Super-Mystery Comics
Entry updated 4 June 2025. Tagged: Comics, Publication.
US Comic (1940-1949). Ace Magazines. 48 issues. Artists include Walter Davoren, Lou Ferstadt, Maurice Gutwirth, Jim Mooney and Mark Schneider. Script writers include Lou Ferstadt, Cliff Howe and Robert Turner. Initially 68 pages with six or seven long strips and a short text story (plus occasional short strips as filler) per issue; page count eventually reducing to 36 with long strips down to four.
Vol 1 #1 introduces Magno the Magnetic Man (see Superheroes), whose Magnetism Superpowers mean he can manipulate metal and fly by being attracted to metal objects; from vol 1 #4 he is joined by a young sidekick, Davey, and with vol 3 #2 the strip is called Magno and Davey. In vol 1 #2 Magno fights a Supervillain The Blue Spark, whose Inventions include Ray cannons that can destroy railways and control minds, as well as a mechanical mole; his henchmen wear inflatable rubber costumes, making them immune to our hero's powers though not his fists. Vol 1 #5 introduces the recurring Villain The Clown, an evil Scientist who can leap great distances thanks to a "degravitating solvent" (see Gravity) and also invents a "demagnetizing fluid". In vol 2 #3 he is briefly joined by Zora, a chemist and "a superior woman just as you are a superior man, Clown". Magno also faces The Cobra – green-skinned, serpent-featured, with Poisoned fingernails. In vol 3 #1 a professor finds a Magic amulet and decides to use it to fight evil, but rather than this becoming a hero's origin story he ends up murdered by The Cobra. Vol 3 #6 has a scientist inventing a device that creates an impenetrable sphere of electrical energy (see Force Field). In vol 5 #2 wax dummies are brought to life with the souls of the damned. Magno and Davey's final appearance is in vol 6 #4.
Also in vol 1 #1 is Vulcan the Volcano Man, "direct descendant of the famous god of fire" (see Gods and Demons) who can control fire and generate heat (later flames), enabling him to melt bullets and fly. Usually battling villains who practice arson, he eventually becomes a Human Torch-like hero, though his body is not engulfed in flame. One villain has a device that creates miniature typhoons (see Weather Control). Vulcan's final appearance was in vol 3 #2. Vol 1 #3 introduced The Black Spider, a district attorney whose alter ego is caped, masked and armed with trained poisonous spiders. These are mainly used to scare criminals into talking. (Final appearance vol 2 #6.) Vol 2 #1 introduces Buckskin Blake "America's Defender of Liberty" and "leader of a patriotic youth group" who can "run with the silence and speed of a deer", is skilled with the lariat and has a trained eagle. (Final appearance vol 3 #5.) Vol 3 #3 brings a couple of heroes last seen in the June 1942 Lightning Comics; one is Dr Nemesis, a surgeon who has invented a truth serum and uses it to fight crime: he hides his identity behind a surgical mask. (Final appearance vol 4 #1). Longer lasting is the The Sword: "puny boy Arthur Lake" becomes a red-costumed adult when he draws King Arthur's sword Excalibur from its stone (though set in the USA, the stone is located nearby); in the first story, events lead to a pal becoming Lancer whenever Arthur takes out the sword (a lance appearing from nowhere). His regular foe is glamorous Nazi spy Morgana Faye; in vol 3 #14 Hitler (see World War Two) presents her with assistants "The Hun and the Goth, masterworks of science and breeding! The first true examples of the future race of German master men." (see Eugenics). From vol 3 #16 the Sword and Lancer are joined by an eccentric old man who can become Merlin. The defeat of Germany is presumably why Morgana, Hun and Goth are finally caught in vol 4 #4; The Genius (see Intelligence) appears to be set up as a new nemesis, but appears only in a couple of tales, most notably in vol 4 #6 when his "electronic wave recorder" enables him to send anyone who appears on its screen to another time (see Time Travel). (Final appearance vol 5 #3). After the departure of Magno and Davey in vol 6 #4 there are no genre strips in the comic until the introduction of The Unknown in vol 7 #4; he is a moralizing caped figure who watches and comments upon events, Invisible to the participants. However, apart from their presence, the stories have no fantastic elements.
Super-Mystery Comics is one of the weaker comics of its era: Magno is the best of the strips, though declining later on. There is occasional Humour. The Clown and The Cobra are surprisingly brutal at times, the latter even drawing protests from henchmen over his sadism (they are killed, of course). Vulcan improves slightly after a poor start, but never rises above mediocrity; The Black Spider and Dr Nemesis both have gimmicks that fail to propel the narrative; The Sword is severely hampered by having his sidekick, who has no horse, running around with a lance. [SP]
further reading
- Super-Mystery Comics: Volume 1 (Hornsea, East Yorkshire: PS Publishing, 2025) [graph: collects issues #1-#3: illus/various: hb/uncredited]
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