Flash Comics #29
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFlash Comics #29 (May 1942) earns its place in Golden Age history primarily as the debut of the Ghost Patrol — Fred, Pedro, and Slim, three French Foreign Legion aviators who die by Nazi sabotage and return as ghosts determined to haunt the Axis. The feature was unusual enough in its wartime supernatural premise that it ran as a regular backup in Flash Comics all the way through the series' final issue (#104), demonstrating that readers responded to its peculiar mix of patriotic purpose and spectral adventure. Beyond that debut, the issue captures the anthology format at its wartime peak: Gardner Fox's Jay Garrick story shares the book with Hawkman (Sheldon Moldoff), Johnny Thunder (Stan Aschmeier), The Whip, King, and Ed Wheelan's 'Minute Movies,' making it a dense cross-section of what DC's superhero anthology publishing looked like in the middle of World War II.
In "The Man Who Harnessed the Sun!", the Flash races against time to stop a mad scientist's deadly invention—one that can track him at the speed of light and unleash purple lightning to destroy him. Written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by E. E. Hibbard with inks by Hal Sharp, this 1942 classic showcases the hero’s ingenuity and speed in a high-stakes battle of wits and velocity. The cover, by Sheldon Moldoff, captures the electric tension of the showdown.
In "The Man Who Harnessed the Sun!", the Flash races against time and a terrifying new threat: a mad scientist wielding a device that can track him at the speed of light and unleash deadly purple lightning. With the city's safety hanging in the balance, the Fastest Man Alive must outthink a foe who's turned science itself into a weapon.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 16 grades ▾
More listings for this title
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue carried a cover date of May 1942 and was published by All-American Publications (at that time operating under the J.R. Publishing Company imprint). The lead Flash story — 'The Man Who Harnessed the Sun,' pitting Jay Garrick against a mad scientist with a light-speed tracking machine — was scripted by Gardner Fox with art by Everett E. Hibbard (pencils) and Harold Wilson Sharp (inks), the regular creative team on the feature at that period. The Ghost Patrol debut, titled 'Introducing the Ghost Patrol,' was written by Emanuel Demby (some sources credit Ted Udall as the primary ongoing writer of the feature) and drawn by Frank Harry; the cover itself was provided by Sheldon Moldoff.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: May 1942; published by All-American Publications / J.R. Publishing Company.
- First appearance and origin of the Ghost Patrol — Fred, Pedro, and Slim, three French Foreign Legion aviators killed by Nazi sabotage who return as ghosts to fight the Axis, with powers of invisibility and intangibility.
- The Ghost Patrol debuted in the story titled 'Introducing the Ghost Patrol,' written by Emanuel Demby and drawn by Frank Harry; Ted Udall is credited by several sources as the principal ongoing writer of the feature throughout its run.
- The Ghost Patrol proved durable enough to appear in 73 issues of Flash Comics (from #29 through near the end of the series), plus appearances in Comic Cavalcade and the Big All-American Comics Book (1944).
- Lead Flash feature: 'The Man Who Harnessed the Sun,' scripted by Gardner Fox with art by Everett E. Hibbard and inker Harold Wilson Sharp — Jay Garrick battles a mad scientist whose machine can track the Flash at the speed of light and destroy him with purple lightning.
- Cover art by Sheldon Moldoff; one collector blog notes this issue also features what appears to be Hawkgirl's first cover appearance in costume (albeit without her headgear), though Shiera does not don her costume inside the issue.
- Other backup features in this 68-page anthology include Hawkman ('Case of the Human Plants,' by Fox and Moldoff), Johnny Thunder ('Spooks,' by John B. Wentworth and Stan Aschmeier), The Whip ('Bank Holdup,' by Charles Reizenstein and Homer Fleming), King ('The Writer and the Witch,' by Fox and Harry Lampert), and Ed Wheelan's 'Minute Movies' ('Jailbreak').
- No reprint of the Ghost Patrol's debut story from Flash Comics #29 has been widely documented in the major DC Archives or collected-edition programs, which focused on the Flash and Hawkman features.
Full credits
Key issues in Flash Comics
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.