golden age Archives

Dynamic Comics #20, #21. Photo of Harry A. Chesler courtesy the Chesler family, used with permission.
In reality, he's more like a supernatural, evil version of Batman, who can turn into a bat at will, has a cave headquarters, and has "ancient witchcraft and black magic at his command."  This evil Bat-man intends to plunge humanity back to the dark ages by stealing the brains of the world's top scientists.  On[...]
Dynamic Comics #11, cover art by Gus Ricca, (Chesler, 1944)
Chesler might even be more famous, at least among serious Golden Age collectors due to his appearance on the cover of Dynamic Comics #11 — though it's not widely known who the figure on that famous cover is Dr Doom What exactly is happening on this highly sought-after cover?  There's a clue to what this[...]
Green Lantern #30 featuring Streak the Wonder Dog (DC, 1948)
Streak the Wonder Dog was not the first dog hero of the Golden Age of comics.  Bulletdog (Bulletman #10, cover-dated December 1942) and Rang-A-Tang (Blue Ribbon Comics #1, November 1939) among others came along earlier.  But Streak did debut seven years before Krypto (Adventure Comics #210, March 1955), and his history and legacy have taken[...]
Whiz Comics #7 (Fawcett Publications, 1940)
There's a line from the recent trailer for the Black Adam movie that has Hawkman telling Black Adam that, "Heroes don't kill."  Black Adam's only response is, "Well, I do."  And really, killing was actually not so uncommon for the Golden Age heroes, at least in their earlier days.  Superman certainly killed his enemies sometimes,[...]
Yellowjacket Comics #8 (Frank Comunale, 1946)
Rather remarkably, Yellowjacket, the headline character of Yellowjacket Comics, was not the first Golden Age comic book superhero with the power to control bees The Red Bee, a Quality Comics character debuting in Hit Comics #1, created by Toni Blum and Charles Nicholas, used trained bees But while Quality Comics and all of its titles[...]
Wonderworld Comics #28 (Fox, 1941)
Argentine-born comic book artist Louis Cazeneuve is perhaps best known for his DC Comics work in the Golden Age on a number of titles including Detective Comics, Action Comics, More Fun Comics, Star Spangled Comics, Adventure Comics, and others on characters such as Aquaman and Shining Knight.  He also co-created the Timely Comics character Red[...]
Blue Beetle #19 (Charlton, 1955)
This is not unusual, as much of that short lived 1955 Blue Beetle #18-21 series is composed of reprints of original Golden Age series material.  But the 1948 issue #55 is still not the first time this story has appeared — most of it, anyway.  Interestingly, this story started life as the cover feature of[...]
Military Comics #20 (Quality, 1943) Condition: VG+
But collectors have widely considered this character the Golden Age version of Lady Blackhawk She generally resembles Zinda Blake, the Silver Age Lady Blackhawk who first appears in Blackhawk #133 (cover-dated February 1959), and while Sugar only appears in this single July 1943 cover-dated issue, this memorable story drawn by Reed Crandal, possibly from a[...]
Cyclone Comics #1 (Bilbara, 1940)
There were a lot of strange superheroes created during the Golden Age of comic books, but Volton might be in a class all his own.  Volton was apparently the creation of Charles Quinlan, perhaps in collaboration with Cyclone Comics series editor Worth Carnahan.  A distinctive stylist who is also known for some unusual and inventive[...]
Mystery Men Comics #7 (Fox, 1940)
 He got his first cover on Mystery Men Comics #7 and had his own series a few weeks after that.  Between the times of the releases of Mystery Men Comics #1 and issue #7, major comic book keys ranging from Marvel Comics #1 to Whiz Comics #2 had been published, and the superheroes of the[...]
Blackstone, the Magician #3 (Timely, 1948)
Popper & Co.-published items, Vital Publications published at least two Blackstone comic book giveaways, in 1948 and 1949, one of which also includes Timely-published material.  Proskauer was in the Blackstone publishing business throughout this entire period. Overall, Blackstone's history in comics takes some fascinating twists and turns, and includes contributions from important creators in Gibson and[...]
Blue Beetle #22 (Holyoke, 1943)
On March 6, 1942, the notorious Golden Age publisher of Blue Beetle and much more, Victor Fox was forced into bankruptcy by creditors.  Fascinatingly, one of those creditors, printer Holyoke Press took over the title, and with Fox's Blue Beetle and other titles the publisher acquired under similar circumstances from Frank Z Temerson, Holyoke decided[...]
All-New Comics #7 Alex Schomburg cover (Harvey Publications, 1944)
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[...]
Big 3 #4 (Fox, 1941)
Fox Feature Syndicate founder Victor Fox was one of the most notorious publishers of the Golden Age of comic books — and that's saying something.  Through lawsuits over copying characters from other publishers, two bankruptcies, and tangling with the War Production Board over violating paper quotas, Fox was a man who wasn't afraid to get[...]