514 – Two-Face Three

Detective Comics #187 (July 1952) features another story featuring Two-Face, featuring the now-rehabilitated Harvey Dent, less than a year since the previous not-quite-Two-Face story. This time, Harvey Dent agrees to portray Two-Face in makeup, but then exhibits signs of his old criminal behavior. It turns out to be George Blake, the theater manager, who thought […]

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513 – Adult Lana

Lana Lang makes the leap from Superboy to adulthood in “The Girls in Superman’s Life”, a story written by Edmond Hamilton in Superman #78 (July 1952). Lana wants to become a journalist and heads to Metropolis where Perry White is convinced to give her a shot. Lois Lane takes her under her wing and Lana […]

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512 – Beast from Krypton

In Superman #78 (July 1952), Bill Finger expands the mythos of Krypton with his story of “The Beast From Krypton!”. This story brings another survivor of Krypton, this time a savage beast that Jor-El basically genetically modified to ravenously eat metals and then imprisoned on a moon. When it arrives on Earth, as all things […]

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511 – Cold-Hearted

The Haunt of Fear #14 (June 1952) continues EC’s march into gruesome territory. The story “Take Your Pick!” features a cold-hearted, penny-pinching husband who refuses compassion at every opportunity. After turning away beggars and destitute friends, sending a dog to sleep outside in the winter, driving on by someone who was hit by a car, […]

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510 – The Phantom Stranger!

The Phantom Stranger makes his debut in DC’s Phantom Stranger #1 (June 1952) and was created by John Broome and Carmine Infantino. The character is unnamed and not given an origin, simply appearing across 3 different stories of people encountering supernatural events. In each story, he debunks the supernatural aspects as hoaxes and solves the […]

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509 – Our Army At War

In June 1952, DC launched “Our Army At War” #1. In it, the tale “Dig Your Foxhole Deep!” written by Robert Kanigher and drawn by Irv Novick features many panels empty of dialog but filled with dread and psychological warfare. Our Army At War also features a letters column, which may be the first DC […]

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508 – Batman’s Identity Pin

In Detective Comics #185 (May 1952), Batman loses his utility belt which contains a pin that, when sprayed with a special chemical, will reveal Batman’s identity. Batman thinks this is a good idea because something might also happen to Robin. Ok, but isn’t it more likely that you’ll die and then reveal your and Robin’s […]

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507 – First Earthling on Krypton

In “The Man Who Went To Krypton!”, a story from Superman #77 (May 1952) written by Bill Finger, Superman discovers that a human had visited Krypton in the past. Thirty years ago, Professor William Enders intercepted radio signals from Krypton (which must have traveled through a time warp?) and learned how to communicate with Jor-El […]

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506 – Marvel-ous EC Flattery

In Atlas/Marvel’s Mystic Comics #10 (April 1952), it becomes pretty clear that someone over at Atlas (perhaps a Mr. Stan Lee?) is really jealous of the attention that E.C. Comics is getting. Each story features a little blurb that pays homage to an E.C. comic book: Cryptic Tales, Vault of Evil, Crypt of Shadows… I’m […]

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505 – Firefly!

In Detective Comics #184 (April 1952), a new Batman villain arises: The Firefly! The Firefly is Garfield Lynns, the world’s foremost lighting-effects genius, who is bitter at lack of recognition and becomes a criminal. After being chased by Batman and Robin, he is saved by a firefly distracting the dynamic duo and decides to take […]

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