124 – The First Black Widow

In Mystic Comics #4 (June 1940), Timely Comics Inc (later Marvel) introduces the first costumed female superhero, Black Widow. Claire Voyant is a spiritual medium who is overcome by evil powers while performing a seance. She puts “Satan’s curse” on the family who later die in a car crash. The surviving brother murders Claire and […]

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121 – Fire v Water, Part Deux

Timely Comics (aka Marvel) continues its experiment of having its two most popular characters, the Human Torch and Namor, the Sub-Mariner, battle each other in a whopping 22+ page, action-packed story in Marvel Mystery Comics #9 (May 1940). The characters reach a stalemate, resulting in another cliffhanger by the end of the issue.

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115 – Fire v Water

As promised the previous month, Marvel Mystery Comics #8 (April 1940), brings the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch together in one battle that spans two stories in that issue.

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110 – The First Cross-over!

Timely Comics (the company that later became Marvel Comics) continued to innovate by inventing the first superhero crossover. The above panel in Marvel Mystery Comics #7 (March 1940) is the first time comic book characters from different “strips” have hinted at a shared universe. The Human Torch and Namor, the Sub-Mariner would clash in the […]

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77 – The Human Torch!

August 1939 saw the birth of another comic book company, Timely Comics, the company that would eventually be renamed Marvel Comics many years later. Marvel Comics #1 hit the stands introducing a unique superhero character, The Human Torch, created by Carl Burgos. This version of the Torch was a synthetic human (an android) created by […]

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