All-Winners Comics #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAll-Winners Comics #2 (Fall 1941) is the issue that locked in the definitive Timely Comics superhero anthology roster — swapping out the Black Marvel and the Angel for the Destroyer and the Whizzer, a lineup that would hold through issue #12. Both new additions were freshly minted characters: the Whizzer had debuted only weeks earlier in USA Comics #1, while the Destroyer had just appeared for the first time in Mystic Comics #6, making this the second-ever comics appearance of each character and the first time either shared a stage with Timely's 'Big Three.' The issue is equally notable for its two-page 'Winners All' text story by Stan Lee, which brought the Human Torch, Captain America, the Whizzer, the Sub-Mariner, and the Destroyer together in an adventure years before any formal superhero team would exist on Timely's comics pages — a direct narrative prototype of what would eventually become the All-Winners Squad.
In "Carnival of Death!", the Human Torch and Toro investigate the mysterious murder of Jimmy Mack, a disgraced vaudeville theatre owner whose past fire stunt—meant to collect insurance—left his partner, Price, horribly scarred and vowing vengeance. With the truth buried beneath smoke and secrets, the duo must unravel a web of old grudges before the killer strikes again.
In "The Strange Case of the Malay Idol," Captain America and Bucky find themselves stranded on a remote Pacific island after a crash, forced to evade a mysterious native tribe led by a Nazi agent determined to seize Colonel Carter’s secret documents. With danger lurking in the jungle and a hidden idol at the heart of the mystery, the duo must outwit their captors before the mission is lost.
In "Plague of the Poisoned Jewelry," the Nazis unleash a sinister scheme through a seemingly innocent department store, using poisoned jewelry to spread fear and chaos across the U.S. As the threat spreads to other everyday items, the nation’s safety hangs in the balance—though how the heroes respond remains to be seen.
In "The Ghost Fleet," Sub-Mariner dives into a mystery that's anything but underwater—tracking a phantom Nazi fleet sabotaging Allied ships, only to uncover a startling truth: the menace is a clever illusion, a 3-D movie projected with Polaroid lenses. The story blends wartime intrigue with a surprising twist, proving that not all threats come from the deep.
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Published in the fall of 1941 by Timely Comics under publisher Martin Goodman, the issue appeared at a moment when the United States was on the cusp of entering World War II — just months before Pearl Harbor — and Timely was aggressively expanding its stable of wartime heroes. The Captain America story featured art from the outgoing Simon and Kirby team, who would leave Timely for DC later that year, while the Destroyer strip — written by Stan Lee and drawn by Jack Binder — continued one of Lee's earliest co-created characters. The exact pencil and ink credits on the issue's text-story illustration remain contested, with scholar Nick Caputo suggesting possible Joe Simon involvement that was disputed by historian Michael J. Vassallo, reflecting the loose documentation common to Timely's Golden Age production.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published Fall 1941 by Timely Comics (Timely's All-Winners Comics #2); 68 pages, full color.
- First appearance of both the Destroyer (Keen Marlow) and the Whizzer (Robert Frank) in All-Winners Comics — each had debuted in a separate Timely title just weeks prior (Mystic Comics #6 and USA Comics #1, respectively) — establishing the anthology's core roster through issue #12.
- The Destroyer (created by Stan Lee and Jack Binder) is depicted as American journalist Keen Marlow, empowered by a super-soldier serum from an anti-Nazi German scientist while imprisoned in a concentration camp, battling Nazis from inside occupied Europe.
- The Whizzer (Robert Frank), whose super-speed derived from a mongoose-blood transfusion, would continue as a regular in All-Winners Comics from this issue through #21, eventually joining the All-Winners Squad in issues #19 and #21.
- Captain America story features art by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby — one of their final contributions to the title before leaving Timely for DC Comics later in 1941.
- The issue's 'Winners All' two-page prose text story, written by Stan Lee with illustration by Jack Kirby, depicts editor Stan Lee meeting with the assembled heroes and agreeing to add the Destroyer and the Whizzer — a self-referential narrative conceit that prefigured the formal All-Winners Squad superhero team by five years.
- The Sub-Mariner story features a memorable plot in which Namor uncovers a Nazi 'ghost fleet' that turns out to be a 3-D movie projection using Polaroid lenses.
- Material from this issue has been reprinted in Giant-Size Invaders #2 (2005), Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age All-Winners Comics Vol. 1 (2005), and Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Simon & Kirby Omnibus (2019).
Cast · 18 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Giant-Size Invaders #2 (2005), Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age All-Winners Comics #1 (2005), All Winners Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1 (2009), Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age All-Winners Comics #1 (2013), Destroyer by Robert Kirkman #[nn] (2018), Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Sub-Mariner by Bill Everett - The Pre-War Years Omnibus #[nn] (2019), Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Simon & Kirby Omnibus #[nn] (2019), Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Human Torch by Carl Burgos Omnibus #[nn] (2019)
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