In the spring of 1940, as the New York World's Fair prepared to open for its second and final season in Flushing Meadows, Queens, by all appearances, it had become a towering success. Exhibits centered around its theme "The World of Tomorrow" inspired numerous pulps and comic books, as we have discussed here extensively. While Amazing Adventure […]
We've previously discussed the rather unusual take on the elements that played into the run-up to World War II in early issues of Top-Notch Comics from MLJ, particularly in the historic Shield/Wizard crossover saga in Top-Notch Comics #5-7. That crossover directly set up the Shield-Wizard Comics series, so it's no surprise that this sophisticated brand […]
While many World War II-era comics offered broad patriotic themes, as we've chronicled here over the years, some of them reflected specific events of the war a short time after they happened. The lead features of MLJ's Zip Comics #34 have been inspired by war activities in three different theaters of operation. The Web confronts […]
In the summer of 1939, American newsstands were places of both fantasy and dread. Just over a year after Superman's debut, a legion of new heroes was inspiring wonder on the newsstands, but the newspapers and magazines beyond the comic section more often inspired dread. The world was on the brink of a war that […]
American newsstands were a battleground of magazine genres by 1953, but few were as popular as the confession magazine. Titles like True Story and True Confessions captivated the emerging post-war female readership with first-person tales of sin and eventual redemption. In comic books, pioneers like Joe Simon and Jack Kirby had successfully established the romance […]
Silver Streak was a foundational early Golden Age title, and issue #3 featured the origin and first appearance of that title's namesake hero, the speedster Silver Streak. In a wonderfully bizarre 10-page origin story by Jack Cole, "The Mystery of the Monstrous Fly" a race car driver is killed in a crash orchestrated by a […]
Prior to Jumbo Comics #17, the covers of the Jumbo Comics series featured a rotating cast of characters, including the weird science fiction hero Stuart Taylor, Spies in Action, and the superhero called The Lightning. While Sheena had appeared on a few earlier covers, her status as the book's main draw was not yet solidified. […]
While its lurid and fantastic Maurice Whitman cover promises traditional gothic ghouls and phantoms, Ghost Comics #1's most historically potent story, "Phantoms from the Sea," delivers a Pre-Code Horror tale of unexpected complexity. Instead of a straightforward tale of a vengeful enemy spirit, this story, originally created in the waning days of the war, presents […]
The post-World War II era was marked by a range of new challenges which were reflected in comic books and the broader American culture. The Second Red Scare began to take root under the influence of Senator Joseph McCarthy, as Americans were told that subversive Communist influences could be lurking anywhere, even in the sprawling […]
Black Terror #24 represents a fascinating convergence of the past, present, and future of comic art from its 1948 perspective. On the cover, legendary artist Alex Schomburg delivers a combination of Good Girl art and superhero action, the likes of which helped define that era's newsstand appeal. Inside, Joker co-creator Jerry Robinson and superhero comics […]
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 […]
MLJ's Pep Comics was locked in on the war themes of its era before most other comic book titles. Pep Comics #1 debuted the Shield in early 1940, America's first patriotic hero and an iconic figure who would be the first among the likes of Captain America and countless others to follow. As America's entry […]
The debut Kid Eternity story in Hit Comics #25 opens with a scene of looming tragedy, as a grandfather, his grandson, and the crew of their merchant vessel travel the Atlantic Ocean off the East Coast of the United States. The young boy who would become Kid Eternity spots a German U-boat surfacing nearby, which […]
The publisher best known today as Prize or the Prize Group was, in reality, a constellation of related publishing companies including Feature Publications, Crestwood Publications, and Headline Publications, all originally owned by Theodore Epstein and Milton Bleier. The comic book line was named after its original flagship, Prize Comics, an anthology title that launched with […]
True-to-Life Romances #13, published by Star Publications with a September 1952 cover date, features L.B. Cole leaning into every one of his strengths. The versatile cover artist and publisher transforms this romance comic cover into a psychological portrait of a soldier's personal hell. A weary G.I. crouches in a foxhole, his thoughts haunted not just […]
Widely considered the first costumed comic book hero to appear after Superman and comics' first archer superhero, The Arrow was the creation of Paul Gustavson, whose other early Golden Age credits include Fantom of the Fair and Man of War for Centaur, The Angel beginning in Marvel Comics #1, and humor strips for DC Comics in Action […]
Brookwood is a small town near Birmingham, Alabama. While it was officially incorporated in 1977, comics industry pioneer Frank Z. Temerson considered it his hometown when he graduated from the Chattanooga College of Law in 1913. Temerson must have had fond memories of the place, because he named the comic book publisher he formed with […]
Ace Periodicals entered the comics field in early 1940 with the title Sure Fire Comics, which featured the character Flash Lightning by Robert Turner and Harry Lucey. A superhero with a broad range of lightning-powered abilities, Flash Lightning's origin takes some fairly obvious inspiration from Fawcett's Captain Marvel. But it is arguably even more similar […]
The American comic book industry of 1947 faced a number of emerging challenges. The publishing market forces that had propelled most costumed heroes to unprecedented heights of popularity had faded with the end of the war. On newsstands across the country, reader interest was shifting, as publishers did their best to adapt to a rapidly […]
As one of the best romance publishers of the period, St. John romance comic books like Pictorial Romances #13 are among the best examples of the pre-Code comic book romance genre's ability to explore the complex and often messy reality of love and life in post-war America. In an era when radio and television shows […]
