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ow/white pgs; 1 of 1!
1st Dr. Mystic by Siegel/Shuster; 1st Superman prototype; very rare!! (May 1936)
Jon Berk Collection
Highest Graded
You can't really get much closer to the moment when comic books climbed out of the primordial ooze of newspaper strip art than this book. Basically serving as a textbook on how to compile an anthology comic book, the Comics Magazine #1 is a treat to behold. Every turn of the page offers an interesting window on the sensibilities of the American mind in 1936. Covering every genre, with color pages as well as black and white, this book is more a historical record than a simple comic book. The inclusion of Siegel and Shuster's Dr. Mystic is the real prize here, hinting at the monumental cultural impact of the medium that was awaiting just a few years down the road. This is definitely a piece of comics' rich history that any serious collector should have in their library.
"In his first stories by Siegel and Shuster, Dr. Occult was kept busy fighting the vampire master. At this point, however, the development of the character takes a short detour. Early in 1936 William Cook (National's managing editor and story contributor) and John Mahon (National's business manager) left National to form their own short-lived comic company. Their first title was The Comic Magazine, which contained slight variations of continuing characters that were appearing in National's titles. It has been hypothesized that these inventory stories served as payment for monies Cook and Mahon were owed by the financially strapped National. In the first issue of this title, Dr. Occult became, Dr. Mystic, the Occult Detective'. (Note that in More Fun #11 he was 'Dr. Occult, the Mystic Detective'.) In this story, our hero joins up with the Seven to battle the evil of Koth. This feature did not continue in the second issue of The Comic Magazine, however, the story continued without missing a beat in the fourteenth issue of More Fun (October 1936). As the story continues, Dr. Occult is given a uniform with a strikingly familiar-looking triangular chest emblem and red cape to fight Koth, and after donning the uniform and cape, off he flies..."



"The elements of costume design were obviously influenced by the character which Siegel and Shuster had tried for years to get off the ground and eventually sold to National for the debut issue of their new Action Comics anthology. This linkage is foundational, making this issue an important stepping stone to the eventual superhero craze."



-- Jon Berk



Overstreet Guide 2016 VF (8.0) value = $21,000. (Highest value in the Overstreet Guide for this item)



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Artists Information

Joseph Shuster was a Canadian-American comic book artist best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with writer Jerry Siegel, in Action Comics #1.

Walt Kelly is an American animator/ cartoonist who began his career working at Walt Disney studios contributing to animated films like Pinnochio, Fantasia and Dumbo. Walt later went on to work for Dell comics where he is most famous for creating the comic strip Pogo, which became his platform for social and philosophical commentary.