Merlin the magician

Few names carry more mythic weight in comics than Merlin the magician, and this iteration — conjured in the pages of Ha Ha Comics #49 back in 1948 by H. R. Karp and Jack Bradbury — is a genuine Golden Age curiosity. Emerging from the American Comics Group's whimsical stable, this Merlin shares his legendary pages with none other than King Arthur himself, lending even a lighthearted funny-book setting a touch of Arthurian grandeur. His appearances stretch across a surprisingly wide swath of publishing history and span titles as eclectic as Porky Pig and Serpent in the Garden, making him a delightfully offbeat thread to chase through the back-issue bins.