Master Comics #13
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMaster Comics #13 (April 1941) is a pivotal Golden Age anthology issue because it introduces Bulletgirl — Susan Kent transformed into the costumed, flying crime-fighter — making her one of the earliest female superheroes in American comics and a key figure in the short list of Golden Age man-and-woman superhero duos that predated Hawkgirl, Flame Girl, and Lightning Girl. Her debut permanently reshaped the Bulletman feature: from this issue forward she appeared in nearly every subsequent story, elevating the strip from a solo act to the "Flying Detectives" partnership that would sustain Fawcett's second-most-popular franchise through 1949. The issue also carries an early wartime appearance of Minute-Man — the flag-costumed "One Man Army" — contextualizing the book within the patriotic-hero wave of early 1941 that also included Captain America. These two threads together make #13 one of the more character-dense single issues in Fawcett's output.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 21 grades ▾
Find on ebay
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
Bulletman was created by writer Bill Parker and artist Jon Smalle and had been running since Nickel Comics #1 (May 1940) before moving to Master Comics. The transformation of supporting character Susan Kent into Bulletgirl for this issue was executed by artist Al Carreno, who drew the origin story titled "The Origin of Bulletgirl"; other contributors to the issue included Charles Sultan, George Tuska, and Alex Blum. The story was crafted within Fawcett's wartime editorial environment, where adding a female partner to the lead hero was a deliberate creative choice — following the Robin/Bucky sidekick model but applying it to a grown young woman rather than a boy — and it proved durable enough to sustain the feature for nearly a decade.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Bulletgirl (Susan Kent in costume): Master Comics #13, cover-dated April 1941 — corroborated by DC Database, Grand Comics Database, cosmicteams.com, and multiple collector sources.
- Susan Kent had already appeared as a civilian character since Nickel Comics #1 (May 1940); Master Comics #13 is specifically where she dons the Gravity Regulator Helmet and becomes Bulletgirl.
- The Bulletgirl origin story within this issue is titled "The Origin of Bulletgirl" and was drawn by Al Carreno; the character of Susan Kent was originally co-created by Bill Parker and Jon Smalle.
- Bulletman and Bulletgirl were Fawcett's second most popular characters after Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family, and their partnership earned the nickname "The Flying Detectives."
- Minute-Man (Jack Weston), whose first appearance was Master Comics #11 (February 1941), appears here in a story titled "Illyria Strikes Again" — featuring the recurring villainess Illyria, Queen of Spies.
- The issue is a multi-feature anthology also including Devil's Dagger ("Mr. H's Protection Racket"), El Carim, Captain Venture, Red Gaucho, Buck Jones, and Zoro the Mystery Man.
- The first page of the Bulletgirl origin story was reprinted in Men of Mystery #80 (2009) by AC Comics, which was able to reprint Golden Age Fawcett material because the stories had lapsed into the public domain.
- Both Bulletgirl and Minute-Man were later acquired by DC Comics and appeared in Justice League of America #135 (October 1976) as inhabitants of the parallel world Earth-S, with Bulletgirl's DC debut specifically listed there.
Cast · 7 characters
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in America's Greatest Comics #3 (2002), Golden-Age Treasury #1 (2003), Men of Mystery Comics #47 (2004), Men of Mystery Comics #80 (2009)
Key issues in Master Comics
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.