Marvel Comics: Allied Victory (1944-1945), Part 1: Overview

There were no new characters introduced in 1944-1945, but the titles kept appearing.

Reading List

  • All Select Comics #3 – #9
  • All Winners Comics #12 – #17
  • Amazing Comics #1
    • Complete Comics #2
  • Captain America Comics #34 – #51
  • Daring Comics #9 – #12
  • Human Torch #15 – #21
  • Kid Komics #4 – #9
  • Marvel Mystery Comics #51 – #67
  • Miss America Comics #1
    • Miss America Magazine #2 – #5
  • Miss Fury #4 – #8
  • Mystic Comics #1 – #4
  • Sub-Mariner Comics #13 – #18
  • USA Comics #11 – #17
  • Young Allies Comics #11 – #18

General Trends

  • Timely greatly expanded their line of comedy and teen comics. This expansion didn’t come at the expense of any of the superhero titles; in fact, comedy features disappeared from the superhero books now that they had their own landing place. By the end of 1945, only a few non-superhero/costumed detective features appeared in the books I read: Tommy Tyme’s time-travelling adventures and the Mike Trapp “Let’s Play Detective” filler sections.
  • New superhero titles were few: Amazing Comics (renamed Complete Comics for its second and final issue), relaunches of Daring Comics (using the old Daring Mystery Comics numbering) and Mystic Comics (starting over from #1), and Miss America. The four titles would have ten issues (as comic books) between them. By the end of 1945, Miss Fury and USA Comics had also published their final issues.
  • Continuing the trend of 1943, there were only thirteen starring characters/groups1: the Angel, Captain America, Destroyer, Jeff Dix, Human Torch, Jap Buster Johnson, Miss America, Patriot, Sub-Mariner, Tommy Tyme, Terry Vance, Whizzer, and the Young Allies. All had appeared in 1943; there was no attempt at launching new characters. Dix and Vance would make their final appearances in 1944, and Johnson in 1945.
  • Page count was reduced again, going from 56 pages at the start of 1944 to 48 pages between April and September. A further cutback to 32 pages happened at the end of 1944; the monthly titles (Captain America Comics and Marvel Mystery Comics) were spared this, going to two-out-of-three months instead. Each reduction was accompanied by story cuts. By the end of 1945, the comics began returning to 48 pages, but this wouldn’t fully take hold until 1946. Ads largely disappeared with the shrinking page count, with only Miss America Magazine receiving ad space outside of inside/back covers.
  • The end of World War II was in sight from the beginning of 1944. More and more Axis plots became last desperate hopes to win the war, or preparing to lay in wait for a second attempt at world conquest. As Germany’s defeat became inevitable, the Destroyer moved to Japan to continue his work. 1945 saw a gradual end to the war plots.

Title by Title

  • All Select Comics started 1944 off with the switch to 48 pages, dropping the Jeep Jones comedy feature and replacing Jap Buster Johnson with the Whizzer, while continuing on with Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner. When the comic dropped to 32 pages with #6, Sub-Mariner dropped out, and the Destroyer replaced the Whizzer for one issue, then the Whizzer came back for one issue, and Jap Buster Johnson came back for the next two.
  • All Winners Comics would initially drop the Whizzer from its lineup, leaving Captain America, Destroyer, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner as the four features remaining with the shift to 48 pages. Whizzer took the Destroyer’s spot starting with the next issue, and the feature dropped in the 32-page version was the Human Torch. The Torch would return when #17 restored the 48-page count.
  • Amazing Comics / Complete Comics ran entirely in the 48-page era, with Destroyer, Whizzer, and the Young Allies appearing in both issues, and Jeff Dix and Jap Buster Johnson each appearing once.
  • Captain America Comics:Captain America and the Human Torch continued to star, with the only changes being page count and publication schedule.
  • Daring Comics relaunched as a second Sub-Mariner/Human Torch title. Each received two stories in the first 48-page issue; the page count dropped to 32 for the second and they dropped their second stories as the Angel joined the lineup. The final two issues had the Angel replaced by the Destroyer.
  • Human Torch: The original Human Torch/Sub-Mariner title continued as it had been.
  • Kid Komics: Aside from the starring Young Allies, Kid Komics‘ lineup remained in flux over these two years. Issue #4, the first with 48 pages, cut the entire supporting cast from #3 (aside from comedy feature Jeep Jones), to be replaced with the Destroyer and Sub-Mariner. Issue #5 replaced the Sub-Mariner with Tommy Tyme. Issue #6 added Jap Buster Johnson and Jeff Dix. Page count dropped to 32 with #7, which cut Destroyer, Dix, and Johnson for the Whizzer. Johnson returned to replace the Whizzer in #8, and the Destroyer replaced Tommy Tyme in #9.
  • Marvel Mystery Comics kept a stable lineup over these two years: Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Terry Vance, Miss America, the Patriot, and the Angel. The only change was dropping Terry Vance when the page count dropped to 48 with #58.
  • Miss America Comics started as a Miss America solo magazine, which lasted one issue before being redeveloped as Miss America Magazine, a girls’ magazine that had a few comic features. Miss America led off the first few issues before Jean Goodman sensed that she wasn’t so popular with the magazine’s target audience. The magazine would run for years, but its namesake was no longer a part of it.
  • Miss Fury: Marvel’s reprints of Miss Fury’s adventures continued.
  • Mystic Comics: Only the Destroyer continued over from the original run, joined now by the Angel (who got the cover, finally getting that lead comic), Human Torch, Tommy Tyme, and Terry Vance. Issue #3 would drop Tommy and Terry as the page count dropped from 48 to 32. The final issue would exchange the Angel and Human Torch for the Young Allies.
  • Sub-Mariner Comics: The adventures of the Sub-Mariner and the Angel continued.
  • USA Comics: Issue #11-12 kept the lineup from #10: Captain America, Destroyer, Jeff Dix, Jap Buster Johnson, and Whizzer. Issue #13 dropped Whizzer with the page count reduction to 48, but he would return in #14, replacing comedy feature Jeep Jones. Issue #15 had the page count cut to 32 and cut the Destroyer and Dix. The Destroyer replaced Johnson for the final two issues.
  • Young Allies Comics also kept a stable lineup: the Young Allies and Tommy Tyme.

Next: A look at how the characters fared as the war wound down.