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<HEAD><TITLE>Don Markstein's Toonopedia: The Human Bomb </TITLE> <script language="JavaScript"></script> <META name = "author" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "description" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "subject" content = "Hypertext encyclopedia of comics and animation"> <META name = "keywords" content = "comic books animated cartoons animation comics comix syndicated comic strips"> <META name = "publisher" content = "Donald D. Markstein"> <META name = "format" content = "text/html"> <META name = "language" content = "EN"> </HEAD><BODY> <body onload="if (self!= top) top.location = self.location"></body> <BODY BGCOLOR="FFFFFF" TEXT="000000" LINK="0000EE" VLINK="551A8B"> <TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=310 VALIGN="CENTER"><IMG GALLERYIMG="NO" ALIGN="LEFT" HEIGHT=381 WIDTH=300 ALT="The Human Bomb. Artist: Paul Gustavson." SRC="h-bomb.jpg"> <TD VALIGN="CENTER"><H1>THE HUMAN BOMB</H1><FONT SIZE=4> <B>Medium:</B> Comic books <BR><B>Published by:</B> Quality Comics <BR><B>First Appeared:</B> 1941 <BR><B>Creator:</B> Paul Gustavson <FONT SIZE=3> <! BEGIN DONATION CODE> <HR><FONT SIZE=2 COLOR="993366"><CENTER> If this site is enjoyable or useful to you, <BR>Please contribute to its necessary financial support. <BR><A HREF="http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/pay/T1237L0BCY25QA" TARGET="_blank">Amazon.com</A> or <A HREF="https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=don%40toonopedia.com&no_note=1&tax=0&currency_cod e=USD" TARGET="_blank">PayPal</A> </FONT></CENTER><HR> <! END DONATION CODE> <P><A NAME="cont"> Following the extreme success of <A HREF="superman.htm">Superman,</A> American comic books were quickly overrun with <A HREF="glossary.htm#superhero">superheroes.</A> Most had either generic super powers (super strength, ability to fly, etc., like <A HREF="triumph.htm">Captain Triumph</A>) or none at all (like <A HREF="s-s-kid.htm">The Star Spangled Kid</A>), but some of their powers were fairly imaginative. <A HREF="eternity.htm">Kid Eternity</A> could bring the dead back to assist him, <A HREF="aquaman.htm">Aquaman</A> could talk to fish, <A HREF="torch1.htm">The Human Torch</A> could burst into flame at will  Some of their powers were fairly useless — for example, <A HREF="thinman.htm">The Thin Man</A> could make himself flat enough to slip under doors, and <A HREF="hydroman.htm">Hydroman</A> could turn himself  <P ALIGN="RIGHT"><A HREF="#cont"><FONT SIZE=2><I>continued below</A></FONT> </TABLE> <CENTER><! BEGIN ADSENSE "LEADERBOARD" CODE> <script type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"> </script> <! END ADSENSE CODE></CENTER> <P><TABLE><TR><TD VALIGN="TOP"> into a puddle of water and back again. Some were downright dangerous, such as <A HREF="comet.htm">The Comet's</A> ability to kill a person just by looking at him. The Human Bomb's power fell into that category. If he touched anything bare-handed, it exploded. <P> The Bomb was created by <A HREF="glossary.htm#cartoonist">cartoonist</A> Paul Gustavson (<A HREF="angel1.htm">The Angel,</A> <A HREF="jester.htm">The Jester</A>). He debuted in <I>Police Comics</I> #1 (August, 1941), where <A HREF="plas.htm">Plastic Man,</A> <A HREF="firebrnd.htm">Firebrand</A> and <A HREF="phanlady.htm">Phantom Lady</A> were also introduced. The publisher was <A href="quality.htm">Quality Comics,</A> which also published <A HREF="blakhawk.htm">Blackhawk.</A> <P> His real name was Roy Lincoln, and he was a chemist working with his father, an explosives expert, on a powerful new formula called 27-QRX. Nazi spies broke in, trying to steal the powerful explosive for the Germans. The father was killed in the fracas, but Roy succeeded in keeping them from getting the chemical — by swallowing it. He expected it to kill him, but instead it made his hands glow; and when he hit one of the assailants, the man exploded. Fortunately, he found he could block his new power by wearing asbestos gloves. (After the danger of asbestos was established, the gloves were <A HREF="glossary.htm#retcon">retconned</A> into a substance called "fibro-wax".) <P> Following the trends of the time, Roy made himself an evil-bashing costume. In his case, it consisted of a standard hazardous materials suit, with the gloves easily removable so he could blow things up. The fact that he wore the gloves in everyday life should have been a clue to his secret identity, but nobody ever picked up on it. <P> He got a comedy-relief sidekick in the 15th issue (January, 1943), when a guy named Hustace Throckmorton needed an emergency transfusion, and Roy was the only one available with the right blood type. Hustace got a super power to match Roy's, but his was in his feet instead of his hands. Hustace was joined six issues later by three youngsters, Montague McGurk (who shaved his head and was therefore nicknamed "Curly"), Swordo (who apparently had no other name) and Red Rogers (the token female). Collectively, they called themselves The Bombardiers. <P> The Human Bomb continued to fight Nazis, Japs and ordinary criminals until #58 (September, 1946), after which he was replaced by a teenage humor star named Honeybun. He wasn't seen again for more than a quarter of a century, by which time <A HREF="dc.htm">DC Comics</A> had acquired Quality's long-defunct characters. <P> In <I><A HREF="jla.htm">Justice League of America</A></I> #107 (October, 1973), the JLA and their pals, <A HREF="jsa.htm">The Justice Society of America,</A> explored a parallel world in which the Nazis won World War II, and a small group of superheroes, including the Bomb, had gotten together as resistance fighters. The others (<A HREF="unclsam2.htm">Uncle Sam,</A> <A HREF="ray1.htm">The Ray,</A> <A HREF="dollman.htm">Doll Man,</A> <A HREF="blcondr1.htm">The Black Condor</A> and Phantom Lady) were also Quality Comics characters. It took a couple of issues, but in the end, <A HREF="freedomf.htm">The Freedom Fighters,</A> as they called themselves, with the help of their new-found allies, finally ousted the invaders. <P> The Freedom Fighters got their own comic with a cover date of April, 1976. Rather than deal with the aftermath of the World War II scenario, they opened the series by emigrating to the JLA's world. Crossing the dimensional barrier had the effect of "enhancing' his super power, if that's the right word — from then on, his whole body, not just his hands, was explosive, so he had to wear his protective suit all the time. <P> The <I>Freedom Fighters</I> title lasted a mere 15 issues, but it did establish The Human Bomb and his cohorts as permanent fixtures in the DC <A HREF="glossary.htm#universe">Universe.</A> Later, he, like every other DC-owned superhero who operated during World War II, was incorporated into <A HREF="alstarsq.htm">The All-Star Squadron.</A> The Bomb is now retired and living in Florida, but still available for guest shots, mini-series and whatever other use is made of DC's hundreds of series-less superheroes. <P ALIGN = "RIGHT">— DDM <P><A HREF="index.htm">BACK</A> to <I>Don Markstein's Toonopedia</I> Home Page <BR><A HREF="today.htm">Today in Toons:</A> Every day's an anniversary! <P><! 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