Flash Lightning received powers from an amulet, originating themes similar to Dr. Fate before his debut.
Sure-Fire Comics #1 features plots inspired by Ace Periodicals' past pulp stories with a unique twist.
Created by Robert Turner and Harry Lucey, Flash Lightning has a superhero's journey filled with Egyptian symbols.
Flash Lightning's adventures continued under various names, with Lightning Girl introduced in the final volume.
According to a lawsuit over the creation of Ace Periodicals comic books during this era, the material in the publisher's earliest comics, including Sure-Fire Comics #1, was the creation of a comic production studio run by Patrick Lamar. And it has also emerged that several of the stories in this issue were based on plots from past Ace Periodicals pulps. While Flash Lightning and his origin are original to the comic, the villains and the rest of the story's plot in this issue come from the May 1938 Ace pulp Captain Hazzard. Captain Hazzard's "Python Men of the Lost City" become "Reptile Men" in the Flash Lightning story. Even more closely, well-known Ace pulp hero Secret Agent X becomes X, the Phantom Fed in the comic book line. Regardless, from this beginning, the Ace Periodicals comic book line took on a distinctive identity of its own. All four issues of the Sure-Fire Comics series are tough, but issue #2 is the scarcest of all, with a CGC 6.0 selling for $9000 last year. They're all up for auction in the 2024 August 1 – 2 Rarities of the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40259 at Heritage Auctions.
Sure-Fire Comics #2, #4 (Ace, 1940)
The character Flash Lightning was created by Robert Turner and Harry Lucey. A superhero with a broad range of lightning-powered abilities, Flash Lightning's origin takes some fairly obvious inspiration from Fawcett's Captain Marvel. But it is arguably even more similar to the origin of Dr. Fate, and Sure Fire Comics #1 pre-dated Dr. Fate's first-told origin in More Fun Comics #67 by over a year. Robert Morgan was an American studying in Egypt who encountered an ancient Egyptian figure known as "The Old Man of the Pyramids", who taught him ancient arts and sciences, and gave him "the Amulet of Annihilation, the weapon of the forces of right."
Sure-Fire Comics was renamed Lightning Comics with issue #4 and lasted until issue #6. Lightning Comics was then rebooted with a new #1 later in 1941. While Flash Lightning's adventures were far more standard superhero fare than Dr. Fate's, the saga made references to Egyptian themes from the obvious "lightning pyramid" symbol on his chest, to the Mummy supervillain that was introduced in issue #5. DC Comics reportedly objected to the "Flash in the character name "Flash Lightning", and the character's name was shortened to simply "Lightning" with issue #6. The series was rebooted with volume 2 #1 in 1941, where he was renamed "Lash" Lightning and the character also appeared in Ace's Four Favorites title. Volume 3 #1, the final issue of the title, introduced Lightning Girl.
Co-founder and Creative director of Bleeding Cool parent company Avatar Press since 1996. Bleeding Cool Managing Editor, tech and data wrangler, and has been with Bleeding Cool since its 2009 beginnings. Wrote extensively about the comic book industry for Wizard Magazine 1992-1996. At Avatar Press, has helped publish works by Alan Moore, George R.R. Martin, Garth Ennis, and others. Vintage paper collector, advisor to the Overstreet Price Guide Update 1991-1995.
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