Mister E (Timely Comics)

Mister E (Victor J. Goldstein, also known as Victor Jay) was a Timely Comics Golden Age superhero. He appeared in Daring Mystery Comics #2 (Feb. 1940), and reappears in 2008 in The Twelve.^{[1] [2]} His only story has been reprinted in The Twelve #1/2.

Fictional character biography

Before fighting crime as Mister E, Victor Jay was a wealthy sportsman. He has no superpowers, but was athletic.

In his first adventure, he confronts a murderous extortionist called 'The Vampire' working his way through the ranks of the 'Snead Oil Company'. The Vampire captured and bombed Mister E but failed to kill him, or his last victim. During the final confrontation, the villain safely snuck away.

Along with the other members of the group known as The Twelve, Mister E was frozen in suspended animation at the end of World War II. He and the others were discovered and awoken in the year 2008. In the J. Michael Straczynski-written series The Twelve, he finds himself rejected by his now 68-year-old son for having hidden his Jewish identity by changing his name from Victor J. Goldstein to Victor Jay in order to escape prevalent contemporaneous anti-Semitic attitudes that prevented him from climbing the social ladder.^[3] Straczynski said, "Because many Jewish immigrants had to change their name and conceal their backgrounds in order to be accepted, this let me put a metaphor inside a metaphor."^[4]

After Victor's wife passes away, his son's attitude softens and he attempts to reconcile with his father, urging him to 'come home'. Victor later does exactly that.

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