Daring Mystery Comics
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Daring Mystery Comics is an American comic-book series published by Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics, during the 1930-1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Primarily a superhero anthology, it ran eight issues from 1940 to 1942, and is notable for work by such industry legends as Carl Burgos, Bill Everett, Alex Schomburg, and the team of Joe Simon & Jack Kirby.
Daring Mystery Comics #8 (Jan. 1942) features the first appearance of the Golden Age superhero Citizen V, who decades later appears in flashback in the Marvel series Thunderbolts, where his family and the Citizen V identity play a major part. A small handful of other Daring Mystery superheroes have been revived or have made guest appearances in modern-day nostalgic titles, such as the World War II-set flashback series The Invaders, generally in minor roles.
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[edit] Publication history
Daring Mystery Comics came from publisher Martin Goodman's Timely Comics, which by the early 1960s would evolve into Marvel. It was initially edited by Joe Simon, Timely's first editor, followed briefly by future Marvel chief Stan Lee very early in his career. As with other of the earliest Timely comics, most material came from Funnies Inc., one of the prominent comic-book "packagers" who produced complete, outsourced comics on demand for publishers entering the fledgling medium.
Following Daring Mystery Comics #1-8 (Jan. 1940 - Jan. 1942), its numbering continued under different titles. In a quirk of publishing involving U.S. Postal Service regulations and mailing costs, and a World War II, paper-supply-related moratorium on launching new series, publisher Goodman somehow continued the series numbering as both Daring Comics for four issues from 1944 to 1945,[1] [2] and as Comedy Comics for 26 issues from 1942-1946,[3] [4] both of which launched with an issue #9.
[edit] Characters
An anthology with no regular star, the series included a number of obscure, mostly single-appearance features, many of which made a single appearance. The best known superheroes to debut in its pages were the Blue Diamond, by artist co-creator Ben Thompson; writer-artist Bill Everett's the Fin; and the Thunderer, created by writer John H. Compton and notable for artist co-creator Carl Burgos. All three heroes were introduced in issue #7 (April 1941). The comic's first five covers were by yet another industry legend, artist Alex Schomburg.
Other included the Challenger, drawn by George Klein under the pseudonym Nick Karlton; artist co-creator Steve Dahlman's Dynaman; writer-artist Simon's Fiery Mask; the Laughing Mask, who became the Purple Mask, by writer Will Harr and artist Maurice Gutwirth; and the superheroine the Silver Scorpion, by artist co-creator Harry Sahle. Due to Golden Age comics work often going unsigned, comprehensive credits are difficult if not impossible to ascertain, and in many early cases, a feature's artist is also the uncredited writer.
The final three issues contained work by the legendary team of writer-inker Joe Simon and penciler and sometimes co-scripter Jack Kirby.[5] They collaborated on the covers of #6 (July 1940) and #8 (Jan. 1942), the former of which also featured a 10-page Simon & Kirby story introducing the single-appearance superhero Marvel Boy (the first of several Marvel universe characters to take that name), and 10-page story starring the previously introduced Fiery Mask. Issue #7 (April 1941) contained an eight-page Simon & Kirby story introducing the obscure Captain Daring (taken over for the next and last issue by artist Frank Borth). One of the first superhero parodies — Stuporman, by writer-artist Harry Douglas — debuted in issue #6 (Sept. 1940).
Non-superhero features included "G-Man, Don Gorman", a single-issue cover character by unknown creators, though inked by future notable Dick Briefer; "John Steele: Soldier of Fortune" and "Monako the Master Magician" (a.k.a. "Monako, Prince of Magic", both by artist co-creator Larry Antonette (under the pseudonym Dean Carr for "John Steele"); "K-4 and the Sky Devils", by artist co-creator Jack Alderman; "Whirlwind Carter of the Interplanetary Secret Service", by artist co-creator Henry Fletcher; the jungle-lord adventure "Trojak the Tiger Man", by artist co-creator Gregory Sykes; and artist co-creator Ben Thompson's Western "Robin Hood of the Range", featuring the Texas Kid.
[edit] In other media
The Thunderer appeared in the "Seven Forgotten Warriors" episode of one of the Spider-Man animated television series.
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] References
- Grand Comics Database
- Steranko, Jim. The Steranko History of Comics 1 (Supergraphics, 1970, ISBN 0-517-50188-0)
