Mystery Men & Women:

The K's

  K the Unknown: See The Black Owl
  K-5: see K-51.
  K-7: 1939, Secret Agent K-7 (Radio series). 1941, Miracle Comics #1 (Hillman). K-7 is a top agent, aided by Yvonne Durrell, aide and possible romantic interest (as is the wont of OTR heroes).
  K-9: 1941, Dynamic Comics #1 (Chesler). K-9, "a police dog, run over by a cruel driver, is adopted by Tip Starr and his detective brother Dick Starr". Tip is just a kid. Dick Starr is killed by the villainous Black Terror in the third issue.
  K-51: 1939, Wonder Comics #1 (Fox Features). K-51 is a master spy for America. He is helped in many cases by his fiance Claire who is the spy Z-19. In his first appearance, he was simply K-5.
  K.O.: 1945, K-O Komics #1(Gerona). Presumably, this pseudo Simon & Kirby-esque hero is really good with his fists. If the cover isn't symbolic, he is able to grow to fantastic size. Appeared only on the cover.

Kaanga: Jungle Comics #1 (Fiction). One of the most successful of the comic book Tarzan wannabes, Kaanga is a white boy orphaned when his family and the members of their expedition are slaughtered in the Congo. The boy is adopted and raised by a tribe of "ape-men". As an adult, he meets up with a group of white explorers who re-educate him in their ways and he falls in love with one of them, Ann Mason. The pair marry and live in the jungles fighting all sorts of evil from rogue animals, witch doctors, smugglers, poachers, and Germans.
  Kalkor: 1941, Fantastic Comics#22 (Fox). Kalkor was to be a high priest of Isis when Nagana sets her sights on him to rule Thebes beside her. He faces off against her, remaining faithful to Isis and the temple and city is destroyed. But, instead of dying, Nagana became a statue and is found in the modern day. When she comes back to life after 3,000 years, Isis returns him to life to fight her. He takes on the identity of John Kerry. While he wears street clothes as John Kerry, when he goes into super-heroic action he wears Egyptian styled garb. Like Nagana he has vague supernatural abilities.
  Kid Kane: 1946, Atomic Comics #4? (Green). A heroic boxer who joins up with the Army and has all sorts of adventures. His pal and manager is the cigar smoking Denny. Note: Atomic Comics contained reprints from various comics, so unsure of the source of this story or it might be original to the comic.
  Larry Kane: 1940, Amazing Mystery Funnies #18 (Centaur) OR The Arrow #1 (Centaur). Globetrotting adventurer.
  Rod "Kayo"Kane: 1943, All New Comics #1 (Family/Harvey). Rod Kane is a logger for the Northmill Lumber Company who is also a very good boxer. He is helped by his best friend Mason.
  Ted Kane: 1945, Witty Comics #1 (Irwin H. Rubin). Two-fisted heroic lumberjack. A relettering and re-coloring of Big Red McLane.
  Kangaroo Man: 1941, Choice Comics #1 (Great Publications). Explorer and daredevil Jack Brian tours Australia and America fighting the bad guys with the aid of Bingo the Kangaroo, whom he has trained to understand his gestures and commands. Bingo is like many comicbook animals and has intelligence and personality approximating a human being, to the point that he can even operate a motorcycle. Readers are also privy to his thoughts
  Kara, Jungle Princess: 1945, Exciting Comics #39 (Better). American Jane Howell ruled a jungle kingdom of immortals with the help of her army boyfriend Major Kit.
  Celeste Karloff: 1952, Strange Terrors #1 (St. John Publishing). Celeste is a renamed Marietta who in turn was a reworked Lady Satan from a modified Lady Satan story..
  Ken Keen: 1940, Silver Streak Comics #3 (Lev Gleason). Captain Ken Keen is part of the Planet Patrol, peace keepers of the solar system in the future. He's helped by "Nirma, the Martian beauty."
  Inspector Keene: 1948, Super-Mystery Comics v7n4 (Ace). Ace detective watsoned by a man named Ryan, the two were in at least one mini can-you-solve-it mysteries.
  Clue Kelly: 1945, Crown Comics #1 (McCombs). Clue is a P.I. He's assisted by Chubby Wilcox and his girl is the blonde Lottie.
  Duke Kelly: See the Duke.
  Kit Kelly: 1944, Captain Flight #4 (Four Star). Big game hunter. When an African uprising inspires movie director John Abbott to bring his starlett Joan Sarret to film on location, they hire Kelly as their guide. Of course, they end up getting into the middle of the uprising. Kit captures the leader and Abbott scares off the rest through trickery, casting images of an approaching army against a cliff wall. They offer to make him a star but he prefers Africa.
  Kitty Kelly: 1942, Punch Comics1 (Chesler). Attractive airline hostess. In some tales she's a raven-haired brunette and others a blonde. Either way, she's resourceful and brave.

Kitty Kelly: 1946, Red Seal Comics #17 (Harry "A" Chessler). In times of danger and stress, Kitty Kelly became super-strong.

NOTE: There's a convoluted history regarding the name leading to some confusion with the character and another by the name of Yankee Girl. In Punch Comics 1 & 2, 1941-42, there was an adventure strip about an attractive airline hostess by the name of Kitty Kelly. The name would show up again in 1945, in Captain Flight Comics where some of the stories were reprinted. In 1946, Harry "A" Chessler, who published Punch Comics, would put out another Kitty Kelly with a costume and super-powers in Red Seal Comics 17. However, she did not go by the name of Yankee Girl. To further complicate matters, in Dynamic Comics #23 (sometime in the mid-40's), Chessler would publish another super-powered heroine called Yankee Girl but with the secret identity of Lauren Mason and not an airline hostess.
  Richard Kendall: 1939, Mystery Men Comics #1 (Fox). Richard Kendall is hired by Atlas Construction to serve as a detective investigating foul play. This brings him into conflict with Chen Chang who desires conquest over white man's civilizations. Some of the stories indicate that Kendall is English.
  John Kendrick: 1946, Atoman #1 (Spark Publications). Crusading District Attorney, possibly his only appearance.
  Dick Kent: 1936, Funny Picture Stories #1 (Comics Magazine Company). Dick is a brave two fisted man of adventure who specializes in combatting weird menaces such as a floating city with a super explosive,  a mad Surgeon and his hulking "monster man" assistant, or a lost race of men.
  Tom Kerry: 1940, Big Shot #1 (Columbia). Tom Kerry is a crusading District Attorney, willing and capable of using a gun as he is the law in bringing crooks to justice. He also claims to regularly wear a bullet-proof vest.
  The Key: 1944, Key Comics #1 (Consolidated). Years earlier, Dr. Jeffrey Quick was given a magic key by a Native American tribe in Oklahoma. The key glows in the presence of evil (criminals, crimes being committed, etc). He keeps it on a silken cord which he can throw around a crook's neck and use as a garrote. He is aided by Palo, a member of the tribe that had bestowed the key to Quick. While he talks a bit in stilted Tonto-speak, he is portrayed as being intelligent and capable as well as wearing regular clothes (albeit flannel shirts to suggest his Western bringing) and colored brown as opposed to bright red. Neither Quick nor Palo wear masks or costumes. Quick had been in operation as the Key prior to the first issue, but this is when Palo visits him and helps him out. Issue 3 of Key Comics changes the characters a bit. For the Key, there's no mention of Palo or the magic key. Quick is called a keymaster and has a huge collection of keys and relates a story behind one with a death's head, a story of a mission he undertook in 1940 for the American government. He sports a pencil-thin mustache in this issue. The final issue reveals him to be a surgeon and had volunteered to be in the French Foreign Legion as a surgeon (and implies it to be the 1920s which makes him a quite bit older than he looks).
  Kid Crusaders: 1946, Atoman #1 (Spark Publications). At the Hotel Harmony are the Kid Crusaders, three kids who like adventure and fight criminals. They are Fisty, the blonde newsboy who speaks in Brooklyn-esque slang; Freckles, the tall (and oldest?) red-headed bellhop; and Ginger, the rich girl who lives at the hotel and possibly the youngest. To the hotel detective McGonigle whom they upstage, they are little more than pests. Apparently, their only appearance.
Kid Terrific: 1944, Terrific Comics #1 (Continental). A two-fisted adventurer who fights the Axis with the aid of a street urchin named Jimmie.
  Kid Tyrant: 1942, Target Comics v3#1 (Funnies/Novelty). Ragsy Murphy is a comicbook fan and actually puts on a costume of his favorite hero, Tyrant and is quickly named "Kid Tyrant". He has no powers but he's good with his fists.
Ace King: 1933, The Adventures of Ace King #1 (Humor Publishing Co.,). This suave detective was billed as "the American Sherlock Holmes" which suggests he's a private detective of some sorts.
Sergeant Bill King: 1940, Exciting Comics #1 (Better Publications). Sergeant Bill King is a British soldierin Europe fighting the Nazis.
  Sir Oliver King: 1940, The Arrow #1 (Centaur). Sir Oliver King is a wealthy English adventurer and detective out of Liverpool who travels to Singapore to bring back his long-lost boy Roger. He must fight bad guys all along the way.
  Rex King: see Black Fury III
  Steve King: 1939, Amazing Mystery Funnies v2 #10 (Centaur). Adventurer and soldier of fortune Steve King was a steadfast enemy of the Chinese warlord and conquerer Wu Fang.
  King Anthony: 1940, Cyclone Comics #1 (Holyoke). Anthony Conrad is in the Arctic with his father and expedition. But, he gets lost during a storm and falls through a hole, the "lake of destiny". He arrives in the land of Artica and a medieval styled country complete with a large dinosaur type lizard. The king is old and dying and is originally from the outside world like Anthony so hopes to make Anthony his successor. To do that, Anthony must pass various physical tests: out wrestle the strongest man of the land, outshoot the best archer and kill the Beaked Tyros, the giant lizard of Artica's jungles.
  Reef Kinkaid: 1940, Amazing-Man Comics #12 (Centaur). Reef Kinkaid is a gentleman adventurer and soldier of fortune. In his first adventure, he is strong enough to break iron chains. In issue #15, when he hears of a lost expedition that discovered a "Lost World", he and Kobo (apparently a South American native) outfit a native safari to find the missing Doctor Lang and Lang's daughter Marian. He returns and has adventures all over the globe. He also has as an assistant on at least one adventure a young man known as Ahkmed, a good sailor and fighter as well.
King of the Beasts: 1944, Yellowjacket #1 (Frank Communale). An animal trainer for the Circus, he got involved in the standard adventures for heroes of his type. The costume pictured only appeared on the cover. He was otherwise a non-costumed character.
King of Darkness: 1941, Amazing-Man Comics #24 (Centaur). Bruce King invents a Black Zero transmitter, a device that emits fields of both black light and intense cold. Developing a suit that protects him from his own device, he uses it fight crime. He later also finds a way to negate gravity. Sgt. Burke at first is told to bring him in and tries to prove that Bruce King is the King of Darkness. However, he also thinks Bruce is the hero and sends him info. Eventually, it seems that Burke is in on the secret.
  Kayo Kirby: 1940, Fight Comics #1 (Fiction House). Red "Kayo" Kirby is a prize firghter who gets involved in various intrigues that usually center around the boxing ring and sports
  Clipper Kirk: 1940, Wings Comics #1 (Fiction House). Lt. Clipper Kirk starts off as a flyer and seems to be part of the Canadian navy. He soon finds himself stationed in England and flying missions where eventually he's regularly referred to as being British.  During this time, he is stationed on the aircraft carrier H.M.S. Vengeance which allow the story to take place almost anywhere the plot demands. At times he is said to be a leader of his own squadron. His girlfriend is the dark-haired Tonia.  For his post-War career see Phantom Falcon (II).
  Inspector Kirk of Scotland Yard: 1947, Manhunt #1 (Magazine Enterprises). Inspector Ronald Kirk is an ace detective and solves unusual and sometimes macabre cases, such as the axe wielding Executioner, or a man that looks like a walking cadaver that roams the streets in a horse drawn hearse to hunt down the individual members of the family that tortured him.
Kismet: 1944, Bomber Comics #1 (Elliott Publishing). AKA Man of Fate, Kismet fights the Nazis with the wisdom and fighting ability given to him by Allah and his Prophet.
Knights of the Road: 1941, Amazing Man Comics #25 (Centaur). Repenting his misspent youth, young millionaire John "Hobo" Harper gives the rest of his inheritance to a worthy charity and becames a hobo aka a "knight of the road". By strange instinct he finds fellow travelers who are willing to join him as champions of justice. Traveling by rail, they have adventures and right various wrongs. Among his fellow knights are Baldy (a carnival strong man), youth Billy Barton, and Crisco Yates (one time vaudeville actor, short and plump but a real scrapper and seems to know a little judo)..
  Bob Kodar: 1946, Silver Streak #23 (Lev Gleason). Bob is an veteran of the War and tougher than he looks. He looks a bit bookish but is actually as good a fighter as he is a detective. After his discharge, he smashes a Nazi crime ring down in South America for his pal and coffee plantation owner Juan Rotunda.
  Koko: 1936. Funny Pages #6 (Comics Magazine Co/Centaur/Chesler). Koko is an African lad, son of a chief. He is particularly bothersome to the chief so that when he runs away and joins up with the explorer Bill Breen, the chief doesn't mind. In fact he hopes maybe Koko will learn something. Note: Not sure if this is the actual first appearance, as the story seems to indicate an earlier chapter, but no notice that it had appeared in The Comics Magazine/Funny Pages before this. The strip itself is in rhyme, everyone talks it. The African characters are sadly drawn in what would be considered a very racist manner.
  Kon Fu: 1940, Doc Savage Comics (Street and Smith). Dr. Kon Fu is a young Chinese man in San Francisco's Chinatown where he uses his skills and knowledge of his heritage to fight for his people against oppression and magic. In a hidden cellar, he has a "Temple of Magic" devoted to the Green Goddess who can come alive and give advice when Kon Fu prays to her.
  Keri Krane: 1948, Charlie Chan #3? (Prize). Keri's sister was a policewoman killed in the line of duty. She continues the good fight, not by joining the force but by creating the Phoenix Detective Agency and staffing it with some of the best detectives of the country. The agency doesn't do standard shadowing delinquent husbands and such but specializes in cases of murder. Her lead investigator seems to be Andy, a would-be boyfriend. Keri is handy with a gun. Done by Dick Briefer.
  Koroo: 1940, Cyclone Comics #1 (Holyoke). "Koroo is a most unusual lion for instead of being tawny in color, he is black from his fierce bushy mane to his long tufted tail. Superstitious natives believe him to be an evil spirit, but to the other denizens of the jungle, Koroo is the monarch - king of all he surveys.."
  Captain Ku: 1941, Tip Top Comics v5n10 (58) (United Features). A suave Chinese secret agent who takes the orphan lad Frankie Doodle under his wing as Frankie has shown his value in helping Captain Ku solve various cases such as capturing the Stinging Wasps. Ku’s valet is Ling Pow. NOTE: Captain Ku appeared in the newspaper strip “Frankie Doodle” which ran from 1934 to 1938. The strip was reprinted in Tip Top Comics.
  Connie Kurridge: 1927, Connie (newspaper strip - Ledger Syndicate). Unlike Flyin' Jenny, Connie didn't start out as having interest in a life in aviation and adventure. But, in 1929, she put behind her flapper ways, donned flying togs and took to the air and never looked back. She was an extemely capable pilot that served her in good stead as her adventures ventured into the realms of fantastic and science fiction.