There's really no question that Bill Everett was the most accomplished and polished cartoonist to be featured in the early issues of MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS, the initial offering from Timely Comics. In general, the quality level of many of the artists of this period was questionable at best. But Everett was already an accomplished master, … Continue reading The Second Sub-Mariner Story
Marvel's first title, MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS (called simply MARVEL COMICS in its first issue--nobody quite knows how or why MYSTERY was added to the title, or for what reason) was something of a surprise success for publisher Martin Goodman. He'd initially printed up only 80,000 copies and the print job was so bad that he … Continue reading The Second Human Torch Story
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
The advent of World War II and the patriotic fervor that hit the nation swiftly became a driving force behind comic books. It was clear almost immediately that young readers, with no other real way of engaging the enemy and helping with the battle effort, wanted to live those experiences vicariously through stories. Consequently, all … Continue reading The Other Captain America
MISS AMERICA MAGAZINE had started out as simply MISS AMERICA COMICS, solo-starring the patriotic character then being featured in Timely's MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS as well. But buying tastes were beginning to change in the marketplace, and so publisher Martin Goodman switched gears, transitioning MISS AMERICA into a hybrid magazine aimed at girls. The super-heroine would … Continue reading The First Patsy Walker Story
And here we finish up our sequence on the final appearances of the mainstay Timely super-heroes with the final appearance of the Human Torch's kid buddy, Toro. As opposed to Bucky, who at least got shot honorably while fighting the good fight, Toro simply stopped showing up one day--his position as the Torch's right arm … Continue reading The Last Toro Story
Continuing in our look at the final Golden Age adventures of the assorted Marvel mainstay characters, here's the final Sub-Mariner story presented in 1949. There were two stories presented in SUB-MARINER COMICS #32, so the second of these would have been the final Sub-Mariner story of the era. As it turns out, this story continues … Continue reading The Last Sub-Mariner Story
Here's the answer to a weird bit of Golden Age trivia: which two long-running super heroes debuted in 1939, had their last solo story in 1949, and featured the character's origin in both that first and last issue of their anthology titles? The answer is the Flash and the Human Torch. (Somebody will point to … Continue reading The Last Human Torch Story
This one's one of the more memorable early Marvel comic books that I bought and read. So much so that it's another book where for some reason my younger brother Ken later bought his own copy. As I've mentioned here before, the Marvel of 1977 was having a tough time making its deadlines, leading to … Continue reading BHOC: INVADERS #24
Here’s a first, from the great Alex Schomburg: the first time in comic book history a cover promoted an epic battle between two separate super heroes, in this case the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner. This MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS cover must have proven exciting to readers, as Timely went on to stage several other Torch-Namor … Continue reading Great Covers – MARVEL MYSTERY COMICS #9
The Tom Brevoort Experience 