ACE HART

The comics tell us that "Ace Hart, a young scientist, has been able to harness atomic energy to his own body, which gives him the strength of twenty men and enables him to fly faster than a jet".

This is partly confirmed in the tale of 'The Devil's Own', where his recurring enemy Zonda steals Ace's "secret formula to harness atom power to the body".

In the 1959 annual, he is referred to as "the superman who has the mysterious power of flight", although in the 1957 annual we read:

"His left arm trailing helplessly beside him, and his cloak, the magic means by which he could fly like a bullet, was ripped from shoulder to waist."

His left arm was broken -  he is not invulnerable.

Unlike many super-powered heroes, Ace at times used a ray gun.

I believe that Ace's first appearance was in the story 'The Avenging Twin'

ZONDA

That adversary Zonda (also know as 'Satan's Daughter') poses a potential puzzle. Way back in Super Thriller issue 8, Ace and Zonda are opponents in a jungle adventure. But in Western Super Thriller issue 76, in the tale of the Evil Eye, it clearly appears as if it's their first encounter.

Continuity may not have been very important to the producers of comic books in those days, but undoubtedly the answer is that towards the end of the run of Western Super Thriller many stories were reprinted from earlier editions.

In the story 'The Devil's Own' Zonda steals some of Ace's 'secret formula' elixir, she drinks it and, after a rest, finds that she can fly and has super strength. Ace goes to her hideout and Zonda sees her chance to dispose of him once and for all, courtesy of the atom ray gun. Unfortunately for her, she doesn't know that the serum takes a while to complete the super powers routine. Ace tries to warn her, but she uses the gun, resulting in her own death.

More of Zonda .. .. ..

VAL VENTURE

Ace had a female assistant, a woman known as Val Venture . Ace treated Val with his 'secret formula' elixir to give her super powers.

From some stories, it appears that he also provided her with a version of his own 'magic cape' which gave her the power of flight.

I had assumed that Val was from Earth, but in the story 'Earth in Peril' the origin of Val is explained. She is a survivor of the planet Loma, made a slave of the Vaks. Her original name appears to have been Valra

Val wasn't an ever present in Ace's adventures, but she did appear in quite a few. She may have had super powers and been able to fly, but often she was captured and it was down to Ace to rescue her.

JESSIE KING

But wait, was Val Ace's first, or last, female assistant?

My research hadn't turned up any reference to another woman. Even the late Denis Gifford's books mentioned only Val. Then I acquired a copy of a Western Super Thriller comic in which the story 'Crucus' appears. In this story we are told that Earth's survival "rests in hands of Ace Hart and his beautiful assistant, Jessie King".

Like Val, Jessie's super powers were acquired via some of Ace's 'secret formula' elixir (though Jessie could fly without a cape!).  But, unlike Val, Jessie doesn't have a super heroine's costume, in fact she appears to be wearing shorts with a bikini top.

There's a clearly different artistic style to this story and in some panels even Ace's cape is different, almost resembling that of the Shazam character, Captain Marvel.

DAMSELS IN DISTRESS

Ace was, naturally, often to be found rescuing damsels in distress. It wasn't unusual for these damsels to have torn or pulled back the tops of their dresses .. .. ..

PAIRS

Ace with Val .. .. ..

Ace with Zonda .. .. ..