Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: lou fine, quality comics

Classic Early Hit Comics Covers by the Legendary Lou Fine, at Auction

Lou Fine's classic early covers for Quality Comics' Hit Comics make the early issues of the series highly sought after by collectors.

Published Sat, 24 Jun 2023 12:13:09 -0500

by Mark Seifert

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Lou Fine was considered one of the best artists of the Golden Age, and it's easy to see why. He could handle any subject matter with ease, including superheroes, science fiction, fantasy, pulp action, and anything else that was thrown at him. Some characters and title runs might now be considered obscure, except that Lou Fine handled the covers. Early-era Hit Comics might be the textbook example of that, and there's a Hit Comics #7 (Quality, 1941) CGC VG+ 4.5 Cream to off-white pages and Hit Comics #12 (Quality, 1941) CGC FN/VF 7.0 Off-white to white pages up for auction in the 2023 June 22 – 25 Comics & Comic Art Signature® Auction #7340 at Heritage Auctions.

Fine's cover for Hit Comics #12 features the Quality Comics character Hercules. The creation of Dan Zolnerowich, this version has nothing to do with the Greek god aside from the name. Joe Hercules was a circus strong man who worked in the Midwest. After the illegal foreclosure of his mother's house led to her sudden death from a heart attack, he set out for revenge against the responsible criminals. This soon landed Joe in jail, where he was inspired by a comic book his cell mate showed him featuring Doll Man's exploits. Of course, Doll Man had made his debut in Quality Comics' Feature Comics #27 four months before the debut of Hit Comics #1. Joe escaped from jail, got a costume, and dedicated himself to fighting crime using the name Hercules.

The cover of Hit Comics #7 is considered a Lou Fine classic, and features the Red Bee. The Red Bee was the creation of Toni Blum and Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski for his debut in Hit Comics #1. The character was an Oregon-based assistant district attorney who got his name from his usage of trained bees that could be deployed from his belt buckle. Despite this strange beginning, or perhaps because of it, the character has not quite been forgotten. The Red Bee was alluded to in the 2014 comedy film She's Funny That Way. and also mentioned in the recent DCEU series Stargirl.

Fine is credited with nearly 90 covers during the Golden Age by GCD, with many of them considered iconic by modern collectors. Hit Comics #7 and #12 are two Fine classics, and there's a Hit Comics #7 (Quality, 1941) CGC VG+ 4.5 Cream to off-white pages and Hit Comics #12 (Quality, 1941) CGC FN/VF 7.0 Off-white to white pages up for auction in the 2023 June 22 – 25 Comics & Comic Art Signature® Auction #7340 at Heritage Auctions.