King Comics #2
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeKing Comics #2 (May 1936) is the second issue of David McKay's groundbreaking anthology title — the series that effectively introduced American readers to the concept of a monthly comic book built entirely from newspaper strip reprints. Within only its second outing, the title assembled an extraordinary roster of King Features Syndicate properties under one cover, giving readers E. C. Segar's Thimble Theatre alongside Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim on the same shared pages, a concentrated window into the most popular adventure and humor strips of the mid-1930s. The Thimble Theatre section brings Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Swee'pea — Segar's adopted infant, introduced in the strip in 1933 — into the comic book format so soon after the medium itself was taking shape, cementing these characters as foundational figures of early comic book publishing. The issue also preserves Segar's rarely spotlighted companion strip John Sappo as an unlisted 'topper,' making this a small but genuine archive of his full creative output at that moment.
# Exciting Comics #2 An anthology featuring multiple action stories, including a tale of alien invaders from Mercury who capture a woman named Jane, forcing her to help them build a rocket by threatening her and a male companion trapped in a laboratory. Sergeant Bill King, a British soldier on the Western Front during World War I, escorts his captain through communication trenches but encounters a German raiding party; after a fierce hand-to-hand battle, Bill defeats the Germans and recovers the captain's missing skipper. The Sphinx, a powerful hero, battles attacking sailors aboard a ship and battles a mysterious figure called the Bulkhead, ultimately preventing the destruction of the vessel as the Seasprite explodes and its crew falls victim to their own sabotage plot.
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David McKay Company launched King Comics in April 1936, building the series around a licensing arrangement with King Features Syndicate that allowed full reprinting of its syndicated Sunday strips. The series ran monthly for 155 issues through 1949, with covers drawn throughout by Joe Musial and the editorial column written by Ruth Plumly Thompson, who used the pen name 'Jo King.' The success of the King Comics formula directly inspired McKay's companion title Ace Comics, which launched in 1937 carrying some of the same strip features. Issue #2 appeared the month after the debut, continuing the pattern of reprinting four Sunday pages each from multiple features, with the Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim strips sharing their original combined newspaper page layout.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published May 1936 by David McKay Company as the second issue of a monthly anthology series that ran for 155 issues through 1949.
- Reprints four Sunday pages of E. C. Segar's Thimble Theatre (from the September 29–October 1935 newspaper run), featuring Popeye, Olive Oyl, and Swee'pea; the feature is listed as 'Popeye' in the table of contents but titled 'Thimble Theatre' on the interior pages.
- John Sappo — E. C. Segar's lesser-known companion strip — appears as a 'topper' strip to the Thimble Theatre pages but is not listed in the table of contents, making it an easy-to-miss Segar bonus.
- Flash Gordon and Jungle Jim share their four Sunday pages, reprinted from the September 29–October 20, 1935 newspaper run, both strips drawn and written by Alex Raymond and Don Moore — reflecting how the two strips originally shared a single broadsheet newspaper page.
- Flash Gordon villains Dale Arden, the Witch Queen of Mongo, and Emperor Ming all appear in this issue's Flash Gordon section.
- Henry — the pantomime comic strip created by Carl Anderson, who had moved the strip to King Features newspaper syndication in December 1934 — appears as a recurring feature, making these issues among Henry's earliest comic book appearances.
- The series was edited throughout by Ruth Plumly Thompson, credited inside the book under the pen name 'Jo King.'
- Covers for the King Comics series were drawn by Joe Musial, a King Features staff artist who became closely associated with the Popeye property.
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