Blue Ribbon Comics #4
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeBlue Ribbon Comics #4 (June 1940) marks the first appearance of the Fox — photojournalist Paul Patton — who became one of the most durable characters in the entire MLJ/Archie stable, surviving multiple revival eras spanning the 1960s, 1980s, and 2010s. The issue also signals a deliberate editorial pivot by MLJ away from the humor-filler model of the title's first three issues toward sustained adventure and superhero storytelling, introducing several new long-running features simultaneously. The Fox's concept of a hero with no superpowers — a physically fit, street-smart journalist who dons a disguise purely to get better crime-scene photographs — was a fresh variation on the nascent superhero formula, anticipating later press-photographer heroes. That the issue was the work of Irwin Hasen, who would go on to co-create Wildcat at DC Comics just eighteen months later, makes it a meaningful artifact in the creative biography of one of the Golden Age's most significant artists.
In "The Canal Zone Murder Case," Doc Strong and his small band of survivors navigate a world ravaged by the Hundred Year War, where civilization has crumbled and humanity teeters on the edge of extinction under the rule of Mongol warlord Gustave Ritter. With the help of his shadow-solidifying gun, Doc Strong must unravel a deadly mystery in the ruins of the Canal Zone, where every shadow could hide a killer. Written by Joe Blair and illustrated by Sam Cooper, with a cover by Charles Biro, this 1940 issue offers a gripping blend of pulp mystery and post-apocalyptic adventure.
In this 1940 adventure from Blue Ribbon Comics #4, Hercules—fresh from myth—hits the New York stage as a vaudevillian strongman, his strength drawing crowds. But when his agent is murdered by the underworld's "lion," Leo Nymia, the hero steps into the spotlight to bring down the man who killed his friend.
In the wilds of Malay, a white boy named Tyrone Gorman is spared from sacrifice by a tigress named Malma, who raises him in the jungle—unaware that he is the heir to a fortune far away. This tale of survival and mystery follows Tyrone’s early days among the wild, where every day brings new dangers and the echoes of a life he never knew.
In the scorched aftermath of the Hundred Year War, where civilization has crumbled and the world lies under the heel of warlord Gustave Ritter, a small band of survivors seeks refuge on the Pacific Isle of Right. There, Doc Strong and his companions work to rebuild science and order, using a radical invention—a gun that solidifies shadows—to defend their fragile sanctuary from the encroaching darkness.
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Blue Ribbon Comics was the very first comic book title published by MLJ Magazines — the partnership of Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John Goldwater whose initials gave the company its name — and was edited throughout its run by Harry Shorten. By issue #4, the editors had made a conscious decision to replace the mix of humor strips and one-off fillers that dominated the early issues with a more structured anthology of adventure and genre features, reflecting the rapid industry-wide shift toward superhero content in mid-1940. The Fox origin story was scripted by Joe Blair — the same prolific MLJ workhorse who wrote the flagship Rang-a-Tang strip — and drawn by Irwin Hasen, then a newcomer to the field who had only recently entered comics through the Harry 'A' Chesler packaging studio. The 'Blue Ribbon' branding itself derived from an existing pulp-magazine imprint used by Silberkleit and Coyne, lending the title an established commercial identity even as its contents evolved rapidly.
Trivia · 9 facts
- First appearance of the Fox (Paul Patton), created by writer Joe Blair and artist Irwin Hasen, published with a cover date of June 1940 by MLJ Magazines.
- The Fox's origin: Daily Globe photojournalist and former Penn State athlete Paul Patton adopts a black, skin-tight fox-eared costume to infiltrate a gang called the Night Riders who have kidnapped his editor and girlfriend, Ruth Ransom.
- The Fox has no superpowers; his crime-fighting relies entirely on peak athleticism and cunning — a deliberately grounded concept for 1940.
- Issue #4 also debuted Doc Strong (a Doc Savage-style adventure feature set 100 years in the future) and a Hercules-in-modern-America strip — both written by Joe Blair — marking the issue as a broad genre expansion point for the series.
- The cover of issue #4 was drawn by Charles Biro, who also penciled the recurring war feature 'Corporal Collins, Infantryman' throughout the title's run.
- Artist Irwin Hasen went on to co-create DC Comics' Wildcat (with writer Bill Finger) in Sensation Comics #1 (January 1942), recycling a similarly sleek, athletic-hero visual language developed on the Fox.
- The Fox ran continuously in Blue Ribbon Comics from #4 through the series' final issue #22 (March 1942), making it the title's longest-running superhero feature.
- The Fox's Golden Age stories (Blue Ribbon Comics #4–22) have never received an official Archie Comics trade paperback collection and remain accessible primarily through public-domain digital archives and original issues.
- Issue #4 also introduced the Rang-a-Tang Club — a reader participation feature with its own registered veterinarian to answer questions on dog training — reflecting MLJ's early emphasis on reader community-building around its canine mascot.
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Reprinted in Blue Ribbon Comics #1 (1983), Gwandanaland Comics #276 (2017), Gwandanaland Comics #2006 (2018)
Key issues in Blue Ribbon Comics
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