Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: fox features syndicate, victor fox, Wonderworld Comics

The Title that Superman Couldn't Stop, Wonderworld Comics at Auction

Published Sun, 15 Aug 2021 18:02:10 -0500

In a moment that triggered one of the most important sequences of events in American comic book publishing history, the Wonderworld Comics title was launched as Wonder Comics #1 on March 17, 1939. Its publisher Victor Fox was sued by DC Comics virtually the instant his debut issue hit the newsstands, "for infringement of copyright on plaintiff's comic strip called 'The Superman' by defendants' comic strip called 'The Wonderman.'" On April 7, 1939, District John Munro Woolsey found that Wonderman did infringe on DC Comics copyrights, and although Victor Fox would appeal this decision, he was not the kind of man to let a little legal scuffle slow him down. Fox continued to expand his comics empire rapidly in the meantime, and Wonder Comics, soon to be renamed Wonderworld Comics, remained one of his cornerstone titles. There are a number of issues of this tough-to-get Wonderworld Comics series up for auction at the 2021 August 15-16 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122133 coming up from Heritage Auctions.

With the initial decision in hand, Fox still had Wonder Comics back on the newsstands by the end of April 1939. One note to readers waved away Wonderman's absense from the issue by saying "there's not enough room" in the issue due to numerous reader suggestions for new features that filled the issue instead. An announcement on the inside back cover of Wonder Comics #2 further explained that these new features would prompt a title change to Wonderworld Comics beginning with the next issue.

Wonderworld Comics #3 hit the newsstand at the end of May 1939, with a new regular cover feature called the Flame, by an all-time great creative team in Lou Fine and Will Eisner, and with stand-out covers by Fine and others. Fox hadn't missed a month and the title actually got better. It is often assumed that the Flame is little more than a Human Torch rip-off, but… yes and no. The character first appeared in Wonderworld Comics #3, months in advance of the Human Torch's debut in Marvel Comics #1. However, his Flame-based powers were limited to being able to sort of materialize himself within a flame in his initial appearances. It's not until Wonderworld Comics #11 — which appears a few months after Marvel Comics #1 — that the character's flame-control abilities become more defined with an origin reboot moment. Throughout its lifespan, like many Fox characters, the Flame combined superheroics, super-science, and sometimes horror to great effect.

Wonderworld Comics is a highly sought-after series, and the competition to get them is fierce. A historically important title, there's a chance to get a number of issues of this tough-to-get Wonderworld Comics series up for auction at the 2021 August 15-16 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122133 coming up from Heritage Auctions.