The Black Hood

Real Name: Mathew "Kip" Burland

Identity/Class: Normal human

Occupation: Police officer

Affiliations: The Hermit, Barbara Sutton (girlfriend)

Enemies: Blackbeard (Jackson Carr), A.Bookworm, Crow (Paganini), the Gourmet, Markov, the Mist, Needlenoodle, the Skull

Known Relatives: Kip Burland (nephew, the next Black Hood)

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: New York

First Appearance: Top-Notch Comics #9 (Archie/MLJ, October 1940)

Powers/Abilities: Skilled fighter. Drove the Hoodcycle, which could transform into other vehicles.

History: (Top-Notch Comics #9; Top-Notch Comics 9-44, Black Hood Comics 9-19, Jackpot Comics 1-9, Pep Comics 48-51, 59, 60, Adventures of the Fly 7, 10, 27-29, 31, Adventures of the Jaguar 13, 14, Fly Man 32-35, Mighty Comics 41-44, 46, 47, 49, 50, Mighty Crusaders 1-7, Super Heroes vs. Super Villains 1, Black Hood 1-3, Blue Ribbon Comics 8, 11, Mighty Crusaders II 1-5, 7-13) Police officer Kip Burland was framed for a jewelry store robbery by notorious criminal, the Skull. Discharged from the New York Police Department, he attempted to track down the villain and clear his name, only to be shot and left for dead in the woods. Rescued by a man known as the Hermit, he was trained by his saviour to become the Black Hood, and with his new persona he was finally able to clear his name. He returned to the police force but continued his costumed career too, until unmasked by the villainous Needlenoodle. Leaving the force he used his reputation as the Hood to start up a detective agency, keeping the name but dropping the costume.

Comments: Created by Cliff Campbell and Al "Camy" Camerata.

The character was originally called Kip Burland. However when Archie revived the concept in the 1960's, they made the new incarnation Kip Burland, and had his predecessor, this Black Hood, be his Uncle Matt. Hence the name at the top of the page. They also ignored the small detail that the Black Hood's secret identity had been blown towards the end of his Golden Age run, and made the identity of the Hood into a family tradition, which doesn't quite sit right with The Hermit's involvement in this Black Hood's origin - unless of course he lied to his nephew. How else do you get a perfectly sane man follow his senile old Uncle into a career of masked vigilantism?

The Black Hood has the distinction of being the only MLJ character to appear outside the comics: in September 1941 he starred in Blue Ribbon Magazine's Black Hood Detective, which bizarelly started with Volume 2, #6 (presumably it had been another pulp title until renamed for its new occupant). His origin was rejigged slightly by writer G.T. Fleming-Roberts, who made Kip a District Attorney whose costumed crimefighting was prompted after watching numerous villains evade legal punishment. After his first adventure, "Death's Five Faces", Fleming-Roberts went on to pen two further prose Black Hood adventures, "The Corpse Came C.O.D." in the retitled Hooded Detective (Voume 3, #1, November 1941) and "The Whispering Eye" in Hooded Detective #2.

In 1943 the Black Hood again escaped the confines of the comics, when the Mutual Broadcasting Service gave him his own radio show. Starting with the adventure "Emerald Voodoo Ring" it ran five times a week after its debut in July, and lasted until January of the next year before cancellation, around 120 episodes. Scott Douglas played both Kip and the Hood in the 15 minute long episodes.

CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with

Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.

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