Airboy was one of the more popular and long-lasting series of the Golden Age of Comics. Created by Charles Biro in the pages of AIR FIGHTERS COMICS #2, Airboy was young Davy Nelson, the heir to a robotic batwinged plane named Birdie developed by his late father, who used it to fight the Axis in … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: AIRBOY v3 #12
This is a little bit of a cheat, but only a little bit in my eyes, as the crossover element in this story is big and prevalent, even though it doesn't quite entirely qualify as a bona fide crossover in the way most others do. As we've spoken about in the past, DC (then known … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: ADVENTURE COMICS #85
The Spirit Section was a stand-along comic book circular that was syndicated to newspapers all across the country that could be included with the rest of their Sunday editions. It was designed to be a pushback against the rising popularity of comic books--comics, "funny pages", had long been a sales driver for newspapers. So the … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Spirit Section, December 28, 1941
MAGAZINELAND, USA was a giveaway comic book designed for the celebration on June 18, 1977, which had been proclaimed World Color Press Day. World Color were the printers for virtually all of the comic books that were then available on the nation's newsstands, including the output of DC, Marvel, Archie, Harvey and others. Accordingly, those … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: MAGAZINELAND, USA #1
And so, after four months, we finally come to the end of the titanic clash between the World's Mightiest Mortal and the vastly-overmatched foe of subversives as the running Captain Marvel vs Spy Smasher conflict reaches its inevitable climax. Once again, there isn't any clue given on the cover that this colossal story has been … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Epic Battle Between Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher, part four
Continued stories weren't really a big thing during the Golden Age of Comics. They got experimented with a bit, but in general the common wisdom seemed to be that the young audience for comic books couldn't be depended upon to reliably come back for the next installment, and that instead giving them a great and … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Epic Battle Between Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher, part three
The cover to WHIZ COMICS #16 gives no indication of the titanic struggle that was played out within its pages. Inspired clearly by the battle between the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner in MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS, a fight that made that series a best-seller, Fawcett's creative team decided to do their own super hero vs … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Epic Battle Between Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher, part two
As we've covered in the past, it was a relatively rare thing during the Golden Age of Comics for the heroes of two separate strips to meet one another. Despite the success of the Justice Society of America in ALL-STAR COMICS, no other company ever fielded a super hero team comprised of all of their … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Epic Battle Between Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher, part one
We're just about through the extended crossover between the Phantom Lady strip in POLICE COMICS and the Spider Widow strip appearing simultaneously in FEATURE COMICS. But before we get into these final installments, a moment to point out an interesting aspect of the cover to POLICE COMICS #22 above. Plastic Man creator Jack Cole not … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Forgotten Phantom Lady/Spider Widow epic, Part 3
As we detailed last week, artist Frank M. Borth, who was working on both strips, created a six-part epic crossover between his two series, Phantom Lady, which ran in POLICE COMICS, and the Spider Widow, which could be found in FEATURE COMICS. There wasn't any promotion for this crossover, so it appears to be something … Continue reading Lost Crossovers: The Forgotten Phantom Lady/Spider Widow epic, Part 2
The Tom Brevoort Experience 