Many Golden Age comics feature artwork and stories which seem silly when compared with recent comics. (Of course, you could say this about any form of entertainment.) In some cases this is true, but many of the ideas and art in these stories are groundbreaking and, of course, today's comics would not exist without them. Which brings me to today's groundbreaking, if silly, character.
Shock Gibson made his debut in Speed Comics #1, published by Brockwood Publications. The creator is credited as Maurice Scott, although Comic Book Plus has information that says this is an alias. The splash page for the first Shock Gibson story is a full page, and this is the first of its kind. Shock Gibson is actually Charles Gibson, who gains powers by having chemicals splashed on him. Many comic book and science fiction TV characters later, most notably The Flash (Barry Allen version), published by DC Comics, would gain powers in the same manner. Heck, when I was a teen I drew comics on notebook paper and created a character named Firegirl who gained powers in the same way!
When reading this, be careful not to fall into the gaping plot hole in the middle of the story. Here is "Speed Comics" #1 (October 1939) starring Shock Gibson, The Human Dynamo!
Shock Gibson made his debut in Speed Comics #1, published by Brockwood Publications. The creator is credited as Maurice Scott, although Comic Book Plus has information that says this is an alias. The splash page for the first Shock Gibson story is a full page, and this is the first of its kind. Shock Gibson is actually Charles Gibson, who gains powers by having chemicals splashed on him. Many comic book and science fiction TV characters later, most notably The Flash (Barry Allen version), published by DC Comics, would gain powers in the same manner. Heck, when I was a teen I drew comics on notebook paper and created a character named Firegirl who gained powers in the same way!
When reading this, be careful not to fall into the gaping plot hole in the middle of the story. Here is "Speed Comics" #1 (October 1939) starring Shock Gibson, The Human Dynamo!
For the first six issues of "Speed Comics" Shock Gibson wears a shark fin helmet (as seen in the above story). By issue #12 his costume changes. This is probably due to the fact that Harvey Comics bought Brookwood and proceeded to change most of their comic book characters. Shock suddenly is wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, sometimes with stripes on the sleeves. Later stories give his name as Robert Gibson, and sometimes his hair changes color. Although there may be those who think later stories had better art, the Shock Gibson stories just got sillier. I read through a few of these and came across one that is okay. The scans are about average quality, so I hope everyone can read them. Here is the Shock Gibson story from "Speed Comics" #26 (April 1943).
The Shock Gibson saga ended in "Green Hornet Fights Crime" #38 (March 1948), but characters with similar origins and superpowers live on! I hope everyone reading this enjoyed it. Thanks once more to all the generous scanners and uploaders.
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