Wizard (MLJ 1)

Golden Age Origin
Blane Whitney came from a long line of Americans who served their country in some capacity or another since the Revolution, including a number of first born males who took the name Wizard. He started training himself as a child to be a "Super-Brain". He succeeded and gained powers such as photographic memory, super strength, hypnosis, telepathy, and clairvoyance. He donned a tuxedo, a mask and a cape to become superhero known as the Wizard. He had many gadgets such as a "Dynamagno-Saw Ray Projector," an "H2-VX-O Ray," and "Secret Formula F22X." Later, he invented a body-hugging bullet-proof costume. To maintain plausible deniability, he passed himself off as an idle playboy who survived off his family's fortune and got by on its reputation. His girlfriend, Jane Barlowe, has little patience with his act, but she became enamored with his superhero identity after he rescued her from kidnappers in Top Notch Comics #3

In Top-Notch Comics #8, Blane Whitney acquired the Daily Citizen, an activist newspaper, after its original owner was killed by the minions of racketeer Benny Schultz. Blane hoped to use the paper to carry on the dead man's work. This issue also saw him getting a sidekick, Roy the Super-Boy.

His enemies included the Jingler, the Crone, Doctor Defeet, Master Mind, the Monster, the Mosconians, So-Guli, the Telepathist, and Torgo.

Historical Notes
The Wizard and Shield teamed up in a multi-part storyline that ran through Top-Notch Comics #5 (May 1940)-7 (August 1940) and Pep Comics #4 (May 1940)-5 (June 1940). During the course of the storyline, they also ran across with Keith Kornell and Lee Sampson. This was the first crossover storyline in American comic books, narrowly beating out the more famous Namor/Human Torch crossover in Marvel Mystery Comics #8 (June 1940)-9 (July 1940). The Shield and the Wizard had a few team-ups throughout the Golden Age.

Golden Age Appearances

 * Top-Notch Comics #1-27
 * Hangman Comics #2
 * Shield-Wizard Comics #1-13
 * Zip Comics #3
 * Pep Comics #4-5
 * Special Comics #1

Legal Note
While the golden age MLJ Wizard is public domain, subsequent versions used by Archie comics are NOT.