THE SECRET ORIGIN OF PROTY
(and a small appreciation of Edmond Hamilton)

 

The original Proty first appeared in ADVENTURE COMICS 308, where Chameleon Boy adopted him as a pet. But the genesis of the character dates back to the 1940s, when writer Edmond Hamilton created a shape-changing amorphous alien animal in a science fiction pulp magazine called CAPTAIN FUTURE.
    Launched in 1940 by Better Publications, the series was edited initially by Mort Weisinger, whom Hamilton later followed to DC Comics (or National Publications, as it was known back then).
    The novels focused on space opera, and despite being fun to read (many elements resembled the plots and settings of the early Legion tales), were unfortunately criticised in some quarters for being too juvenile at a time when sci fi was starting to mature. Wartime paper shortages eventually led to the magazine's cancellation: the last issue (by then named STARTLING STORIES) was dated Spring 1944.

 

The CAPTAIN FUTURE novels were reproduced as digital and audio books by ereader specialists such as Radio Archives and Rakuten Kobo. The covers left no doubt as to Edmond Hamilton's biggest claim to fame!

    The titular character is the eponymous Captain Future, a brilliant scientist named Curtis Newton who hunts down interstellar criminals together with his crew Grag, Otho and Simon (a robot, an android, and a human brain separated from its body), referred to as the Futuremen.
    The classic tall, athletic and handsome hero faces many enemies in his career but his arch-enemy is Ul Quorn, who is the only recurring villain in the series and appears in two different stories.
    Under Hamilton's penmanship, Grag and Otho eventually adopted space pets: the robot took on a metal-eating moon pup named Eek, while the latter found himself a so-called meteor mimic named Oog, with white doughy shapeless features and two eyes, and the ability to change its form to any object. Both pets were telepathic.

 

Excerpts from CAPTAIN FUTURE Vol 2 No 2 (1941), introducing Oog.

    When he began writing for the Legion, Hamilton brought the concept along with him and rechristened the alien form Proty (akin to Al Gordon taking his creation Gemini over from the Legion to Image Comics, where she was named Skylark). Indeed, Oog was described as having "protean quickness" in his introductory story (shown above). Other premises he introduced in the CAPTAIN FUTURE series included a Chameleon Man and the Pleasure Planet, an asteroid gambling paradise outside jurisdiction of the law, possibly a precursor to Ventura, home of the Luck Lords.
    The series was adapted into an anime series for TV in 1978, featuring 53 episodes which were by and large faithful to the original stories. The show became especially popular in Japan, France, Italy, Spain and Latin America. Oog and Eek are included among the cast, although Oog is pictured as an olive green creature with eyes, a mouth, a tortoise shell and a tail. But then again, one never knows with shapeshifters ... maybe he just wanted a change!

 

Proty as Legion fans know him (left), and the TV anime version of Oog.

Oog was never actually shown pictorially in the novels, but this creature on the cover of CAPTAIN FUTURE Vol 6 No 1 could have been meant to be him. It was illustrated by the prolific pulp fiction artist Earle K. Bergey.

    Hamilton, who had worked with the likes of HP Lovecraft and Robert E Howard, was a pioneer of the science fiction genre, and had already won recognition and several awards by the time he worked on CAPTAIN FUTURE. His ability to imagine life on other worlds and interplanetary adventures translated well into the comic books, and Captain Future himself was reshaped into Chris KL99 for DC's STRANGE ADVENTURES, with the character sharing the same origin and also travelling with non-humanoid companions.
    This background made Hamilton eminently suitable to write the Legion, as it started to establish itself as a law enforcement agency throughout the galaxy, protecting various planets, with many of the stories introducing a range of alien forms and cultures and written in space opera/romance fashion. Notable creations included the Substitute Heroes, the Time Trapper, Dream Girl and Timber Wolf.

 

Chris KL99 was based on Captain Future.

    And Hamilton was a gentleman. Although he was already scripting several comic titles for DC in the early 60s, including the Legion, he actually wrote a letter to his old editor Weisinger asking for permission to use some of the Legionnaire suggestions sent in by readers.

A letter from Ed to Ed.

 

ØInterestingly, Hamilton wrote The Clash of Cape and Cowl in WORLD'S FINEST 153: the source of the internet meme in which Batman slaps Robin. There were three DC Comics characters based on him: a hero named Colonel Future, whose secret identity was a NASA scientist also named Edmond Hamilton; a similarly-named super-villain on Earth-2, whose civilian sobriquet was Edmond H Future; and a sci-fi writer named Edmond Hamilford, who staved off would-be alien invaders who thought the technological weaponry in his fictional stories was real. As well, it's believed that he provided the inspiration for the name of the Marv Wolfman-created Professor Emil Hamilton, who first appeared in ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN 424 (and appeared in TV and film).
    For more on Hamilton's works, you can read this ALTER EGO article as well as a self-penned biography in the LEGION COMPANION book.