Data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under Creative Commons license.

Issue Details

Issue #1
Published Fall 1940
Cover Price 0.10 USD
Pages 68
Editing Victor Fox

Cover Details

Characters Blue Beetle; Samson, the Flame; David (inset)
Notes The AC comic had the cover re-created by Mark Heike and colored by Stephamie Heike.
Reprinted in Golden-Age Greats Spotlight (AC, 2003 series) #4 (2009)

15 page Blue Beetle story "Borgo, the Mirror Murderer"

Characters Blue Beetle [Dan Garret]; Joan Mason; Mike Mannigan; Ralph James (death); Frank James (death); Allan James (death); Fred James; Dell James; Dr. Frantz; Borgo (villain, introduction)
Synopsis The Blue Beetle and Joan go after a vicious criminal mastermind, who seeks to murder the James brothers, a group of scientists who once fired him for stealing radium.
Genre Superhero
Pencils Sam Cooper [as Charles Nicholas] (signed)
Inks Sam Cooper [as Charles Nicholas] (signed)
Notes Art identification by Bill Black, confirmed by Gary Watson in June, 2009.
Reprinted in Golden-Age Greats Spotlight (AC, 2003 series) #4 (2009)

13 page Samson and David story "The Inner Crime Ring"

Characters Samson; David; Professor Brun; Dr. Blood (villain, introduction, death)
Synopsis Samson has to battle the vicious Dr. Blood and his "Inner Crime Ring, which, because it needs capital, goes on a robbery spree, killing anyone who gets in their way.
Pencils Al Carreno [as Alex Boon] (signed)
Inks Al Carreno [as Alex Boon] (signed)
Notes Art identification by Bill Black, confirmed by Gary Watson in June, 2009.
Reprinted in Golden-Age Greats Spotlight (AC, 2003 series) #4 (2009)

9 page The Flame story "The Jewel Smuggling Murders"

Characters The Flame [Gary Preston]; The Water-Front Gang [Spike, rest un-named](villains, introduction, death for all)
Synopsis The Flame battles a ruthless gang of jewel smugglers, saving a girl several times in the process, whose intent was to squeal to the District Attorney about the gang's activities.
Pencils ? [as Basil Berold] (signed)
Inks ? [as Basil Berold] (signed)
Notes The artist working under the "Basil Berold" byline is mimicking Lou Fine's style. Art information from Bill Black, confirmed by Gary Watson in June, 2009.
Reprinted in Golden-Age Greats Spotlight (AC, 2003 series) #4 (2009)

9 page The Flame story "The Shylock Menace"

Characters The Flame [Gary Preston]; Spike and other gangsters (villains, introduction, deaths of all)
Synopsis The Flame battles a murdering gang of money lenders, who are trying to bleed dry people who borrowed money from them.
Pencils ? [as Basil Berold] (signed)
Inks ? [as Basil Berold] (signed)
Notes The artist working under the "Basil Berold" byline is mimicking Lou Fine's style. Art information from Bill Black, confirmed by Gary Watson in June, 2009.
Reprinted in Golden-Age Greats Spotlight (AC, 2003 series) #4 (2009)

2 page text story "The Flying Dutchman Goes Modern"

Characters Captain Hetherington; Hardy; Captain Van Der Decken; Korvettenskapitan von Martz (villain); Oberleutnant von Seidorff (villain); Rothmann (villain)
Synopsis German U-Boat U-134 found a likely target and rose to the surface to attack. But none of the shells had any impact on the ship, which they discovered, to their horror, to be The Flying Dutchman!
Script Nathaniel Nitkin [as N. N. Nathaniel] (signed)
Pencils ? (two illustrations)
Inks ? (two illustrations)
Letters typeset
Reprinted in Golden-Age Greats Spotlight (AC, 2003 series) #4 (2009)

1 page promo (ad from the publisher) "What a Team!"

Characters Samson; the Flame; Blue Beetle; The Dart; Green Mask; Rex Dexter; Ace
Synopsis Illustrated house promotional ad for the 9 leading comics the company produced, including un-numbered covers to issues of Rex Dexter, The Green Mask, The Flame, Samson, Fantastic, Mystery Men, Weird, the Blue Beetle and Wonderworld Comics.
Genre superhero
Pencils {various}
Inks {various}
Letters typeset
Notes Sequence added by Craig Delich 2010-1-10.
Reprinted in Golden-Age Greats Spotlight (AC, 2003 series) #4 (2009)

6 page Cosmic Carson story "The Ultimatum of Lobar"

Characters Cosmic Carson; Lobar (villain, introduction, death); Gargantuans (villains, introduction, death)
Synopsis In denying Lobar a base for his battle rockets on Earth, Carson must fend off an invasion force from the villain, who hopes to wipe out the earthlings and become ruler of the universe. All of Carson's rockets are destroyed except his, and he and his men are then strapped to tables by Lobar, and his scientists are set to inject them with a serum which creates a chemical gas that bloats the human body to three times its normal size before it explodes!
Pencils ? [as Michael Griffith] (signed)
Inks ? [as Michael Griffith] (signed)
Notes Michael Griffith was a pen-name for Jack Kirby, but the art here doesn't appear to be by him.
Reprinted in Golden-Age Greats Spotlight (AC, 2003 series) #4 (2009)

8 page Dr. Doom story "The Submarine City"

Characters Gordon; Wanda; Jan; Jim; Dr. Doom (villain); Venusians [Jarg, rest un-named](villains, introduction)
Synopsis Jan and Wanda enter a weird underwater city, inhabited by Venusians, who plan to conquer the Earth as soon as Dr. Doom changes the Earth's atmosphere to that of Venus.
Pencils Dick Briefer [as Richard Crater] (signed)
Inks Dick Briefer [as Richard Crater] (signed)
Notes Page count corrected from 7 to 8 by an error report from Len Wolinsky, who notes that the pages in the comic are numbered 1, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 (note the two page 3's). Art identification by Bill Black, confirmed by Gary Watson in June, 2009.
Reprinted in Golden-Age Greats Spotlight (AC, 2003 series) #4 (2009)

1 page Blue Beetle promo (ad from the publisher) "The Blue Beetle Coast to Coast"

Characters Blue Beetle
Synopsis Promotional ad for the Blue Beetle radio show.
Genre Superhero; ad
Letters typeset
Notes Sequence added by Craig Delich 2010-1-10.
Reprinted in Golden-Age Greats Spotlight (AC, 2003 series) #4 (2009)