Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Alex Schomburg, golden age

Alex Schomburg Covers Red Blazer on All-New Comics, Up for Auction

Marvely/Timely's the Human Torch was not the only Golden Age fire-based hero that legendary artist Alex Schomburg provided covers for.

Superheroes with various kinds of fire-based power were practically their own category in the Golden Age.   Marvel/Timely's Human Torch and his sidekick Toro are the most famous of these, of course, but there's also Fox Feature's the Flame, MLJ's Fireball, Centaur's Fireman, Quality's Wildfire, Nedor's Pyroman, and numerous others.  Legendary cover artist Alex Schomburg played his part in helping to popularize the Human Torch with spectacular covers on Marvel Mystery Comics and Human Torch Comics. Perhaps best known for his early pulp covers and his beautifully detailed artwork for Marvel/Timely covers on titles like Marvel Mystery Comics, Captain America Comics, Human Torch, and many others, Schomburg's work for other publishers has also become highly sought-after by collectors.  But the Human Torch is not the only firey superhero character that Schomburg provided covers for.  He also created Pyroman covers for Startling Comics and America's Best Comics, and covers featuring Red Blazer and Sparky for Harvey's All-New Comics. There are several Alex Schomburg All-New Comics covers featuring Red Blazer and Sparky up for auction in the 2024 May 30 Adventures in the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40261 at Heritage Auctions.

The Red Blazer first appeared in Harvey's Pocket Comics #1 in 1941.  The character got his flaming, flying powers from exposure to Astro-Pyro Radiation from traveling above Earth's Heaviside Layer (a layer of Earth's ionosphere) in a spaceship.  In this context, Red Blazer's origin story is similar to the Silver Age Human Torch's origin as part of the Fantastic Four over 20 years later.  Red Blazer's sidekick Sparky came along in All-New Comics #5.

Although All-New Comics #4 features a wild cover by Al Avison and not Schomburg, it's another story of particular note. In the story, "Poison In the Universe," the United States, Japan, and Earth are represented by separate planets whose names make this obvious.  The hero of our story runs a freight ship from the planet Ammer that supplies Iron to the planet Jaan.  The Ammer ship captain begins to notice that the leaders of Jaan are using the iron to make weapons of war rather than making things to help the planet's people.  The captain warns other men of Ammer about this, but they brush him off and tell him it's probably fine. But soon, the leaders of Jaan see transmissions from Earth which show Hitler making a speech about conquering the entire planet.  Seemingly inspired by this, Jaan makes plans to attack Ammer.

This story seems to be inspired by events from early in WWII.  In early 1939, Chinese Americans working at the Port of Portland and the Port of Astoria organized protests against shipping scrap iron and steel to Japan.  Despite protests, the situation continued through the next year, as an isolationist Congress was unwilling to disrupt trade relations with Japan at this time.  Finally, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was given the authority to control defense-related exports, which he used to halt the export of iron and steel to Japan beginning in October 1940.

Schomburg covers are always in demand, and there are a few Alex Schomburg All-New Comics covers featuring Red Blazer and Sparky up for auction in the 2024 May 30 Adventures in the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40261 at Heritage Auctions.

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