golden age Archives

Voight, was the first of these, with a debut in Headline Comics #16.  Perhaps the first hero of the atomic age, there are copies of several issues of Headline Comics featuring Atomic Man up for auction in the 2024 August 1 – 2 Rarities of the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40259 at Heritage Auctions. Headline[...]

Harry "A" Chesler's Dynamic Publications comic book publishing line would be paused in 1942 due to low sales (per War Production Board records).  In 1943, Chesler would package digest-sized comic books for publisher Remington Morse, but by 1944, the comic book industry vet was ready to jump into the business on his own again (Historian[...]

While not one of the best-remembered patriotic heroes of the era, The Flag, who first appeared in Our Flag Comics #2 from Ace Periodicals about seven months after the debut of Captain America, is an interesting example of how patriotism could be represented in WWII era comic books.  In addition to the prerequisite red, white[...]

Captain Courageous's origin and powers are vague.  He is super strong and durable, and appears to defend Democracy when needed — kind of a patriotic force of nature.  This sort of superheroic shorthand was not uncommon outside of major publishers like DC Comics, Marvel/Timely, and Fawcett.  After the Golden Age had progressed for a bit,[...]

Written by Leslie Charteris himself, The Saint comes to you right out of the movies — to perform here exclusively his terrific adventures and clever detective work that have made him world famous." Gleason's expensive gamble didn't pay off.  The Saint had started in Silver Streak Comics #18, and three issues later (and one issue after[...]

Doom" is universally associated with the Marvel Comics supervillain and nemesis of the Fantastic Four, the Golden Age of comic books featured the origins of not one, but two characters bearing the same name.  The first Dr Doom, a super-science supervillain, was introduced in Fox Feature Syndicate's Science Comics #1, intriguing readers with his sinister[...]

and its accompanying court testimony is a goldmine of historical information about the formative moments of the Golden Age comic book boom.  Filed by the company that would become known as DC Comics and asserting similarities between Superman and Fox's Wonderman, DC v Bruns is perhaps my favorite comic book history historical document, and a[...]

As we'll be discussing Baker's work a lot over the coming weeks, it should be noted that identifying Baker's art in comic books can sometimes be an inexact science.  This is true of the work of many comic book artists of the Golden Age (and beyond).  Unsigned work was commonplace and working in a studio/shop[...]

Matt Baker's first South Sea Girl cover for Seven Seas Comics #3 would lead to work on Phantom Lady, Rulah and beyond.

Matt Baker's handful of covers for the Quality Comics romance line came at an important turning point in his career.

In Seven Seas Comics #4, Matt Baker's South Sea Girl stars in a movie which seems to point to the character's film inspirations.

Hing's work on this series is an underappreciated moment from the Golden Age of comic books There are copies of three issues of Blazing Comics up for auction in the up for auction in the 2024 July 14-16 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122429 at Heritage Auctions. Blazing Comics #2 featuring the Green[...]

The title never did make it to the planned monthly release schedule.  That was just the beginning of what seems to have been a somewhat problematic production for the series, and that might help explain the mystery behind the cover of The Saint #4.  An iconic late Golden Age cover, there's a The Saint #4[...]

A very popular late-era Golden Age character, there's a Tiger Girl Group of 9 (Fiction House, 1947-52) Condition: Average GD- at the 2024 July 7-9 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122428 at Heritage Auctions. Fight Comics #32 is the first appearance of Tiger Girl, a long-running jungle girl character from publisher Fiction House[...]

The Werewolf Hunter feature in Rangers Comics was one of Golden Age artist Lily Renée's early assignments at Fiction House Professor Armand Broussard, the Werewolf Hunter, was an occult investigator whose adventures brought him up against a wild variety of supernatural creatures, exotic sorceresses, and artifacts of dark magic Lily Renée brought inventive and detailed[...]

Rip Regan, Power Man was an early Fiction House hero, Fight Comics #12 also features the earliest known comic book work by Reed Crandall.

A few months after beginning to work on Fiction House titles at Iger Studio, Matt Baker did his first covers for Crown Comics.

The obscure Atomic Comics #4 contains an eclectic mix of material including the boxing adventure Kid Kane by Matt Baker.

Haunted Thrills was one of the most succesful of Farrell Publications' Pre-Code Horror series, featuring artwork from Iger Studio.

Fitzgerald was a part of the Army Signal Corps WB animation unit which produced the Private SNAFU cartoons and would work as an animator for the likes of Fleischer, MGM, and Hanna-Barbera throughout his career. Dizzy Dames #1 cover artist Ogden Whitney (1919-1975) was an underappreciated artist of the Golden Age and Silver Age of comic[...]

The creation of artist Frank Bolle, the masked hero Black Phantom had a classic villain-to-hero story arc in the pages of the Tim Holt comic.

My Friend Irma was the franchise that brought Martin & Lewis to film, but it was also some of the best Dan DeCarlo work outside of Archie.

The Ken Shannon story in Police Comics #104 appears to be influenced by a two Gorgeous George wrestling matches that took place in May 1950.

The publisher is… probably… unrelated to the Consolidated Magazines which published pulp-adjacent titles like Blue Book, Red Book, and Green Book in the 1920s and the likes of Peppy Stories and Paris Nights in the 1930s.  Like many publishers who quickly jumped in and out of comics in the 1944-1945 in a likely bid to[...]

In 1945, paperback book publisher Avon Publications entered the comic book business with a mysterious release titled Molly O'Day.

Fiction House star artist Maurice Whitman covered Man O' Mars #1, an attempt by the publisher to survive the turmoil of the mid-1950s.

Superheroes with various kinds of fire-based power were practically their own category in the Golden Age.   Marvel/Timely's Human Torch and his sidekick Toro are the most famous of these, of course, but there's also Fox Feature's the Flame, MLJ's Fireball, Centaur's Fireman, Quality's Wildfire, Nedor's Pyroman, and numerous others.  Legendary cover artist Alex Schomburg played[...]

A desirable issue of a tough series, there's a Captain Flight Comics #5 (Four Star, 1944) CGC VG+ 4.5 Cream to off-white pages up for auction in the 2024 May 30 Adventures in the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40261 at Heritage Auctions. Captain Flight Comics #5 (Four Star, 1944) The series seemed to hit its stride[...]

The Clock was the first masked hero of the Golden Age, who eventually led the way for later iconic characters such as Batman and Superman Add in early appearances of the Black Condor by the legendary Lou Fine, and this series has a historical significance that continues to stand the test of time.  The are[...]

An obscure but fascinating Golden Age giant comic book, there's a Gold Medal Comics #nn (Cambridge House, 1945) CGC FN- 5.5 Off-white pages up for auction in the 2024 May 30 Adventures in the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40261 at Heritage Auctions. Gold Medal Comics #nn (Cambridge House, 1945) Little is known about Cambridge House Publishers. [...]