Audio: The Black Hood is on the air

The Black Hood radio serial was a 15-minute American radio program that aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System from July 5, 1943, to January 14, 1944, five days a week at 5:15 p.m. It was based on the popular superhero comic series Black Hood, which debuted in MLJ Comics’ Top-Notch Comics #9 in October 1940. The show ran for approximately 120 episodes, though only one recording is known to survive today. It was a sustaining (non-sponsored) series, which may have contributed to its cancellation due to lack of advertiser support.

The serial followed rookie police officer Matthew Kipling “Kip” Burland, who led a double life as the Black Hood, a costumed crime-fighter. Donning a specially developed black hood granted him vaguely defined “magical powers,” a detail more emphasized in the radio show than in the comics, where his abilities were initially ambiguous (leaning on exceptional strength, agility, and healing). The only person aware of Kip’s secret identity was Barbara “Babs” Sutton, a newspaper reporter who aided him in his crime-fighting efforts. The stories were less violent and sexually suggestive than the comic source material, adhering to stricter radio content standards.

Scott Douglas voiced both Kip Burland and the Black Hood. Marjorie Cramer played Barbara Sutton.
Other characters included Sergeant McGinty and various villains, such as the mysterious Womba and the Miracle Man, featured in the surviving episode involving an emerald ring with strange powder.

The show’s opening theme was a snippet from Paul Dukas’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, setting a dramatic tone. The announcer introduced the Black Hood with a gong and the character’s vow: “I, the Black Hood, do solemnly swear that neither threat, nor bribe, nor bullet, nor death itself will keep me from fulfilling my vow: To erase crime from the face of the earth!”

The serial focused on Kip Burland’s adventures as the Black Hood, tackling criminals and unraveling mysteries. The surviving episode hints at serialized storytelling, with cliffhangers like Sergeant McGinty being knocked out by Womba’s vase and questions about the contents of an emerald ring. The radio version leaned into a more family-friendly tone compared to the pulpy, sometimes gritty comics, avoiding the bondage and torture elements present in the source material.

The Black Hood character, created by Harry Shorten for MLJ Comics (later Archie Comics), was a major hit during the Golden Age of Comics, appearing in Top-Notch Comics, Pep Comics, Jackpot Comics, and his own Black Hood Comics title. His popularity led to a pulp magazine and this radio serial. Kip Burland, framed for grand larceny and trained by a hermit to fight evil, used a transformable motorcycle called the Hoodcycle and faced foes like the Skull, Panther Men, and the Mist. The radio show capitalized on this popularity but struggled to maintain momentum, likely due to its lack of sponsorship.

The Black Hood radio serial is a lesser-known artifact of the Golden Age, overshadowed by more enduring radio heroes like The Shadow. Its brief run and scarce surviving recordings make it a curiosity for old-time radio enthusiasts. The character later evolved in comics, with darker reboots under Archie’s Dark Circle Comics and a reimagining as a serial killer in The CW’s Riverdale, though this version diverged significantly from the radio and comic origins.