comics#1. Lawton is one of those cowboy sheriffs. He is accompanied by a collie named Pal.
Mary Marvel: Captain Marvel Adventures #18. Twin sister of Billy Batson, Mary is raised by the rich Bromfields neither knowing the existence of the other. Coincidentally, Billy receives a death bed confession of the nurse that kidnapped Mary the same day that Billy meets Mary while he's hosting a spelling bee. When thugs kidnap her, Billy is captured and gagged while trying to rescue her. Mary says the magic word, "Shazam" and becomes a female version of Captain Marvel. The wizard reveals that she gets her powers from Selena (Grace), Hippolyta (Strength), Ariadne (Skill), Zephyrus (Speed), Aurora (Beauty), Minerva (Wisdom). Despite the fact that ole Zep is a male deity.
Extended Marvel Family:
Lt. Marvels: Whiz Comics #21. Three unrelated Billy Batsons (Tall Billy, Fat Billy and Hill Billy) discover that they too can can get super powers by shouting "SHAZAM." Reasoning that there can be only one Captain Marvel, they decide that they must be lieutenants and should only do so if the danger is great enough to need all of them thus they only become the Lt. Marvels by shouting Shazam in unison. This was Fawcett's first attempt at duplicating the Captain Marvel concept.
Uncle Marvel: Uncle Dudley is really a fake. He found Mary's diary and learned her secrets. He made up a costume that he wore under his clothes (rigged with zippers so he could change quickly). He would say, "Shazam" with the Marvel family and change under the flash and cloud of smoke generated by the magic lightening of the others. His better nature ultimately won out and he ultimately revealed himself to have a heart of gold and runs Shazam, Inc., a non-profit organization. He possessed no powers himself and The Marvel family is aware of his sham but don't let on. And, it was Uncle Marvel who actually outsmarts Black Adam!
Tawky Tawny: 1947. As a tiger cub his mother is shot and he was raised by a missionary's son Tom Todd. When a killer tiger is stalking the area he's given a a formula by a hermit that boosts his intelligence, and evolves his vocal cords and musculature so that he can talk and walk upright. He tracks down and defeats the real killer tiger. Eventually the Todds leave and he lives with the hermit who tells him stories of America. He stows away on a ship, but when he gets here he finds people are scared of a tiger running loose and keeps running into a big bully in a red suit. Eventually, Tawny and Captain Marvel iron out the misunderstanding.
Freckles Marvel: Uncle Dudley's niece Mary "Freckles" Dudley is a friend of Mary Marvel. She sometimes wore a Mary Marvel outfit and called herself "Freckles Marvel", but she never pretended to have SHAZAM powers like Uncle Dudley and is not regarded as a true member of the Marvel Family.
Master Man: 1940, Master Comics #1. A doctor gives a weak boy a capsule "full of vitamins, containing every source energy known to man!" This vitamin makes him the strongest man on Earth and he builds himself a castle on a mountain to watch over the world and combat evil as it occurs. Master Man predates Captain Marvel but has many similar powers. His name was later co-opted by Roy Thomas for his Captain Nazi villain in the Marvel comic THE INVADERS.
Minute Man: 1941, Master Comics #11. Son of Robert Weston who died 20 years earlier, Jack Weston is summoned to the office of his guardian General Wilton. With war looming, Jack receives a special commission, to become the costumed Minute Man to fight spies and saboteurs and other menaces to America at a minute's notice. He joins the US Army as a lowly private and only General Wilton knows his secret. He has no powers.
Mr. Clue: 1940, Master Comics #1. Mr. Clue is an ace detective of such a degree that his motto is that it often only takes one clue to solve a crime.
Mr. Scarlet & Pinky: 1940, Wow Comics #1. DA Brian Butler is the hard-hitting crime fighter Mr. Scarlet. He's strong, agile, and acrobatic. As done by Jack Kirby, Mr. Scarlet is a little more hard-boiled and almost Satanic looking in costume. However, done by others he looks a bit more like a swashbuckler, not helped by taking on a sidekick with the unfortunate name Pinky. Mr. Scarlet also carries a ray gun that he rarely uses, usually relying on his wits and fighting ability. Pinky belongs to the type of sidekick who has the same name in costume as out: Dusty, Bucky being just two others. Mr. Scarlet is also assisted by his secretary, Miss Cherry Wade, who knows who he is which is something else that distinguishes him a bit from his costumed counterparts.
Morton Murch: 1940, Master Comics #1.Morton Murch is a hillbilly from the hills of West Virginia and makes himself a home-made hot-air balloon that makes him a laughingstock of his hometown. But, it takes him to the floating island kingdom of Felicia where he introduces aviation and becomes a national hero in fighting for their causes. It earns him the admiration and affection of their Queen Silva.
Nyoka, Jungle Girl: 1932, The Land of Hidden Men (Edgar Rice Burroughs); 1941, Jungle Girl (Republic), 1942, Perils of Nyoka (Republic), and Jungle Girl #1 (Fawcett). Another licensed property, based on the "Jungle Girl" movie serials which was in turn supposedly based on a book by Edgar Rice Burroughs (In reality, the studios only used the name of the story, the character has nothing to do with ERB's story). Nyoka was one of the few jungle girls not raised in the wild and to actually wear traditional safari outfits as opposed to revealing fur bikini wear. Despite that obvious drawback, she proved to be a capable and popular heroine.
Rick O'Shay: Master Comics #1. Pretty much the standard adventurer. He is assisted by the Arabian Mekki.
Phantom Eagle: 1940, Wow Comics #6. Youth Mickey Malone wants to fight the Germans so bad he builds his own plane. Eventually he's joined by other fliers making up the Phoenix Squadron. After the war he seeks the Golden Chalice which holds the secret of the Formula for Peace. The Phoenix Squadron is made up of Pierre (France), Hendrik Voorhees (Holland), Sven (Norway), Josef (Poland), Hans (Denmark), Nickolas (Greece), Pierre of France, Hendrik Voorhees of Holland, and their girl pal Jenny.
Radar: 1944, Captain Marvel #35. Pep Pepper is descended from circus folks and inherited the abilities of his strongman acrobat father and mind reader mother along with a clairvoyant "radar vision." Pep doesn’t wear a costume, but a reversible trench coat and fedora. He was actually created as a propaganda piece for the military.
The Red Gaucho: 1940, Nickel Comics #4. The Gaucho is born in South America of Yankee parents and becomes a modern day Zorro fighting European enemies in the Americas.
Shipwreck Roberts: 1940, Master Comics #1. As his name suggests, Roberts is a seafaring adventurer operating mainly in the South Pacific. He's sidekicked by the portly Doodle.
Red Skye: 1942, Captain Midnight Comics #1 (Fawcett). Tommy "Red" Skye is an American pilot. Before America's involvement in World War II, he flew with the R.A.F. He served throughout the War fighting various menaces. Afterwards, he became a heroic pilot of a helicopter, using it to start a cropdusting business as well as putting out fires. NOTE: Red appeared in text stories for several years.
Streak Sloan: Master Comics #1. Boy newsreel reporter, explorer and detective.
Robert "Scoop" Smith: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. Two-fisted ace reporter.
Spooks: 1941, Wow Comics. Professor Oscar Willard died and the Keeper of the Gate allowed him to come back to Earth to prevent evil with the aid of a cherubic angel called Bensonhurst. Only thing is, he's a spectral skeleton with glasses, bow tie and pipe. He needs to take over recently unoccupied, i.e. dead, bodies to do anything. A humor strip mostly but with similarities of the much later Deadman of DC.
Spy Smasher: 1940, Whiz Comics #2. Virginian Alan Armstrong is the fiance of Eve Corby, daughter of Admiral Corby. When spies threaten, he puts on a costume of brown (later green) shirt, safari pants and aviator cowl and goggles to fight them as the Spy Smasher. His first major foe was the Mask, who actually managed to brainwash him into taking on Captain Marvel. Eventually Eve discovered his secret. He flies the Gyrosub, an airplane, submarine, boat combination vehicle.
Mark Swift: Slam-Bang Comics #1. Mark Swift and friend Rodney Kent use Kent's Time Retarder to travel through time and have all sorts of adventures
War Bird: 1940, Slam-Bang Comics #1. Tom Sharp is an American mail pilot who enlists to fly in the Orient and then the Spanish Air Force and then with the French in the early days of World War II. By the start of his strip he's on the Western Front and Captain of the Eagle Squadron.
Warlock the Wizard: 1940, Nickel Comics #1. Billed as the last of the White Magicians, Warlock used a trunk filled with magical items to fight otherworldly menaces. Chief among them is his "golden hand", a magic wand topped with a fist with which he can use the magic word "Abraxas" to call forth a giant disembodied golden-hand to do his bidding and othe magic spells. In the first story he has no inherent magic ability without the wand, but in the second he still is able to cast some spells. Among his other tools are a spool of thread that he can use to lead him out of a maze and a "magic lamp of the gods" that casts thunderbolts strong enough to kill demons (and seems possibly stronger than the magic wand though not as handily carried around). People tend to give Warlock a wide berth as his reputation and attire are strange. He's alerted to evil going ons by his raven Hugin (the name of one of Odin's ravens).
White Rajah: 1940, Master Comics #1. As a young boy, David Scott is out riding when his horse falls to its death in a deep chasm. Young David is saved by a large white elephant whom he names "Sin-Gee" meaning "big elephant". David is hopelessly lost nor is his father able to find him and heartbroken, his father leaves India forever to return to England. David grows to be an able bodied youth of the jungle, and his fame and reputation grows to the point that he is invited to the country of Ramistan where he is recognized as the uncrowned king of the local jungles. Thanks to his bravery and services rendered to the country, he is soon crowned as the successor to the king who has grown old and has no heirs.
Zoro: Slam-Bang Comics. Man of mystery, he uses all his strength and wits to fight evil and crime. Has a sword cane which he can use to deadly effect and a pet cheetah called Cheeta. Zoro doesn't show any overt abilities, but he has a habit of disappearing quickly when needing to, knowledge of a vast amount of subjects such as how to destroy real zombies. He's well known enough for tackling strange crimes, that people seek him out. He is referred to as Mystery Man at times.