By BK Munn
Every day is Canada Day here at Sequential, dedicated as we are to Canadian comics past, present, and future, but I felt I should at least make a token effort, from deep in the heart of “Summer Postin'” territory, to put something Canadian heritage-y up for the holiday. How can I do this with the least effort possible from my hammock? Why, by scrolling through my hard drive for old scans of classic comic books. Ah, here we go….
Thunderfist was the creation of writer E.T. Legault (featured last week in Friday Flashback) and artist Murray Karn. A generic secret identity superhero feature, it was nevertheless redeemed by that weird 1940s sweatshop logic and fanciful approaches to storytelling, both literary and graphic. Thunderfist was in reality the very un-Canadian Randolph Steele, the socialite fiancee of Beverly Holmes who fought crime in an Art Deco New York City with a combination of short pants and electrical power.
Below find 3 scans of the Thunderfist story from Active Comics #2, 1942: the vibrant cover, a very striking and atmospheric splash page, and a vaguely dynamic action page (how anyone can make superheroes fighting dinosaurs boring is beyond me). The plot is simple: Thunderfist and his girl are on a train that is attacked by a T-Rex. Fisticuffs ensue and T-Fist rides a pterodactyl back to the lair of the mad scientist responsible. All in a day’s work for THUNDERFIST!