Feature Comics #32
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFeature Comics #32 (May 1940) marks a genuine structural turning point in Quality Comics history: it was the first issue published after Quality severed its longstanding content partnership with the McNaught Syndicate, replacing syndicated newspaper-strip reprints with a lineup of original, purpose-built comics features. Within that reshuffled book, Doll Man — comics' first shrinking superhero, predating DC's Atom and Marvel's Ant-Man by two decades — appeared in his expanded nine-page lead story, reflecting his rapid rise from a four-page back-of-the-book tryout just five issues earlier to the title's undisputed headliner. The issue also introduced several new features in their debut installments, making it a concentrated moment of world-building for the Quality universe at the very height of the Golden Age superhero explosion.
In 1790, a shipwreck strands a boy on a remote island where rare herbs sustain him after his parents perish. Centuries later, rescued in London, he discovers he still needs those herbs to survive—and when he recreates them, he gains super-strength. Using the power to set traps for criminals, he broadcasts warnings as "Elixir — The Voice!" from a hidden radio. A gripping tale of survival and justice, "The Sins of Anton Bock" features art by Stan Asch and a striking cover by Lou Fine.
In "The Sins of Anton Bock," Professor Roberts’ dangerous invention puts him in peril when he’s kidnapped before he can destroy his volatile gas. Darrel and Martha follow clues to the waterfront, where eerie lights and strange sounds hint at a criminal scheme. Doll Man arrives to confront the mystery and rescue the scientist—before the gas can be unleashed.
In "Living Dead Men," espionage agents Blackburn and Jackson stage their own deaths to vanish from the public eye after a photo of Blackburn leaks to the press. Disguised under identical new faces crafted by a plastic surgeon, they operate from an antique store front, hunting the mole who exposed them—without knowing who the real traitor might be.
In 1790, a boy survives a shipwreck in the South Seas, sustained only by mysterious herbs that keep him alive long after his parents perish. Centuries later, rescued from a remote island and brought to London, he discovers his survival depends on those same herbs—now recreated to grant him super-strength. Using his newfound power, he becomes a vigilante, luring criminals into traps and broadcasting warnings to the police as "Elixir — The Voice!"
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Quality Comics publisher Everett M. 'Busy' Arnold had built Feature Funnies (later renamed Feature Comics) on a foundation of syndicate-licensed newspaper strips, but by early 1940 he was pivoting decisively toward original superhero and adventure content — a shift crystallized with issue #32, the first to go to press free of the McNaught Syndicate's material. The creative labor was organized through the Eisner & Iger studio model: Will Eisner, who had created Doll Man for issue #27, scripted the lead story, while Lou Fine — a protégé of Eisner's shop who drew Doll Man under the house pseudonym William Erwin Maxwell — produced both the cover and interior Doll Man art, with additional stories contributed by Paul Gustavson, Dan Zolnerowich, Bob Powell, and others under editor Ed Cronin. The anthology format of the issue thus captures the exact moment Quality was transforming from a reprint house into a superhero publisher with its own stable of characters.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: May 1940; published by Quality Comics (Comic Favorites, Inc.) under publisher Everett M. 'Busy' Arnold.
- The issue marks the first installment published after Quality ended its content partnership with the McNaught Syndicate, signaling the title's full transition from syndicated-strip reprints to original comics material.
- Doll Man (Darrel Dane) appears in his sixth comic book appearance and second cover appearance; the lead story, 'The Sins of Anton Bock,' is expanded to nine pages — more than double the character's original four-page debut in #27, reflecting his rapid promotion to flagship status.
- Doll Man was created by Will Eisner in Feature Comics #27 (December 1939) and is recognized as the first shrinking superhero in comics history, predating DC's Atom and Marvel's Ant-Man by roughly two decades.
- Lou Fine — one of the most acclaimed drafstmen of the Golden Age, working under the pseudonym William Erwin Maxwell — drew both the cover and the Doll Man interior story; Fine's anatomically precise, dynamically composed art helped define the character visually through the early run (issues #27–#36).
- First appearances in this issue include: Zero the Ghost Detective (created by Dan Zolnerowich), Captain Bruce Blackburn (Counterspy), and Rusty Ryan, alongside the debut of villain Anton Bock and his spy ring in the Doll Man story.
- The Voice (Mr. Elixir) also debuts in this issue, running in Feature Comics through #37 (November 1940).
- The issue's Doll Man story and other Quality Golden Age debuts were reprinted in Gwandanaland Comics #2005, 'The Golden Age Firsts of Quality Comics: Volume 1' (May 2018).
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Okay Adventure Annual #2 (1956), Super Thrill Album #[nn] (1959), The Lou Fine Comics Treasury #[nn] (1991), Men of Mystery Comics #38 (2003), Men of Mystery Comics #101 (2016), Gwandanaland Comics #2005 (2018), Golden-Age Greats Spotlight #19 (2019)
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