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Marvel Masterworks #89
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Daring Mystery, Vol. 1
A gathering of tales from the daring mystery series volume 1. Stories starring The Fiery Mask, Soldier of Fortune: John Steele, The Texas Kid: Robin Hood of the Range, Monako: Prince of Magic, Flash Foster at Midwestern, "Doc" Denton, Phantom of the Underworld; Barney Mullen: Sea Rover, Zephyr Jones and his Rocket Ship, The Phantom Bullet, Trojak the Tiger Man, K-4 and his Sky Devils, Mr. E, The Laughing Mask, Dale of the F.B.I., Breeze Barton, The Purple Mask, The Phantom Reporter, Marvex the Super Robot, Captain Strong of the Foreign Legion, Whirlwind Carter of the Interdisciplinary Secret Service, and G-Man Don Gorman.
262 pages, Hardcover
Published January 23, 2008
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About the author
Joe Simon
359 books25 followersJoseph Henry "Joe" Simon (born Hymie Simon) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the first editor of Timely Comics, the company that would evolve into Marvel Comics.
With his partner, artist Jack Kirby, he co-created Captain America, one of comics' most enduring superheroes, and the team worked extensively on such features at DC Comics as the 1940s Sandman and Sandy the Golden Boy, and co-created the Newsboy Legion, the Boy Commandos, and Manhunter. Simon & Kirby creations for other comics publishers include Boys' Ranch, Fighting American and the Fly. In the late 1940s, the duo created the field of romance comics, and were among the earliest pioneers of horror comics. Simon, who went on to work in advertising and commercial art, also founded the satirical magazine Sick in 1960, remaining with it for a decade. He briefly returned to DC Comics in the 1970s.
Simon was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1999.
With his partner, artist Jack Kirby, he co-created Captain America, one of comics' most enduring superheroes, and the team worked extensively on such features at DC Comics as the 1940s Sandman and Sandy the Golden Boy, and co-created the Newsboy Legion, the Boy Commandos, and Manhunter. Simon & Kirby creations for other comics publishers include Boys' Ranch, Fighting American and the Fly. In the late 1940s, the duo created the field of romance comics, and were among the earliest pioneers of horror comics. Simon, who went on to work in advertising and commercial art, also founded the satirical magazine Sick in 1960, remaining with it for a decade. He briefly returned to DC Comics in the 1970s.
Simon was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1999.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 6, 2021
This may be from the Golden Age of Comics, but these stories are anything but golden. They're third (or fourth) rate heroes, frequently with extremely poor artwork. None of them are in any way memorable, and most of the characters didn't make even a second appearance. That's one thing to be glad of, anyway. For completists only.
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January 12, 2025For aficionados only - reprints issues of Daring Mystery 1-6 (Atlas -> Marvel) originally printed in 194
October 1, 2014
This is more of a mixed bag than the third Marvel title, Mystic Comics. This one starts off well with the origin of the Fiery Mask going on for twelve pages--a rarity in Golden Age Comics, but he isn't seen again in this volume, though he does come back during the Golden Age. Then we get Monako, who has all the powers of Dr. Strange (such that Stan Lee was probably influence by him), but starts totally in medias res, totally familiar with his opponent (an Asian stereotype) and opponent's henchman. Then there's Marvex, the Super Robot, who looks like Kirk-era William Shatner in his first appearance (Shatner was turning nine around the time this came out and would not have been known to anyone outside his local circle). An eerie image that seems to have influenced Dr. Strange again in the form of Asti the All-Seeing is just that--Dennis Burton, the Laughing Mask, throws down an extra mask to scare his foe. He's The Punisher of his day, only worse, not only does he gun down an opponent who pleads for mercy, he's also an assistant district attorney who gets off on being judge, jury, and executioner. As much as I like Maurice Gutwirth's image, I found the character morally reprehensible as a hero and not treated very critically by writer Will Harr. I suspect Martin Goodman didn't like The Laughing Mask either, because in issues 3 and 4, Dennis Burton is the Purple Mask (in #3, the word "purple" looks like a substitution in one of the dialogue balloons), and he rounds up villains for the police.
The other standouts include Mr. E and the Phantom Reporter, although the former seems a bit too formulaic, even for the time, with a villain already familiar to the hero, the art by Al Carreno is excellent. Because the 3X's were a one-off in Mystic, I forgot to mention them in my review, but Robert O. Erisman is an above average writer of the time, and The Phantom Reporter has an innovation--a character with not one, but two secret identities. He is both a wealthy playboy van Engen and cub reporter Dick Jones. I can't think of too many characters who try to maintain three secret identities--I can think of only one case in which a third identity is more than a one-off ruse. Daredevil tried it with Mike Murdock, but he ultimately had to make it appear that Mike had been killed because the extra identity was too much to handle.
This volume is more willing to call enemies Nazis than Mystic was, perhaps because a different studio was involved in much of the work, although the heavy borders common to Mystic are sometimes present. Trojak the Tiger Man fights Nazis, apparently a couple of years before Tarzan's first encounter with them (although, not being a follower of Tarzan, I'm going based on a Google search that brings up Tarzan Trimphs, a 1943 film, whereas this material is from 1940).
I loved the artwork in "Captain Strong of The Foreign Legion," the character's only appearance until after this collection was released, and wonder if the artist has any connection to the "Harry/Douglas" of Blue Blaze, an unexpected favorite of mine from Mystic.
By far, the worst portion is "Whirlwind Carter of The Interplanetary Secret Service," which reminds me of some of the most amateurish and unknown of 1980s black and white comics. The artwork is truly appalling even by the standards of the comics industry in 1940, and I think I might actually be able to do a better job, although I have never thought too much of my drawing skills. It also sucks in terms of continuity (a term I'm sure would have been foreign to Goodman at the time in a cross-story context), since it portrays Martians completely differently than they were portrayed in the The Human Torch story.
It's also good to see the first part of the Zephyr Jones story, which includes a detour to a small fragment separated from Earth where dwell two races of bird people (one, of course, is evil) from Mystic Comics. It takes only two stories for Jones to complete his stated goal of reaching Mars, and the first adventure doesn't even mark a step forward in getting there.
I will probably add more to this review when I have the book in front of me before I return it to the library, but overall, I found the book of less interest than Mystic or Marvel, and what interest there is being predominantly historic, albeit both in the sense of the fictitious Marvel tapestry and the real-life publication history of the company.
The other standouts include Mr. E and the Phantom Reporter, although the former seems a bit too formulaic, even for the time, with a villain already familiar to the hero, the art by Al Carreno is excellent. Because the 3X's were a one-off in Mystic, I forgot to mention them in my review, but Robert O. Erisman is an above average writer of the time, and The Phantom Reporter has an innovation--a character with not one, but two secret identities. He is both a wealthy playboy van Engen and cub reporter Dick Jones. I can't think of too many characters who try to maintain three secret identities--I can think of only one case in which a third identity is more than a one-off ruse. Daredevil tried it with Mike Murdock, but he ultimately had to make it appear that Mike had been killed because the extra identity was too much to handle.
This volume is more willing to call enemies Nazis than Mystic was, perhaps because a different studio was involved in much of the work, although the heavy borders common to Mystic are sometimes present. Trojak the Tiger Man fights Nazis, apparently a couple of years before Tarzan's first encounter with them (although, not being a follower of Tarzan, I'm going based on a Google search that brings up Tarzan Trimphs, a 1943 film, whereas this material is from 1940).
I loved the artwork in "Captain Strong of The Foreign Legion," the character's only appearance until after this collection was released, and wonder if the artist has any connection to the "Harry/Douglas" of Blue Blaze, an unexpected favorite of mine from Mystic.
By far, the worst portion is "Whirlwind Carter of The Interplanetary Secret Service," which reminds me of some of the most amateurish and unknown of 1980s black and white comics. The artwork is truly appalling even by the standards of the comics industry in 1940, and I think I might actually be able to do a better job, although I have never thought too much of my drawing skills. It also sucks in terms of continuity (a term I'm sure would have been foreign to Goodman at the time in a cross-story context), since it portrays Martians completely differently than they were portrayed in the The Human Torch story.
It's also good to see the first part of the Zephyr Jones story, which includes a detour to a small fragment separated from Earth where dwell two races of bird people (one, of course, is evil) from Mystic Comics. It takes only two stories for Jones to complete his stated goal of reaching Mars, and the first adventure doesn't even mark a step forward in getting there.
I will probably add more to this review when I have the book in front of me before I return it to the library, but overall, I found the book of less interest than Mystic or Marvel, and what interest there is being predominantly historic, albeit both in the sense of the fictitious Marvel tapestry and the real-life publication history of the company.
July 28, 2011
J. Michael Straczynski's miniseries The Twelve is a new interpretation of the comic book archetype (made famous by Captain America) of 1940's heroes thrust forward in time via suspended animation. Two of the obscure Timely (Marvel's precursor company) mystery men -- the Fiery Mask and the Phantom Reporter -- are seen here in their initial adventures from 1940. I enjoyed reading these and other stories in this collection, but it's more for aficionados of the golden age of comic books than for modern readers.
June 8, 2015
The stories in Daring Mystery Comics are repetitive, it's the same kind of stories happening and no special hero is remembered. This doesn't keep the stories from being entertaining especially to see how ideas were used back in the day and how were society's expectations of heroes. I still prefer the Marvel Mystery Comics which have strong and memorable characters.
March 11, 2016
Excellent reprint of these forgotten heroes from the Golden Age of comics. Great reads if you are a comic fan interested in the beginnings of the comic era. Recommended
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews