Named after the minutemen of the American Revolution and sporting an American flag-inspired costume, he was originally published by Fawcett Comics in Master Comics #11-49. He also had his own self-titled comic for three issues published Summer 1941 - Spring 1942. Along with other Fawcett characters, he was purchased by DC Comics, and made brief appearances in the Shazam! comics in 1976, and the Power of Shazam! comic in 1995 and 1996.
During World War II, Jack Weston is an Army private in prime physical condition who dons a patriotic costume and becomes the Minute-Man, a "One Man Army" who combats enemy agents. His double identity is known to his superior officer General Milton, who sends the Minute-Man on unsanctioned missions behind enemy lines. Minute-Man serves as a member of a group of local Fawcett City heroes, the Crime Crusaders Club. According to Jess Nevins' Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes, "His nemesis is the femme fatale Illyria, Queen of the Spies, but he also fights rebellious Haitian natives, robot spies, ten foot tall Nazi monsters, the Black Poet, agents of the Black Dragon Society, the evil Toymaker, mad scientists, mummies, vampires, and head hunters." Prior to DC Comics' Crisis on Infinite Earths miniseries, Minute-Man was said to exist on the parallel Earth-S, home of the Fawcett heroes. He makes his first appearance in Shazam! when he rescues Billy from Mr. Mind and the Rainbow Squad, who have captured and gagged him. Cap feels unable to fight females, so Minute-Man shows him he can do it, inspiring Cap to beat the Squad, and reveal their leader Mr. Wonderful is really his old enemy, the super-intelligent alien worm Mr. Mind. In this incarnation, the character was also a member of the Squadron of Justice, a team of Fawcett characters who joined forces with the Justice League and Justice Society. He was incorporated into the mainstream DC Universe in the wake of the Crisis. In the new timeline, Weston defends Fawcett City for a time following the war with his fellow heroes. Eventually retiring from costumed heroism, he is shown to have become a government agent in the Power of Shazam! series, serving as an occasional ally to Captain Marvel.
Death
In Justice Society of America #3, Jack Weston, his children and grandchildren are killed in their sleep by an unknown assassin in their home in Clearwater, Florida. Minute-Man was one of three patriotic superhero bloodlines destroyed by the efforts of Vandal Savage, along with the bloodlines of Mr. America, Commander Steel and General Glory. Savage wished to stop the prevalence of relatives taking on the heroic identities and/or powers of their loved ones.
Reception
In American Comic Book Chronicles: 1940-1944, Kurt Mitchell and Roy Thomas discussed the merits of the early Minute-Man stories: "The strip began as a lazy imitation of Captain America: given a top-secret commission to ferret out and smash subversive threats to the nation as the patriotically garbed Minute-Man, Jack Weston posed as an ordinary private as cover. There was no origin, no explanation for his extraordinary fighting prowess, no kid sidekick or grotesque Nazi villains, for Minute-Man was stuck in the world of fictitious fascist nations that Joe Simon| Simon and Jack Kirby| Kirby scorned as too timid for the times."
