Feature Funnies #13
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFeature Funnies #13 (October 1938) is the first comic book appearance of Will Eisner's spy-adventure feature 'Espionage Starring Black X,' making it one of the earliest examples of original espionage content created specifically for the comic book medium rather than reprinted from newspaper strips. This debut placed Eisner — who would go on to reshape the art form with The Spirit and later pioneer the graphic novel — squarely inside Quality Comics' anthology at a moment when the publisher was beginning to supplement its syndicated-reprint diet with original material. The Black X feature is historically significant as a direct artistic bridge between Eisner's work-for-hire shop years and the fully realized visual storytelling he would unleash on The Spirit in 1940, and it documents how pre-superhero genre storytelling — spy fiction in particular — was carving out space on the newsstands alongside the newspaper-strip reprints that still dominated early comic books.
In "The Coming of Black X," a 1938 Quality Comics gem, Richard Spencer—believed dead after a plane crash—rises as the mysterious spy known as Black X, infiltrating enemy operations with a mission to thwart a dangerous plot. Written, drawn, and inked by Will Eisner, the story unfolds with a striking twist as Black X encounters an enemy agent who bears his exact likeness. The cover, by Lank Leonard, captures the intrigue of this early espionage tale.
In "The Coming of Black X," Richard Spencer—believed dead after a plane crash—rises as the mysterious spy known only as Black X. Tasked with thwarting a dangerous enemy plot, he finds himself face-to-face with an agent who bears his exact likeness, setting off a tense game of shadows and deception.
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Feature Funnies was launched in October 1937 by publisher Everett M. 'Busy' Arnold through his imprint Comic Favorites, Inc., in partnership with three newspaper syndicates — McNaught, Frank J. Markey, and Iowa's Register and Tribune — primarily to repackage familiar syndicated strips for Depression-era readers. New original content was supplied through comics packagers, chiefly the Eisner & Iger studio headed by Will Eisner and Jerry Iger. By issue #13 (October 1938), Eisner was contributing original features directly to the book; the 'Espionage' strip debuted there under his pseudonym William Erwin Maxwell (derived from his actual middle name, Erwin), with Eisner serving as both writer and artist on the feature until 1940.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First comic book appearance of 'Espionage Starring Black X,' a spy-adventure feature starring the secret agent known as Black X (later identified as Richard Spencer) and his aide Batu.
- Created, written, and drawn by Will Eisner — later celebrated for The Spirit (1940–1952) and A Contract with God (1978) — under the pseudonym William Erwin Maxwell (sometimes credited as 'Will Erwin,' Erwin being Eisner's actual middle name).
- Published October 1938 by Comic Favorites, Inc. (the imprint that became Quality Comics in 1939), edited under Everett M. 'Busy' Arnold.
- The 'Espionage' strip debuted as a four-page installment and continued through Feature Funnies #20, then carried over into Feature Comics #21–22, before relocating to Smash Comics beginning with its first issue (August 1939), where Eisner's own run concluded with Smash Comics #13 (August 1940 cover date).
- After Eisner departed the feature, the 'Will Erwin' byline became a house pseudonym; subsequent writers on the strip included Lane French (1941), Toni Blum (1942), and Otto Binder (1942–43).
- The issue appeared during the brief transitional era when Feature Funnies mixed syndicated newspaper-strip reprints (Joe Palooka, Mickey Finn, Dixie Dugan, Jane Arden) with newly created original material supplied largely by the Eisner & Iger studio.
- Feature Funnies #13 appeared only a handful of months after Action Comics #1 (June 1938) kicked off the superhero era; the Black X spy feature represented an alternative genre direction — cloak-and-dagger espionage rather than caped adventure — at a pivotal moment in the medium's formation.
- The series as a whole was acquired by DC Comics when DC purchased Quality Comics in 1956, bringing the entire Feature Funnies / Feature Comics run under DC's ownership.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Gwandanaland Comics #2005 (2018)
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