golden age Archives

The saga of the Fox Feature Syndicate character the Flame is more complicated than it appears.  The character, his powers, and his backstory evolved steadily, sometimes without explanation, from his 1939 introduction in Wonderworld Comics #3 through his final Golden Age appearances in the January 1942 cover-dated issues of Big 3, The Flame, and Wonderworld[...]

Blummer, and with a cover by Elmer Wexler.  Long considered an important key by collectors, there's a CGC VG/FN 5.0 copy of Startling Comics #10 (Better Publications, 1941) up for auction in the 2024 September 26 – 27 Heroes of the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction #40265 at Heritage Auctions. Startling Comics #10 (Better Publications, 1941) featuring[...]

We've mentioned his Fox work on Dagar, Desert Hawk, and Rulah, Jungle Goddess recently, and his Blue Beetle work is also highly sought after by collectors.  This era of the Blue Beetle series is well known to have garnered a couple of mentions in Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent, but that's only part of[...]

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[...]

1940 was the Blue Beetle's year.  After launching in June 1939 in Mystery Men Comics #1, Dan Garrett, the Golden Age Blue Beetle would get a newspaper strip starting in January 1940, and his own series which hit newsstands around the same time A radio show started in May 1940 Like a lot of superheroes,[...]

Although you may not have heard of him, MLJ Magazines' the Comet has one of the most interesting story arcs of the Golden Age — and he likely inspired one of the X-Men in the process The Comet was created by Jack Cole, the writer/artist best known for creating Plastic Man The character ran in[...]

Although Fox Feature Syndicate published its last comic book in 1951, several characters it published have had life after Fox.  The Flame, Phantom Lady and Samson were later used by Ajax-Farrell for example, and more famously, Phantom Lady (who had started life at Quality Comics) and Blue Beetle ended up at DC Comics.  The little-known[...]

An obscure, unusual, and fascinating superhero saga from the WWII era, there's a CBCS VG/FN 5.0 copy of Blue Ribbon Comics #16 (MLJ, 1941) and several other issues of Blue Ribbon Comics featuring Captain Flag and others up for auction in the 2024 September 26 – 27 Heroes of the Golden Age Comics Showcase Auction[...]

In a moment that triggered one of the most important sequences of events in American comic book publishing history, the Wonderworld Comics title was launched as Wonder Comics #1 on March 17, 1939.  Its publisher Victor Fox was sued by DC Comics virtually the instant his debut issue hit the newsstands, "for infringement of copyright[...]

The iconic cover artist Alex Schomburg created over 240 Golden Age covers for publisher Standard/Better/Nedor, among them a group of Miss Masque covers on Exciting Comics, America's Best Comics, and Fighting Yank during the late Golden Age.   Created by artist Lin Streeter, Miss Masque was a sign of the times in comic book in this[...]

Madam Satan is something of an oddity from MLJ's Golden Age.  Seductive and macabre in a manner that largely seems intended for older readers, the character first appeared in the background of the cover of Pep Comics #15.  But her story began in Pep Comics #16 from 1941, which revealed her rather tawdry origin story[...]

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 CGC GD/VG 3.0 copy of Pep Comics #12 (MLJ, 1941) up for auction in the 2024 September 26 – 27 Heroes[...]

The Black Owl went through two quick reboots in the early days of Prize Comics -- one from a character called K the Unknown.

With names like the Eagle, featuring a scientist with anti-gravity wings; Dynamo, master of electricity; and Marga the Panther Woman, the product of a "mad physio-biologist"; the characters of Science Comics were true to the title of their original series.  But all three of these characters hit the Weird Comics series after the demise of[...]

Undeniably, the lure of an intriguing cover plays a significant role in sparking a collector's interest in Golden Age comic books, and the unusual cover of Speed Comics #28 is another great example Published by Harvey Comics at the height of World War II in 1943, the cover here by an unknown artist serves as[...]

Platt contributed work to various publishers during the Golden Age, including Marvel/Timely, Standard/Better/Nedor, Fawcett Publications, and MLJ He took over the long-running Mr and Mrs newspaper comic strip 1947-1963 Platt did extensive writing work for TV animation during the 1960s, including for The Jetsons, The Flintstones, and Jonny Quest The 1961 novel The Blue Man[...]

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 While the series would perhaps best become known for the addition of Archie beginning in issue #4, the first issue featured Steel Sterling, Black Hood, Sergeant[...]

Rang-A-Tang was one of the first dog stars in Golden Age comic books, predating the likes of Green Lantern's Streak and Superboy's Krypto An important dog star key and the beginning of an important comics publishing empire, there is a CGC FN+ 6.5 copy of Blue Ribbon Comics #1 (MLJ, 1939) up for auction in[...]

Whiz Comics #155 is the beginning of the end of an important chapter in American comic book history.  The Fawcett Publications title had launched one of the most important and successful characters of the Golden Age 13 years earlier with the debut of Captain Marvel in Whiz Comics #2, and its end presaged the closure[...]

Jones was launched in Wonderworld Comics as the cover feature and quickly given his own series as well.  For V-Man, Fox took the unusual step of introducing the character in his own title straight away, something the publisher had never done before that time, previously preferring to elevate established characters from his anthology titles to[...]

According to a lawsuit over the creation of Ace Periodicals comic books during this era, the material in the publisher's earliest comics, including Sure-Fire Comics #1, was the creation of a comic production studio run by Patrick Lamar.  And it has also emerged that several of the stories in this issue were based on plots[...]

With a series of superweapons of his own invention, Sky Wizard defended mankind from a variety of threats.  This is a tough-to-get and often-overlooked series, but there are copies of the complete four-issue series of Miracle Comics, featuring the world's greatest scientist turned superhero Sky Wizard now up for auction in the 2024 August 1 –[...]

The short-lived Scoop Comics series is unusual even by Chesler standards.  The title cycled through humor, adventure, and war covers in its first three issues 1941-1942.  The title initially lasted only 3 issues, with characters who debuted here like Master Key and Rocketman & Rocketgirl going on to appear in other Chesler titles such as[...]

Captain Battle debuted in Lev Gleason Publications' Silver Streak Comics #10, the creation of Carl Formes and Jack Binder.  Binder is well known as the founder of a major comics production studio active throughout the Golden Age and somewhat beyond, as well as being the older brother of Earl and Otto Binder.  On the other[...]

Fawcett Publications' Wow Comics series is best known for its regular feature Mary Marvel beginning in Wow Comics #9, but the first eight issues of the series are historically fascinating as well.  The cover star of many of these issues is Mister Scarlett, a fairly typical caped crusader based in Gotham City in these early[...]

With Lash Lightning captured in Lightning Comics v3 #1, he was able to transfer his powers to Isobel Blake, who became Lightning Girl.

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[...]

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[...]