golden age Archives

and the Soviet Union to put a human in space during that period, and aspects of the Fantastic Four were influenced by Project Mercury overall.  But over 20 years before that, the Ray's transformation into a superhero by exposure to cosmic rays was also inspired by another series of scientific missions, as humans were starting[...]

The publisher behind the elusive UK Planet Comics "Locker" series has several interesting publishing mysteries behind them.

Kiefer, Louis Schroeder, and Roland Patenaude among others.  Beginning in Camera Comics #3, the series featured the fictional adventures of a character based on legendary photographer Margaret Bourke-White.  An obscure but historically important Golden Age comic book, there's a Camera Comics #3 (U S Camera Publishing Corp., 1944) CGC VG/FN 5.0 Cream to off-white pages[...]

An incredibly accomplished and talented woman takes on a job in her profession that brings her into contact with one of the most famous and mysterious men in the world.  The job becomes an obsession which in turn leads her into a life as a costumed criminal so she can become closer to the legendary[...]

A successful, long-running character from the Golden Age, there's a copy of the first appearance of Midnight in Smash Comics #18 (Quality, 1941) Condition: Apparent VG- up for auction in the 2022 May 29-30 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122222 at Heritage Auctions. Smash Comics #18 featuring Midnight (Quality, 1941) Quality Comics was reportedly[...]

The Golden Age comic book character Lady Luck is the creation of comics legend Will Eisner and artist Chuck Mazoujian Mazouzian made his comics debut with the cover of Marvel Mystery Comics #2, and by the next year was working on Lady Luck for Will Eisner's The Spirit newspaper sections.  That backup series was soon[...]

The author of the notorious 1950s moral panic book Parade of Pleasure had a lot to say about Planet Comics #69 from Fiction House.

Fawcett's Wow Comics is a great Golden Age series that deserves more attention It debuted in winter 1940 and ran for 69 issues until August 1948, featuring work by CC Beck, Otto Binder, Dave Berg, and even Jack Kirby, among many others But the series really started to shine when Mary Marvel arrived, with beautiful[...]

The character had a brief run in the Golden Age, but is one of the most memorable of MLJ's Golden Age heroes due to the spider-related iconography There's a Zip Comics #27 featuring the debut of the Web and several other issues of Zip Comics up for auction at 2022 May 22-23 Sunday & Monday[...]

The Clock was the first masked hero of the Golden Age of American comic books The character debuted from publisher Comic Magazine Company, who sold it to Quality Comics, where he appeared in the Crack Comics series The Clock was created by George Brenner and first appeared in Funny Pages #v1#6 and Funny Picture Stories[...]

In fact, Yank figures heavily in Captain Flag's origin story — saving him from certain death at the hands of America's enemies during his transformative moment. Captain Flag only appeared in Blue Ribbon Comics #16-22 during the Golden Age, and Yank the Eagle was with him during several of those adventures.  An obscure WWII era superhero[...]

Shield-Wizard Comics #11 is a stand-out horror cover of this unique MLJ Magazines series by underappreciated artist Clem Weisbecker.

Pep Comics #41 is a noteworthy moment for Archie because it marks the real beginning of his takeover of the Pep Comics title's covers.

The Black Condor story in Crack Comics #5 from publisher Quality Comics is a spectacular example of Lou Fine at his best.

Part of the saga of one of the Golden Age's most unusual villains, there's a Zip Comics #2 (MLJ, 1940) Condition: VG+ up for auction at 2022 May 22-23 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122221 at Heritage Auctions. Zip Comics #2 featuring the Black Knight (MLJ, 1940) The Black Knight had a seemingly limitless number[...]

MLJ Magazines joined this fiery fray and launched their own fire-based character with Fireball in Pep Comics #12 shortly after those.  The first appearance and origin of an overlooked Golden Age superhero, there's a Pep Comics #12 (MLJ, 1941) Condition: GD/VG up for auction in the 2022 May 22-23 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select[...]

Invisible Plane stories in USA Comics #3 and Sensation Comics #1 were influenced by the war-era news of the period.

Combat #59 story about the exploits of a soldier and former major leaguer nicknamed "Boy Wonder."  But the Zip Comics #25 Steel Sterling story written by Kanigher and drawn by Irv Novick holds its own among these strange baseball stories, and it seems to have been inspired by the 1941 World Series between the Brooklyn[...]

Marvel Mystery Comics #9 is one of the most sought-after comics of the Golden Age, and while Top-Notch Comics #7 obviously isn't in the same league, it probably deserves a little more credit than it gets Not only do we get an MLJ superhero crossover, but we also get the Wizard transforming from pulp-style character[...]

Jackpot Comics was an early anthology comic book series published by MLJ Magazines during the Golden Age, which featured some of the publisher's most popular characters from other titles.  That group of characters originally included Steel Sterling, Black Hood, Sergeant Boyle, and Mr Justice, by creators including Charles Biro, Irv Novick, Ed Camy, and Sam[...]

One of publisher MLJ's pre-Archie superheroes, the Black Hood was arguably one of the most interesting superheroes of the Golden Age.  He certainly had an unusual publishing history during that time The character first appeared in Top-Notch Comics #9, took that title over, started getting elbowed aside in the Top-Notch series 18 issues later in[...]

An underappreciated Golden Age character in the mold of the Spectre, there are several issues of Blue Ribbon Comics with some of the most popular Mr Justice covers up for auction at the 2022 May 15-16 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122220 at Heritage Auctions. Blue Ribbon Comics #10 featuring Mr Justice (MLJ, 1941) In[...]

MLJ superhero the Wizard foiled plots against America in Top-Notch Comics, including a Russian attack against the U.S. Capital Building.

MLJ Magazines' superhero lineup tended towards horror-themed stories during the Golden Age, and the nature of the Hangman character lent itself to horrific themes more than most In a story by stand-out artist Bob Fujitani, Hangman Comics #7 tells the saga of a disgruntled scientist who teams up with a gangster to unleash a pandemic[...]

Best known as the publisher who debuted Archie and the rest of the gang of Riverdale during the Golden Age, MLJ Magazines was better than most publishers at navigating the rapidly evolving industry of that era The character the Scarlet Avenger was a good example of that Zip Comics #17 featured the end of the[...]

Publisher MLJ Magazines was far better than most at navigating the changing tides of the comic book business throughout the Golden Age, and the Top Notch Comics title is an excellent example of that.  The series launched as a relatively basic adventure title featuring the magician The Wizard and then shifted hard into superheroics when[...]

Thrilling Crime Cases #49 from Star Publications features what is considered L.B. Cole's most bizarre crime cover.

The character was arguably MLJ's biggest superhero success of the Golden Age and soon spawned a pulp title, a short-lived radio show, and his own comic book series The character even survived the decline of the superhero era as WWII ended The last issue of his series in Black Hood #19 contains an interesting and clear-cut[...]

Cannonball Comics publisher Rural Home Publications seemed to be making a big splash in the later days of World War II.  The publisher launched no fewer than a dozen titles within an 8-month span in late 1944 through early 1945.  Many of these titles are memorable to serious Golden Age comic book collectors for various[...]

Kiefer and Matt Baker.  Roche was a writer for the Eisner-Iger studio who worked on Phantom Lady, Senorita Rio, and Sheena, among numerous other comic features.  She eventually became Iger's associate editor and business partner.  Roche is listed as the editor of Bomber Comics (under the pseudonym Rod Roche). Unfortunately, Elliot's foray into comic book publishing was[...]