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Saved by Arthur Lortie
on July 29, 2008 at 2:12:59 pm
 

The Complete Volto Archives

by

Arthur Lortie

alortie4@aol.com

02/22/2007

 

Well, as complete as I could make it. 

 

Long before the X-Men's Magneto, but shortly after the two rival Magno's [one in Ace Magazines' Super-Mystery Comics, the other in Quality's Smash Comics], came the magnetic Volto from Mars!

 

He arrived, like Mork from Ork, in a bubble – and he came hungry! But, unlike most Martians, he craved not human flesh, but Grape-Nut Flakes!

 

He possessed powers far beyond those of mortal men. By raising his left arm and yelling “Volto”, he could repel all objects; hoist the right and yell “Volto” and he attracts. Do it too much, and he must recharge with hearty doses of cereal.

 

In the 20 adventures I found, he repels menacing animals and dastardly spies, wearing standard super-hero tights and the requisite finned headgear of science fiction heroes, Luckily at some point the artists realized that his lightning bolt belt buckle would turn Volto -- or any unlucky pitchman at a supermarket -- into a enuch. So they moved the design onto his stomach.

 

When I started indexing these, I assumed General Mills’ advertising campaign was a monthly, with some rational sequencing that could be uncovered. In fact, most of the advertising campaigns in comics had first appeared in Sunday comic strips, which effectively made them reprints in the books!

 

This was necessary to determine the length of the series and number of episodes. So I started with a run of Sensation Comics and assigned dates to the ones I found. But then I discovered a couple of Fawcett books like Captain Marvel Jr. that had strips that preceding the introductory strip in Sensation! And I wasn't able to locate any newspaper appearences for these strips either.

 

Finally when I found a strip in Batman that ran two months earlier than the same entry in Sensation, I realized sequencing wasn’t even standard within a company’s line. And finding these was strickly hit or miss.

 

According to Jerry Bails Who's Who, artists Al Plastino and Frank Robbins worked on this strip from 1944 to 1946. If anyone can figure out who did each strip, I'd appreciate it.

 

And if anyone spots any more appearences -- especially an unlisted one -- don't hestitate to let me know.

 

Here's where I found these:

 

Introducing Volto From Mars - Action #80 (01/1945), More Fun #101 (01-02/1945), Sensation #37 (01/1945), Superman #32 (01-02/1945)

 

The Wallet Thief - Action #81 (02/1945), Adventure #96 (02/1945), Batman #27 (02-03/1945), Flash #62 (02/1945), Green Lantern #14 (Winter/1944-45), Sensation #38 (02/1945)

 

The Runaway Truck - All-American #64 (03/1945), Famous Funnies #128 (03/1945), More Fun #102 (03-04/1945), Sensation #39 (03/1945), Star Spangled #42 (03/1945), Superman #33 (03-04/1945)

 

The Boa Constrictor - Action #83 (04/1945), Batman #28 (04-05/1945), Sensation #40 (04/1945)

 

The Roller Coaster - All-Flash #18 (Spring/1945), Captain Marvel #48 (08-09/1945), Green Lantern #15 (Spring/1945), More Fun #103 (05-06/1945), Sensation #41 (05/1945), Sparkler #45 (07/1945)

 

Peach Crop - Batman #30 (08-09/1945)

 

Rocket Spies - Captain Marvel #50 (12/1945), More Fun #105 (09-10/1945), Superman #36 (09-10/1945)

 

Mexican Bandits - Action #87 (08/1945), Sensation #44 (08/1945), Thrilling #50 (10/1945), Whiz #67 (09-10/1945), Wow Comics #38 (09-10/1945)

 

Torpedo - Captain Marvel #49 (10-11/1945), Comics On Parade #50 (??/1945), Sensation #45 (09/1945)

 

Spy Ring - Adventure #100 (10-11/1945), Batman #31 (10-11/1945), Sensation #46 (10/1945), Star Spangled #49 (10/1945)

 

Forest Fire - Action #90 (11/1945), All-American #69 (11-12/1945), Captain Marvel Jr. #33 (11-12/1945), Master #64 (11-12/1945), National #52 (02/1946), Sensation #47 (11/1945), Superman #37 (11-12/1945)

 

Meteor - Adventure #101 (12/1945), Batman #32 (12/1945-01/1946), Blackhawk #10 (Spring/1946), Sensation #48 (12/1945), Supersnipe v3 n1 (01-02/1946)

 

Jungle Rescue - Action #92 (01/1946), Captain Marvel #51 (01/1946), More Fun #107 (01-02/1946), Sensation #49 (01/1946), Smash #64 (04/1946), Superman #38 (01-02/1946), Supersnipe v3 n3 (05-06/1946), Whiz #70 (01/1946)

 

Rocket Plane - Adventure #102 (02/1946), Batman #33 (02-03/1946), Sensation #50 (02/1946), Real Life Comics #29 (03/1946)

 

Kidnappers - Sensation #51 (03/1946), Star Spangled #54 (03/1946), Superman #39 (03-04/1946), Whiz #72 (03/1946)

 

The Bear - Action #95 (04/1946), Adventure #103 (04/1946), Crack #41 (Spring/1946), Detective #110 (04/1946), Flash #70 (04/1946), Funny Stuff #8 (04/1946), Marmaduke Mouse #1 (Spring/1946), More Fun #109 (04/1946), Sensation #52 (04/1946), Supersnipe v3 n2 (03-04/1946)

 

The Bull - Captain Marvel Jr #27 (02/01/1945)

 

Train Schedule - Captain Marvel Jr #26 (01/01/1945)

 

Shark - Captain Marvel Jr #29 (04/01/1945), Exciting #38 (04/1945), Master #60 (04/1945). National #47 (04/1945), Whiz #64 (04/1945)

 

Reform Mayor - Master #59 (03/1945)

 

 
Inroducing Volto From Mars                                                                               The Wallet Thief
 
The Runaway Truck                                                                                            The Boa Constrictor
 The Roller Coaster                                                                                              Peach Crop
Rocket Spies                                                                                                      Mexican Bandits
Torpedo                                                                                                                 Spy Ring
Forest Fire                                                                                                         Meteor
Jungle Rescue                                                                                                    Rocket Plane
The Bear                                                                                                              The Bull
 
Train Schedule                                                                                                    Shark
Reform Mayor                                                                                                      Kidnappers

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