''Daring Mystery Comics'' is an American comic-book series published by Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics, during the 1930-1940s period fans and historians call the

Golden Age of Comic Books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known char ...

. Primarily a

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

, it ran eight issues from 1940 to 1942, and is notable for work by

Carl Burgos Carl Burgos (; born Max Finkelstein ; April 18, 1916 – March 1, 1984) Note: Gives only month and year of death. was an American comic book and advertising artist best known for creating the original Human Torch in ''Marvel Comics'' #1 (Oct. 193 ...

, Bill Everett, Alex Schomburg, and the team of

Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the ...

& Jack Kirby. ''Daring Mystery Comics'' #8 (Jan. 1942) features the first appearance of the Golden Age superhero Citizen V, who decades later appears in flashback in the Marvel series ''

Thunderbolts A thunderbolt or lightning bolt is a symbolic representation of lightning when accompanied by a loud thunderclap. In Indo-European mythology, the thunderbolt was identified with the 'Sky Father'; this association is also found in later Hell ...

'', where his family and the Citizen V identity play a major part. A small handful of other ''Daring Mystery'' superheroes have been revived or have made guest appearances in modern-day titles, such as the World War II-set flashback series '' The Invaders'' and the feature " Liberty Legion" in '' Marvel Premiere''.

Publication history

''Daring Mystery Comics'' came from publisher Martin Goodman's Timely Comics, which by the early 1960s would evolve into Marvel Comics. The first five issues were nominally edited by Goodman, but were in fact mixtures of material bought from

Funnies, Inc. Funnies, Inc. was an American comic book packager of the late 1930s to 1940s period collectors and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by Lloyd Jacquet, it supplied the contents of early comics, including that of ''Marvel Comics' ...

or the Harry "A" Chesler studio, both prominent comic-book "packagers" who produced stories or even complete, outsourced comics on demand for publishers entering the fledgling medium. Timely's first in-house editor,

, relaunched the series with issue #6 as his second project for Goodman and remained for the last few issues. Following ''Daring Mystery Comics'' #1-8 (Jan. 1940 - Jan. 1942) and a publishing hiatus, the series' numbering continued under different titles. In a quirk of publishing involving U.S. Postal Service regulations and mailing costs, and a World War II, paper-supply-related moratorium on launching new series, publisher Goodman somehow continued the series numbering as both ''Daring Comics'' for four issues from 1944 to 1945,''Daring Comics'' (1944-1945)
at The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators and as ''Comedy Comics'' for 26 issues from 1942-1946, both of which launched with an issue #9.

Characters

An anthology with no regular star, the series included a number of obscure, mostly single-appearance features. Due to Golden Age comics work often going unsigned, comprehensive credits are difficult if not impossible to ascertain, and in many early cases, a feature's artist is also the uncredited writer. The best known superheroes to debut in its pages were the Blue Diamond, by artist co-creator Ben Thompson; writer-artist Bill Everett's the Fin; and the Thunderer, created by writer John H. Compton and notable for artist co-creator

. All three heroes were introduced in issue #7 (April 1941). In the 1970s, the Blue Diamond resurfaced in period stories in '' Marvel Premiere'', as a member of the homefront World War II team the Liberty Legion. He also appeared in writer Paul Jenkins' 2011

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

''All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes'' (2011). Two characters introduced here, writer-artist

's Fiery Mask, and writer Will Harr and artist Maurice Gutwirth's Laughing Mask, who became the Purple Mask, appeared in present-day stories after awakening from suspended animation alongside 10 other Timely heroes in Marvel Comics' 2007-2008 and 2012 miniseries '' The Twelve''. Other heroes included the

Challenger Challenger, Challengers, or The Challengers may refer to: Entertainment Comics and manga * Challenger (character), comic book character * ''Challengers'' (manga), manga by Hinako Takanaga Film and TV * ''The Challengers'' (TV series), a 1979 ...

, drawn by

Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski "Charles Nicholas" is the pseudonymous house name of three early creators of American comic books for the Fox Feature Syndicate and Fox Comics: Chuck Cuidera (1915–2001), Jack Kirby (1917–1994), and Charles Wojtkoski (1921–1985). The name or ...

under the pseudonym Nick Karlton; Dynaman, by artist and possibly writer Steve Dahlman; and the superheroine the Silver Scorpion, created or co-created by artist and sometime-writer Harry Sahle using the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Jewell, which comics historian Michael J. Vassallo believes marked a collaboration with another, unknown artist. The final three issues contained work by the commercially popular team of writer-

inker The inker (sometimes credited as the finisher or embellisher) is one of the two line artists in traditional comic book production. The penciller creates a drawing, the inker outlines, interprets, finalizes, retraces this drawing by using a pencil ...

Joe Simon and

penciler A penciller (or penciler) is an artist who works on the creation of comic books, graphic novels, and similar visual art forms, with a focus on the initial pencil illustrations, usually in collaboration with other artists, who provide inks, colors ...

and sometimes co-scripter Jack Kirby. They collaborated on the covers of #6 (July 1940) and #8 (Jan. 1942), the former of which also featured a 10-page Simon & Kirby story introducing the single-appearance superhero Marvel Boy (the first of several

Marvel Universe The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Super-teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardians of ...

characters to take that name), and 10-page story starring the previously introduced Fiery Mask. Issue #7 (April 1941) contained an eight-page Simon & Kirby story introducing the obscure Captain Daring (taken over for the next and last issue by artist Frank Borth, and continuing as Captain Dash in ''Comedy Comics'' #9). One of the first superhero parodies — Stuporman, by Harry Douglas who signed his name "Harry / Douglas" leading to much confusion and many theories over the possibility of two creators — debuted in issue #6 (Sept. 1940). Non-superhero features included "G-Man, Don Gorman", a single-issue cover character by unknown creators, though inked by future notable Dick Briefer; "Soldier of Fortune, John Steele" and "Monako the Master Magician" a.k.a. "Monako, Prince of Magic", both by artist co-creator Larry Antonette (under the pseudonym Dean Carr for "John Steele");''Daring Mystery Comics'' #1
at the Grand Comics Database "K-4 and the Sky Devils", by uncertain creators; "Whirlwind Carter of the Interplanetary Secret Service", by writer-artist Fletcher Hanks; the jungle-lord adventure "Trojak the Tiger Man", by artist co-creator Joe Simon using the byline Gregory Sykes; artist co-creator Ben Thompson's single-appearance Western "Robin Hood of the Range", featuring the first of two Marvel characters called the Texas Kid; and the

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

-set ''Flash Foster at Midwestern'', by writer and artist Bob Wood."The Football Fixing Scheme", ''Daring Mystery Comics'' #1
at the Grand Comics Database The comic's first five covers were by artist Alex Schomburg.

Complete List of Features

*The Fiery Mask (January 1940; June 1940; September 1940) *John Steele, Soldier of Fortune (January 1940) inal*The Texas Kid (January 1940) inal*Monako, Prince of Magic (January 1940; May 1940-September 1940) inal*Flash Foster at Midwestern (January 1940) inal*Doyl Denton, Phantom of the Underworld (January 1940) inal*Barney Mullen – Sea Rover (January 1940) inal*Zephyr Jones and His Rocket Ship (February 1940) *The Phantom Bullet, Scourge of the Underworld (February 1940) inal*Trojak, the Tiger-Man (February 1940-June 1940) inal*K-4 and His Sky Devils (February 1940-June 1940) inal*Mr. E. (February 1940) inal*The Laughing Mask/The Purple Mask (February 1940-May 1940) inal*Dale of the FBI (April 1940) inal*Breeze Barton (April 1940-June 1940) inal*The Phantom Reporter (April 1940) inal*Marvex the Super Robot (April 1940-June 1940) inal*Captain Strong of the Foreign Legion (April 1940) inal*Whirlwind Carter of the Interplanetary Secret Service (May 1940-June 1940) inal*G-Man Don Gorman (May 1940) inal*Little Hercules (June 1940) inal*The Falcon (June 1940-September 1940) inal*Marvel Boy (September 1940) inal*Stuporman (September 1940) *The Flying Flame (September 1940) *Dynaman (September 1940) inal*Tigerman (September 1940) inal*The Thunderer (April 1941; January 1942) inal; revamped as Black Avenger*The Fin (April 1941; January 1942) *Blue Diamond (April 1941; January 1942) inal*Officer O’Krime (April 1941; January 1942) *The Silver Scorpion (April 1941; January 1942) *The Challenger (April 1941) *Mr. Million (April 1941) inal*Captain Daring (April 1941; January 1942) inal; revamped as Captain Dash*Citizen V (January 1942) *The Li’l Professor and the Robot (January 1942) *Tubby an’ Tack (January 1942)

Collected editions

* ''

Marvel Masterworks ''Marvel Masterworks'' is an American collection of hardcover and trade paperback comic book reprints published by Marvel Comics, with the main goal of republishing classic ''Marvel Comics'' storylines in a hardcover, premium edition, often with ...

: Golden Age Daring Mystery Vol. 1'' (collects ''Daring Mystery Comics'' #1-4) * ''Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery Vol. 2'' (collects ''Daring Mystery Comics'' #5-8)

In other media

The Thunderer appeared in the "Six Forgotten Warriors" episode of one of the

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

animated television series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

References

External links

*{{comicbookdb, type=title, id=12671, title=''Daring Mystery Comics'' Comics magazines published in the United States Timely Comics titles 1940 comics debuts 1942 comics endings Magazines established in 1940 Magazines disestablished in 1942 Defunct magazines published in the United States Magazines about comics Golden Age comics titles