Sunday, January 10, 2010

"The Long Arm of the Law" or "Fist of Fury"

During the superhero boom of the early 1940's, comic-book publishers had assembly lines of artists and writers to churn out endless variations on the superhero formula. As a result, the comics landscape became crowded with interchangeable do-gooders, but occasionally a weirdo was produced as the demand for new gimmicks grew. Few were more bizarre than this one.

The origin of the mysterious Hand is never revealed, but it is suggested that it belongs to a crime-fighter who somehow reached into the scene from afar. In its debut in Speed Comics #12 (1941), the Hand defeats two crooks who are trying to rob an oceanic casino. Not only can it produce notes written in blood from out of the void, but it also possesses "superhuman strength" that comes in useful in dealing with the criminals.

The Hand is currently in public domain, so we feel that it's only a matter of time before we see an avalanche of Hand-themed merchandise, a Saturday morning cartoon, and eventually a multi-million dollar cash-in on Hollywood's current fixation on superhero properties. We think that Johnny Depp's hand would do a splendid job at portraying the famous appendage, but we're open to other casting suggestions.





Would you like to know more?
-Download the Hand's first appearance here for free (requires CDisplayEx viewing program)

10 comments:

  1. Love The Hand! One of the truly oddest of the old Golden Agers and Public Domain heroes! I wonder why this one was never copyright renewed ;) FYI, I have been allowing my love for these kind of weird 3rd-banana characters flow on my blog where draw my versions of public domain heroes each day. Thanks for the factoid snack, fellow VT blogger!

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  2. Thanks for the link Flameape! Keen site. I love your revamped version of Black Satan and I'm eager to see what characters you decide to do next (can I put in a vote for Phantasmo?). Keep 'em flying.

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  3. Does the hand have a catch phrase? If not, what a tragic waste. Personally, I couldn't resist the temptation of ending every comic with The Hand handing a blood-written note of "put 'er there" to the victims it had just saved.
    - James

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  4. Did I sense a bit of restrained writting when you said: "it also possesses "superhuman strength" that comes in useful in dealing with the criminals." instead of "comes in handy"?

    The pun syndicate is watching the blog very closely.

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  5. I for one am glad that you resisted the temptation to mention the need for "hand" - some actors to portray The Hand in the film adaptation.

    Puns were never part of Jesus Christ's plan.

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  6. I originally had about 68 hand-themed puns in there, but most were so awful that I got rid of them for fear of getting beaten up.

    James: the "put 'er there" note written in blood is a brilliant idea! I may have to write a Hand comic just so I can steal that scene.

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  7. Hey,The Hand character...something about it has a familiar ring, but I just can't nail it down.

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  8. The Shadow "nose", but you never bite "The Hand" that feeds you and/or arrests you.

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  9. I think we're all missing the real question behind this mysterious "Hand" character. Namely, where did it get that half a shirt sleeve for it's disembodied wrist? Some kind of hyperdimensional men's clothing store?

    I DEMAND ANSWERS!

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  10. A naked Hand would be obscene and harm the children.

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