Comic Book
Power Nelson, Futureman
- by Dick Sprang and Paul Norris
- in Prize Comics 7, 12 December 1940
From the first issue of Prize Comics, Power Nelson, aka Futureman, used his superpowers to fight the evil Mongol horde that conquered all of civilization in the far-future year 1982. I’ve read many of the escapades of the red-and-yellow champion of democracy (through Prize Comics 23), but I haven’t yet found issue #7 and the story “Journey to 1940.” (The issue is highly prized, being identified as the first horror comic because of its modern Frankenstein story; it also has the first Simon and Kirby Black Owl story.) Later issues do have Power Nelson fighting Nazis and fifth columnists who are attempting to undermine America, but I’m unclear on whether they are World War II Nazis or 1982 cohorts of the horde.
Wikipedia cites Paul Norris (the Brick Bradford strip artist) as the creator of Power Nelson, but the Grand Comics Database gives a tentative identification of Dick Sprang as the artist for the first six stories, with Norris’s first works being the cover of Prize Comics 6 and the “Journey to 1940” story in issue 7. His first signed work, as by Roy Paul, is the Power Nelson story in issue 13.
Wikipedia cites Paul Norris (the Brick Bradford strip artist) as the creator of Power Nelson, but the Grand Comics Database gives a tentative identification of Dick Sprang as the artist for the first six stories, with Norris’s first works being the cover of Prize Comics 6 and the “Journey to 1940” story in issue 7. His first signed work, as by Roy Paul, is the Power Nelson story in issue 13.
I’ll do something about this!
