| Comments |
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| The GREAT cover is paper and an excellent scan as is the rest of the paper pages.
The fiche pages are very readable and thus better than many fiche scans.
The Everett, Tarpe Mills, Carl Burgos, Frank Thomas, etc. strips are all-paper and excellently scanned.
In fact only the center 8 pages and inside covers are fiche scans.
This is an great comic book and I'm very happy to get the scanned copy!
This is NOT a 1 out of 10 star book!!! For CONTENT I would rate it 10 out of 10. For scans, I would rate the paper scans 10 out of 10 and the fiche scans as 4 or 5 out of 10. |
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| Why so low a rating? I found this comic a great read and the art work wonderful, for a early comic book. |
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| Additional Information |
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| Publication | September 1939 | Price: 0.10 USD | Pages: 1 | Frequency: monthly |
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| Featuring | Aman the Amazing-Man |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: Amazing Man [John Aman] |
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| Publisher advertisement | It's Hard to Beat (1 page) |
| Featuring | Amazing Mystery Funnies |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: The Fantom of the Fair; Speed Centaur |
| Notes | Inside front cover.
According to Terry Gustafson, son of Paul Gustavson, script related to the Fantom is by his father. |
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| Comic Story | Origin of Amazing-Man (10 pages) |
| Synopsis | After being raised for 25 years by the Council of Seven in Tibet, Aman is tested and sent out into the world. Of the council members, Nika exhorts him to do good and gifts him with invisibility, while the Great Question plots to bend Aman to his will. In America, Aman learns of a series of train wrecks and confronts the man behind the disasters. |
| Featuring | The Amazing-Man |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: Amazing-Man [John Aman] (introduction, origin); The Council of Seven [The Great Question (villain); Nika (scientist); Lady Zina (a knife thrower); four unnamed others] (introduction for all); unnamed cowhand; Mr. Uhlin [as Mr. Crater] (villain, railroad company President, death) |
| Notes | According to a letter written by Grace Everett (Bill Everett's mother) she did most of the research in creating Aman the Amazing-Man.
The character influenced the creation of Peter Cannon, Thunderbolt in Thunderbolt (Charlton, 1966 Series) #1 as well a Iron Fist in Marvel Premiere (Marvel, 1972 series) #15. Once he was in public domain he was used in The Protectors (Malibu, 1992 series) #1 (with other Centaur characters ), in Immortal Iron Fist (Marvel, 2007 series) #12 and in Project Superpowers (Dynamite Entertainment, 2008 series) #0. One of many aliases that the Amazing Man is known to have to his enemies is "The Green Mist". |
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| Synopsis | Barton Stone finishes his 20-year jail sentence and seeks revenge on his former partners who let his wife die in poverty while he took the rap for all of their crimes. A year later, each partner is visited by a strange old lady with a cat who scratches them. |
| Featuring | The Cat Man |
| Content | Genre: Detective-mystery | Characters: Cat Man [Barton Stone] (introduction); Steve Harrigan (dies); Roger Watson Hammond (dies); Lionel Black (dies) |
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| Comic Story | River Subs (3 pages) |
| Synopsis | Rhodes is sent to investigate suspicious submarine sightings. |
| Featuring | Jack Rhodes |
| Content | Genre: Adventure | Characters: Jack Rhodes (introduction, only appearance?); Peterson |
| Notes | Previously a note here linked Jack Rhodes with Minimidget, but there is no evidence of any such link in this issue- Minimidget also debuts in a later story. All other references easily found on the internet mention this link only to dismiss it. Some mention that Minimidget may be called Jack Rhodes later in his run, but a spot check of several issues of this series and Stars and Stripes Comics reveal no such name. |
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| Synopsis | The Iron Skull thwarts a scientist's plans to use robots to carry out crime, and mechanized spiders to terrorize the town and extort cash from the local government. |
| Featuring | The Iron Skull |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: The Iron Skull (introduction); Terry Terrin; Guy McMann; Judy; Blackie Norton (dies); Mayor Haskins; Ryan |
| Notes | No origin or explanation is given for the Iron Skull in this story. He is mentioned as having "steel fists" but it is not stated that he is a robot or android, despite the presence of robots elsewhere in the story. |
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| Featuring | Stranger Than Fiction |
| Editing | ? (syndicated) |
| Content | Genre: Non-fiction |
| Notes | Syndication credits: "Copyright Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Distributed by Watkins Syndicate, Inc." |
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| Text Story | The Tragic Note (2 pages) |
| Synopsis | In order to explain why he refuses to perform a certain piece of music, Aman tells of his musical testing during his time in Tibet. |
| Featuring | Aman the Amazing-Man |
| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: Amazing-Man [John Aman] |
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| Comic Story | The Congo War Drum (Part 1) (6 pages) |
| Synopsis | "Sandy" Thorne of the Congo patrol and his servant Labu go in search of the source of the Congo war drums, knowing they mean trouble. |
| Content | Genre: Jungle | Characters: "Sandy" Thorne; Labu (Thorne's servant); The Kilanga |
| Notes | Credit is given in type (not lettering) under the splash panel.
Jerry Bails' Who's Who shows that Gustavson generally did not write the stories he illustrated for Centaur proper, although he did often write for the predecessor issues published by Chesler. However, Terry Gustafson, son of Paul Gustavson, verified that his father, Paul Gustavson, wrote, drew and lettered this story. |
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| Synopsis | The mad scientist Barmell, who had already shrunk two people so small that they can fit in his hand, seeks to use Minimidget to kill his brother in order to inherit his fortune. Thwarted by his brother's will, he sends Minimidget out again and again to kill everyone who inherited his brother's fortune in his stead. |
| Featuring | Minimidget |
| Content | Genre: Horror-suspense | Characters: Minimidget (introduction); Ritty (introduction); Barmell (villain, introduction, death); Mr. James (dies); Jim; Bob; Dale |
| Notes | Neither Minimidget nor Ritty has a single line during this story, which is told primarily from the point of view of Barmell. Minimidget acts only as Barmell's assassin rather than as a hero, and Ritty makes only background appearances.
Clearly inspired by the 1936 film The Devil-Doll. |
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| Comic Story | The Land Beneath the Sea (7 pages) |
| Synopsis | Divers Chuck and Jerry are swept through a crack in the sea floor to an underground land populated by strange creatures. |
| Featuring | "Chuck" Hardy |
| Content | Genre: Adventure; Science Fiction | Characters: Chuck Hardy (introduction); Jerry Peterson (Chuck's girlfriend, introduction); Professor Kingsley (introduction); Mogba |
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| Comic Story | Mystery of the Kidnapped Heir (8 pages) |
| Synopsis | Ranger Slim Bradley has to rescue a captured millionaire's son while a forest fire rages. |
| Featuring | "Slim" Bradley Forest Ranger |
| Content | Genre: Adventure | Characters: Slim Bradley (forest ranger, introduction); Buck (Slim's horse); Jackie Stillman; Danny; Dave; A.K. Stillman; Mrs. Stillman |
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| Comic Story | Origin of Mighty Man (7 pages) |
| Synopsis | Sunny brings the Professor to the giant valley he found with the Professor's map. They are pursued by bandits, but the giant man they find in the valley rescues them and agrees to come with them into the outside world. |
| Featuring | Mighty Man |
| Content | Genre: Superhero | Characters: Mighty Man (introduction, origin); Sunny (introduction); The Professor (introduction); Buck Long; Tex; Dash |
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| Featuring | Johnson Smith & Co. |
| Credits | Letters: typeset |
| Notes | Inside back cover. |
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| Publisher advertisement | Flash! (1 page) |
| Featuring | Keen Detective Funnies #v2#9 |
| Content | Characters: The Masked Marvel |
| Notes | Back cover. |
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| The data in the additional content section is courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a
Creative Commons Attribution License.
More details about this comic may be available in their page here |
