Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: golden age, Street & Smith

Twilight of the Gods and the End of Super-Magician Comics, at Auction

Published Mon, 12 Sep 2022 13:17:09 -0500

1946 was an odd turning point for Street & Smith's Super-Magician Comics. After longtime writer Walter Gibson exited Street & Smith due to a contract dispute that year, the publisher attempted to replace Blackstone the Magician with a fictional magician named Nigel Elliman in the Super-Magician Comics title. Legendary magician Harry Houdini was soon added into the mix on the title. They also began to elevate their longtime magician adventure character Red Dragon as a feature story and cover feature. While none of these efforts proved successful, the experiments at the end of the series were noteworthy nonetheless. There's a copy of the very last issue of the long-running Super-Magician Comics with Super Magician Comics V5#8 (Street & Smith, 1947) Condition: GD/VG up for auction in the 2022 September 11-12 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122237 at Heritage Auctions.

Super Magician Comics V5#8 (Street & Smith, 1947)

In addition to the loss of Blackstone the Magician, the Super-Magician Comics series had to make adjustments to the long-running backup feature Red Dragon after the end of World War II. The feature had been virulently anti-Japanese, and the character had an origin and adventures deeply embedded in the war. Street & Smith seemed to flounder with the character after the end of the war, and in this final and rather fascinating issue of this series, Red Dragon was little more than a spectator to the saga that unfolded in Twilight of the Gods.

As the story opens, Mercury tells Neptune, "This, then, is the end. All the other gods have gone. None remain but thee and me… and my last worshipper has just died." And with that, Mercury fades away, leaving Neptune to contemplate his own fate. But Neptune discovers that he has one final worshipper still living. Neptune rewards this follower with gold, but that proves to be a terrible mistake as the elderly worshipper is robbed and killed by bandits. Neptune then explains that "We gods, at the end, have two choices, to vanish as though we had never been," or "to become human… to give up the godhead and become a mortal."

Ultimately, Red Dragon avenged the death of Neptune's final worshipper by bringing his murderers to justice. Perhaps it was this cover feature that prompted Street & Smith to give Red Dragon a second chance at his own title after this December-January 1947 cover-dated demise of Super-Magic Comics. There's a copy of the very last issue of the long-running Super-Magician Comics with Super Magician Comics V5#8 (Street & Smith, 1947) Condition: GD/VG up for auction in the 2022 September 11-12 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122237 at Heritage Auctions. If you've never bid at Heritage Auctions before, you can get further information, you can check out their FAQ on the bidding process and related matters.

Super Magician Comics V5#8 (Street & Smith, 1947) Condition: GD/VG. Red Dragon cover and art by Edd Cartier. Harry Houdini story. Final issue. Overstreet 2022 GD 2.0 value = $42; VG 4.0 value = $84.