Ibis #1

History

The character debuted in Whiz Comics #2 (February 1940), created by writer Bill Parker and artist Bob Kingett as part of Fawcett's founding superhero lineup — the same issue that introduced Captain Marvel. By late 1942, editor Rod Reed greenlit a solo quarterly title; the debut issue was cover-dated for December 10, 1942 and priced at ten cents for its 68 pages. The lead origin story was scripted by Otto Binder — already the driving creative force behind the Captain Marvel family — with interior art attributed (with some uncertainty) to Pete Costanza, while cover duties went to Mac Raboy, then at the height of his reputation as Fawcett's most accomplished cover painter. A secondary feature, a horror-inflected prose-and-art werewolf tale, was contributed by pulp and fantasy writer Manly Wade Wellman writing under the house pseudonym 'Juan Lopez,' and a humor strip, 'Sir Butch,' was both written and drawn by the young Dave Berg. L. Miller & Son, the British reprint house that licensed much of Fawcett's output for UK readers, subsequently published their own edition for the British market, making the issue part of the transatlantic reach of the Fawcett superhero line.

Trivia · 10 facts

• Prince Amentep / Ibis the Invincible first appeared in Whiz Comics #2 (February 1940), created by writer Bill Parker and artist Bob Kingett — the same landmark issue that introduced Captain Marvel.
• Ibis the Invincible #1 is dated December 10, 1942, runs 68 pages, and was published by Fawcett Publications at a cover price of ten cents; it is the character's first solo title after two-plus years as a Whiz Comics backup strip.
• The cover was painted by Mac Raboy, who was simultaneously the definitive artist of Captain Marvel Jr. and later spent two decades drawing the Sunday Flash Gordon newspaper strip.
• The lead story, 'Origin of Ibis the Invincible,' was scripted by Otto Binder (with interior art attributed to Pete Costanza) and provides the first full, expanded retelling of the character's origin — introducing the Black Pharaoh (Mesu), the demon-god Set as his ally, and the Ibistick's rule that it can only be used for good.
• The issue also contains three additional 14-page Ibis adventures pitting him against Asian dictator Ching Fang, the supernatural demon Nightmare (conjured by blackmailing gangsters), and a Mayan bat-god named Zoltil — stories whose writers and artists remain unidentified in surviving records.
• A secondary horror-prose feature scripted by Manly Wade Wellman (billed under the pseudonym 'Juan Lopez') and a 6-page humor strip by Dave Berg round out the issue's contents.
• The origin story from this issue was reprinted in the same year as Ibis [Mighty Midget Comic] #11 (Samuel E. Lowe & Co., 1942) in a slightly edited miniature format, as well as in Fawcett's own Gift Comics #1 (1942), and again in Flashback #34 (DynaPubs Enterprises, 1973) — and most recently in PS Artbooks Softee: Ibis the Invincible #1 (May 2024).
• The solo series ran for six issues total, from 1942 through 1948; the character himself appeared in every issue of Whiz Comics from #2 through #155 (1940–1953), making him — according to research at RPGnet forums — the second-longest-running magician character of the Golden Age behind only Mandrake the Magician.
• After Fawcett ceased publishing in 1953, DC Comics licensed the Fawcett characters in 1972 (placing them on the parallel world Earth-S) and bought them outright in 1991; Ibis subsequently appeared in DC's All-Star Squadron, The Power of Shazam!, and the 2007 one-shot Helmet of Fate: Ibis the Invincible #1 (written by Tad Williams, art by Phil Winslade), which introduced a successor character, Daniel Khalifa.
• The character is now in the public domain, as evidenced by Antarctic Press publishing new Ibis material within Exciting Comics beginning in 2022.