Adventure Comics #67
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAdventure Comics #67 (October 1941) marks the debut of the Mist, the villain who would become Ted Knight's defining arch-nemesis across more than half a century of DC storytelling. A brilliantly motivated antagonist for his era — a WWI-era inventor embittered by government rejection, now selling invisible agents to Axis enemies — the Mist gave Starman exactly the kind of recurring, personal foil that most Golden Age heroes lacked, a dynamic James Robinson later mined so deeply in his celebrated 1990s Starman series. The issue also continues the long-running 'Federal Men' backup starring FBI agent Steve Carson, a strip that stretches back to New Comics #2 (January 1936) and traces directly to Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster; by 1941 the feature was a cornerstone of the anthology, with in-issue house ads actively promoting Carson as a recurring attraction. Taken together, the issue is a snapshot of Adventure Comics at its Golden Age peak: a dense 68-page anthology pairing Starman, Sandman, Hourman, Shining Knight, Paul Kirk, and Steve Conrad under editor Whitney Ellsworth.
In "The Menace of the Invisible Raiders!", Hourman investigates a troubling pattern at the Meade Crop Dusters, where young boys from the State Reform School are being sent to learn trades—only for Rex Tyler to uncover the dangerous truth behind their aerial training. With Bernard Baily handling art, inks, and lettering, and Jack Burnley bringing the cover to life, this 1941 adventure blends wartime urgency with a gripping mystery.
In "The Menace of the Invisible Raiders!", Starman faces a baffling threat when a gang of criminals vanishes into thin air—literally. The mystery deepens as he tracks them to a disgruntled inventor, driven to vengeance by a government that dismissed his groundbreaking invisibility formula.
In "Reform School Racket," Hourman stumbles upon a troubling operation when delivering chemicals to the Meade Crop Dusters—where boys from the State Reform School are being trained to fly crop-dusting planes, a task that quickly turns deadly. As the hero investigates, he uncovers a dangerous scheme that puts the young apprentices at risk, testing his resolve to protect those who can't defend themselves.
In "The Secret of the Man in Miniature," a cunning professor unleashes his monstrous Serum One, shrinking himself—and the Sandman—down to microscopic size, turning the hero's very form into a weapon against him. With the city now vulnerable and the Sandman trapped in a world too small to fight back, the race is on to stop a criminal mastermind who’s redefined the meaning of scale.
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Starman himself had debuted only six issues earlier, in Adventure Comics #61 (April 1941), created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Jack Burnley at the invitation of editor Whitney Ellsworth, who wanted a new superhero to rival Superman's star power. Burnley — a former sports cartoonist who had already become DC's go-to cover artist — brought an athleticism and anatomical precision to Ted Knight that stood out among his contemporaries. The Starman story in this specific issue, 'The Menace of the Invisible Raiders!', was scripted by science-fiction writer Alfred Bester (who would later achieve fame as a prose SF novelist) and penciled and inked by Burnley, with background inks from his brother Ray Burnley. The actual day-to-day editing of the title was handled by Murray Boltinoff, even though Whitney Ellsworth held the credited editorial title.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance and origin of the Mist (Kyle), who would become Starman Ted Knight's arch-nemesis and one of DC's most enduring Golden Age supervillains.
- The Mist is depicted as a WWI-era inventor whose invisibility formula ('Inviso-Solution') was rejected by the U.S. government; he retaliates by sending invisible agents to steal American military secrets for Axis powers and plot bombing runs on Pennsylvania steel factories.
- The Starman lead story, 'The Menace of the Invisible Raiders!', was scripted by Alfred Bester — later celebrated as a landmark science-fiction prose novelist — with pencils and inks by Jack Burnley.
- Cover art and interior Starman art by Jack Burnley, co-creator of Starman (with Gardner Fox); Burnley drew Starman continuously from Adventure Comics #61 through #80.
- Steve Carson, FBI agent and star of the long-running 'Federal Men' backup strip (debuting New Comics #2, January 1936, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster), appears in his story 'The Proving-Ground Spies'; a house ad inside the issue promotes Carson as a recurring feature in every issue.
- The issue is a 68-page anthology also featuring Sandman (Wesley Dodds), Hourman (Rex Tyler), Shining Knight, Paul Kirk/Manhunter, and Steve Conrad: Adventurer — representing Adventure Comics' full Golden Age lineup.
- The Starman lead story was later reprinted in The Golden Age Starman Archives Vol. 1 (DC, 2000), The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told, and Superman #252.
- Credited editor was Whitney Ellsworth; actual editorial work on the title at this time was performed by Murray Boltinoff, per Grand Comics Database research.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Superman #252 (1972), All Star Adventure Comic #86 (1974), The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told #[nn] (1990), Golden Age Starman Archives #1 (2000)
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