, the
Fin, the
Thunderer,
Citizen V, the
Blue Diamond, and (inset) the
Silver Scorpion. Cover art by
Jack Kirby &
Joe Simon. 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
Carl Burgos. 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 All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes (2011). Two characters introduced here, writer-artist
Joe Simon'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, drawn by
Charles Nicholas Wojtkoski 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 Jewell, which comics historian Michael J. Vassallo believes marked a collaboration with another, unknown artist. . Cover art by Jack Kirby & Joe Simon The final three issues contained work by the commercially popular team of writer-
inker Joe Simon and
penciler 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 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). "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-set
Flash Foster at Midwestern, by writer and artist
Bob Wood. 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) [final] • The Texas Kid (January 1940) [final] • Monako, Prince of Magic (January 1940; May 1940-September 1940) [final] • Flash Foster at Midwestern (January 1940) [final] • Doyl Denton, Phantom of the Underworld (January 1940) [final] • Barney Mullen – Sea Rover (January 1940) [final] • Zephyr Jones and His Rocket Ship (February 1940) • The Phantom Bullet, Scourge of the Underworld (February 1940) [final] • Trojak, the Tiger-Man (February 1940-June 1940) [final] • K-4 and His Sky Devils (February 1940-June 1940) [final] • Mr. E. (February 1940) [final] • The Laughing Mask/The Purple Mask (February 1940-May 1940) [final] • Dale of the FBI (April 1940) [final] • Breeze Barton (April 1940-June 1940) [final] • The Phantom Reporter (April 1940) [final] • Marvex the Super Robot (April 1940-June 1940) [final] • Captain Strong of the Foreign Legion (April 1940) [final] • Whirlwind Carter of the Interplanetary Secret Service (May 1940-June 1940) [final] • G-Man Don Gorman (May 1940) [final] • Little Hercules (June 1940) [final] • The Falcon (June 1940-September 1940) [final] • Marvel Boy (September 1940) [final] • Stuporman (September 1940) • The Flying Flame (September 1940) • Dynaman (September 1940) [final] • Tigerman (September 1940) [final] • The Thunderer (April 1941; January 1942) [final; revamped as Black Avenger] • The Fin (April 1941; January 1942) • Blue Diamond (April 1941; January 1942) [final] • Officer O’Krime (April 1941; January 1942) • The Silver Scorpion (April 1941; January 1942) • The Challenger (April 1941) • Mr. Million (April 1941) [final] • Captain Daring (April 1941; January 1942) [final; revamped as Captain Dash] • Citizen V (January 1942) • The Li’l Professor and the Robot (January 1942) • Tubby an’ Tack (January 1942) ==Collected editions==