Mystic Comics - Marvel Golden Age 1940

M Y S T I C C O M I C S

Timely / Marvel Golden Age 1940

Complete series

Mystic came from publisher Martin Goodman\'s Timely Comics, which by the early 1960s would evolve into Marvel. Initially edited by future Marvel chief Stan Lee very early in his career, and by Vincent Fago after Lee left for military duty in early 1942, it ran 10 issues (March 1940 - Aug. 1942).

A superhero anthology with no regular starring feature, Mystic Comics introduced at least two notable characters: the Blazing Skull (issue # 5, March 1941), who made appearances both in the Golden Age and in the 2000s; and the Destroyer (issue # 6, Oct. 1941), noted by comics historian and former Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas as \"Stan\'s most popular superhero creation before the Fantastic Four\"[1]. The Destroyer was cover-featured for the last half of the run.

Additional superheroes introduced in this initial series include the Thin Man, by artist Klaus Nordling and an unknown writer (issue #4, Aug. 1940); the Blue Blaze, by writer-artist Harry Douglas (#1-4); the robot hero Flexo the Rubber Man (#1-4); the Black Marvel (# 5-9), another early Stan Lee creation, with artist Al Gabriele; and the Terror (# 5-10) by writer Phil Sturm and penciler Syd Shores.

Also notable was the non-superhero trio of detectives, the 3Xs (issue # 1), who comprised Timely\'s first team feature.