He was the other Captain Future.
The first, created by Better Publications editor Mort Weisinger and written by Edmond Hamilton, was a science fiction hero who appeared in his own pulp magazine from 1940 to 1951.
The interplanetary exploits of that Captain Future, Curtis Newton, were initially set in the far future of 1990. The red-headed adventurer shared them with the intelligent robot Grag, the android shape-shifter Otho and the living brain Simon Wright, who cared for Newton after his parents’ death and raised him to fight for justice.
The second Captain Future appeared several months later in the same publisher’s comic book division, Nedor, but shared only a name with the first.
In fact, the distance between the two provides a thumbnail sketch of the differences between the superhero conventions that were typical in pulp and comics at the time.
While some comic book companies like MLJ tended to offer Batman-like heroes who were costumed bruisers without powers, Nedor’s heroes routinely ran to Superman types — super-strong guys who could shrug off bullets and also fly, usually. The Black Terror, Doc Strange, the Fighting Yank, the American Eagle and Captain Future all fell into that category.
By “crossing the infrared band with the gamma ray,” research engineer Dr. Andrew Bryant accidentally gave himself an array of electromagnetic powers, including sufficient super strength to pick up and throw a criminal’s car (now where have I seen that before?).
His “radio mind” can hear broadcasts, distant sounds and even the “thought flashes” of others. Flying at a speed of 500 miles per hour, he can repel bullets with an invisible magnetic field.
Drawn by Kin Platt, the character debuted in Starling Comics 1 (June 1940) after Weisinger suggested the publisher recycle the name.
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