| Issue | #5 |
| Published | March 1941 |
| Frequency | monthly |
| Cover Price | 0.10 USD |
| Pages | 68 |
| Editing | Martin Goodman |
| Notes | MYSTIC COMICS published monthly by Timely Publications at Meriden, Conn. Entered as second class matter at Post Office at Meriden, Conn, under the Act of March 3, 1879. Yearly subscription in U. S. $1.00. Vol. 1, No. 5, March, 1941. Entire contents copyright 1940 by Timely Publications, 330 W. 42nd St., N. Y., N. Y. Printed in U. S. A. As this issue has the same cover date as Captain America Comics #1, Joe Simon would not yet be the editor. He has stated that he became editor of the Timely line as a result of the success of Captain America. |
| Characters | Black Marvel [Dan Lyons] |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | Alex Schomburg |
| Inks | Alex Schomburg |
| Characters | Captain America [Steve Rogers]; Bucky Barnes; Red Skull |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | Jack Kirby |
| Inks | Joe Simon; Al Liederman; Jack Kirby |
| Notes | Inside front cover. Captain America is given top billing, but the name "Captain America Comics" does not appear. The date for the new comic book is given as December 20th. |
| Characters | Black Marvel [Dan Lyons] (introduction; origin); Chief Man-To (introduction; death); Running Elk; Dan Lyons; Al; Steve; Mickey; Vannie; Jund |
| Synopsis | The Black Marvel stops a group of criminals who have sabotaged the power plant to provide cover to steal weapons to set themselves up as the local criminal power. In the middle of this story, we see the Black Marvel's origin as a white man who successfully completes the physical trials to take over the position of the dying chief of the Blackfeet tribe after all of the tribe's braves had failed. |
| Genre | Superhero |
| Pencils | Al Gabriele |
| Inks | Al Gabriele |
| Notes | Note that some sources claim that Stan Lee co-created the Black Marvel, but Lee's first writing credit for a text filler, has been established as being in Captain America Comics #3, with his first comic scripting credit a few issues after that. |
| Reprinted | in Marvel Super-Heroes (Marvel, 1967 series) #15 (July 1968) |
| Characters | Super-Slave (introduction); Cappy (introduction); Jane (introduction) |
| Synopsis | Cappy (an elderly fisherman) and his daughter Jane are shipwrecked on an island. Cappy scratches an old bracelet he finds on the beach, releasing the Super-Slave who must now do his bidding. Cappy has him rescue Jane, and later needs Super-Slave's services again after they stumble onto a criminal organization. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | Paul Gustavson (signed) |
| Inks | Paul Gustavson (signed) |
| Notes | There is a teaser for another Super-Slave story next issue, but it never appeared. |
| Characters | Bob Roland (introduction); Carol (introduction); Sub-Earth Man (villain; introduction; origin); Flame Men (villains) |
| Synopsis | Geologist Bob Roland and his fiancée Carol encounter the giant Sub-Earth Man and his Flame Men beneath a volcano. The Sub-Earth Man ruled the Earth before its crust cooled, and he seeks to cause such massive eruptions that the Earth's surface will be suitable for his rule again. Bob offers to tell him where a city is for him to attack, but tricks him into causing an eruption under the ocean. Bob and Carol escape, but the Sub-Earth Man is still a threat. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | Harold De Lay |
| Inks | Harold De Lay |
| Notes | Art credits from Jerry Bails' Who's Who (Henry Andrews 9/24/08). There is a teaser for another Sub-Earth Man story in the next issue, but it never appeared. |
| Characters | The Terror (introduction; origin); Dr. John Storm (introduction; death) |
| Synopsis | After witnessing an amazing transformation in his dog, brought on by chemicals, Dr. Storm extracts a serum to grant those powers of fearlessness and a skull-like appearance to a human being. When a man loses control of his car and winds up amnesiac on the doctor's doorstep, Dr. Storm subjects hi to the serum. When gangsters arrive to force Dr. Storm to help them, the stranger wakes up and assumes the ghastly visage of the Terror, killing the thugs. Dr. Storm dies from his wounds, but the Terror vows to continue his fight against crime. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Phil Sturm (signed) |
| Pencils | Syd Shores (signed); George Klein (backgrounds ?) |
| Inks | George Klein ? (see notes) |
| Notes | Klein attribution on inks and/or backgrounds by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo, who notes these details as characteristic of Klein at this time: Page 2, panel 1. Wafting clouds against the moon. Page 3, panel 3. The black ink streaks at the top left. Page 6, panel 4. Same wafting clouds against the moon. Page 7, panel 3. Ditto. |
| Characters | Black Marvel [Blackfeet Indian] (introduction); Malcolm Lyons (introduction) |
| Synopsis | An Indian brave of the Blackfeet tribe with black paint on his face drives off a Comanche raiding party, saving a wagon train including Malcolm Lyons and his family. Malcolm dubs him a Black Marvel. |
| Genre | western |
| Script | Ray Gill (signed) |
| Pencils | Peter Alvarado [as PA] (signed) |
| Inks | Peter Alvarado [as PA] (signed) |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Text with illustrations. Statement of ownership appears at the bottom of the 2nd page. |
| Characters | Black Widow [Claire Voyant]; Satan |
| Synopsis | Satan asks the Black Widow to collect the soul of train robber Garvey Lang. She stirs up discontent within his gang, causing the deaths of several of them. Finally, the Black Widow delivers her kiss of death to Lang at a costume ball he threw to celebrate his ill-gotten gains. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | George Kapitan (signed) |
| Pencils | Harry Sahle (signed) |
| Inks | Harry Sahle (signed) |
| Characters | Moon-Man |
| Synopsis | The Moon-Man goes after a racketeer who bought tainted meat for an orphanage so he could pocket most of the money. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Pencils | Fred Guardineer |
| Inks | Fred Guardineer |
| Characters | Blazing Skull [Mark Todd] (introduction); The Leader (clearly intended to be Adolf Hitler) |
| Synopsis | Mark Todd is on a passenger liner in the Atlantic Ocean when it is attacked by a sub firing torpedoes. To the astonishment of his fellow passengers, he leaps into the water and deflects the torpedo, changing into the Blazing Skull once he is out of the ship's sight. Returning to the ship he finds a cable summoning him to Berlin. His contact in Berlin has located the enemy's secret weapon, which the Blazing Skull must destroy. He succeeds, but is captured. As the enemy's leader taunts him, Todd swears that the leader will be crushed by the ghosts of the millions of innocents he has killed. The leader orders him executed, but the Blazing Skull escapes. |
| Genre | superhero |
| Script | Bob Davis [as Mister X] (signed) |
| Pencils | Bob Davis [as Mister X] (signed) |
| Inks | Bob Davis [as Mister X] (signed) |
| Notes | Credits from Who's Who (which lists Davis as writer as well as artist) and comparison with signed work by Davis elsewhere. |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Inside back cover. |
| Letters | typeset |
| Notes | Back cover. |