Mystery Men: The Golden Age

by David Liss, Patrick Zircher (Illustrator), Jason Armstrong (Artist)

Collects Mystery Men #1-5, Daring Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1.

Meet Marvel’s never-before-seen heroes of the 1930s! With a new evil washing over an unsuspecting New York City, the Operative, the Aviatrix, the Surgeon, the Revenant and Achilles blast through dangers from blood-soaked mob warehouses to monster-infested mansions, and fight to blow the lid off a conspiracy that could bring the nation itself to its knees! Award-winning historical-thriller novelist David Liss (BLACK PANTHER: THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR) weaves an edge-of-your-seat and in-continuity adventure intertwined with America’s most scandalous crimes! Plus: Liss takes on classic Golden Age hero the Phantom Reporter! By day, he’s a cub reporter — by night, he’s the relentless scourge of the underworld! But what is the Reporter’s uncanny origin?

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel

178 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 31, 2018

About the author

I am the author of thirteen novels, most recently The Peculiarities, a historical fantasy out in September 2021. I've also written numerous novellas and short stories. My previous books include A Conspiracy of Paper which was named a New York Times Notable Book and won the 2001 Barry, MacAvity and Edgar awards for Best First novel. The Coffee Trader was also named a New York Times Notable Book and was selected by the New York Public Library as one of the year’s 25 Books to Remember. Several of these books are currently being developed for television or film. I have also worked on numerous comics projects, including Black Panther and Mystery Men for Marvel, The Spider and Green Hornet for Dynamite, and Angelica Tomorrow.

Reviews

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very nice pulp inspired story with amazing art by Pat Zricher. Very recommended

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 David Liss provides Marvel with a hybrid of pulp adventure and superheroics: it's the early 1930s and a handful of masked vigilantes (the Operative, the Revenant, the Surgeon, Achilles and Aviatrix) pit themselves against a supernatural conspiracy. Unlike the heroes who'd be turning up just a few years later, most of them are just skilled people in masks — are they enough?
I can't quite say why this didn't click better with me, other than minor quibbles (why is a Robin Hood-type thief calling himself the Operative?) and word choices ("wacko" wasn't a word until the 1970s and "geek" in the 1930s did not mean "nerd"). This was still fun though.