Doll Man #6
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeDoll Man #6 holds a notable place in Golden Age publishing history as one of the earliest comics to carry a Captain Tootsie advertisement strip — the one-page superhero ad feature created in 1943 by C.C. Beck and his studio for Tootsie Roll Industries, placing it near the ground floor of advertiser-funded comics characters. The issue also introduces two new antagonists for Darrel Dane, and its mad-scientist story — in which Doll Man cannot reverse the villain's shrinking process and grimly destroys the victims — is an unusually dark narrative choice for a wartime superhero quarterly. Together, these elements make the issue a compact snapshot of Golden Age comics culture: a superhero serial running alongside commercial advertising disguised as adventure storytelling, both produced by craftsmen who simultaneously shaped the decade's most popular characters.
In "Luckiest Man In the World," Doll Man confronts a scientist whose experiments have reduced people to tiny, mute Little Green Men—leaving him with no way to restore them. With no mercy for the creator of such a nightmare, Doll Man makes a grim decision, sealing the creatures in a confined space. Art by Fran Matera and Rudy Palais brings the tense, high-stakes showdown to life, while Al Bryant’s cover captures the eerie, otherworldly threat.
When a carnival wheel rigged with a magnet and a mobster's lucky coin combine at a charity bazaar, Doll Man finds himself up against Lucky Lawson—a criminal mastermind convinced his charm can't fail. But as Martha Roberts innocently tries her own luck at the games, the Doll Man discovers that even the most carefully fixed odds crumble when a six-inch hero decides to even the score.
In "The Little Green Men," Doll Man confronts a scientist whose experiments have reduced people to tiny, mute green beings. With no way to return them to their original size, the hero makes a grim decision—locking them away and destroying them to prevent further harm.
When Dr. Dlee's obsession with insects convinces him to turn traitor to humanity, he uses forbidden science to enlarge and augment a giant beetle into a fearsome creature that can command swarms of insects to destroy mankind. Darrel Dane becomes Doll Man to stop the mad doctor's plan, but finds himself overwhelmed by an army of bugs and forced to shrink himself even smaller to infiltrate Dr. Dlee's insect forces and uncover their true strength. Now, at nearly microscopic size, the mighty mite must figure out how to take down a conspiracy that threatens the entire human race.
When Carl Colburn arrives at the Roberts home as a frightened refugee, he brings with him a terrifying mystery: the sound of Wobble-Foot, a torturer from his past who seems to be pursuing him across the city. Darrel Dane transforms into Doll Man to investigate, only to discover that Carl's fear is all too real—the mysterious figure has been systematically hunting down Carl's former comrades. Now Doll Man must set a trap to finally confront the killer stalking through the night.
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The issue was published under the Comic Favorites Inc. indicia (Quality Comic Group brand) with an on-sale date of May 26, 1943, and carried a July 1943 cover date. Gill Fox, who had served as editor and cover artist for Quality Comics since 1940, is credited as editor; he departed the company later that same year to serve in World War II, making this among the final issues he shepherded. The cover was penciled and inked by Al Bryant, while interior story credits remain partially contested — the GCD currently attributes at least one lead story to Fran Matera, with earlier records crediting Al Bryant, and Fred Guardineer is cited as providing script and art in at least one additional story.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published May 26, 1943 (on-sale date per Catalog of Copyright Entries, registration B604954); cover-dated July 1943 by Quality Comics / Comic Favorites Inc.
- Gill Fox served as editor — one of the last issues under his tenure before he left Quality Comics in 1943 to serve in World War II with Stars and Stripes.
- Cover art by Al Bryant; interior story art credited by GCD to Fran Matera (previously credited to Al Bryant), with Fred Guardineer also credited for script and art on at least one story.
- Introduces villains Lucky Lawson and Dip Fennis in one story; a second story debuts an unnamed mad scientist and his 'little green men' — people he has irreversibly shrunk — all of whom die in the issue.
- Contains a Captain Tootsie advertisement strip — the one-page adventure ad feature created in 1943 by C.C. Beck (with writer Rod Reed and inker Pete Costanza) for Tootsie Roll Industries; Rollo is Captain Tootsie's kid sidekick and part of the Secret Legion alongside Fatso and Fisty.
- Captain Tootsie was produced by the same C.C. Beck studio responsible for Fawcett's Captain Marvel, and his costume was visually patterned on Captain Marvel's design; the character ran as an ad strip across dozens of publishers and newspapers through the mid-1950s.
- The Captain Tootsie ad concept later influenced Marvel's Doc Samson costume design in the 1970s, with artist Herb Trimpe believed to have modeled Samson's uniform partly on Tootsie's look.
- The lead Doll Man content from this issue was later reprinted in Gwandanaland Comics #2123 — Doll Man Giant #0 (September 2018).
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Reprinted in Gwandanaland Comics #2123 (2018)
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