Master Comics #26
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMaster Comics #26 is a core chapter in the early career of Captain Marvel Jr., the darker, more street-level Marvel Family spin-off that Fawcett built into one of the best-selling superhero titles of World War II. With writer Otto Binder and artist Mac Raboy working at full strength only three issues into Captain Marvel Jr.'s run as the series' headliner, the issue showcases the deliberate tonal contrast Fawcett had engineered: where C. C. Beck's Captain Marvel stories leaned whimsical, Raboy's anatomically precise, almost cinematic draftsmanship gave Junior's adventures a grimmer register that was genuinely unusual for superhero comics of 1942. The issue also continues the serialized use of recurring villains — Mr. Macabre and Captain Nazi together in a single story — at a time when most Golden Age anthologies treated each installment as a standalone, making it an early example of the kind of connected narrative continuity that would later become standard in superhero publishing.
In "The Return of Mr. Macabre!", Freddy swaps lives with a wealthy but bored boy, only to find himself caught in a dangerous game when the sinister Mr. Macabre and Captain Nazi target him—not for his wealth, but for his father’s secret plans for a rocket bomber. Written by Otto Binder and brought to life with bold, dynamic art by Mac Raboy, this 1942 adventure blends espionage and high-stakes mischief in a classic Fawcett tale. The cover, also by Mac Raboy, captures the tension with a striking image of Freddy in peril.
In "The Return of Mr. Macabre!", Freddy swaps lives with a wealthy boy tired of his privileged existence—only to find himself caught in a dangerous game when the sinister Mr. Macabre and Captain Nazi target him to reach his father’s secret rocket bomber plans.
In "Wanted Dead or Alive," a newly freed prisoner sets out to ruin Buck Jones, the man who put him behind bars, by posing as him and pulling off a string of daring robberies—each one drawing a bounty on Buck’s head, dead or alive.
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By the time issue #26 reached newsstands in April 1942, Fawcett had reorganized Master Comics around Captain Marvel Jr., who had formally taken over as lead feature with issue #23 following the landmark three-part crossover in late 1941 that introduced both Junior and Captain Nazi. The lead story was scripted by Otto Binder — already a prolific and shaping force in the Fawcett stable — and drawn entirely by Mac Raboy, whose background in WPA illustration and admiration for Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon gave his pages a lush realism that stood apart from most of his peers. Bob Rogers is documented as having assisted Raboy with backgrounds on several issues in this run, a production practice confirmed in an interview published in Alter Ego magazine.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date May 1942; on-sale date April 3, 1942; published by Fawcett Publications, 68 pages, full color.
- Cover art by Mac Raboy, whose poster-style, word-balloon-free covers for Master Comics during 1942–1944 were noted for their patriotic, 'posteresque' design.
- Lead feature: 'The Return of Mr. Macabre!' starring Captain Marvel Jr. (Freddy Freeman) — script by Otto Binder, pencils and inks by Mac Raboy.
- Mr. Macabre (alter ego: Filpot) had first appeared — and apparently died — in Master Comics #24; his return here marks one of the earliest instances of a Golden Age villain being brought back after a seemingly conclusive defeat.
- Captain Nazi (Albrecht Krieger) co-stars as a villain alongside Mr. Macabre in the lead story, continuing his role as Captain Marvel Jr.'s primary antagonist introduced in the landmark Master Comics #21 crossover.
- Additional features include a Bulletman story ('The Terror of the Iceberg,' also scripted by Otto Binder), a Minute Man story ('Dr. Hour,' art by Phil Bard), El Carim, Buck Jones, and the Companions Three — reflecting the anthology's broad wartime lineup.
- The Captain Marvel Jr. story from this issue was reprinted in DC Comics' hardcover The Shazam! Family Archives Vol. 1 (2006), which collected Master Comics #23–32 alongside Captain Marvel Jr. #1 and Captain Marvel Adventures #18.
- The issue falls within the continuous run (Master Comics #23–32) that PS Artbooks reprinted in their 2023 Master Comics facsimile series.
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Reprinted in Captain Marvel Jr. [Mighty Midget Comic] #11 (1942), Master Comics #87 (1954), Funny Animals #91 (1956), The Shazam! Family Archives #1 (2006), Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War #[nn] (2017), Gwandanaland Comics #1101
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