Jim Hatfield

Few characters can claim a debut as crisp and consequential as Jim Hatfield's — he launched Exciting Comics with its very first issue in 1940, making him a genuine ground-floor figure of the Golden Age and a cornerstone of Pines Comics' early adventure lineup. Created by Norman Daniels and Ray Thayer, Hatfield arrived at a moment when the newsstands were electric with possibility, sharing those early pages with a colorful cast that includes The Mask, The Sphinx, and Sergeant Bill King. His run is compact but historically charged — that debut issue carries key-issue status for collectors — and finding him in the catalog today is a reminder of just how rich and varied the Golden Age landscape truly was beyond the marquee publishers.