Daring Mystery Comics Primer
Series Overview
Daring Mystery Comics was an anthology superhero/adventure comic book series published by Timely Comics in the 1940s. The series had a very complicated publication history. For the most part the characters were mostly forgettable, lasting only an issue or two before being abandoned. The first issue introduced the superhero Fiery Mask, World War I soldier John Steele, Monako the Magician, Flash Foster a college football player, Doyle Denton the so-called “Phantom of the Underworld”, and sea captain Barney Mullen. The only recurring characters in this premiere issue were Fiery Mask, who appeared in Human Torch Comics #2 before going on a hiatus from Daring Mystery Comics before appearing in issues 5 & 6. Monako fared slightly better, after a brief hiatus he appeared in issues #4 to 6.
The second issue tried to introduce more character, including Zephyr Jones a Flash Gordon clone, the Phantom Bullet, the jungle man known as Trojak, the fighter pilots known as the Sky Devils, and the masked vigilantes Mister E and Laughing Mask. Phantom Bullet and Mister E were abandoned immediately, while Zephyr was migrated to Mystic Comics where he appeared in one issue. Laughing Mask fared slightly better, appearing in two more issues, however the character’s alter ego was changed to Purple Mask. The Sky Devils lasted two more issues after a brief absence from issue #3. Trojak fared the best, his character appearing consistently up to issue #5. The third issue offered more one-off characters, Dale of the FBI, the vigilante Phantom Reporter, and Captain Strong of the Foreign Legion. The stand-outs in that issue were the futuristic sci-fi character Breeze Barton and Marvex the Super-Robot, two features that continued for an additional two issues.
The fourth issue had a mostly recurring stable of characters, but still attempted to introduce new characters, including the one-off Don Gorman — yet another generic FBI agent. Whirlwind Carter added another science fiction story to the title that did marginally better, lasting an additional issue before being dumped like the other dud characters. Whirlwind Carter is notable for being a creation of Flecher Hanks, whose terrible work has developed a cult following. In issue #5 Purple Mask was replaced with the Falcon, who despite being very similar (and created by the same creators if I am not mistaken) were two different characters. The 6th issue of this series tried to change things up again with another flood of new characters. There were the usual one-offs, including Marvel Boy, Dynaman, and Tigerman — who replaced Trojak despite being a very similar character. Another daredevil fighter pilot named Flying Flame was introduced. The Flying Flame was moved over to Tough Kids Comics, but that series only lasted a single issue and he too was abandoned. This issue also started placing humor stories into the mix as well, starting with Stooperman a truly awful parody of DC Comic’s popular Superman character.
By issue #7, the superhero boom of the 40s was in full swing and the title tried to reflect this with an all-new line up of mostly superhero stories. It introduced the Thunderer, Bill Everett’s Fin, the Blue Diamond, the female hero known as the Silver Scorpion, and the swashbuckling Challenger. It also introduced the charitable 1%er Mister Million and the science fiction series Captain Daring who fought a resurgance of Nazis in the distance future. Everyone except for Mister Million and the Challenger survived until to see the next issue. Mister Million was dropped, while the Challenger was moved over to Mystic Comics. However, despite introducing Citizen V, issue #8 was started pushing more comedy stories. The Thunderer moved on to All-Winners Comics #6, under the new name of the Black Avenger, before disappearing from publication as well.
The series was replaced with Comedy Comics, which began with issue #9. It was a common practice in the 40s that when one title replaced another, the succeeding title would take over the numbering of the outgoing series, this was the case here. Despite the change in format, Comedy Comics #9 finished up the remaining inventory of super-hero stories featuring the final Golden Age appearances of Captain Daring, the Fin, Citizen V, and the Silver Scorpion. Comedy Comics continued on but suffered the title-renaming rabbit hole. In a rare move, Timely did revive the original title, but dropping the word “Mystery” from the title. The series was revived with Daring Comics #9 in 1944. The series ran for another 4 issues and mostly featured a double-dose of Human Torch and Sub-Mariner stories with the occasional Destroy story added for good measure.
Character Legacies
At first, Marvel only revived the later heroes that appeared in Daring Mystery Comics. The first was a nod to the Fin in Avengers #97, who was one of the many heroes that Rick Jones recreated when he manifested the Destiny Force to end the Kree/Skrull War. He briefly appeared in Citizen V and the V-Battalion: Everlasting #1. His biggest modern age revival was appearing in New Invaders #2-3, and 6-9. After a cameo in the Twelve #1 and a minor role in issue #4-5 of All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes. The Blue Diamond was part of the 70s revival of wartime heroes that was spearheaded by Roy Thomas, appearing in issues of the Invaders, Marvel Premiere, and Marvel Two-In-One that featured the Liberty Legion. He has made brief appearances in Avengers/Invaders, All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes, The Twelve, Citizen V and the V-Battalion: Everlasting and others.
The Silver Scorpion was even more poorly utilized. She appeared briefly in Invaders (Vol. 2) for a few issues in the 90’s. Despite taking place during the War, her new costume was very much a product of the "extreme” look of the 90s. She also briefly appeared in Avengers/Invaders and the Citizen V and the V-Battalion: Everlasting. The Challenger lasted a while in the pages of Mystic Comics like the others he also made cameo appearances in Avengers/Invaders. He was pulled forward in time in She-Hulk #11, where he has been underused as much as he was in the 40s. Citizen V has the distinction of being choked out by the original Baron Zemo in Thunderbolts #-1 and having his identity usurped by Zemo’s surviving son when he formed the Thunderbolts.
Around the time of Marvel’s 70th anniversary, a lot of the long forgotten characters in Daring Mystery Comics were revived. Fiery Mask, the Phantom Reporter, Mister E, and Laughing Mask became main characters in the Twelve mini-series. Flash Foster, and Captain Strong appeared in All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes. Phantom Bullet, the Sky Devils, and John Steele appeared in the Marvels Project, the latter also went on to appear in Secret Avengers. Breeze Barton and Dynaman became cannon fodder in Marvel Zombies Destroy! While Marvex appeared in All-Select Comics 70th Anniversary Special where he took a nap for 70 years and flew into space (spoilers!) Lastly, Monako had made some appearances in Doctor Strange (Vol 4.)
The Thunderer appeared in a few odd comics with a cameo in Avengers/Invaders, he also was one of the few remaining elderly heroes seen in Ant-Man: Last Days #1. Interestingly, the Thunderer is one of the few obscure superheroes to appear in a television series, as his character was one of the Six American Warriors, a group of wartime heroes who appeared in the 90s Spider-Man cartoon. More recently, the character was given a wider connection to the Marvel Universe in general as seen in Marvel Comics #1000.
Most tragically, Barney Mullen has not been seen since and that, to me, is a huge waste of potential.
I have a treatment for “Barney Mullen, Dock Pugilist Unlimited” ready to go in case anyone at Marvel is interested. Each issue is 21 pages of Barney Mullen drinking whisky, brawling on the docks at exotic ports of call, and then bedding the most hard travel ed prostitutes he can find. It’s the dark and gritty sailor comic we need in these troubled times.
Index Scope
On top of the later comedy stories, early issues of Daring Mystery Comics also featured text stories that were painfully boring. None of them appear to be in continuity so we’re skipping all those. If you want to thrill to the typewritten adventure of lonely sailors you can do it on your own time.
