America's Greatest Comics
Entry updated 9 February 2026. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1941-1943). Fawcett Publications. 8 issues. Artists include Phil Bard, C. C. Beck, Tom McNamara and Mac Raboy. Script writers include Otto Binder (see Eando Binder) and Tom McNamara. 100 pages, comprising five or six long strips and a short text story, plus short strips (fiction and non-fiction) as filler.
#1 opens with Captain Marvel: when radio reporter Billy Batson says "SHAZAM" (standing for Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, Mercury), he becomes Captain Marvel, who has the corresponding Superpowers of wisdom, strength, stamina, power, courage and speed. He had first appeared the previous year in Whiz Comics #2 (strictly speaking that story was a reprint, but in the earlier versions – Flash Comics #1 and Thrill Comics #1 – he was called Captain Thunder, and these were "ashcan" comics, not intended for sale). Here he deals with The Ghost of the Deep, a foreign agent who sinks US ships using submarines made of a transparent, tough metal (invented by a Scientist in his employ, whom he then shoots). "Captain Marvel and the Magno-Ray" (#3) has the "maddest of Mad Scientists" Sivana returning from the distant future in his Time Machine via "the strange dimension that we know as The Passing Moment" and, though only having a dim memory of his experiences, has "the greatest treasure of science known to Earth's Final Age" – the Magno-Ray Projector. This can copy an object and broadcast it anywhere, also altering its size: a kind of Matter Duplication, but though indestructible the reproduced object disappears when the projector is turned off. Sivana reappears in #4 with a Rejuvenation formula. "The Lost Lightning" (#5) finds World War Two reaching Mount Olympus, with the Greek gods fleeing to America (see Gods and Demons). "The World of Your Tomorrow" (#7) has an eccentric Scientist showing Billy his futuristic inventions, the presentation interrupted by his assistant offering them to the Nazis. The inventions include Robots, flying cars (see Transportation), hand-held Videophones and a "psycho-therapy Ray" which is actually a brainwashing device (see Memory Edit). "Captain Marvel Plays Baseball On Mars" has Billy and two other teenagers abducted by a Martian scientist who quizzes them on their attitude to adults. Billy learns "for centuries the children have ruled their elders on Mars" and the scientist is trying to change that (see Children in SF); Baseball has a minor role in the plot.
Bulletman (first appearance Nickel Comics #1, 1940) wears a "Gravity Regulator Helmet" he's invented, as does Bullet Girl (see Miss Fury), and are thus able to fly and divert bullets. In #1 they fight a man with a device that bends light around his body, rendering him Invisible. In #2 the Supervillain is The Black Rat, resembling a humanoid rat in cape and briefs. "The Man Who Lived a Million Years" (#3) starts a million years ago when a man is cast into a chasm for being evil; he declares he will live as long as evil exists. Sure enough, in the present day, he is the costumed Man of the Ages, releasing Zoo lions to attack children and blowing up dams. "The Baby Monster Mystery" (#6) has a professor return from a South American expedition to announce he has the "greatest archaeological treasure"; unfortunately crooks focus on the word "treasure", steal his storage crates, and find two baby Dinosaurs; one, the brontosaur, grows up very fast. Presumably The Lost World (1912) by Arthur Conan Doyle was a partial influence.
Superheroes Mr. Scarlet (first appearance Wow Comics #1, 1940) and sidekick Pinky can fly. #1 has them battling The Death Battalion, six previously defeated supervillains now working together on behalf of the Nazis (see World War Two): Horned Hood, Ghost, Black Clown, Thorn, Laughing Skull and Dr. Death. They are led by The Brain, who instructs each to murder a leading US Government figure; they last appeared in #7. Minute Man (first appearance Master Comics #11, 1941), is a "one man army", fast-moving and good with his fists; in #1 he fights Mr Skeleton, a giant bone-white skeletal man with whiskers who is fond of dipping people into vats of acid. In #4 a chemical mortally ages victims in minutes (last appearance #7). Spy Smasher (first appearance Whiz Comics #2, 1940) travels in a "gyro-sub" that can also fly. Commando Yank (first appearance Xmas Comics #2, 1941) has strips in #4-#7, and is merely a commando in costume. #8 brings in three more superheroes: radio and Serial Film star Captain Midnight (whose first appearance in comics was The Funnies #57, 1941), plus Golden Arrow (first appearance Whiz Comics #2, 1940), an archer in the Wild West era (see Westerns) and Captain Marvel Jnr (first appearance Master Comics #23, 1942). The last is the "poor crippled boy Freddy Freeman" who can transform into the "worlds' mightiest boy" by saying "Captain Marvel". Here he confronts Mr Morpheus, who – having "isolated a substance that will make dreams" – can induce nightmares in his victims; he has also built a Machine that can show people's dreams on a television screen (see Dream Hacking).
America's Greatest Comics' strips, excepting filler material, almost exclusively featured superheroes. The most memorable was Captain Marvel, better written and illustrated than most contemporary superheroes (with some Humour); Bulletman also had some entertaining stories (and reasonable artwork). Otherwise, though Minute Man's first story was promising and Captain Marvel Jnr's had some interest, the strips tend to be forgettable. Regular use is made of racial stereotypes (see Race in SF) – such as Captain Marvel's companion Steamboat – making the decent portrayal of John, the assistant to Balbo, the Boy Magician sadly of note. Balbo is a stage magician, not a user of Magic; his was the comic's only non-superhero long strip (except perhaps for Golden Arrow), with a one-off appearance in #7 (he first appeared in Master Comics #33, 1942). [SP]
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