Marvel Firsts WW2 Super Heroes

[David Lawrence]

Copy came in the mail today.  Oh my god...it is DELICIOUSLY bad!  Even by the standards of the day.

Thought the clunky Human Torch origin by Burgos was the worst thing I'd ever seen...and it was, till I kept reading.

I say that with love and respect, mind you.  I knew what I was getting into and was not disappointed.

Haven't gotten to any Kirby yet...the book features all first appearances, in order...but one solo outing by Joe Simon on The Fiery Mask.

Early Marvel also had a thing for robots...4 so far, counting the Torch.  Maybe 5...not sure WHAT Dynamic Man is.  And I'm not a third of a way through the book.

Honestly, Fox stuff I've seen from the era is better than this.  Win the Wonder Man lawsuit...annoy Joe Simon a little less so he doesn't take Captain America elsewhere...and who knows?

The one thing that stands head and shoulders over the rest is the Sub-Mariner origin by Bill Everett, in quality of both art and story.  It is a tragedy that his personal demons limited his productivity and shortened his life and career.

Well worth picking up for anyone who enjoys the wondrous entertainment power of bad Golden Age comics.

[Yoc]

Hi David,
Sounds like the reviews I've read on this interesting blog you might like. 
He's reading GA Marvel (and now DC) from Marvel #1 forward and writing a review.  The Archive link will take you back to the start.
http://unabridgedcomics.tumblr.com/

[David Lawrence]

Wow!  That is quite a task he's taken on for himself.

[Yoc]

Yeah, sure is.  When you read his Marvel Mystery Comics reviews you'll get a laugh as he sees these are not the best reading he's ever done.
He's also keeping track of character appearances - who had the most, what artists did which stories (when known), etc etc.

Norris Burroughs runs another blog trying to break down exactly who worked on the first GA issues of Captain America -
http://kirbysgoldenagecaptain.wordpress.com/

[John C]

Thought the clunky Human Torch origin by Burgos was the worst thing I'd ever seen...and it was, till I kept reading.

Interesting.  I haven't read it in a while, but I thought the Human Torch story was at least serviceable.

Honestly, Fox stuff I've seen from the era is better than this.  Win the Wonder Man lawsuit...annoy Joe Simon a little less so he doesn't take Captain America elsewhere...and who knows?

Comic history seems littered with these sorts of things.  Consider if DC hadn't gotten to an appeal against Fawcett and Captain Marvel got to stay in the public eye.  A step further, Nedor sold (at least) its Pulp business, including the very suspicious Black Bat (who was published well into the '50s).  By the 1970s, both properties were in the hands of CBS for various reasons.

The one thing that stands head and shoulders over the rest is the Sub-Mariner origin by Bill Everett, in quality of both art and story.  It is a tragedy that his personal demons limited his productivity and shortened his life and career.

More interesting is to consider that it wasn't even mostly written for Marvel, but for a one-off by people related to Centaur.

[Yoc]

One could write a fun and fascination 'What If' comic series based on turning points like these in comics history.
Our own RoyG's 'Standard Universe' art commissions have been a fun example of one.  Alter-Ego had a whole series based on if All-American had bought out National IIRC.

-Yoc

[David Lawrence]

I think Captain America meant EVERYTHING to Marvel.  Torch & Sub-Mariner were serviceable supporting players...and there was a chemistry when you put them together...but I think if Goodman had to settle for them as his top stars he's a distinctly second tier publisher, instead of being among the top 4 or 5 of the era.

[CharlieRock]

I've read some really corny stuff (trash) from GA Comics. I used to wonder why the Big 2 survived and some of these others didn't (Well, we all know why Fawcett might not have survived). I wonder not so much after sampling a variety thanks to this site. With the exceptions being the comics everyone has heard of (Eisner's stuff, etc.) I have found out why a few of these publishers went bust when the bubble popped. One comic had Giants right from the beanstalk as the antagonists ... with their weakness being an artery located literally in their foot that they bled out and died from in seconds. Convenient for the jungle girl protagonist. Others were maddening because an otherwise entertaining story cut financial corners by using mainly green and red ink (I'm assuming, because I can't see why else you would run a story about a red dog under a green sky, even the water from a lake was green.) My fascination with those types of titles then run to "How good did this title actually do versus the well known titles like Action Comics?". I'll then pull my Archive hardcovers of republished copyright active GA comics and compare them, etc. It's really rather interesting to me gaining this historical perspective.