Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: bob powell, fiction house

Lightning's Cover-Only Debut in Jumbo Comics #14, at Auction

Bob Powell's cover for Jumbo Comics #14 features the first appearance of the character Lightning, though he doesn't appear inside this issue.

Jumbo Comics #14 introduces a superhero who doesn't have a story inside the comic. Lightning makes his first appearance on the cover by Bob Powell for this April 1940 cover-dated issue, but the character doesn't show up until the next issue. While cover/interior mismatches were not uncommon during the Golden Age, there may be a few circumstances that help explain it in this case. Fundamentally, Fiction House wasn't quite sure what they had in Jumbo Comics quite yet. The first eight issues had humor-focused covers, and the title had been announced to the trades as a vehicle for previously published syndicated comic strip material. Most of this material was from the UK and Australian versions of the tabloid Wags. But something had happened in the time since Jumbo Comics #1 hit the newsstands on July 7, and that something was the rise of Superman. Action Comics #1 hit newsstands around three months prior to the launch of Jumbo Comics, and by the time issue #8 hit newsstands in April 1940, every publisher in the comics business understood that their fledgling industry was undergoing a shift towards adventure characters. Fiction House still seemed to have little faith in Sheena when they put her in the background of the Jumbo Comics #9 cover, her first cover appearance outside of insets. The title then cycled through a number of different adventure-style cover features, and it announced a move to monthly publication with issue #12 without having settled the matter of its anchor character. Fiction House had also launched Fight Comics, Jungle Comics, and Planet Comics the prior month. A little bit of cover chaos is understandable with so many changes in motion.

Fiction House's Lightning Mystery

As DC Comics did in Action Comics #4, Fiction House then ran a reader contest/poll in Jumbo Comics #15, ostensibly to help them determine who their star character was. Sheena became the regular cover feature of the title two issues later. In the meantime, we finally learn that Lightning is the costumed identity of inventor Fred Larkin, who has seemingly developed the ability to fly, cast electrical bolts from his fingers, and great strength and durability. There's really no origin here aside from establishing that Larkin is an inventor in his debut and a reference a few issues later to switching on his powers from his belt. The character had a decent run despite the awkward beginning, with regular adventures running through Jumbo Comics #41.

The CGC census lists 17 Universal copies, including two at 9.2 and just one higher. That puts the copy offered here near the top of the census population. For collectors interested in Lightning's cover debut and the mystery behind it, there's a Jumbo Comics #14 (Fiction House, 1940) CGC NM- 9.2 copy with off-white pages up for auction at the 2026 September 24-26 Comic Books Signature Auction #7469.

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