All-Select Comics Primer
Series Overview
All-Select Comics was another anthology series published by Timely Comics published in the 1940s. It was used to showcase their most popular characters from other titles much in the same was as All-Winners Comics had. The series regularly featured stories starring Captain America and the Human Torch all the way up to issue #10 with the remainder of the book being filled with regular rotating characters. The Black Widow only appeared in the first issue, while the Sub-Mariner appeared regularly until issue #5. The Whizzer started appearing in issue #2 until issue #7. While the Destroyer appeared in issues #6 and 10. The incredibly racist Jap Buster Johnson appeared in issues #2, 8 and 9. In addition, one page “Let’s Play Detective” features were peppered throughout the series. Issue #11 changed the format of the series with the introduction of the Blonde Phantom who dominated the issue. It also featured a Miss America backup feature. After this, All-Select Comics was replaced with Blonde Phantom Comics which adopted its numbering from All-Select.
Retcons
Captain America - Avengers #4 and What If? #4 revealed that Steve Rogers and James Barnes went MIA in 1945 and were replaced by successors. As such, the appearances of Captain America and Bucky in this series are affected. The appearances of Captain America and Bucky from issues #1 to 9. The appearance of the characters in issue #10 are attributed to William Nasland and Fred Davis.
Jap Buster Johnson - All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes limited series throws the naval career of Jap Buster Johnson into question. That series depicts him as an army grunt who was incredibly racist toward the Japanese. That same series suggests that the Timely era comics were merely military commissioned propaganda stories about enlisted superhumans to boost support of the war. These comics were fictional accounts based on real life events.
Index Scope
Like other Timely era books, I am omitting the text stories and funny pages. Not wasting my time with non-canon junk.
