Wildcat | Origin | Comic Cavalcade Tales
Classic Comic Books Home Page (with many articles on comics)
Sensation Comics
Comic Cavalcade
These best stories of the comic books are preceded by their issue number.
Wildcat's secret identity is Ted Grant, world's heavyweight boxing champion.
Ted Grant's boxing manager, Stretch, is in the tradition of comic sidekicks. He is tall and very slim, dresses with a high, old-fashioned collar, and has a strange way of talking. He is also good, kind hearted and loyal. He also seems to be highly competent as a boxing manager. Unlike many 1940's sidekicks, Stretch does not know about Ted's secret identity as Wildcat. Neither does Ted's girl friend Joan Fortune.
Where Wildcat Appeared. Wildcat appeared in Sensation Comics, from #1 (January 1942) through #90 (June 1949). He also appeared briefly in Comic Cavalcade #1 (Winter 1942) and #2 (Spring 1943).
Wildcat was twice involved with the The Justice Society of America. This was in All-Star Comics #24 (Spring 1945) and #27 (Winter 1945-1946). Both of these stories are key Justice Society works. They are discussed in my linked article.
This story is the origin of Wildcat. It also marks the first appearance of Ted's girl friend, Joan Fortune. Ted trains here at Willman's Gym, which will play a continuing role in the series.
In this story, Ted Grant's real life identity as a boxer is far more important than his secret identity as Wildcat. This tale, like several of the Wildcat stories, is as much a boxing tale as it is a detective story or a costumed hero tale. Partly this relates to the simplicity of Wildcat as a hero. He has no special powers, other than his fists. Mainly, he is a masked guy who goes around beating up crooks. Unlike Batman or Green Arrow, he seems to have no technological gadgets. And he is not a Great Detective either, at least in his early tales. This makes his Wildcat persona barely functional. By contrast, Ted Grant takes his boxing career very seriously.
The villains do use a technological device to commit the crime.
RECURSION. There are some nice recursive elements:
There is a nice portrait of Ted donning his Wildcat costume on the last page; only his head is still not covered by the mask, so we see Ted's head above Wildcat's body.
The Story Behind the Bellyache (1943). Writer: Bill Finger. Art: Irwin Hasen. Retired boxer Sock Smith opens a successful restaurant, till a mob-backed rival tries to put him out of business.
The villains in the tale have humorous, clever names. However, this does NOT make them sympathetic.
This story is related in subject matter to a Superboy tale Finger wrote, "A Lesson for a Bully" (Adventure #123, December 1947). Both stories deal with a campaign of dirty tricks carried on by a vicious rival against a good guy. Here, the rivals are two restaurant owners; in the Superboy tale, they are two candidates in a school election. In the Superboy tale, the obnoxious bully is a spoiled star athlete; here, both the good guy and bad guy are retired athletes (boxers).
CLOTHES. Sock looks terrific in his double-breasted black tuxedo (page 1). Ted Grant wears what looks like a similar tuxedo through much of the tale. This makes the two men look like "doubles". It emphasizes their friendship.
We learn that Wildcat's cat-costume is made of "dark denim". The "dark" is no surprise: the costume looks more or less black. But I've never heard of a comic book hero in denim. The denim would make the costume tougher than most heroes'. The denim also gives a tactile dimension to the costume: we all know what denim feels like.
POLICEMAN. When Ted goes to bail Sock out, Ted talks to a policeman. This is a good-looking man, with authoritative Sergeant's chevrons on his sleeves.
ARCHITECTURE. The restaurant opened by Sock Smith is in the shape of a giant boxing glove; it is an imaginatively drawn piece of architecture. The thumb of the glove looks phallic.