Phantom Harveys!

The 1950's were tough times for comics. For the famous team of Simon and Kirby, a relatively tough period followed the failure of their attempt at their own comics brand. The team, which had persisted since the early days of the Golden Age finally broke up and Jack Kirby was working for both DC and Atlas/Marvel on his own. Joe Simon was casting about working as an editor and whatnot. The run of Phantom stories in the early Harvey comic Harvey Hits, seems to be a series in which the art is open to considerable dispute. Joe Simon is credited with the artwork to the cover of the debut issue.

Here's the original artwork for that action-filled cover. Frankly I see more than a whisper of Jack Kirby in the horse figure, but no one seems to credit him with this work.

Here is the signed hectic splash page by Joe Simon for that very first issue.

The next Phantom adventure in the series features this cover and some want to attribute it to Jack Kirby. Frankly I see less Kirby in this one than I do the first issue, though the framing of the cover does suggest him. The figure work seems less Kirbyesque and more Simonized to me.

Here's the original artwork for that cover. It is dramatic.

While the Grand Comic Book Database credits the cover of  Harvey Hits #12 to Al Avison, other sources suggest this is also a Joe Simon effort. The small attacking figure sure looks like Simon to me. Some say Kirby had a hand in this one, but I don't see much to suggest it.

Al Avison is credited with most of the remaining Harvey Hits Phantom covers which appeared regularly thoughout the remainder of the run. Here's a cover gallery.

The perspective in this one is all over the place, but it still commands attention.

Once again the perspective is more than a bit wonky.

Nice image, though Devil looks rather like a kitten facing off against the lion.

Dramatic, and focused, a more successful image for sure.

This one is a champ,  a dandy and nigh iconic image of the Ghost Who Walks. I won't quibble aobut the arms. Outstanding!

And while it's arguable whether "King" Kirby had anything to do with the covers above, there's no denying his hand in this action-filled image developed for a never-to-be Phantom cartoon series. I wish I could find a better scan of this, but so be it.

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The All-Winners Squad - Part 7 "War Between The Worlds!"

Here at last is the concluding chapter of the sprawling Golden Age Timely tale "The Riddle of the Demented Dwarf" from All-Winners #21. Captain America, Bucky, Sub-Mariner, Human Torch, Toro, Whizzer, and Miss America have saved the continents of Europe, South America, Asia, Africa, and North America from the specific threats from Future Man and Madame Death. Now they join forces as the assembled "All-Winners Squad" to put an end to the menace once and for all.

The finale was written as always by Otto Binder and drawn this time by Vince Alascia and Al Avison. Prepare for the "War Between the Worlds".





I hope that was fun. As I've said before, this is arguably my favorite Golden Age story and that has a lot to do with it being among my very first ones no doubt. But it's all here in this one, the wild and varied heroes, the globe-spanning scale of the threat, and the ending that shows that in fiction at least there is a happy ending.

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The All-Winners Squad - Part 4 "Wave Of Destruction!"

The All-Winners Squad's epic struggle against the Future Man and Madame Death continues in the fourth chapter of "The Riddle of Demented Dwarf" starring the mighty and sometimes mighty big-headed Sub-Mariner as he tries to protect all of Asia.


This chapter written by Otto Binder and illustrated by artists Al Avison and Vince Alascia begins now.









Be here next time when the lovely Miss America confronts "The Living Dead"

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The All-Winners Squad - Part 1 "Menace From The Future World!"

The All-Winners Squad was the Timely Comics answer to the Justice Society of America. Timely threw together Captain America, Sub-Mariner, Human Torch, Whizzer, and Miss America to form a superhero team in the exact mode that the JSA existed.


The team existed for exactly two adventures, the first throwing them against the nuclear threat of the villain "ISBISA" whose very name was the clue to defeating him. Their next threat was Future Man and his partner Madame Death in the world-spanning adventure titled "The Riddle of the Demented Dwarf".

This is my favorite Golden Age comics story. I got hold of the second half of this adventure in the partial reprint comic Marvel Super-Heroes. The title began as Fantasy Masterpieces and reprinted old Atlas monster adventures like those of Fin Fang Foom and the lot. But then Marvel (and specifically Roy Thomas) started to mine the Golden Age material they had at their fingertips and reprinted the adventures of Sub-Mariner, Human Torch, and Captain America, as well as lesser-known heroes of decades gone by.


These individual reprints eventually resulted in the reprinting of All-Winners #19 which debuted "the All-Winners Squad". The comic was reprinted in one shebang in the tenth issue. Soon thereafter Fantasy Masterpieces was renamed Marvel Super-Heroes and became something of a hybrid comic in the flavor of DC's Showcase and new characters like Captain Marvel got a solo tryout in the book alongside other newbies like the Guardians of the Galaxy and Phantom Eagle, as well as established heroes like Medusa, Ka-Zar, and the Black Knight. They kept reprinting vintage Golden Age stories in the back too, to flesh out the twenty-five cent packages.

The book didn't last long in this format before reverting completely to reprints, this time vintage Marvel era material. But before that happened the second All-Winners adventure from All-Winners #21 was reprinted in two issues, specially issues #17 and #18.



The story has never been reprinted again since.


I was hopeful that when the first All-Winners Squad story got the reprint nod a decade ago, that they'd at last get the second one reprinted under one cover, but alas it was not to be. So this landmark and rather exciting Golden Age classic has only to this point been available in the original and in its broken two-part reprint form. Eventually they'll get around to it in the Masterpiece format I guess, but they haven't gotten to it yet.

But here's a treat. Over the next week, I plan to serialize this great adventure here. The saga will be presented one lush chapter at a time in a form that really suits it given its vintage serial feel.

So enjoy the "Menace from the Future World", written by Otto Binder and drawn by Al Avison and Charles Nicholas.





Return next time for a Captain America and Bucky adventure as they confront "The Green Plague".

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