Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Hillman Periodicals

Hillman's Lost Rocket: The Rare Final Issue of a Golden Age Experiment

Rocket Comics #3 may be the rarest comic book from Hillman, the result of the publisher's first forray into comics with its business in flux.

Published Sun, 12 Oct 2025 20:57:04 -0500

by Mark Seifert

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Article Summary

Rocket Comics #3 is among the rarest Hillman comic books, stemming from the publisher's early experiments in 1939.
The Hillman publishing business was in transition during the release of Rocket Comics and Miracle Comics.
Alex Hillman's initial comic series featured Buck Rogers-inspired heroes in a crowded sci-fi market of the time.
The transition from Hillman-Curl to Hillman Periodicals may help explain lower print runs and scarce final issues.

Alex Hillman's first foray into the comic book publishing business began in 1939 and involved a pair of science fiction-oriented titles, Miracle Comics and Rocket Comics. While Hillman was an experienced hand in the publishing business by that time, like most entrants into the field that year, he was new to the comics business. Almost no one understood what would work in comic books in 1939, with many publishers experimenting with themes that worked in pulps and newspaper comic strips, at least to start. Miracle Comics and Rocket Comics both featured heroes who were Buck Rogers-inspired science fiction adventurers, and this was already a competitive niche by late 1939. Those two series launched onto newsstands alongside similarly themed comics like DC Comics' All-American Comics #11 featuring Ultra-Man and Dell's Popular Comics #48 featuring Martan the Marvel Man. Additionally, Hillman's business partnership was in flux at this time, which may help explain why the final issues of both series are so rare. There's a CBCS 3.0 copy of the elusive Rocket Comics #3 (Hillman-Curl, 1940) up for auction in the 2025 October 16 Golden Age Comics Century Showcase Auction III at Heritage Auctions.

Illustration of a comic book cover featuring a heroic character in a red outfit and goggles, brandishing a weapon, with the title 'Rocket Riley' highlighted in a burst of color. The cover also includes the words 'COMICS' and the issue number. — Rocket Comics #3 (Hillman-Curl, 1940)

Best remembered today as the publisher of Airboy and other comics, Alex Hillman entered into the publishing business in the late 1920s, working for publishers including Heron Press, Inc. and a publisher of academic texts. By the early 1930s he was working for publisher William Godwin, Inc., soon becoming president of that firm. He eventually formed a partnership called Hillman-Curl, which got into magazine-style pulps around the mid-1930s, and started his own Hillman Periodicals in 1938. Hillman then essentially made three distinct attempts to enter the comic book publishing business from 1939 to 1941.

Hillman-Curl's late-1939 launch of Miracle Comics and Rocket Comics, under the editorship of Field and White, was the first short-lived attempt. Apparently free of the partnership with Sam Curl a short time later, Hillman Periodicals then launched Victory Comics and Air Fighters Comics under the editorship of former Funnies, Inc. editor John H. Compton. This attempt seems to have quickly stalled out as well, but Hillman apparently didn't want to let Air Fighters Comics die after just one issue. Air Fighters Comics returned with sort of a soft relaunch a year later under the editorship of Ed Cronin and with a completely different line-up, including the introduction of Airboy.

The business transition from Hillman-Curl to Hillman Periodicals occurred while those debut series were in progress, with the last issue of Rocket Comics being published by Hillman-Curl, and the final two issues of Miracle Comics published by Hillman Periodicals. Both of those final issues are very tough to get. The last issue of Miracle Comics was once considered the rarest Hillman by Heritage Auctions, but it would appear that the last issue of Rocket Comics is even more rare. There's a CBCS 3.0 copy of the elusive Rocket Comics #3 (Hillman-Curl, 1940) up for auction in the 2025 October 16 Golden Age Comics Century Showcase Auction III at Heritage Auctions.