Looking at the character, The Skyman, I’m flap-jawed at his massive arms...those are some guns! His upper body development looks like one of those padded Halloween costumes to turn the wearer into the Hulk. I don’t have all the Skyman stories, but I have enough to know that he trimmed down after a time. This panel, from
The Skyman #3, shows a much more lithe character.
Ogden Whitney, the artist, drew a lot of different features, including superheroes, but he usually didn’t portray them looking so musclebound.
The Skyman was a 1940’s character, created by Gardner Fox and Whitney. The Skyman’s career began in
Big Shot Comics #1 and ended in #101 (1949), four issues shy of the comic's last issue. Along the way the Skyman appeared in his own comic for six issues spread over several years, and also in issues of
Sparky Watts and
The Face.
In this early adventure, from
Big Shot Comics #6 (1940), besides the barrel chest and giant arms, we see how the Skyman’s “Atom-atic” pistol works, that his plane will hover and wait for him while he swings through his girlfriend’s window to “scare her,” and about the cancer curing machine — the sole machine in existence — stolen by criminals.
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Here's another early Skyman story I showed a few years ago. Just click the picture.
