Golden Age Star-Spangled Kid/Skyman (Sylvester Pemberton) Appreciation (2019)

[MajorHoy]

from Action Comics #40 (September 1941):



And then, in the following month, there was the first issue of Star Spangled Comics:


For those of you not all that familiar with the original (Golden Age) version of The Star Spangled Kid & Stripesy, they were just a couple of non-powered costumed crime fighters. Premiering in 1941, still a few months before the U.S. had formally declared war on Japan and Nazi Germany and officially entered WWII, they wore the colors red, white, and blue and used other aspects of the American flag for their names and their costumes. But unlike many duos where the adult was the main lead and the kid was the inexperienced sidekick, Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy reversed that dynamic by making the younger member the main decision-maker and the adult was basically his "sidekick".

As for those of you wondering what happened to Sylvester having a cosmic rod / cosmic belt to give him more power (and something that would eventually get passed on to Courtney Whitmore), Sylvester wouldn't gain that ability until the mid-1970s.

[Güicho]

from Action Comics #40 (September 1941):



And then, in the following month, there was the first issue of Star Spangled Comics:
.

Ha that was quite the spectacular and ambitious intro promo. Had never scene those before.
Love the -"As the results of months of careful research into what ...reader demand!" blurb.
Was this really it?
Thanks for sharing, always loved these two.

[MajorHoy]

. . . As for those of you wondering what happened to Sylvester having a cosmic rod / cosmic belt to give him more power (and something that would eventually get passed on to Courtney Whitmore), Sylvester wouldn't gain that ability until the mid-1970s.

From All Star Comics #58 (January-February 1976)

[MajorHoy]

In the first issue of Star Spangled Comics #1 (October 1941), the Star-Spangled Kid and Stripsey appeared in two feature stories:




plus they had a pin-up picture on the outside back cover

Remember, back in 1941, people were unlikely to be bagging and boarding their comic books to save them for posterity!

[MajorHoy]

The pair was in three feature stories for Star Spangled Comics #2 (November 1941):

[WallyWestFlash]

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[MajorHoy]

And from Star Spangled Comics #3 (December 1941):

[BBally]

Whatever happened to Stripesy?

[MajorHoy]

Whatever happened to Stripesy?

Well, after he was brought back from ancient Egypt, where he was forced to help build the pyramids, I think he retired from superhero-work for a while.
Eventually, he married Courtney Whitmore's mother.

[MajorHoy]

Well, after he was brought back from ancient Egypt, where he was forced to help build the pyramids, . . .

By the way, that part about Stripesy happened in Justice League of America #101 (September 1972).

As for what the Star-Spangled Kid was doing during that time, the answer was shown in Justice League of America #102 (October 1972):