Episode 28: Gary Concord and the 23rd-Century Dream of Peace

Simon Carver

The static, er, the static is particularly heavy over the channel tonight, but if the shortwave is holding, we are, we are live. It is Tuesday, August 5th, 1941, and I am looking out over a completely blacked-out London. The wardens just went past my window. It is quiet here, but the papers, well, they are anything but quiet. We are just four days out from President Roosevelt’s announced embargo on oil and aviation fuel to Japan, and the United States has officially extended Lend-Lease to the Soviets as of August 2nd. It feels like, uh, like the machinery of the entire world is being re-engineered overnight. And joining us from the KDCR studio in Chicago, where I trust the lights are still burning, is my partner, Robert Reed. Robert, how is the connection on your end, fella?

Robert Reed

Holy cow, Simon! I can hear you, but it sounds like you're broadcasting from inside a tin can at the bottom of the Atlantic! Chicago is absolutely boiling tonight, and I don't just mean the thermometer. Everyone on the street is talking about that one-vote margin in the House last week to extend the draft. One single vote! It-it-it feels like we are standing on the very edge of tomorrow, watching the gears of history turn. And that-that-that tension, that feeling of a world being reshaped by massive, industrial forces, it fits our subject tonight down to the ground. We are talking about a fella who didn't just look at the future, he, er, he literally fell asleep and woke up right in the middle of it! We are diving into the complete Golden Age run of Gary Concord, the Ultra-Man!

Simon Carver

Ultra-Man. Yes. A character who, uh, who represents a very different kind of "Man of Tomorrow" than the one we usually talk about in Metropolis. Gary Concord doesn't come from another planet, Robert. He is, he is a regular American boy who gets preserved like a butterfly in a specimen jar and wakes up in the year 2239. It’s a remarkable run, starting in All-American Comics number 8, running through number 19, with a very high-profile stop in All-Star Comics number 1. And the entire thing is the work of one incredibly singular voice, Jon L. Blummer.

Robert Reed

And boy, oh boy, Blummer is something else! You know, we got a letter from our mysterious friend, that fella Mr. Moore who claims to be writing to us from some high-tech future, and he pointed out that this is actually the very first sci-fi hero in the All-American line. He told us to look closely at how the strip tries to balance the fantasy of the future with the very real anxieties of the world we're living in right now in 1941. So, let’s crack open All-American number 8 from November 1939 and see how this tomorrow actually begins!

Simon Carver

We begin not in the future, but in what was, for 1939, a very near future. The year 1950. Jon Blummer introduces us to Gary Concord’s father, a scientist who is, uh, who is utterly horrified by what he calls "the Great War" of his era. He builds this hidden, subterranean laboratory deep under the mountain rock, seeking a place where, as he puts it, "science can be used for peace, not slaughter." But his young son, Gary, is playing in the laboratory, and... well, Robert, it’s the classic comic-book domestic accident, isn't it?

Robert Reed

It is the gold standard of laboratory goofs! Young Gary is running around, he bumps into a table, and crash! He knocks over a vat of his father's experimental "preservative gas." The chamber seals, the vapors fill the room, and Gary is knocked out cold. Now, Blummer doesn't just skip a year or two. He-he-he lets the clock run! The years turn into decades, the decades turn into centuries. The mountain above them is literally blasted away by subsequent wars, but that deep chamber remains untouched until the year 2239. Two hundred and eighteen years, Simon!

Simon Carver

Two hundred and eighteen years. It’s an incredible span of time. And when Gary finally awakens, the gas dissipates, and he steps out into a world that has been completely, er, utterly leveled. The civilization he knew is gone, replaced by a strange, high-tech feudalism. He is discovered by a group of peaceful agriculturalists who are being oppressed by a brutal, metallic tyrant who calls himself Tor, the Emperor of the Underworld. And Gary, who has spent two centuries breathing in those concentrated chemical vapors, realizes he has, uh, he has developed what the strip calls "ultra-strength" and "ultra-speed."

Robert Reed

He's a regular human dynamo! He can leap over mountains, he can run faster than a bullet, and his skin is tough enough to shrug off those futuristic "disintegration rays." But what I love about this first issue is how Blummer draws the future. It’s not just shiny towers. It’s this wild mix of ruined stone and super-scientific machinery. Gary agrees to help these peaceful farmers, and he goes after Tor's subterranean stronghold. He literally tears his way through these massive iron doors with his bare hands, corners the tyrant Tor, and uses his father's old scientific journals to declare a new era of peace.

Simon Carver

It is a very distinct moral stance, Robert. Gary Concord doesn't become a soldier. He, uh, he becomes the "Prime Minister of Peace." He takes his father's name and his father's mission and decides that his super-strength is merely a tool to force the warring factions of the 23rd century to put down their weapons. It is, it is "peace through strength" in the most literal sense imaginable.

Robert Reed

Now, as we move into All-American issues 9 through 15, the world-building just goes completely off the trolley! Gary Concord isn't just punching local thugs anymore. He is trying to run a global government of peace from his capital in "Peace City." And Blummer starts introducing these wild, fantastic gadgets that make our current bombers look like old horse-drawn buggies. We got these giant, hovering "flying torpedo platforms" that can drop magnetic screens over entire cities, and these "atomic ray deflectors" that can melt a battle-cruiser from fifty miles away!

Simon Carver

The flying platforms are, uh, they are really the visual signature of these middle issues, Robert. Blummer draws them with this beautiful, clean, architectural draftsmanship. They look like massive, floating concrete slabs suspended in the air by electrostatic force. But what is fascinating is the tone shift. By issue 12 and 13, which came out last year in 1940, the stories start to feel less like a boy's adventure and much more like, well, like the defense drills we are seeing in our own cities. There is this constant threat of "global sabotage" from secret syndicates who want to turn the atomic reactors against the civilian populations.

Robert Reed

Oh, the sabotage plots are thick! In issue 13, you got these rebel forces trying to hijack the "weather-control towers" to freeze the agricultural districts. Gary has to fly up on these little personal jet-harnesses, dodging these giant, swirling artificial blizzards. It’s-it’s-it’s got this real sense of urgency. Even though it's set in 2239, you can tell Blummer is looking at the headlines from Europe. The way the villains talk about "total mobilization" and "shattering the democratic peace," it-it-it sounds exactly like the shortwave broadcasts we're hearing from Berlin today.

Simon Carver

It does, indeed. The metaphor is barely a metaphor at all. Gary Concord’s struggle is the struggle of a-a liberal democracy trying to maintain its values while being forced to build massive, terrifying weapons of deterrence. In issue 15, he has to make a speech to the global council, arguing that if they use the "ultimate atomic disintegrator," they will become no better than the tyrants they overthrew. It is remarkably mature writing for a ten-cent comic book, Robert. It’s asking whether you can use the tools of total war to preserve a lasting peace.

Robert Reed

And that brings us to the big league, Simon! In the summer of 1940, All-Star Comics number 1 hits the stands, and who is right there on the roster next to the Flash and Hawkman? Gary Concord, the Ultra-Man! It was this massive crossover, establishing that Gary’s adventures aren't just some isolated story, but are part of the main All-American family. Even though he's technically living two hundred years in the future, the editors found a way to link his legacy to the modern heroes.

Simon Carver

It was a brief but, uh, but very bright spotlight, Robert. But then we return to his solo run in All-American issues 16 through 19, and the world gets even stranger. Gary is forced to go deep underground to fight the "Sub-Surface Empires"-- these subterranean civilizations that have been living in the Earth's crust since the Great War of 1950. The art in these final issues is incredibly dense, with Blummer using these heavy, cross-hatched shadows to show the dark, claustrophobic tunnels beneath the future America.

Robert Reed

And then, Simon, we got that strange message from Mr. Moore. He sent us a note through our email line-- distinguishedcomicsradio@gmail.com-- and he told us that All-American number 19, which is sitting right here on my desk with a cover date of October 1940, is the absolute end of the line. He said Gary Concord never appears again in the Golden Age. He just... vanishes from the publishing schedule! It-it-it seems so sudden, especially after he was just featured in All-Star number 1!

Simon Carver

It is a abrupt departure, indeed. In issue 19, Gary is still fighting to maintain the peace, dealing with a rogue scientific syndicate that has developed a "mind-control ray" that can turn entire populations into obedient laborers. He defeats them, of course, but the story ends with him looking out over the futuristic skyline, wondering if the struggle for peace will ever truly end. And then, silence. No next-issue promise, no farewell. Just... the end of the feature.

Robert Reed

So, we gotta talk about the fella behind the curtain: Jon L. Blummer. Now, this is a guy who didn't just sign his name "Jon L. Blummer." He had this pen name, "Jon Elby," which he used on his strips. And you can spot his work from a mile away! His art is so clean, so architectural. He loves drawing these big, sweeping vistas of futuristic cities with these perfect, ruled lines and these giant, circular windows. It looks less like a standard comic book and more like an industrial designer's notebook!

Simon Carver

"Jon Elby"-- it is a very clever, stylized signature. And his design sense is really what set the strip apart, Robert. He had this, this absolute obsession with functional-looking machinery. The dials, the levers, the glass tubes-- they didn't just look like random circles on the page; they looked like they had a purpose. But when we ask ourselves why Ultra-Man was canceled... well, I think we have to be honest about the limitations of the strip. What did he do well, and where did he stumble?

Robert Reed

Well, what he did brilliantly was the world-building. You felt like 2239 was a real place with its own history, its own politics, and its own rules. But where he stumbled, Simon, was the pacing. The stories could be incredibly dry! Gary Concord would spend three pages sitting at a desk signing "peace treaties" or arguing with global delegates before he actually jumped out a window or threw a punch. For a kid looking for the high-octane thrills of the Flash, all that committee-room talk must have felt like schoolwork!

Simon Carver

It was, uh, it was perhaps a bit too intellectual for the standard ten-cent audience, yes. And there was also the distinct lack of a memorable, recurring rogues' gallery. Tor of the Underworld was a decent villain for the origin, but after that, Gary was mostly fighting anonymous "saboteurs" and "rebel generals" who all looked more or less the same in their metallic tunics. Without a Joker or a Lex Luthor to focus the conflict, the strip, well, it began to drift. It lost its narrative hook.

Robert Reed

That's it exactly! You need a big, colorful bad guy to keep the kids coming back every month. But even if it didn't last, Ultra-Man was a real pioneer. It showed that comics could handle serious, big-picture science fiction with a real moral conscience. Well, Simon, my studio clock is telling me we're about out of time tonight, so we better let the folks know what to get ready for next week!

Simon Carver

Indeed. For our next standard broadcast, we are finally returning to the dark, wet streets of Gotham City. We will be covering Batman 1940 Part 3, diving deep into Detective Comics issues 40 through 42, the historic 1940 New York World's Fair Comics, and the landmark Batman issue number 2. It is going to be a absolute blockbuster of a show, friends.

Robert Reed

Oh, you bet it is! If you want to send us a line, write to us at distinguishedcomicsradio@gmail.com. Tell us what you think of Gary Concord, or if you think Mr. Moore really is writing to us from the year 2024! Keep your chin up, Simon, and watch out for those air raids over London!

Simon Carver

I will keep my lamp dim and my ears open, Robert. To all our listeners, keep supporting the boys in uniform, keep your eyes on the funny pages, and we will see you on the next program. Good night, folks.