Dr. Mystic

Before Superman, before the cape became iconic, Jerome Siegel and Joe Shuster were already conjuring mystery into four-color life — and Dr. Mystic stands as one of their earliest testaments to that ambition, debuting in 1936 during the Platinum Age of comics. This rare figure shares his adventures with the enigmatic Zator and Koth, suggesting a world steeped in the strange and the arcane. Though catalog appearances are few, Dr. Mystic turns up in historically minded volumes like Wooley's History of the Comic Book and The Origin of the Superhero, which tells you everything about his significance — he's not just a character, he's a piece of the foundation. For collectors and historians tracing the DNA of the superhero genre back to its earliest pulse, Dr. Mystic is an utterly essential name to know.