Blue Bolt is a fictional

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

created by writer-artist

Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (born Hymie Simon; October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books ...

in 1940, during the period fans and historians refer to as the

Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era in the history of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and ma ...

Publication history

Initially published by

Novelty Press Novelty Press (a.k.a. Premium Service Co., Inc.; a.k.a. Novelty Publications; a.k.a. Premier Group) was an American Golden Age comic-book publisher that operated from 1940 to 1949. It was the comic book imprint of Curtis Publishing Company, pu ...

, ''Blue Bolt Comics'', one of the earliest comic books titled after a single character, ran 101 issues, cover-dated June 1940 to August 1951. Its namesake hero was created by writer-artist

for Funnies Inc., one of the earliest comic-book "packagers" that produced outsourced comics on demand for publishers entering the fledgling medium. By the second issue, Simon had enlisted

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (; born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comics artist, comic book artist, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew ...

as the series co-writer/artist, starting the first pairing of the future comic book legends who shortly thereafter created

Captain America Captain America is a superhero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1, published on December 20, 1940, by Timely C ...

and other characters. As Simon recalled in a 1998

Comic-Con International San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...

panel in

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California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

: The two teamed until issue #10, turning over the book to successors including Dan Barry, Tom Gill, and

Mickey Spillane Frank Morrison Spillane (; March 9, 1918July 17, 2006), better known as Mickey Spillane, was an American crime novelist, called the "king of pulp fiction". His stories often feature his signature detective character, Mike Hammer. More than 225 ...

(before Spillane's creation of the detective character

Mike Hammer Michael Hammer or Mike Hammer may refer to: * Michael Hammer (politician) (born 1977), Austrian politician * Michael Armand Hammer (1955–2022), American philanthropist and businessman * Michael Martin Hammer (1948–2008), engineer and author * Mi ...

in novels). Other enduring features in ''Blue Bolt'' included '' Dick Cole, The Wonder Boy'', ''Sub-Zero Man'', ''Sgt. Spook'', ''Old Cap Hawkin's Tales'', ''White Rider and Super Horse'', ''Edison Bell'', ''Runaway Ronson'', ''Phantom Sub'', ''Krisko and Jasper'', ''Fearless Fellers'', and ''Rick Richards''. As the popularity of superheroes began to fade in the post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

era, the character of Blue Bolt was transformed from a superhero into a plainclothes type of hero. In 1949, Novelty Press sold its assets, including Blue Bolt, to series cover artist L. B. Cole due to the growing criticism over violence in comic books. Using his new assets, Cole began his own company,

Star Publications Star Publications, Inc. was a Golden Age of Comic Books, Golden Age American comic book publisher, operating during the years 1949–1954. Founded by artist/editor L. B. Cole and lawyer Gerhard Kramer,

Transition to horror title

By 1951, ''Blue Bolt Comics name had been changed to ''Blue Bolt Weird Tales of Terror'' and featured the type of

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction **Psychological horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Christmas horror, a subgenre of horror fiction **Analog horror, a subgenre of horror fiction * ...

covers epitomized by

EC Comics E.C. Publications, Inc., (doing business as EC Comics) is an American comic book publisher. It specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, nota ...

. A couple of issues after the name change, the Blue Bolt was dropped in favor of horror stories. With issue #120 (published in 1953) the title was changed to ''Ghostly Weird Stories'', which published four more issues under that title before folding after issue #124 (September 1954).

Later usage of the Blue Bolt name

Hero Comics (now known as

Heroic Publishing Heroic Publishing is an American comic book publisher founded by Dennis Mallonee. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the company published about 100 superhero comics issues across several series – the most prolific of which featured the League ...

) launched a superhero series called ''Captain Thunder and Blue Bolt'' by writers

Roy Roy or Roi is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origins. France In France, this family name originated from the Normans, the descendants of Norse Vikings who migrated to Amigny, a commune in Manche, Normandy.. The deriva ...

and

Dann Thomas Dann Thomas (born Danette Maxx Couto, January 30, 1952) is an American comic book writer and is married to comic book writer and editor Roy Thomas. She has at times collaborated with her husband on ''All-Star Squadron'', '' Arak, Son of Thunder'' ...

in 1987, by which time Star Publications' trademark had long since expired. Roy Thomas has acknowledged that he took the name Blue Bolt from the Joe Simon character, and that in their later conversations Joe Simon was upset over this, even half-jokingly saying that he would take the Thomases to court over the use of the name. Event occurs at 28:58-33:31. The series was cancelled in 1988 after ten issues, though two further issues were published in 1992. In 2025

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

began using a character named Blue Bolt in ''

West Coast Avengers The West Coast Avengers is a fictional group of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team first appeared in ''The West Coast Avengers'' #1 (Sept. 1984), created by Roger Stern and Bob Hall (comics), Bob Ha ...

''. Joe Simon's grandson alerted Roy Thomas about this, and since Thomas had already been advertising the upcoming publication of a volume reprinting the entire ''Captain Thunder and Blue Bolt'' series, he contacted Marvel Comics to negotiate the potential trademark conflict. Marvel Comics agreed to change their character's name, though due to lead times several issues would appear with the character being called Blue Bolt.

Fictional character biography

After college

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

star Fred Parrish is struck by lightning during practice he boards a plane in order to seek help. This plane is struck by a second lightning bolt, causing the plane to crash. Finding himself underground, Parrish is found by a scientist named Bertoff who heals him using an experimental radium treatment. This treatment gives Parrish super powers. Using his powers and a lightning gun given to him by Bertoff, Parrish takes up the name the Blue Bolt and battles the underground forces of his arch-enemy, the evil Green Sorceress. After a year, the Blue Bolt discovers that

has started. He journeys back to the surface to fight against the

Nazis Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

. After the war, Blue Bolt becomes a pilot for ''Glimpses'', the picture magazine, and works with daring photographer Snap Doodle.

Powers and abilities

After being struck by lightning twice and being healed via an experimental treatment, Fred Parrish gained the ability to project lightning bolts. He also possessed a lightning gun which could shoot lightning bolts.

References

External links

Grand Comics Database Project: Blue Bolt ComicsGrand Comics Database Project: Blue Bolt Weird Tales of TerrorA Simon&Kirby Blue Bolt story
{{GoldenAge Comics characters introduced in 1940 Characters created by Joe Simon Golden Age superheroes Novelty Press