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Blue Beetle Saves New York City in Mystery Men Comics #24, at Auction

Blue Beetle gets one of his most heroic looking golden age covers for Mystery Men Comics #24, taking bids at Heritage Auctions.

Published Mon, 25 Sep 2023 22:27:07 -0500

by Jeremy Konrad

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As 1941 progressed, Blue Beetle experienced some "power inflation," as sometimes happens with comic book superheroes. He became stronger, tougher, faster, and started jumping around the rooftops of New York City — to the point where he seemed to be able to fly at one point. As his abilities grew, so did the threats he faced. In Mystery Men Comics #24, he squared off against a supervillain who could rain death from the skies via airship, perhaps not all that different from the Dirigible of Doom Batman story in Detective Comics #33 from two years prior. An underappreciated era for the character, there's a Mystery Men Comics #24 (Fox, 1941) Condition: GD+ up for auction in the 2023 September 28 The Fox Comics Showcase Auction #40239 at Heritage Auctions.

Blue Beetle in 1941-Era Mystery Men Comics

Blue Beetle Golden Age covers are starting to really grow on me, as some of them were the best you could find outside of DC Superman covers at the time. Take the cover for Mystery Men Comics #24, for example. This is such an iconic hero pose, lifting a villain over his head with a smirk on his face, like it isn't even hard. The cover is by artist Chuck Cuidera, and he brings a lot of dynamic action to what in another artists hands might just look like a static image. Great idea to include his shadow.

Mystery Men Comics #24 (Fox, 1941) Condition: GD+. Blue Beetle cover. Green Mask and Lt. Drake appearances. George Tuska, Bob Powell, and Dick Briefer art. Water damage, cover detached, foxing, staining, a 3.5" spine split at the bottom, and 3/4" spine split at the top. Overstreet 2023 GD 2.0 value = $168. Cover by Chuck Cuidera. Stories by Dick Briefer, Al Weine and Nathaniel Nitkin. Art by Charles Nicholas, Dick Briefer, Walter Frehm, Paul Gustavson and Munson Paddock. An anthology of Golden Age adventure comics from Fox Feature, including the original Blue Beetle. Rex explains astronomy and the mythological figures behind the names of the stars and constellations, in the last Rex Dexter story by the one and only Dick Briefer; The Blue Beetle seeks a madman who plagues the city with explosions from the sky; Zanzibar, who looks like Mandrake the Magician in a blue fez, investigates after an aircraft administrator is framed for murder. The Challenge of Dr. Dodo; The Astronomy Lesson; The Book of the Bomb; The Tank Thieves; The Capture of William White; Clear Board!; The Nazi Takeover of Zenith; The Arsenal Shack Sabotage; Murder of a Major. 64 pages, Full Color. Cover price $0.10.