Major Triumph

Synopsis
Shortly prior to America's entry into WW2, US Army Captain Ross Hamilton volunteers for a secret scientific experiment ala Captain America. After the experiment successfully increases his strength to superhuman levels, Hamilton assumes the identity of Major Triumph, becoming the scourge of spies and saboteurs everywhere. Working initially from Washington DC, he soon relocates to the European theatre after 1941, where he battles Axis super-villians such as Tiwaz the Terrible and The Yellow Dragon.

Fictitious Publishing History
Strongly influenced by Timely's Captain America, Major Triumph first appeared in Holy Dooley Comics number 1 (Goldman Periodicals, April 1940). Starting out as the cover feature, the strip enjoyed some degree of popularity during the early forties, particularly after the addition of a young female partner, Victory Girl. By the end of the war however, Goldman was phasing out its superhero characters in favor of teen humor strips like Chubby Willikins and Glory Bee. Triumph moved to the back pages in June 1946, then vanished completely three issues later.

Interestingly, the Victory Girl character, which had moved into her own title in 1943, continued on until fall 1949. Triumph made a few guest appearances as Victory's 'Uncle Ross,' though by and large his superhero career was over by the close of the decade.

Both characters were revived in the 1960s when Goldman Periodicals resurrected its superhero line. Initially guest-starring in Selina the Moon-Girl, Triumph and Victory soon moved onto the anthology title Incredulous Tales, where they were updated as a pair of globe-trotting costumed espionage agents (cf Nick Fury, Thunder Agents et al). This version ran from 1966-1969 before being replaced by The Scarlett Speedster.