(February 1942)

Marvel, 1939 Series
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Volume
1
Price
0.10 USD
Pages
68
Indicia Frequency
monthly
On-sale Date
1941-12-16
Indicia / Colophon Publisher
Timely Comics Inc.
Editing
Joe Simon (editor)

Issue Notes

The on-sale date is from the publication date recorded in the Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 2, Periodicals, 1942, New Series, Vol. 37, No. 1.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents)

Human Torch / cover / 1 page (report information)

Script
?
Pencils
Alex Schomburg
Inks
Alex Schomburg
Colors
?
Letters
?

First Line of Dialogue or Text
Stark terror was unleashed in the underground den of evil until the Human Torch blazed down!
Genre
superhero
Characters
The Human Torch [Jim Hammond]
Reprints
Keywords
bondage; skeletons; torture

Still on Top! (Table of Contents: 1) (Expand) /

Captain America / promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

The Poison Pill Suicides (Table of Contents: 2)

Human Torch and Toro / comic story / 15 pages (report information)

Script
Carl Burgos (signed)
Pencils
Carl Burgos (signed)
Inks
Carl Burgos (signed); Harry Sahle ?
Colors
?
Letters
?

Genre
superhero
Characters
The Human Torch [Jim Hammond]; Toro [Thomas Raymond]; Mr. Martin (death); unnamed Police Commissioner; Izan (villain, introduction); five unnamed henchmen of Izan (villains, all die)
Synopsis
Torch and Toro are invited to lead the Coney Island Mardi Gras pageant, but a henchman of a gunrunner named Izan succeeds in interrupting the event with a bomb before committing suicide with a poison pill rather than facing his boss's judgment to be drowned for failure. Izan captures Torch and Toro with gas and places them into glass coffin tubes which he plans to dump into the sea. Discovering a leak in the tube, the Torch flames on and superheats the glass so that it shatters when it hits the water. He frees Toro and they capture Izan.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Sahle credit per Michael J. Vassallo via the Masterworks.

The Flying Dutchman (Table of Contents: 3)

Namor the Sub-Mariner / comic story / 12 pages (report information)

Script
Bill Everett (signed)
Pencils
Bill Everett (signed)
Inks
Bill Everett (signed)
Colors
?
Letters
Bill Everett

Genre
superhero
Characters
The Sub-Mariner [Namor]; Mr. Larson (sailor); Rogers (naval diver); Baby Dean McCarthy (introduction, Betty Dean's sister and Slug's wife); The Falcon (villain, introduction, death); Chuck "Slug" McCarthy (villain, introduction, reforms); Oliver (villain)
Synopsis
Intrigued by four ship sinkings by a mysterious 18th-century ghost ship, Namor figures that the tremendous loss of gold shipments carried aboard those ships must be the work of a 20th-century pirate who has bolted the ghost ship to a submarine. Walking into a trap, Namor is rescued by the sister of Policewoman Betty Dean, who, along with her husband, are being coerced into helping the Falcon.
Reprints

The Surprise Success of the Century! (Table of Contents: 4) (Expand) /

Young Allies / promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page (report information)

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 5)

The Vision / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script
?
Pencils
Al Avison; Ernie Hart
Inks
Syd Shores; George Klein
Colors
?
Letters
?

First Line of Dialogue or Text
The human being, flesh and mind, would be a flimsy thing without that which holds it together... that mysterious force, his soul... which makes a man feel he's living to do some good!
Genre
superhero
Characters
The Vision [Aarkus]; Guardian of the Spirit World (introduction); Dr. Zadig; Dr. Parker; Dr. Schlissel; unnamed police chief; Dr. Igor Korbeau (villain, introduction, death)
Synopsis
The Vision comes to Earth to battle the "Mad Man of Science", Dr. Korbeau, who has discovered the secret of man's soul and how to remove it. Korbeau removes the souls of seven of his scientific competitors, but the Vision takes the scientists to the spirit world to reclaim their souls before a showdown with the evil doctor.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

The Masterworks edition lists writer as unknown. Previous indexer credited Jack Kirby and Joe Simon. Art credits per Michael J. Vassallo via the Masterworks. Previous indexer credited Jack Kirby and David Walters.

The Sea of Grassy Death (Table of Contents: 6)

text story / 1.67 pages (report information)

Script
Mickey Spillane (credited)
Letters
typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text
Ull in your lines, Jack, and fast – the bottom just fell out of the barometer!
Genre
adventure
Characters
Jack; Slim; the Germans (villains)
Synopsis
Two sailors run into a storm and find themselves marooned in the Sargasso Sea, facing yet a greater terror that would prove dangerous to Allied shipping.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

The story body's initial letter ("P"), which was presumably to have been a drop cap, was accidentally omitted.

First reprint note from Arthur Lortie, August 2008.

[no title indexed] (Table of Contents: 7)

statement of ownership / 0.33 page (report information)

Letters
typeset

First Line of Dialogue or Text
Statement of Ownership, Management, Circulation, etc., required by the act of Congress of August 24, 1912, of Marvel Mystery Comics, published monthly at Meriden, Conn., for October 1st, 1941.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

Appears on second page of text story.

Lists Martin Goodman as Managing Editor and Abraham Goodman as Business Manager.

The Green-Faced Man (Table of Contents: 8)

The Patriot / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script
?
Pencils
Al Fagaly (signed)
Inks
Al Fagaly (signed)
Colors
?
Letters
?

Genre
superhero
Characters
Mary Morgan (Daily Bugle reporter); The Patriot [Jeff Mace]; Casey (Daily Bugle reporter); Green Face [Reibel] (villain, introduction); Fritz (villain)
Synopsis
The celebrated trial of the Green-Faced Man is interrupted when the prisoner's gang frees him with an attack of gas. However, the Patriot tracks him down to dispense well-earned justice.
Reprints
Keywords
"Daily Bugle"

The Case of the Deadly Letters (Table of Contents: 9)

Terry Vance, the School Boy Sleuth / comic story / 7 pages (report information)

Script
Ray Gill (signed)
Pencils
Bob Oksner (signed, see notes)
Inks
?
Colors
?
Letters
?

Genre
detective-mystery
Characters
Deadline Dawson; Terry Vance; Dr. Watson (Terry's pet monkey); Detective Jenks; Aubrey de Woode (Hollywood director, death); unnamed butler of Aubrey de Woode; Gordon De Wolfe (villain, introduction, nephew of Aubrey de Woode)
Synopsis
Terry and Deadline suspect that Hollywood director Aubrey de Woode did not commit suicide, but was murdered, and they suspect the dead man's nephew, even though the police have ruled the young man out as a suspect.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

The Masterworks edition lists Oksner as providing layouts while the finished penciler and inker are unknown.

Strange Adventures in the Land of Nowhere (Table of Contents: 10)

Jimmy Jupiter / comic story / 6 pages (report information)

Script
Eddie Robbins ?
Pencils
Eddie Robbins (signed as E. Robbins)
Inks
Eddie Robbins ?
Colors
?
Letters
?

Genre
children; fantasy-supernatural; superhero
Characters
Jimmy Jupiter [James Jankovicz] (introduction); inhabitants of the Land of Nowhere [Elmer Tree; unnamed woman; unnamed talking trees] (introduction for all); The Wump-Jump (villain, introduction, a dragon)
Synopsis
Jimmy is taken up in an airplane but forgets to fasten his safety belt, and falls out of the plane, landing on a soft cloud. He discovers he is in the Land of Nowhere and the only way back to Earth is to locate the Mountain of Wunt.
Reprints

Indexer Notes

The Who's Who lists Robbins as penciler only on this strip.
A Little Nemo inspired series which also owes to Alice in Wonderland, Land of Oz, etc.

The Horror of the Haunted Cathedral (Table of Contents: 11)

The Angel / comic story / 8 pages (report information)

Script
?
Pencils
?
Inks
?
Colors
?
Letters
?

Genre
superhero
Characters
The Angel [Thomas Halloway]; the Russians; Zombie Fuehrer [General Henchel] (villain, introduction, dies twice); zombie monk; army of zombies (villains, introduction for all, all die twice); the Nazis (villains)
Synopsis
General Henchel faces the prospect of suicide because of his blunder along the German-Russian Front, but instead he makes a hasty departure by submarine to America. Arriving in the swamps of Louisiana, he decides to hide out in a mysterious cathedral, supposedly haunted, and is killed when he plays an organ, but is brought back as a zombie (like other former inhabitants of the edifice), leading his Army of the Dead out to kill Americans. The Angel discovers a zombie Monk at the cathedral and learns from him how to deal with the dreadful Army.
Reprints
Editing
Related Scans
Series Information
Table of Contents
  1. 0. ["Stark terror was unleashed in the underground den of evil until the Human Torch blazed down!"]
    Human Torch
  2. 1. Still on Top!
    Captain America
  3. 2. The Poison Pill Suicides
    Human Torch and Toro
  4. 3. The Flying Dutchman
    Namor the Sub-Mariner
  5. 4. The Surprise Success of the Century!
    Young Allies
  6. 5. ["The human being, flesh and mind, would be a flimsy thing without that which holds it together... that mysterious force, his soul... which makes a man feel he's living to do some good!"]
    The Vision
  7. 6. The Sea of Grassy Death
  8. 7. ["Statement of Ownership, Management, Circulation, etc., required by the act of Congress of August 24, 1912, of Marvel Mystery Comics, published monthly at Meriden, Conn., for October 1st, 1941."]
  9. 8. The Green-Faced Man
    The Patriot
  10. 9. The Case of the Deadly Letters
    Terry Vance, the School Boy Sleuth
  11. 10. Strange Adventures in the Land of Nowhere
    Jimmy Jupiter
  12. 11. The Horror of the Haunted Cathedral
    The Angel
This issue was modified by, among others
  • Katie
  • Henry Andrews
  • Bill Borre
  • Mark Bowen
  • Nick Caputo
  • Steve Dasinger
  • Craig Delich
  • Del Gruber
  • Katy Hayhurst
  • Donald Dale Milne
  • Mark Q
  • Tony R. Rose
  • Richard Thomson