The Black Terror

Debuting in Exciting Comics #9 (1941) from Pines Comics, the Black Terror was one of the Golden Age's most striking costumed heroes, recognizable by his skull-and-crossbones costume. His exact origin details involve a pharmacist who gains extraordinary abilities through a chemical discovery.

Few names from the Golden Age hit with the same visceral punch as The Black Terror, who burst onto the scene in Exciting Comics #3 in 1941, conjured by Richard Hughes and David Gabrielsen for Pines Comics at the height of the superhero explosion. This is a character with genuine staying power — a 1941 debut that has echoed across an extraordinary 84-year publishing span, turning up everywhere from classic Exciting Comics runs to modern crossover events like Vampirella versus Red Sonja, which speaks volumes about an enduring appeal that outlasted most of his Golden Age contemporaries by decades. Along the way he's shared adventures with memorable figures like The Fighting Yank and Bruce Carter III, keeping distinguished company among the patriotic and costumed heroes of wartime comics. With a key issue to his name and 65 catalog appearances spanning nearly a century of comics history, The Black Terror is exactly the kind of foundational Golden Age figure every serious collector deserves to know.