WONDER COMICS #1-20

FULL 20 ISSUE RUN

RARE VINTAGE GOLDEN AGE SUPERHERO COMIC BOOKS ON DVD ROM

A CLASSIC NED PINES / NEDOR / STANDARD / BETTER COMICS GOLDEN AGE SERIES

FEATURING LOADS OF GREAT COVER ARTWORK BY ALEX SCHOMBURG

CONTAINS A FULL RUN OF ALL 20 ISSUES PUBLISHED BY NED PINES/NEDOR/STANDARD COMICS/BETTER PUBLICATIONS FROM 1944-1948

AS AN ADDED BONUS THIS COLLECTION ALSO INCLUDES WONDER STORIES #1 AND #2 (THE ONLY 2 ISSUES PUBLISHED BY FOX) 1939 SERIES

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Publication Dates:
May 1944 - October 1948
Number of Issues Published:
20 (#1 - #20)
Colour:
colour
Dimensions:
standard Golden Age US
Paper Stock:
newsprint
Binding:
saddle-stitched
Publishing Format:
was ongoing series
Publication Type:
magazine

Grim Reaper

Grim Reaper is a fictional character and a superhero. Created by writer/editor Richard E. Hughes, he first appeared in Fighting Yank #7 (Feb 1944), and was quickly promoted to cover feature of Wonder Comics (Better Publications), beginning with #1 (May 1944). His origin story was told in Wonder Comics #2.

Character History

Bill Norris is studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, France when the Nazis occupy the city. Intervening in a Nazi harassment of a citizen, Norris is arrested and sent to a concentration camp. He helps an old man, who eventually confides to Norris that he's the leader of the French Underground and knows the location of an important French General, who has to be safely brought to Africa to continue the battle. Fashioning an all black Grim Reaper outfit, Norris, with help from the French citizenry, rescues the General. The Reaper regularly kills his Nazi foes with his bare hands.

He is, at one point, number one on the Gestapo's wanted list.

The Grim Reaper is often shown working behind enemy lines in the German underground. The Reaper makes his way to England in Wonder Comics #4.

In one adventure, the Reaper brings an armoured Nazi super-zeppelin to England and wants nothing more than to go back to the continent: "The only reward I want is a chance to fight the Nazi beasts again and again... to spread terror among the foulest terrorists the world has ever known! Tremble, you Nazis! The Grim Reaper is coming back!"

After the war ended, Norris returned to America in Wonder Comics #8 (Oct 1946), and continued his super-heroics. He battled Mr. Meek, the Robed Phantom, the Chameleon and the Crying Bandit. His final story was published in Wonder Comics #17 (April 1948).

WONDERMAN

Created by Bob Oksner, Wonderman was real life Brad Spencer. He obtained his “hard as steel” bullet proof super strength from touching a “sizzling voltage of a secret current.” If there were no subsequent phone calls from D.C.’s lawyers this time, it’s a wonder there were none from angry parents whose kids were sticking fingers in electric outlets to gain their own superpower?

The character went on to appear in Mystery Comics #1-4 and in Wonder Comics #9 (December 1946) to #20. The appearance in Wonder Comics also marked the switch over by Wonder Comics to the Alex Schomburg airbrushed science fiction covers. Carol Paige served as Brad Spencer/Wonderman’s gal pal and love interest.

Golden Age Nedor Superheroes 1940-1949

A successful publisher of pulp magazines, the Phantom Detective and the Black Bat among them), Ned Pines entered the comics arena late in 1939 developing what came to be known as the Nedor superheroes. His first, short-lived comic book was called Best Comics and featured the adventures of a presumably Polynesian man named the Red Mask. Best Comics, whose pages were atypically wider than tall, lasted only four issues. Pines’ subsequent anthology titles (Exciting Comics, Startling Comics and Thrilling Comics) were far more successful. Even so, only his most famous heroes, Black Terror and the Fighting Yank, eventually graduated to their own titles. Several of their top adventurers were featured in the company’s all-star title, America’s Best Comics. The flagship title provided the initials that came to characterize the company: ABC. These relatively stable six titles were joined by Wonder Comics in 1944.

The universe of Nedor superheroes was more optimistic than many other heroic realms of the period. Innovative scientists invented methods that allow their transformation into pinnacles of masculine prowess: Black Terror, Captain Future and Doc Strange among them. Several other ABC heroes were the result of scientific accidents (notably American Crusader, American Eagle, Pyroman and Wonderman). The supernatural played its part in the origins of the Fighting Yank and the Ghost, but in the latter case, many of his powers were duplicated by an evil scientist. Wild and improbable inventiveness held sway here, far more than magic.

During World War II, the Nedor superheroes were especially devoted to the war effort. Exceptional patriots included the American Eagle, the Commando Cubs and the Fighting Yank. As the war began to wind down, a new generation of heroes emerged: the Grim Reaper and Wonderman first among them.

As the forties wore on, many Nedor heroes seemed to lose their super-human vigor. The Black Terror and Fighting Yank, who displayed exceptional strength during the war, seemed no more than exceptionally fit towards the end of their careers. The menaces they and other heroes faced also became increasing mundane.

It must be noted that villainy was not as well actualized as heroism in the Nedor Universe. There were relatively few recurrent adversaries that could pose a genuine threat to the heroes they faced. The Faceless Phantom was  the most striking in appearance, squaring off against Doc Strange on several occasions. However, Dr. Fenton was the most implacable, traveling across the centuries time and time again in his unending struggle with the Ghost. Dr. Voodoo and his interplanetary band of cronies were perhaps the most memorable, avowed enemies of Brad Spencer, Wonderman. As for sheer fright appeal, the red-skinned and horned Black Satan struck fear in the hearts of the youthful Four Comrades, and with good reason. A mad scientist by the name of Mavelli battled Fighting Yank three times—the closest thing to an arch villain that hero managed.

To its credit, women had ample opportunities to become heroes here. The Woman in Red led the way in the early forties and Miss Masque, Princess Pantha, Kara–Jungle Princess, and Judy of the Jungle represented a post-war heroine boom. Jill Trent, Science Sleuth, was a total original for 1940s comic books, a female inventor. All of them were as beautiful as they were fit. Femme fatales were less common, though the Lady Serpent (foe of the Black Terror) and Lilith, Queen of Pluto (Wonderman villain), fit the bill quite nicely.

Adolescent sidekicks for the Nedor superheroes, on the other hand, were plentiful. The American Crusader was accompanied by the youthful Mickey, the American Eagle Eaglet, the Black Terror Tim, and Doc Strange Mike. There were also two adolescent teams: the Commando Kids and the aforementioned Four Comrades. As for ethnic diversity, one of the Commando Kids was an African-American youth named Pokey Jones. Magnet’s associate, Sidi, was an Congo jungle guide and a better fighter than his boss. Mystico—a revived Egyptian mummy—was Middle Eastern, but notably light-skinned. That was about it.

Chief writer and editor Richard Hughes held sway over the Nedor Universe for many years, telling stories of deranged scientists who had some of the quirkiest schemes to take over the world ever devised. His heroes, on the other hand, were likable if not particularly distinctive. Primary cover artist Alex Schomberg conveyed a vivid action that drew in many a reader, but inside the artwork was often only adequate even if adventures did progress at a brisk pace. When super-heroes ceased to capture the public’s imagination in the later 1940s, jungle heroines and cowboys soon were seen in greater numbers. The colourfully costumed heroes disappeared entirely in 1949, though Pines continued to publish humour, western, war and romance comic books until 1958, the best selling of these being Dennis the Menace.

FOX SERIES (1939) #1-2

Publication Dates:
May 1939 - June 1939
Number of Issues Published:
2 (#1 - #2)
Colour:
Colour
Dimensions:
Standard Golden Age US
Paper Stock:
Glossy cover; Newsprint interior
Binding:
Saddle-stitched
Publishing Format:
was ongoing series
Publication Type:
magazine