The Comics Magazine #1 (1936)

The Comics Magazine #1 [Grand Comics Database links: 1; Comic Book Database: 1]
(May 1936)
Comics Magazine Co., Inc.
(Version read: Supermen!: The First Wave of Comic Book Heroes 1936-1941 trade paperback edition (2009) [LibraryThing] [Amazon])

"Dr. Mystic" story
Credits:
Writer: Jerry ("Jerome") Siegel
Penciller: Joe Shuster
Inker: Joe Shuster

Interesting that the first story in this collection of "first wave" comic book... super hero stories would be by Siegel and Shuster (whose 1935 Popular Comics tryout material I was just reading last week in the Siegel and Shuster: Dateline 1930s mini-series published in the 80s by Eclipse Comics).

Here we have a simple two page story, but one that's actually pretty interesting. Not so much for the plot--a mysterious giant appears over a city, threatening to destroy it; the hero, Dr. Mystic, grows to giant size to confront him; the stranger turns out to be Mystic's old ally, Zator, pretending to be a menace in order to draw Mystic out; the two fly off to India to meet with "The Seven"; creatures of the nether world try to stop them, first by trying to scare them, then to deceive them with the illusion of a beautiful woman in dire distress; a man named Koth appears before them, offering them to join him against The Seven or to die; they refuse to join Koth and Koth turns his creatures loose on Mystic and Zator; to be continued--but as another look at the type of work Siegel and Shuster were doing just prior to creating Superman.

Dr. Mystic resembles Superman, while Zator is perhaps the earliest example of a caped flying superhero in comic books. The art is in black and white. I found Shuster's work here, while similar to his later work on Superman in some ways, to be quite different in others. Specifically, the creatures of the "nether world" (which indeed are quite freaky looking) and the beautiful woman in distress (drawn nude with only wisps of cloud or smoke to cover her). Both very different from what we'd see in Shuster's Superman work.

The notes in the back of Supermen! indicate that when two of Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's managers at National Allied Publications (the company that would become DC Comics) left to form Comics Magazine Company, Inc., that they took a large amount of Nicholson's inventory with them. This Dr. Mystic story is one of them. According to the notes, Dr. Mystic had appeared earlier as "Dr. Occult" in the final issue of National Allied's New Fun series (October 1935). Dr. Mystic's storyline would continue on again as Dr. Occult ("the mystic detective") starting in More Fun Comics #14 (October 1936), again, by National Allied Publications.