All-American Comics #82
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAll-American Comics #82 (February 1947) marks the close of the Three Dimwits' dedicated solo backup run in the title — their comedic Three Stooges-inspired misadventures had occupied a regular slot across issues #73 through #82, representing one of the more sustained experiments in Golden Age comic relief within a superhero anthology. The issue also hosts a Captain Tootsie advertising strip, a cross-publisher phenomenon created by C.C. Beck that blurred the line between branded advertising and sequential narrative storytelling — a commercially novel format for the era. As one of the final issues of All-American Comics before the title wound toward its 1948 transformation into All-American Western, #82 captures the anthology at a transitional moment, still anchored by Alan Scott's Green Lantern but slowly shedding the supporting cast that had defined its postwar identity.
In "Yep! It sure is! Sure is!", the Three Dimwits find themselves working at the circus after being turned away at the gate—no money, no problem, just a job with the animals. With their trademark chaos and bumbling energy, they stumble into a high-stakes situation when they help capture Crusher the Great, a dangerous gorilla on the loose. Art by Harry Lampert brings the slapstick mayhem to life, while Irwin Hasen’s cover captures the circus’s wild spirit in bold, expressive lines.
When the Three Dimwits can't afford circus tickets, they end up working backstage—only to find themselves in over their heads when a rampaging gorilla named Crusher the Great goes on the loose. With their usual mix of bumbling and luck, the trio must navigate the chaos of the big top before things go too far.
In a 1947 clash of minds and light, Dr. Light’s brilliant inventions—designed to banish darkness—face off against the cunning sabotage of Dr. Mid-Nite, whose blackout bombs turn the very light Dr. Light created into a weapon of shadow.
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All-American Comics was edited by Sheldon Mayer, with Julius Schwartz serving as an uncredited story editor, a collaborative arrangement documented in Grand Comics Database credits for surrounding issues. By early 1947, the title was published under the National Comics Publications banner following National's 1946 acquisition of the original All-American Publications line. The Three Dimwits feature — created by writer Gardner Fox and artist E.E. Hibbard — had migrated over from Flash-related titles to anchor a solo backup slot in All-American beginning with issue #73 (May 1946), and this issue brought that specific run to a quiet close. The Green Lantern story's interior art has been attributed by collectors to Paul Reinman, whose workmanlike style was typical of the anthology's late-Golden Age output.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published February 1947 by National Comics Publications (DC), cover date February 1947; part of the 102-issue All-American Comics run (1939–1948).
- Final issue featuring the Three Dimwits (Winky, Blinky & Noddy) as a solo backup strip in All-American Comics — their run in this title spanned issues #73–#82 (May 1946–February 1947).
- The Three Dimwits were created by writer Gardner Fox and artist E.E. Hibbard as a comic-relief trio modeled visually on the Three Stooges, whose names were derived from the poem 'Wynken, Blynken, and Nod.'
- The issue contains a Captain Tootsie one-page advertising strip featuring his boy sidekick Rollo; Captain Tootsie was created in 1943 by C.C. Beck (co-creator of Captain Marvel) and writer Rod Reed for the Tootsie Roll candy company.
- Captain Tootsie ads — featuring Rollo and the 'Secret Legion' kid gang — appeared across multiple publishers' comic books throughout the 1940s and into the mid-1950s, making them one of the most widely distributed branded comics features of the Golden Age.
- The lead Green Lantern story involves an archaeologist's Babylonian artifact discovery, with art in this period attributed to Paul Reinman; the title was edited by Sheldon Mayer with Julius Schwartz as uncredited story editor.
- All-American Comics was the flagship anthology title of All-American Publications, which was purchased by National Periodicals (DC) in 1946; the title ran 102 issues before converting to All-American Western with #103 in November 1948.
- The Three Dimwits made only a handful of later appearances after this Golden Age exit, including a Silver Age Flash cameo (Flash vol. 1 #117, 1960) and a modern-era appearance in Justice League: Cry for Justice #2 (2009).
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