I wanted to make a list of my favorite material from the Golden Age, and I was curious about everyone else's . I have a strong preference for superhero books, and for concepts that are strikingly different (because, let's face it, a lot of Golden Age material was paint by numbers). Anyway, here's my list:
1) William Moulton Marston's run on Wonder Woman- I love it because it's so radically feminist that it's way ahead of its time. The way that Marston plays with bondage themes and turns gender roles on their heads makes his method of writing for feminism unique to this very day. In a lot of ways, Wonder Woman follows the superhero formula of the day, but the ways in which her adventures differ are a breath of fresh air. It's definitely a revolutionary work and shows why Wonder Woman survived while many other Golden Age heroines were lost in time.
2) Anything by Fletcher Hanks- I love it all: Stardust, Fantomah, Tabu, and Space Smith. Hanks must have been a consummate misanthrope with a wild imagination. His concepts and the pace of his stories remind me of a Silver Age Jack Kirby- if Jack Kirby hated everything. Hanks and his heroes were absolutely brutal in a way that will either make you laugh or cringe- depending on your disposition. His art style is also completely unique. I've heard it described as terrible, but I'm into it (though my art is also, admittedly, terrible).
3) The Detective Eye- First off, The Eye is a terrifying concept. It is a giant, disembodied, floating eyeball that seems to know all, see all, and can destroy you in an instant. Basically, it's a paranoid's nightmare. Also, if Wonder Woman was a force for feminism and Golden Age Superman was a force for New Deal economics, The Eye was a force for right-wing isolationism. One adventure had The Eye aiding the Committee Investigating Unamerican Activities. Another had him violently stopping illegal immigrants from entering the country. These aren't my political leanings, by any stretch, but I appreciate it when comics show a political or philosophical slant. Not many do.
4) Superman- He's my all-time favorite superhero, and, though I prefer his Silver Age material, you have to respect the stories that defined the superhero genre. If some of it seems too familiar, it's because he was often imitated. I also enjoy how Golden Age Superman really fought against injustice for the common man. He would fight for safer working conditions, for honesty in business practices, and for peace over profit. I take pride in the fact that the first comic book superhero was a champion of New Deal reformation.
5) Batman- Batman is inevitable. In fact, he's so inevitable that I'm often sick of him. That being said, I can't deny that Batman had, arguably, the best rogues gallery of the Golden Age (and, probably, still has the best): The Joker, Catwoman, The Riddler, Hugo Strange, The Penguin, Two-Face, and more tried to foil The Caped Crusader in the 1940's. His villains were so interesting and charismatic that they often stole the show which you can't say about too many other bad guys in the Golden Age. There are also many, solid, out-of-the way Batman stories like the Adam Lamb/Crime Master story in Batman #2 and "The Ugliest Man in the World" from #3. No matter how you feel, you just can't avoid Batman.
6) The Claw- Yes, the racial stereotypes used to create The Claw make me wretch, but The Claw is still incredibly interesting. He's arguably the first supervillain, and he's a villain who carried his own stories without a set protagonist to constantly be fighting against. This probably makes him the first universal supervillain since he battled all of Lev Gleason's major heroes: Daredevil, Silver Streak, The Ghost, etc. His powers were also dark and bizarre. His power to make people fall asleep and either have good dreams or terrible nightmares reads to me like a metaphor for opium. You just can't kill The Claw.
7) The early Amazing-Man stories- Later Amazing-Man stories would become pretty generic like most of the superhero material of the time, but there was something weird and special going on with the early stories. Take Amazing-Man Comics #6, for example. Amazing-Man has this strange, multiple-personality disorder moment when The Great Question reaches out to his mind and nudges it in the direction of evil. You get to see this Superman archetype suddenly morph into this terrifying monster in an instant. There was so much potential in that moment, but it, eventually, came to nothing. Still, Amazing-Man was, at one point, pretty unique with no superhero costume and his weird ability to turn into green mist.
8 ) Airboy and the Hillman aviator universe- Airboy is a concept that really wouldn't work in the modern world. Something tells me that most people wouldn't feel comfortable watching a 12 year old boy gleefully gunning down enemies in a war zone. That's sort of why I like it, though. There is something really sadistic happening in the pages of Airboy, and I think it's unintentionally really good commentary on the brutality of war and our habit of romanticizing it. I also really like that, even though Hillman was not known for it's superheroes, they created some really great supervillains: The Heap, Rubberman, Misery, and the Valkyrie.
9) The Little Wise Guys- Golden Age Daredevil was alright, but it's easy to see why The Little Wise Guys eventually stole the show. They're a celebration of being young and they seem to exist in a world without any parental supervision. Most of the time, this is all pretty innocent, but every now and then they gave you a glimpse of how ugly things can be. Meatball's death in Daredevil Comics #15 is the perfect example of this and is one of the first deaths of a major character in comic books. There have been many other squads of juvenile delinquents in comics, but, for me, The Little Wise Guys are the best.
10) The Justice Society of America- Having a team of superheroes was such a great story-telling and marketing concept that I wonder why more publishers didn't really pick up on it until the Silver Age. The Justice Society's stories gave you more great superheroes for your buck and solidified a formula that would work until the late 1960's. I'm partial to Johnny Thunder's chapters. It's still funny watching him stumble into victory without a clue. Keep 'em flying!
Honorable mentions: The Green Turtle, The Blue Beetle, Miss Victory, Silver Streak, and The Black Terror.
