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All-Winners Comics #5-19, 21
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age All-Winners, Vol. 4
Combating everyone from World War II Axis armies to voodoo priestesses and atomic saboteurs, the super heroes of the Golden Age engaged in adventures wilder than any other. And in the pages of ALL-WINNERS COMICS, the solo adventures of Captain America, the Sub-Mariner, the Human Torch and their cohorts were worth every thin dime. Of course, Marvel's greatest Golden Age heroes had already been together in one book, but there was one winning concept that hadn't been explored - a team-up! Now, at last, the fantastic tales that brought together Captain America, Bucky, the Human Torch, Toro, the Sub-Mariner, Miss America and the Whizzer as Marvel's first super-hero team - the All-Winners Squad - are presented complete and painstakingly restored for the first time! Joining forces, these seven heroes appeared in two amazing book-length adventures in which they raced to solve the perplexing riddle of Isbisa, and journeyed across the globe and back in a fierce fight with Madame Death and the Future Man! Also including the one-issue relaunch of ALL-WINNERS featuring the beautiful Blonde Phantom, this volume proudly completes your collection - making us winners one and all! Collecting ALL-WINNERS COMICS (1941) #15-19 and #21, and ALL-WINNERS COMICS (1948) #1.
- GenresComics
296 pages, Hardcover
First published November 30, 2011
4 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Bill Finger
644 books105 followersWilliam "Bill" Finger was an American comic strip and comic book writer best known as the uncredited co-creator, with Bob Kane, of the DC Comics character Batman, as well as the co-architect of the series' development. In later years, Kane acknowledged Finger as "a contributing force" in the character's creation. Comics historian Ron Goulart, in Comic Book Encyclopedia, refers to Batman as the "creation of artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger", and a DC Comics press release in 2007 about colleague Jerry Robinson states that in 1939, "Kane, along with writer Bill Finger, had just created Batman for [DC predecessor] National Comics".
Film and television credits include scripting The Green Slime (1969), Track of the Moon Beast (1976), and three episodes of 77 Sunset Strip.
-Wikipedia
Film and television credits include scripting The Green Slime (1969), Track of the Moon Beast (1976), and three episodes of 77 Sunset Strip.
-Wikipedia
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 31, 2013
This final of All Winners Comics collects Issues 15-19, 21 and Vol. 2, Issue 1 collecting issues from 1945 and '46 and the series 1948 revival.
The writing and art for the first four issues was far from great in Issues 15-18. The first three issues featured stories with the Sub-mariner, Captain America, and the Whizzer. The Human Torch who was the other member of Marvel's big 3 was left out due to printing restrictions during the war, but returned in Issue 18. The Sub-Mariner's face had become ridiculous with a shape that was a lot like a slice of Pizza. The stories with the most potential in these first few issues were actually the Whizzer which could have been a lot of fun if they weren't hastily wrapped up in 8 pages.
But, the reason to read this book was Issue 19 which featured Marvel's first superhero team: The All-Winners Squad with Captain America, Namor, the Human Torch, the Whizzer, and Miss America together in one adventure. In a way that illustrated that even in 1946, Marvel was quite different from DC, this first adventure begins with the Human Torch accusing Namor of false-dealing and Namor and the Torch's sidekick Toro storming out in a huff. Yeah, that's the Marvel way of having a superhero team.
Like many of the All Star Comics and Leading Comics stories, the All Winners Sqaud followed a pattern where individual heroes would have an adventure and then team back up at the end. The Sub-mariner/Toro adventure was probably the highlight of the issue as Namor was particularly anti-social and the two had contrasting powers. The overall adventure was fun, solid, but could just as easily been a Seven Soldiers of Victory story or All Star Squad.
There was no Issue 20 and Roy Thomas speculate on why in his always-enlightening introduction, but Issue 21 features another All-Winners Squad adventure. This time the Squad faces a scientist from the future who plans to depopulate 20th Century earth to make way for his own people. In some ways, this calls to be mind the Silver and Bronze Age encounters with Kang the Conqurer.
This story requires a little more suspension of disbelief as the Futureman sets to go to each continent. We have to believe that the All Winners Squad will find him in time, but it's the Golden Age of comics and believing is what it's all about.
All Winners went out of business and relaunched in August 1948 without the squad but with stories from each of the big three: Namor, Captain America, and Human Torch, as well as a new comer the Blonde Phantom. The Namor story was a nice little detective episode and Namor's face was not so unnaturally triangular anymore. The Cap story was fine and a lot of fun. It was the type of lighter golden age fare that Batman and Superman enjoyed but I'd never seen from cap between fighting Nazis and the Horror comics. The Torch story was just a standard crime affair. In his introduction, Roy Thomas states that the Blonde Phantom was meant to compete with Wonder Woman and he compared her to a female Batman. To me she looks more like a combination of Quality's Phantom Lady and Will Eisner's Lady Luck. Either way, she wasn't headliner material.
Overall, this is a mixed book. The early story are unremarkable and show the dearth of quality available during the war. The All Winners Squad stories are firsts for the Marvel universe and well-worth the read. And Volume 2, Issue was a noble attempt to keep Superheroes alive that sadly didn't work out.
The Roy Thomas intro is exhaustive and educational, so overall, it's a collection worth reading.
The writing and art for the first four issues was far from great in Issues 15-18. The first three issues featured stories with the Sub-mariner, Captain America, and the Whizzer. The Human Torch who was the other member of Marvel's big 3 was left out due to printing restrictions during the war, but returned in Issue 18. The Sub-Mariner's face had become ridiculous with a shape that was a lot like a slice of Pizza. The stories with the most potential in these first few issues were actually the Whizzer which could have been a lot of fun if they weren't hastily wrapped up in 8 pages.
But, the reason to read this book was Issue 19 which featured Marvel's first superhero team: The All-Winners Squad with Captain America, Namor, the Human Torch, the Whizzer, and Miss America together in one adventure. In a way that illustrated that even in 1946, Marvel was quite different from DC, this first adventure begins with the Human Torch accusing Namor of false-dealing and Namor and the Torch's sidekick Toro storming out in a huff. Yeah, that's the Marvel way of having a superhero team.
Like many of the All Star Comics and Leading Comics stories, the All Winners Sqaud followed a pattern where individual heroes would have an adventure and then team back up at the end. The Sub-mariner/Toro adventure was probably the highlight of the issue as Namor was particularly anti-social and the two had contrasting powers. The overall adventure was fun, solid, but could just as easily been a Seven Soldiers of Victory story or All Star Squad.
There was no Issue 20 and Roy Thomas speculate on why in his always-enlightening introduction, but Issue 21 features another All-Winners Squad adventure. This time the Squad faces a scientist from the future who plans to depopulate 20th Century earth to make way for his own people. In some ways, this calls to be mind the Silver and Bronze Age encounters with Kang the Conqurer.
This story requires a little more suspension of disbelief as the Futureman sets to go to each continent. We have to believe that the All Winners Squad will find him in time, but it's the Golden Age of comics and believing is what it's all about.
All Winners went out of business and relaunched in August 1948 without the squad but with stories from each of the big three: Namor, Captain America, and Human Torch, as well as a new comer the Blonde Phantom. The Namor story was a nice little detective episode and Namor's face was not so unnaturally triangular anymore. The Cap story was fine and a lot of fun. It was the type of lighter golden age fare that Batman and Superman enjoyed but I'd never seen from cap between fighting Nazis and the Horror comics. The Torch story was just a standard crime affair. In his introduction, Roy Thomas states that the Blonde Phantom was meant to compete with Wonder Woman and he compared her to a female Batman. To me she looks more like a combination of Quality's Phantom Lady and Will Eisner's Lady Luck. Either way, she wasn't headliner material.
Overall, this is a mixed book. The early story are unremarkable and show the dearth of quality available during the war. The All Winners Squad stories are firsts for the Marvel universe and well-worth the read. And Volume 2, Issue was a noble attempt to keep Superheroes alive that sadly didn't work out.
The Roy Thomas intro is exhaustive and educational, so overall, it's a collection worth reading.
September 29, 2023
Superheroes weren't selling very well after World War II. With the wind taken out of their sales, these comics come off as also rans, plodding along with writing and artwork that was vastly inferior to the earlier issues in this series.
By the time that we reach #17 there is a massive uptick in quality. Gone are the rush jobs done by the second tier comic book journeymen of the day, in is the more refined artwork by the likes of Al Avison, George Klein, and others. The writing in that issue is also head and shoulders above the previous two collected in this volume. Issue 18 is even better than #17.
Unlike DC's Justice Society Of America over in All-Star Comics, the All Winners Squad didn't really work together as a team until #19. This issue aped the JSA formula so well that had they employed it earlier they might have saved the title. There was no #20, and #21 occurred because the title took over the numbering from another title.
This was a common practice back among magazine publishers then, as they had to pay to file a new magazine title with the Post Office. Ditching titles while keeping numbering was common through the 1960s. This makes the relaunched #1 in 1948 even more curious. Was it a last ditch effort to save the series? An oversight? We can only guess now, as nearly everyone who worked on these comics is dead and gone. Record keeping wasn't much of a consideration in the comic world back then.
#21 sees the All Winners Squad battle Future Man, a menace from the year One Million AD. He gives the team a run for their money. The relaunched #1 from 1948 was the best issue out of all four volumes in this line of books. We finally get to see the Blonde Phantom! I would love to read more of her exploits. Alas, Marvel has mothballed all plans for this Golden Age line of Masterworks, citing the unwelcome combination of soft sales and high restoration costs. I hope that they reverse that decision one day, as there is a lot of material that deserves to be restored and rereleased.
By the time that we reach #17 there is a massive uptick in quality. Gone are the rush jobs done by the second tier comic book journeymen of the day, in is the more refined artwork by the likes of Al Avison, George Klein, and others. The writing in that issue is also head and shoulders above the previous two collected in this volume. Issue 18 is even better than #17.
Unlike DC's Justice Society Of America over in All-Star Comics, the All Winners Squad didn't really work together as a team until #19. This issue aped the JSA formula so well that had they employed it earlier they might have saved the title. There was no #20, and #21 occurred because the title took over the numbering from another title.
This was a common practice back among magazine publishers then, as they had to pay to file a new magazine title with the Post Office. Ditching titles while keeping numbering was common through the 1960s. This makes the relaunched #1 in 1948 even more curious. Was it a last ditch effort to save the series? An oversight? We can only guess now, as nearly everyone who worked on these comics is dead and gone. Record keeping wasn't much of a consideration in the comic world back then.
#21 sees the All Winners Squad battle Future Man, a menace from the year One Million AD. He gives the team a run for their money. The relaunched #1 from 1948 was the best issue out of all four volumes in this line of books. We finally get to see the Blonde Phantom! I would love to read more of her exploits. Alas, Marvel has mothballed all plans for this Golden Age line of Masterworks, citing the unwelcome combination of soft sales and high restoration costs. I hope that they reverse that decision one day, as there is a lot of material that deserves to be restored and rereleased.
January 1, 2019
Honestly I expected more. The Sub-mariner gets knocked out in every single solo tale... every single one! The artwork is sub-par,as is the writing. A walk down memory lane is okay but I wouldn't want to live there.
April 28, 2025
If you can go through three damn volumes of this series here and be able to finish the last one too, then you're a hero.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews