Tex Thompson

Tex Thompson (spelled Tex Thomson in his early appearances) is a fictional superhero owned by DC Comics who has used the costumed identities Mr. America and the Americommando. Created by Ken Fitch and Bernard Baily, his first appearance was in Action Comics #1 (June 1938), the same comic that introduced Superman.[1]

Tex Thompson
Tex Thompson (far left) debuts as Americommando in Action Comics #52.
Publication information
PublisherDC Comics
First appearanceAction Comics #1
(June 1938)
Created byKen Fitch
Bernard Baily
In-story information
Alter egoHarry "Tex" Thompson
Team affiliationsAll-Star Squadron
OSS
Hero Hotline
Notable aliasesMr. America, Americommando, The Coordinator
AbilitiesWell trained spy
Great hand to hand combatant
Use of a whip and a chemically altered carpet

Fictional character biography

Thompson is originally a blond-haired Texas boy who leaves a possible future as an oil baron to pursue a more adventurous lifestyle with his friend, Bob Daley. This changes in issue #33 (Feb 1941)[2] when the Nazis sink an American liner carrying food to Europe. Thompson is watching over this liner and is believed dead. The disaster inspires him to don a patriotic costume, dye his hair black, and wield a whip to fight for his country as Mr. America.[3]

As Mr. America, Thompson also had a flying carpet which doubled as a cape.[4] His friend Bob Daley dons a homemade costume (similar to that of the original Red Tornado) and becomes his sidekick, Fat Man, wielding a broom against the forces of evil.[5]

According to Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes, Mr. America "explores lost cities, fights ape armies, woos the Queen of the Malays, has a recurring nemesis in the person of the cyclopean Yellow Peril Gorrah, fights zombies, island demons, spies, the half-German, half-Japanese dwarf "master of assassination" Dr. Ito, and the female crime lord Queen Bee, and he kills lots of Germans and Japanese during the war".[6]

Bob's daughter, Janice, also adventured with the heroes under the secret identity of Miss X.[7]

Americommando

Mr. America was a member of the All-Star Squadron, but his main contribution to the war effort came later; Thompson is asked by President Roosevelt himself to go battle the Nazis in Germany as The Americommando.[8] Thompson does this by becoming "Hauptmann Riker" and infiltrating the Gestapo. His most frequent adversaries are Mister Ito (also known as The Little One), a German/Japanese diminutive assassin, and The Queen Bee. He works for the Americans for several years behind enemy lines.[9]

His last appearance as The Americommando is in The Justice Society Returns: National Comics #1: Mr. Terrific encounters Thompson during the bombing of Dresden and the two work together to save innocent German lives. After Thompson reveals to Mr. Terrific that there are no munitions factories in Dresden for the Allies to bomb, Thompson enters a burning building to save a small girl. The building collapses around him and he is never seen again.

Hero Hotline

Once again Thompson managed to escape death; he later emerges to create the Hero Hotline organization. While leading this organization, Thompson goes by the name The Coordinator. He only appeared as a shadowy figure on a communication screen, so no one knew that it was Thompson until it was revealed by the writer of Hero Hotline, Bob Rozakis.[10]

Powers and abilities

Tex Thompson has no superpowers but he is a well-trained spy and a great hand-to-hand combatant. He sometimes used a whip as his main weapon and a carpet that he altered with chemicals which allows him to fly and doubles as a cape when not in use.

Other versions
  • In Freedom Fighters #7 (March 1977), the villainous Silver Ghost poses as a fictional Americommando, leader of the Crusaders (a parody of Captain America and the Invaders). This version of the character was the inspiration for the Earth-8 version and the modern Freedom Fighters villain.
  • In Lord Havok and the Extremists #1–6, the Earth-8 version of Americommando is leader of a group called the Meta-Militia, an analogue of the Avengers.
  • In Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters, a new Americommando appears as an agent of S.H.A.D.E. and its field leader. He kills his own speedster, Spin Doctor, for talking back to him.
  • In Kingdom Come, an Americommando appears as a minor villain. After the destruction of Kansas, Americommando, along with Braintrust and the Minutemen, attempts to stop all immigration to the United States. He and his team are stopped by Superman and the Justice League.
  • In Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #1, a new Mr. America—Trey Thompson, an ex-FBI agent who took justice into his own hands—debuts in the first issue and dies in the same issue. It is implied by Dr. Mid-Nite that Trey was related to the original Mr. America, when Mid-Nite says that Mr. America's bloodline was gone. However, Trey's former FBI contact, Jeffrey Graves, is later seen donning Mr. America's mask after he is fired when his connection with Trey is discovered.[11] He later joins the Justice Society, and remains an active member. He also uses a whip, which is later upgraded by Mister Terrific so that the tip explodes on impact.[12]
  • Tex Thompson played a central role in the Golden Age miniseries. In this story, he is a crime-fighter who disappeared from the American eye in 1942 to fight the Nazi threat from within. He kills the German superhero Parsifal and Adolf Hitler himself. He returns to America as a hero and becomes a senator with presidential aspirations. Then he organizes a program to defend America from the Soviet menace with a new group of superheroes. He rallies The Atom, Robotman, and Daniel Dunbar to his cause. He uses a group of scientists to transform Dunbar into Dynaman, "a super-hero for the new age". The heroes of the story discover that Tex Thompson had actually been killed in the war; the man who returned was the Ultra-Humanite. The Ultra-Humanite told Hitler that Thompson was a spy, so they killed Thompson and put Ultra's brain into his body. The experiment which created Dynaman was in reality the Humanite putting Hitler's brain in Dunbar's body. The Ultra-Humanite is stopped by Manhunter, who had witnessed the operation, but suffered from memory loss after hitting his head trying to escape.

References
  1. Markstein, Don. "Americommando". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  2. Markstein, Don. "Mr. America". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  3. Benton, Mike (1992). Superhero Comics of the Golden Age: The Illustrated History. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Company. p. 146. ISBN 0-87833-808-X. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  4. Unofficial Mister America Biography
  5. Mitchell, Kurt; Thomas, Roy (2019). American Comic Book Chronicles: 1940-1944. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 72. ISBN 978-1605490892.
  6. Nevins, Jess (2013). Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes. High Rock Press. pp. 269–270. ISBN 978-1-61318-023-5.
  7. Markstein, Don. "Miss X". Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Retrieved 22 April 2020.
  8. Thomas, Roy (2006). The All-Star Companion: Vol 2. TwoMorrows Publishing. p. 92. ISBN 978-1893905375.
  9. Cosmic Teams: All-Stars
  10. It's BobRo, the Answer Man!
  11. Justice Society of America (vol. 3) #1–4: 'The Next Age'
  12. Justice Society of America (Vol. 3) #34
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