Marvel Mystery Comics #14
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMarvel Mystery Comics #14 (December 1940) delivers the second appearance of Aarkus the Vision — the extra-dimensional alien lawman created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby just one issue earlier — making this the immediate follow-up to one of Timely's most consequential character debuts of the year. The issue also captures Bill Everett's Sub-Mariner already taking the fight to Nazi submarine forces, placing Timely's flagship anthology among the earliest superhero comics to engage directly with the war in Europe months before Pearl Harbor. As a dense 68-page anthology featuring the full roster of Timely's early stars — the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, the Angel, Ka-Zar, Electro, the Vision, and Terry Vance — it stands as a representative snapshot of the company at the precise moment its universe was crystallizing into the Golden Age's most ambitious superhero line.
In "The Cult of Fire-Men," Namor and Dorma race to thwart a hidden Nazi submarine base off Florida’s coast, following a chilling revelation from a captured lieutenant. Penciled, inked, and written by Bill Everett, this 1940 issue delivers a pulse-pounding wartime adventure with a mysterious island threat. The cover by Alex Schomburg captures the eerie, fiery menace of the cult’s lair.
In "The Cult of Fire-Men," the Torch faces a grim moral crossroads: hunting down killers who committed murder, yet the victim was a man who planned to destroy the world. Written by an unknown author and illustrated by an unknown artist, this 1940 tale pits heroism against the weight of impossible choices.
In "Blitzing the U-Boat Base," Namor and Dorma race to a remote island off Florida’s coast after uncovering a secret Nazi submarine base from a captured lieutenant. With the fate of the Atlantic shipping lanes hanging in the balance, the Sub-Mariner and his ally must strike before the Axis powers strengthen their foothold.
In "The Synthetic Diamonds," the Angel investigates a mine operator with suspicious ties to radium-laden equipment, uncovering a hidden operation behind the creation of synthetic diamonds. With sharp instincts and a keen eye for danger, he digs into a mystery that’s as dazzling as it is dangerous.
In "The Werewolf Strikes," the Vision confronts a terrifying threat when a man transformed by a cursed bite from the lost Tibetan City of Demons—Gordon Sanders—emerges as a werewolf, forcing the hero into a deadly clash with a creature born from ancient horror.
In "The Kidnapping of Diana Dunn," Deadline enlists reporter Terry for a routine interview with the glamorous actress Diana Dunn—only for a seemingly staged movie scene to spiral into a real-life abduction. With the star vanished and the set still echoing with fake dialogue, Terry and Deadline must unravel a mystery where illusion and danger blur.
When the Fairbanks Iron Works is destroyed, Electro is driven underground, where he must face the mysterious Onees—ancient beings who seize control of a robot and force Professor Zog to intervene. In this 1940 adventure from Marvel Mystery Comics #14, the clash of science and subterranean forces unfolds in eight pages of early superhero suspense.
In "Escape from New York," Ka-Zar risks everything to free his friend Zar from a jungle zoo, then flees aboard a British vessel bound for Africa—only to face a sudden and deadly threat when the ship is struck by a submarine torpedo.
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The issue was edited by Joe Simon, who had been hired by publisher Martin Goodman to build Timely's in-house creative staff, and who brought collaborator Jack Kirby into the fold — the same pairing responsible for the Vision's debut one issue prior and for the soon-to-launch Captain America Comics. Carl Burgos handled the Human Torch strip and Bill Everett the Sub-Mariner, both working on the characters they had created for Marvel Comics #1 in 1939; Paul Gustavson continued his long-running Angel feature, while Ray Gill and Bob Oksner supplied Terry Vance and Steve Dahlman provided Electro. The cover, by Alex Schomburg — who was becoming the house's signature cover illustrator — depicted Sub-Mariner facing a Nazi horde and also reproduced the cover of the newly launched Human Torch Comics #2, functioning as an in-book advertisement for that new solo title.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published December 1940 (on-sale Week 43, 1940) by Timely Comics; cover price 10 cents, 68 pages.
- Second appearance of the Golden Age Vision (Aarkus), the extra-dimensional hero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who had debuted in Marvel Mystery Comics #13 the previous month.
- The Vision story, 'The Werewolf Strikes,' pits Aarkus against two werewolves — one a survivor of a cursed Tibetan expedition — continuing the character's blend of supernatural horror and superhero action established in his debut.
- Bill Everett's Sub-Mariner story features Namor and Dorma routing Nazi paratroopers and then assaulting a secret Axis submarine base near the coast of Florida — among Timely's earliest explicitly anti-Axis narratives.
- Carl Burgos's Human Torch story (continued from this issue into #15) involves the Torch investigating the murderous Fire Cult, pitting the android hero against a secret underground organization.
- The Alex Schomburg cover reproduces the cover of Human Torch Comics #2 as an interior advertisement, marking the cross-promotion of Timely's new solo Human Torch title.
- The Angel story ('The Synthetic Diamonds') was scripted and drawn by Paul Gustavson; Terry Vance was handled by Ray Gill and Bob Oksner; Electro by Steve Dahlman; Ka-Zar by Ben Thompson.
- The issue's contents are collected in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics Vol. 4 (reprinting MMC #13–16) and the Golden Age Marvel Comics Omnibus Vol. 2; the Human Torch story was also reprinted in Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Human Torch by Carl Burgos Omnibus (2019). The cover was reproduced in Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War (Fantagraphics, 2017).
Cast · 14 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in The Complete Jack Kirby #[2] (1997), Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics #4 (2009), The Best of Simon and Kirby #[nn] (2009), Young Allies 70th Anniversary Special #1 (2009), Mystic Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1 (2009), Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War #[nn] (2017), Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Sub-Mariner by Bill Everett - The Pre-War Years Omnibus #[nn] (2019), Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Simon & Kirby Omnibus #[nn] (2019), Timely's Greatest: The Golden Age Human Torch by Carl Burgos Omnibus #[nn] (2019), Golden Age Marvel Comics Omnibus #2 (2020)
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