golden age Archives

Peterson relates the story of Paul Massilotti, the leader of a ring of check forgers who was captured and convicted in 1937. Jack Cole was a wildly creative and important Golden Age artist whose most famous creation is the character Plastic Man for Quality Comics He was also a regular cartoonist for Playboy magazine later in[...]

Mel Keefer's cover for the 1953 Toby Press release Tales of Horror #8 features a giant monster rampaging in New York City.

Crime Does Not Pay #33 is one of the most-collected issues of the most notorious series in comic book history.

During the Pre-Code era, the New York Legislature had issues with a Pre-Code Horror story drawn by Don Rico in Marvel Tales #97 in 1951.

Hitting newsstands around the same time that All-Star Comics #8 gave the world its first look at Wonder Woman, Bang-Up Comics #1 debuted another female superhero who unfortunately would not achieve the Amazon's popularity or longevity.  But Bang-Up Comics' Lady Fairplay is still an underappreciated and unusual character in a series full of such forgotten[...]

Many of the comic books of the early Golden Age were a response to the rising chaos of a world at war, but sometimes, those comic books were not a direct reaction to the war itself.  For example, the Daredevil story written and illustrated by Charles Biro in Daredevil Comics #5 took inspiration from the[...]

The short-lived Major Victory Comics series contains a range of great examples of the Chesler line.  Even the superheroes and adventure characters are off-beat and weird, and tend to be viewed through a horror-tinged lens at times.  Patriotic character Major Victory's origin moment is sparked by a character called Father Patriot, "a spirit born in[...]

Before the X-Men, Professor X was a criminology professor in Captain Flight Comics who knew everything there was to know about crime.

Inspired by World War II, the Korean War, and the looming Cold War, the war comics of the 1940s and 1950s have a strange history behind them.

Spy Smasher remembers the Battle of Wake Island on the cover of Fawcetts's Spy Smasher #8 shortly after that history took place.

Greene is best remembered as the creator of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, a science fiction novel, radio, comic strip, and comic book franchise that also ran on television 1950-1955, and is one of a handful of series to appear on all four networks of that era (CBS, ABC, NBC and Dumont).  There's a backup feature[...]

Aviation-themed covers were a large part of the early era of L.B. Cole's career as a comic book cover artist.

Fiction House's Ranger Comics launched featuring the Rangers of Freedom, a costumed hero-centric group who faced the villain SuperBrain.

Created by Chesler art director Charles Sultan, Punch Comics #1's Sky Chief, was a reflection of the aviation history of the era.

The short-lived Major Victory Comics series contains a range of great examples of the Chesler line.  Even the superheroes and adventure characters are off-beat and weird, and tend to be viewed through a horror-tinged lens at times.  Patriotic character Major Victory's origin moment is sparked by a character called Father Patriot, "a spirit born in[...]

Leslie Charteris gave Avon Publications detailed feedback on the look he wanted for The Saint comic book series in the late 1940s.

The notion of blending supernatural elements with superhero storylines is an underappreciated aspect of the Golden Age.  Long before the Pre-Code Horror era, publishers like Marvely/Timely, MLJ and Chesler were combining these elements to great effect.  A prime example of this fusion is Dynamic Comics #1, published by Chesler in 1941 The introduction of superheroes[...]

It seems almost inconceivable to consider the Golden Age comic book output of MLJ as a whole without discussing Archie and his pals, and that's probably why researching the comic books in this auction surprised me as much as it did.  There's been so much focus on collecting Archie in recent decades, and deservedly so,[...]

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[...]

At a time when competition was so fierce to stake claims on superhero territory that lawsuits and legal threats were common, MLJ managed to launch a super strong, super durable, super fast, flying superhero with a red and blue costume who was soon boldly proclaimed the Man of Steel on covers, and there is no[...]

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 the 2023 May 4 The MLJ[...]

One of the most successful early superheroes published by MLJ, the company that would subsequently become best known for Archie, Top-Notch Comics #9 has long been known as a tough comic to get among knowledgeable collectors.  There's a very nice high-grade CGC FN/VF 7.0 copy  of Top-Notch Comics #9 (MLJ, 1940) up for auction in the[...]

During the comic industry's boom time of the early 1950s, L.B. Cole covers were designed to stand out on the crowded newsstands.

Marvel was in the air in the second half of 1939.  Within the space of a few months, comics saw the debut of a character called Masked Marvel, the launch of the Marvel Comics title and finally the original Captain Marvel hit the newsstands in Whiz Comics right before the end of the year.  But[...]

was the original's son, a WWII fighter pilot who also worked for Army Intelligence. Whatever actually happened there with the missing #4, the Chesler involvement, and all the rest, Captain Battle is a classic patriotic hero from one of the most editorially interesting publishers of the Golden Age, and there are several issues of Captain Battle[...]

After that debut issue, artists such as Ken Bald and Pete Riss provided the artwork for many of the early Millie stories, but the character's iconic look was developed by future Archie Comics artist Dan DeCarlo, who gave Millie her distinct visual identity in a ten year run on the title from issues #18–92 (June[...]

Issues of New Fun Comics among other very early releases will probably be mentioned. Marvel's My Friend Irma and Hedy De Vine by Dan DeCarlo. But when I started asking collectors about vintage Marvel comic book rarity, the reaction was very different.  One collector responded with an anecdote.  When this collector asked a high net-worth Golden Age[...]

In Georgie Comics #1, Marvel publisher Martin Goodman as "Captain Goodman" helped Georgie in a scheme to impress Hedy Lamarr.

The "newest, biggest, solidest, keenest" comic of 1947 was Marvel's Junior Miss, featuring Cindy Smith, Sandra Lake and residents of Oakdale.

Marvel has become rather infamous for recycling names throughout its vintage eras.  From ordinary names like Aunt May and Uncle Ben, to character names like Magneto, the Hulk, and Werewolf by Night that were first used as throwaway names during the Marvel Pre-Code Horror and monster eras, and then used on other characters that became[...]