Continuing our survey of the contents of what would become DC Comics, as things sit in January 1941...
From Flash: "Circus Caper" by Gardner Fox and Everett E. Hibbard, Flash Comics #15 (March 1941)
Flash Comics is probably the most Who's Who-worthy book of the era, though it does have a few features that were not remembered in DC's 50th Anniversary Directory. In addition to Jay Garrick the terribly unenthusiastic Flash, it had...
Johnny Thunder, by John B. Wentworth and Stan Aschmeier
The Whip, by Wentworth and Homer Fleming
The King (or King Standish), by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert
Hawkman, of course, by Fox and Sheldon Moldoff
Don Cameron's Les Watts Radio Amateur
Cliff Cornwall Special Agent, by Ben Flinton and Leonard Sansone
A Flash "Picture Novelette", by Ed Wheelan (not to say it stars the Flash)
From Lion Boy: "The Coming of Togo" by Henry Kiefer, Hit Comics #9 (March 1941)
Over at Quality, Lion Boy forces a charging rhino to jump in a river by sticking a tree stump on its horns and setting it on fire with a flaming arrow. They don't make jungle action comics like they used to. Take a deep breath, because Hit had a LOT of strips, keeping its stories on the shorter side. There was Lion Boy, but also...
The superhero known as Hercules, by John Celardo
Betty Bates, Lady at Law, by Bob Powell and Nick Cardy
The Strange Twins, G-men and brothers, by Jerry Iger and Alex Blum
Dan Tootin, the Madcap Chemist, a humor strip by Klaus Nordling
Bob and Swab, sailors, by Nordling as well
The Red Bee, everyone's favorite, by Toni Blum and Witmer Williams
Blaze Barton and the World of Tomorrow, a Flash Gordon type, by Maurice Gutwirth
The Old Witch, an early horror host, strip by Nick Cardy (as Pierre Winter)
G-5, Super Agent, by George Appel
The humor of Tommy Tinkle, by Arthur Beeman
Neon the Unknown, by Jerry Iger and Alex Blum
Don Glory, Champion of Democracy, by Nick Cardy (as Lincoln Ross)
From "The Origin of Minute-Man" by Chalres Sultan, Master Comics #11 (February 1941)
Moving on to Fawcett, Master Comics features the first appearance of patriotic costumed hero Minute-Man, who would go on to appear in some 50 more comics, including his own short-lived series. DC would make use of him a couple times as well, in Shazam! and Infinite Crisis. Thankfully, the eugenically worrying Master Man isn't part of the book anymore, but who is?
Cover feature Bulletman, by Jon Smalle
The Devil's Dagger (actually, the Phantom, but I guess that name was taken), a strip that, like Bulletman, used to be found in Nickel Comics, by Ken Battlefield
El Carim, Master of Magic, a turbaned magic hero whose spells are in backward speech (not derivative AT ALL), by Carl Formes and Charles Sultan
Cap't Venture and the Planet Princess, word jumble hero, by Rafael Astarita
The Red Gaucho, another escapee from Nickel, by Harry Anderson
Buck Jones, Frontier Marshal, "acted in and written by" Buck Jones, famous movie star (celebrity writers aren't a recent phenomenon) and Ralph Carlson
Zoro, the Mystery Man (no relation), dude has a pet jaguar and no costume, and fights Yellow Peril villains, by Mac Raboy
From Doctor Fate: "The Fish-Men of Nyarl-Amen" by Gardner Fox and Howard Sherman, More Fun Comics #65 (March 1941)
Doctor Fate meets Murloc! It doesn't take but two panels and they're fish-fry. Man, the Helmet of Nabu makes you VIOLENT! Because I know the Spectre from his 70s and 90s stories mostly, it always surprises me that Dr. Fate is the More Fun mystical hero LITERALLY. It's a more imaginative strip than the Spectre's whose stories were put up top, while Fate's closed the book. So in addition to Dr. Fate and Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily's Spectre, we have...
Detective Sergeant Carey, by Joe Donohoe
Congo Bill, in his pre-gorilla days, by Whitney Ellsworth and George Papp
Captain Desmo, aviator (didn't this used to be a science fiction strip?), by Ed Winiarski
The long-running Radio Squad, by Jerry Siegel and Fred Ray
Lance Larkin of Arabia, by Harold Wilson Sharp
Biff Bronson, playboy adventurer, by Albert Sulman
and Sergent O'Malley of the Red Coat Patrol (mounty, not British soldier), by Jack Lehti
Survey to be concluded...
Flash Comics is probably the most Who's Who-worthy book of the era, though it does have a few features that were not remembered in DC's 50th Anniversary Directory. In addition to Jay Garrick the terribly unenthusiastic Flash, it had...
Johnny Thunder, by John B. Wentworth and Stan Aschmeier
The Whip, by Wentworth and Homer Fleming
The King (or King Standish), by Gardner Fox and Harry Lampert
Hawkman, of course, by Fox and Sheldon Moldoff
Don Cameron's Les Watts Radio Amateur
Cliff Cornwall Special Agent, by Ben Flinton and Leonard Sansone
A Flash "Picture Novelette", by Ed Wheelan (not to say it stars the Flash)
Over at Quality, Lion Boy forces a charging rhino to jump in a river by sticking a tree stump on its horns and setting it on fire with a flaming arrow. They don't make jungle action comics like they used to. Take a deep breath, because Hit had a LOT of strips, keeping its stories on the shorter side. There was Lion Boy, but also...
The superhero known as Hercules, by John Celardo
Betty Bates, Lady at Law, by Bob Powell and Nick Cardy
The Strange Twins, G-men and brothers, by Jerry Iger and Alex Blum
Dan Tootin, the Madcap Chemist, a humor strip by Klaus Nordling
Bob and Swab, sailors, by Nordling as well
The Red Bee, everyone's favorite, by Toni Blum and Witmer Williams
Blaze Barton and the World of Tomorrow, a Flash Gordon type, by Maurice Gutwirth
The Old Witch, an early horror host, strip by Nick Cardy (as Pierre Winter)
G-5, Super Agent, by George Appel
The humor of Tommy Tinkle, by Arthur Beeman
Neon the Unknown, by Jerry Iger and Alex Blum
Don Glory, Champion of Democracy, by Nick Cardy (as Lincoln Ross)
Moving on to Fawcett, Master Comics features the first appearance of patriotic costumed hero Minute-Man, who would go on to appear in some 50 more comics, including his own short-lived series. DC would make use of him a couple times as well, in Shazam! and Infinite Crisis. Thankfully, the eugenically worrying Master Man isn't part of the book anymore, but who is?
Cover feature Bulletman, by Jon Smalle
The Devil's Dagger (actually, the Phantom, but I guess that name was taken), a strip that, like Bulletman, used to be found in Nickel Comics, by Ken Battlefield
El Carim, Master of Magic, a turbaned magic hero whose spells are in backward speech (not derivative AT ALL), by Carl Formes and Charles Sultan
Cap't Venture and the Planet Princess, word jumble hero, by Rafael Astarita
The Red Gaucho, another escapee from Nickel, by Harry Anderson
Buck Jones, Frontier Marshal, "acted in and written by" Buck Jones, famous movie star (celebrity writers aren't a recent phenomenon) and Ralph Carlson
Zoro, the Mystery Man (no relation), dude has a pet jaguar and no costume, and fights Yellow Peril villains, by Mac Raboy
Doctor Fate meets Murloc! It doesn't take but two panels and they're fish-fry. Man, the Helmet of Nabu makes you VIOLENT! Because I know the Spectre from his 70s and 90s stories mostly, it always surprises me that Dr. Fate is the More Fun mystical hero LITERALLY. It's a more imaginative strip than the Spectre's whose stories were put up top, while Fate's closed the book. So in addition to Dr. Fate and Jerry Siegel and Bernard Baily's Spectre, we have...
Detective Sergeant Carey, by Joe Donohoe
Congo Bill, in his pre-gorilla days, by Whitney Ellsworth and George Papp
Captain Desmo, aviator (didn't this used to be a science fiction strip?), by Ed Winiarski
The long-running Radio Squad, by Jerry Siegel and Fred Ray
Lance Larkin of Arabia, by Harold Wilson Sharp
Biff Bronson, playboy adventurer, by Albert Sulman
and Sergent O'Malley of the Red Coat Patrol (mounty, not British soldier), by Jack Lehti
Survey to be concluded...
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