Ace Comics #15
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAce Comics #15 (June 1938) is a document of the Golden Age comic book anthology at its fullest early flowering: it appeared on newsstands the very same cover month as Action Comics #1, meaning readers in June 1938 could buy both the issue that introduced Superman and this issue that continued the adventures of The Phantom — widely regarded as one of the first costumed heroes ever to appear in comic book format, having debuted just four issues earlier in #11. As a King Features Syndicate anthology, the title demonstrated that the packaged-reprint comic book could sustain a diverse, multi-genre readership over dozens of issues, a model that directly influenced the structure of early original-content superhero anthologies. Its concurrent publication with Action Comics #1 makes it a precise timestamp in the month that is traditionally cited as the ignition point of the Golden Age of superheroes.
# Ace Comics #15 An anthology containing at least two stories: one featuring a woman in a purple outfit and a man in green engaged in a gunfight and physical altercation over a weapon; and another centered on a character named Montauban and an "Iron Lady" villain whose weapon-marked trail spans half of Europe, with Montauban ultimately cornered and defeated in mid-air while flying to America. A third story involves desperados robbing a bank, with an assistant manager secretly using a revolver to help stop them, leading to a chase sequence with the sheriff's car in pursuit.
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David McKay Publications launched Ace Comics in April 1937 as a companion to its already-running King Comics, both built around licensed King Features Syndicate newspaper strips that McKay was already selling in book form. The anthology was edited by Ruth Plumly Thompson — best known as the successor author of the Oz book series — who shaped its mix of adventure, humor, and factual content throughout the early run. By the time #15 reached newsstands, the title had recently made its biggest editorial move: replacing Tex Thorne as the lead dramatic feature with Lee Falk and Ray Moore's The Phantom beginning in issue #11, a shift that transformed the book's identity and gave it a character who would anchor every subsequent issue through cancellation with #151 in 1949.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: June 1938 — the same cover month as Action Comics #1, placing this issue at the precise historical pivot of the Golden Age of superhero comics.
- Published by David McKay Publications as part of its King Features Syndicate anthology line; cover art by Joe Musial.
- Edited by Ruth Plumly Thompson, the prolific Oz-series author who wrote editorial and text pages throughout Ace Comics' early run.
- Contains The Phantom strip (written by Lee Falk, drawn by Ray Moore), which had debuted in the series just four issues prior in #11 (February 1938), its first comic book appearance — and which would run in every subsequent issue of the title for 140 consecutive issues.
- Also features Alex Raymond's Jungle Jim (a strip Raymond created alongside Flash Gordon) and Lyman Young's Tim Tyler's Luck, both of which ran in every single issue of Ace Comics from #1 through cancellation.
- Additional strips include the Katzenjammer Kids (H. H. Knerr), Chic Young's Blondie, Billy DeBeck's Barney Google, Robert L. Ripley's Believe It or Not, Etta Kett (Paul Robinson), Curley Harper at Lakespur (Lyman Young), Elmer (Doc Winner), and Nicodemus O'Malley & His Whale.
- The issue includes a house advertisement for David McKay's own Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story-and-picture book, reflecting McKay's concurrent role as publisher of early Walt Disney print merchandise.
- Comprehensive strip-by-strip content details for issues #1–16 are noted as limited in the scholarly record, so the full table of contents for #15 cannot be confirmed with complete certainty from currently available sources.
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