original Wildcat (Ted Grant) appreciation thread!

[MajorHoy]

Ted Grant was one of many heroes that were introduced in Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942), an anthology title who's lead character was Wonder Woman.





The feature was written by Bill Finger and featured the artwork of Irwin Hasen (who was later known for the comic strip Dondi, which ran from 1955 to 1986).

In the origin story, Ted Grant was a prizefighter working his way up in the rankings. He became a friend of "Socker" Smith, who was the heavyweight champion. When "Socker" Smith and Ted Grant were scheduled to fight each other, Ted's managers tried to fix the fight by hiding a needle in Ted's glove (without his knowledge) so that "Socker" Smith would get cut and lose the fight.

However, all did not go well. The stuff the crooked managers put on the needle wound up killing "Soccer", and when the needle was discovered in Ted's glove, he was arrested and charged with murder!

(To be continued . . . )

[MajorHoy]

(To be continued . . . )

The managers tried to cover their killing of "Soccer" Smith by eliminating Ted Grant so he wouldn't be able to expose their crooked dealings.



But, once again, plans didn't work out, and Ted survives the crash.
After he leaves the crash site, he eventually stumbles across a crying kid who tells him about a comic book character called . . . the Green Lantern!



Inspired by the idea of a man who "puts on a costume and goes after the bad guys", Ted makes plans that might solve his own problems:



At the end of that first story, Ted says to himself,

Maybe this won't be the end of Wildcat! Maybe Wildcat will walk again!

Wildcat went on to appear in Sensation Comics through issue #90 (cover-dated June 1949), as well as appearing in books like Comic Cavalcade (issues #1-2) and The Big All-American Comic Book for 1944.
And he also was with the Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics #24 (Spring 1945) and #27 (Winter 1945).

[Jekyll]

I can’t believe ole Ted didn’t have an appreciation thread! That is an awesome origin story. So he joined the JSA as an official member or reserve member in 45?

[MajorHoy]

I can’t believe ole Ted didn’t have an appreciation thread! That is an awesome origin story. So he joined the JSA in 45as an official member or reserve member in 45?

I don't think he was ever made an "official" member in the Golden Age stories.

In issue #24, Wildcat says "I'm certainly proud that you called Mr. Terrific and me in on this case."



I'm not sure if anything was said (in the story) as to why he was in issue #27.

For the record, Wildcat's first Silver Age appearance was as a guest-star in a Starman and Black Canary team-up (their second one) in The Brave and the Bold #62 (cover-dated October-November 1965).



His first Silver Age appearance with the JSA was in Justice League of America #46-47 (cover-dated August and September in 1966).

[Zero Hunter]

As much as I love Ted as a character if I am being honest I think he is probably the member of the JSA who most needs a new look. I am not talking anything radical just some tweaks to his old look. His classic look is really just boring and the cat cheeks thing just looks weird most of the time. It is like every artist draws them different so one time they are very subtle and the next time they stick out like he has mumps.

[Osiris-Rex]

I like that he is the one that trained Catwoman.

[MajorHoy]

From Justice League of America #46 (cover-dated August 1966).

[Lightning Rider]

Love Ted Grant. Need to hunt down my old issues featuring him and complete the series. Lots of good stories left unfinished.