Lost Crossovers: The Epic Battle Between Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher, part four

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 →

Lost Crossovers: The Epic Battle Between Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher, part three

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 →

Lost Crossovers: The Epic Battle Between Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher, part two

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 →

Lost Crossovers: The Epic Battle Between Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher, part one

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 →

Forgotten Masterpiece: AMERICA’S GREATEST COMICS #8

As we've mentioned in previous postings on this subject, while Fawcett Comics never pulled together a regular equivalent of the Justice Society of America for its assorted costumed champions (apart from the Marvel Family, who headlined their own group title), the outfit had no hesitation for having them meet and team up with one another … Continue reading Forgotten Masterpiece: AMERICA’S GREATEST COMICS #8 →

Spy Smasher in Peacetime: The Last Spy Smasher story

Spy Smasher was introduced in the first issue of Fawcett's WHIZ COMICS (numbered as #2 so as to account for an ashcan edition created solely to secure copyright to the title.) The brainchild of Bill Parker and C.C. Beck, he became one of the most popular characters in the Fawcett publishing line, appearing in his … Continue reading Spy Smasher in Peacetime: The Last Spy Smasher story →

BHOC: ALL IN COLOR FOR A DIME

I was regularly haunting the section of the Sachem Public Library that contained books on or about comics, not just for that elusive copy of ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS (which I never did find there) but also for anything else of interest. I took out and read a bunch of books from that section, many … Continue reading BHOC: ALL IN COLOR FOR A DIME →

BHOC: FAMOUS 1st EDITION #F-4

The next book I got was another Famous First Edition, this one of WHIZ COMICS #2, the first appearance of Captain Marvel. The cover isn’t a perfect replica, though–DC had to remove the cover copy “Gangway for Captain Marvel” because of Marvel’s trademark on the Captain Marvel name. The whole issue is a crude but not … Continue reading BHOC: FAMOUS 1st EDITION #F-4 →