Red Rube

He emerged with familiar beginnings – orphaned and unsure of his identity, like many would-be superheroes before him. He knew that his name was Reuben Reuben and that both his parents were definitely deceased, but what he didn’t know until fleeing the orphanage and hiding out in a nearby castle was that he descended from a long line of superheroes – all named Reuben Reuben.

He was given a magic elixir that allowed him a few moments of conversation with his deceased relatives and each imparted their distinct superpowers to him.

Red Rube’s origin has a rather fairy-tailish quality (the enchanted castle comes immediately to mind as a distinction between his origin and the others of his day), but beyond that, he wasn’t unique enough to sustain an ongoing storyline. Many found his several similarities to Captain Marvel off-putting. Both were cub reporters (Reuben in print, Batson in radio). Both had a magic phrase that transformed them and evoked their powers. (Reuben had “Hey Rube!” while Marvel had “Shazam!”)

In the end, Rube showed up in Zip Comics #39-47 between 1943 and 1944, after which time he was never heard from again.