Religion: not determined yet
Name: Crash Carson
Other Names: The Ace; "Ace" Daredevil Crash Carson and his "Devil's Angels"
Classification:
hero
Publisher(s): 
First Appearance: Wow Comics #8 (1942)
Creators: Jack Tremblay
Super? (Has Super Powers/Special Abilities/Technology): Yes
Number of Appearances: 10
Nation: Canada
Gender: male
The "International Catalogue of Superheroes" website at http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/ provides a rich source of information about comic book super-heroes (as well as heroes from other sources) who are not Americans. The web pages on this website for characters typically feature enough substantial information (such as first appearance, creators, etc.). But the entry for a Canadian hero identifies only as "The Ace" provides no information other than the character's nationality (Canadian) and a vague reference to his first appearance being in "Unknown, but c.1940s."
Through additional research, we can be fairly certain that this character was featured in comics published by Commercial Signs of Canada, Hillborough Studios, Bell Features.
Who is this mysterious Ace, not to be confused with numerous other characters named "Ace"? We believe this may be a reference to "Crash Carson," a heroic pilot character who first appeared in Wow Comics. Another possibility is "Ace Bradley," a clearly distinct character who has been given a separate entry in this database.
Commercial Signs of Canada, which was based in Toronto, Ontario, began publishing Wow Comics in 1941. This publisher published the first 7 issues of Wow Comics. The series continued from issue #8 until its final issue (#30), with this publisher's new name on the cover: Bell Features.
In early 1942, Bell Features essentially merged with another Canadian comic book publisher - Hillborough Studios - when the founder of Hillborough Studios joined Bell and brought with him the comic book series he had been publishing as well as most of the company's staff.
One of the most successful comic book series published at that time by Commercial Signs of Canada/Bell Features was Wow Comics. This series became the first Canadian color comic book. At one time it identified itself on the cover as Canada's most popular comic book series. Issue #7 features the cover blurb: "The largest selling comic in Canada."
The earliest issues of Wow Comics starred swordsman "Dart Daring." But like most comics of the time, this was an anthology series. Wow Comics #8 introduced a new character: a heroic pilot named "Crash Carson." He starred in a feature called "Crash Carson and his 'Devil's Angels.'"
In the second comic featuring Crash Carson (Wow Comics #9), the cover blurb read: "'Ace' Daredevil Crash Carson and his 'Devil's Angels' ...plus 3 more thrilling action-packed 'picture stores': Dart Daring, Whiz Wallace, Jeff Waring."
These other three features had all appeared in previous issues of Wow Comics. Crash Carson has the largest picture on this cover and is clearly promoted as the biggest star of this issue.
Many later issues of Wow Comics featured Crash Carson, but only issue #8 referred to him on the cover as "Ace."
This character is clearly not known primarily as "Ace" or "The Ace," but he fits the bill as a Canadian comic book hero published by these particular publishers during the 1940s and known as "Ace."
Wow Comics
Suggested links for further research about this character:
- http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/t/theace.htm
- http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/c/canagold.htm
- http://www.lambiek.net/artists/t/tremblay_jack.htm
- https://www.comics.org/issue/229210/
- https://www.comics.org/issue/229211/
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Features
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillborough_Studios