Tom Halloway has the urge to do good deeds for his fellow man. Though he lacks any superpowers, except for the capacity to "soar" due to his cape, this man of mystery has a knack for defeating occult and weird villains of an exotic and sadistic nature. Symbolically, the mustached hero known as the Angel casts the shadow of an angel at the end of his adventures. The Angel perseveres in his crime-crusading for many years before fading from the scene. For the most part, the Angel is very successful in his endeavors, using his keen intellect and his near perfect physical prowess to defeat the forces of evil.
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Paul Gustavson’s Angel was among the first Timely heroes, appearing in Marvel Comics # 1 along with the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. This spot in Timely’s flagship title may have helped make him their most successful second-string hero, occasionally appearing on the early covers of Marvel Mystery Comics. After Gustavson left the strip, it was handled by Al Fagaly, Jimmy Thompson, Eddie Robbins, George Mandel and, towards the end of the run, Carmine Infantino. The Angel was eventually dropped from Marvel Mystery Comics’ lineup to make way for Captain America.
Originally, Gustavson modeled his hero on the Saint, Leslie Charteris’ popular British rogue and justice figure (Holyoke’s Deacon was another Saint clone); the Angel had no super powers and wore regular street clothes. Tom Halloway (the name means holy way) had no job or private life; he was the Angel full time. But like DC’s Sandman and Crimson Avenger and MLJ’s Wizard, he switched to colorful long johns when super-heroes became big. According to some accounts, the Angel’s cape was magical and allowed him to glide from buildings or rooftops.
One early feature that he kept was his mustache; the Angel is one of the few early heroes to have one. The pencil-thin mustache was a common male trait at the time—think Errol Flynn or—but few superheroes had them, possibly because it limited identification with young readers. The Angel’s probably suggested a sophistication appropriate for the sleuth hero.
The Angel made have been suave and debonair, but his adventures dispalyed Timely’s weird horror sensibility. He specialized in saving beautiful young women from werewolves, zombies, pygmies, and ghouls and guys named Professor Torture, Count Lust (!), the Mad Boar, the Epicure of Crime, the Gargoyle, and the vampiric Count Vicaro. One foe, Dr. Hyde, stole human eyes, then sold them back to their owners (don’t ask) while the Armless Tiger Man used his feet and legs as hands and his jaws were almost superhumanly powerful, giving him a tiger’s grin. The Angel had a more attractive feline adversary, the Cat’s Paw, a villainess whom the Angel fought over three issues in 1941 shortly before Gustavson left the strip. Perhaps Gustavson thought that Timely’s equivalent to Batman should have his own cat enemy. Towards the end of the strip, the Angel’s Gothic menaces were shelved in favor of more pedestrian enemies.
The Angel has been little seen since the Golden Age. Marvel, however, resurrected him as a homicidal maniac out to murder criminals through the Scourge program. It’s a lousy way for a hero to end up. But then these days Marvel’s got another Angel.
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