Major Triumph

April 1940: One year prior to America's entry into WW2, US Army Captain Ross Hamilton volunteers for a secret scientific experiment ala Captain America. After the experiment successfully increases his strength to superhuman levels, Hamilton assumes the identity of Major Triumph, becoming the scourge of spies and saboteurs everywhere. Working initially from Washington DC, he soon relocates to the European theatre after 1941, where he battles Axis super-villians such as Tiwaz the Terrible and The Yellow Dragon.

Powers and Abilities
Major Triumph was originally endowed with superhuman speed and strength, capable of lifting over 50 tons and outracing "the fastest missiles in existence." In addition to his "Herculean powers", he was capable of leaping several miles with a running start; catching bullets in his bare hands; and surviving explosions which "would have killed a hundred men."

As the series progressed, he developed several new powers, including flight, near invulnerability, and resistance to virtually every known form of radiation. Capable of tearing German aircraft to pieces in mid-flight, he was particularly feared by the Luftwaffe, as machine gun fire had no effect on his impenetrable hide. Very few Nazi super-villains were capable of facing him on the battle field, the sole exceptions being two Germanic war-gods summoned by Aryan occult scientists. In both cases, he fought each to a standstill, proving that old-fashioned American courage would always trump mindless German brutality.

Weaponry
At the beginning of World War 2, Triumph was equipped with a standard-issue M1911A1 side arm, later modified into a Remington 6-11 machine pistol. As his powers gradually increased, Triumph had little need for firearms, although the weapon remained part of his field uniform until the end of the war.

Once the pistol was phased out of combat, Triumph began to rely more on a stainless-steel discus worn on his left hip. Decorated in a "stars and bars" motif, the discus proved itself a devastating weapon, capable of penetrating armor-plating when propelled with sufficient force (according to some estimates, Triumph could throw the discus at several hundred miles an hour, fast enough to overtake most German aircraft).

In addition to his offensive weaponry, Triumph wore a chest-plate of "Pure Inertrium", a near-indestructible alloy capable of withstanding virtually any projectile. Initially employed to deflect machine-gun fire, the chest-plate's was later found to be impenetrable to anything short of a nuclear reaction. In some early adventures, the chestpiece could be detached and worn on the wrist as a shield (although, as Triumph was functionally bullet-proof anyway, its purpose was more decorative than utilitarian).

Faux Publishing History
Strongly influenced by Timely's Captain America, Major Triumph first appeared in Holy Dooley Comics number 1 (Goldman Periodicals, April 1940). Starting out as the cover feature, the strip enjoyed some degree of popularity during the early forties, particularly after the addition of a side kick, Victory Girl. By the end of the war however, Goldman was phasing out its superhero characters in favor of teen humor strips like Chubby Willikins and Glory Bea. Triumph moved to the back pages in June 1946, then vanished completely three issues later.

Interestingly, the Victory Girl character, which had moved into her own title in 1943, continued on until fall 1949. Triumph made a few guest appearances as Victory's 'Uncle Ross,' though by and large his superhero career was over by the close of the decade.

Both characters were revived in the 1960s when Goldman Periodicals (now Landmark Magazines Ltd) resurrected its superhero line. Initially guest-starring in Selina the Moon Maiden, Triumph and Victory soon moved onto the anthology title Incredulous Tales, where they were updated as a pair of globe-trotting costumed espionage agents (cf Nick Fury, Thunder Agents et al). This version ran from 1966-1969 before being replaced by The Scarlet Speedster. The characters continued making guest appearances in various Landmark titles until Triumph became a founding member of The Patriot Brigade in 1971.