Number 2342: Face-to-face with Micro-Face

Micro-Face was an unusual hero with a gimmick: Among other tricks, he could turn his voice into a megaphone. Public Domain Super Heroes has this to say about Micro-Face: “Tom Wood was a factory worker and a failed inventor. Years ago, he invented a “Micro-Mask“ — a full-face mask that contained a built-in microphone (which allowed hm to amplify and throw his voice), a hearing amplifier, and “photoelectric lenses” that gave him x-ray vision. He could also attach telephone wires to his mask to make phone calls. Tom offered the invention to the U.S. government, only to be turned down.

When his brother, Jim Wood, was shot by gunfire of gangsters, Tom promised to avenge his death.To that end, he decided to use his invention and an old masquerade costume to costumed crime-fighter known as Micro-Face.”

Hmmm. “Photoelectric lenses that gave him x-ray vision”? “Attach telephone wires to his mask to make phone calls”? Those U.S. government guys were saps to turn those inventions down!

Micro-Face appeared in 10 of the 15 issues of Clue Comics from Hillman publishing. The character was created and drawn by Allen Ulmer. Ulmer worked in comic books for several years, but there are also photos of some of his fine art online. According to Rogallery.com Ulmer was born in 1922 and died in 1990.

The story is from Clue Comics #2 (1943):

Number 1061


Headlights on full beam


In Seduction Of the Innocent, Dr. Fredric Wertham, M.D., provided comic book fans with a new word: headlights. Headlights are what he claimed children of the era called the accentuated breasts in comic books. Just as today, artists took a lot of delight in drawing big boobs, draping them with clothing folds and shadowing to emphasize.

Allen Ulmer, another journeyman comic book artist, drew this back-up story, "The Secret of the Old Mine," starring the Texas Ranger, in Avon's Jesse James #6, from 1952. A girl is captured, beaten (and we assume from her torn clothing) molested by a gang of outlaws looking for her uncle's gold. The story has bondage (another bone in Wertham's throat), and some fine headlights.

Jane Russell, in her character, Rio, from the Howard Hughes movie, The Outlaw, was the inspiration for Joan. Russell had some of the most famous breasts of the time. The sexiness of the movie had Hughes fighting censorship for two years. I found this ad in Dime Mystery Magazine, September 1946.

Ulmer drew comics in the 1940s and '50s, and then went into fine art. He died in 1990, age 68.