All-American Comics #3
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAll-American Comics #3 is a product of one of the most consequential anthology titles in Golden Age comics history — a series whose early issues, published just months after Superman redefined the medium, established the storytelling laboratory that would eventually produce Green Lantern, the Atom, Doctor Mid-Nite, and other foundational DC characters. Issue #3 earns a specific footnote in comics language history: it contains the earliest known use of the exclamation 'Great Caesar's Ghost' in the pages of a comic book, embedded in the Wiley of West Point strip — a phrase that would later become synonymous with Perry White in the Superman mythos. As the third issue of the flagship title of All-American Publications (one of the two companies that merged to form modern DC Comics), it also documents the early, pre-superhero shape of what an American comic book anthology could be, blending original adventure strips with newspaper reprints in a format that would evolve dramatically over the following year.
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All-American Publications was founded in 1939 by M.C. Gaines after he secured funding from Harry Donenfeld, who also backed National Allied Publications and Detective Comics, Inc. — the companies that would eventually consolidate into DC Comics. The title was edited by Gaines with assistance from Sheldon Mayer, who was himself a contributor to the book with his Scribbly strip. At this stage of the run — just its third issue — the title was published by All-American Publications independently and had not yet adopted the DC banner, which did not appear on covers until issue #14. The book was priced at ten cents and ran roughly 64 pages per issue in its early years, following the then-standard anthology format of mixing newspaper strip color reprints with original comic-book material.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: June 1939, published by All-American Publications (a forerunner of DC Comics), edited by M.C. Gaines with Sheldon Mayer as editorial assistant.
- Hop Harrigan, the aviation hero created by Jon L. Blummer (working under the pseudonym 'Jon Elby'), appears on the cover and in a story titled 'Visit to a Movie Studio' — he had debuted two issues earlier in #1 (April 1939).
- The Red, White, and Blue military adventure strip continues in a story called 'Gun Smugglers,' set in Baja, California, featuring Doris West and the three servicemen.
- The Wiley of West Point strip in this issue contains the first known use of the phrase 'Great Caesar's Ghost' in comics history — a phrase later closely associated with Perry White, editor of the Daily Planet in Superman.
- Sheldon Mayer contributes an installment of his Scribbly strip, which he both wrote and drew; Carl H. Claudy writes the science-fiction serial 'Adventures in the Unknown,' drawn by Stan Aschmeier.
- The issue features an extensive mix of reprinted newspaper comic strips alongside original material, including strips by Percy Crosby ('Always Belittlin''), Bud Fisher ('Cicero's Cat'), and Gene Byrnes ('Daisybelle').
- A text story, 'Death's Sweepstakes' featuring recurring character Jimmy Stone, was written by Loring Dowst — fulfilling postal regulations requiring prose content for second-class mailing permits.
- The title at this stage was not yet carrying the 'DC' logo on its cover; that branding would not appear on All-American Comics until issue #14, despite the informal connection to the DC publishing family.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Detective Comics #28 (1939)
Key issues in All-American Comics
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