Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: clock, Crack Comics, golden age, quality comics

The Historic Masked Hero The Clock in Cracked Comics, Up for Auction

Published Sun, 22 May 2022 13:18:10 -0500

The Clock was the first masked hero of the Golden Age of American comic books. The character debuted from publisher Comic Magazine Company, who sold it to Quality Comics, where he appeared in the Crack Comics series. The Clock was created by George Brenner and first appeared in Funny Pages #v1#6 and Funny Picture Stories #1, both cover-dated November 1936. Brenner's creation predated well-known early superheroes such as Batman and Superman, and the character's popularity helped pave the way for their eventual arrival. While the character has faded into obscurity over the years, he remains an important part of comic book history and is deserving of more attention. There are several issues of Crack Comics featuring the Clock up for auction at 2022 May 22-23 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122221 at Heritage Auctions.

Crack Comics #9 featuring the Clock (Quality, 1941)

Clock creator George Brenner and Quality Comics publisher Everett M. "Busy" Arnold had an interesting connection outside of comics — big-time college football. Arnold was a major booster for the football program of his alma mater Brown University, most famously paying the tuition of Joe Paterno while he attended there. Interestingly, Brenner had been a football scout for Brown during the early 1930s. In addition to writing and drawing the adventures of the Clock, he was eventually made Quality Comics' editor by Arnold.

At Quality Comics, the Clock ran in Crack Comics #1-35, Brenner had recently become editor towards the end of that period, and perhaps no longer had the time to write and draw his creation. After DC Comics acquired the Quality characters and titles in 1956, they apparently let the Clock lapse into the public domain and haven't used the character in a significant way. An important part of Golden Age comic book history, there are several issues of Crack Comics featuring the Clock up for auction at 2022 May 22-23 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122221 at Heritage Auctions.