Master Comics #33
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMaster Comics #33 (released November 4, 1942) is a triple-debut issue that significantly broadened Fawcett's Golden Age editorial reach in a single package. It introduced the Hopalong Cassidy strip to comics — the movie cowboy's first-ever appearance in the medium — seeding what would become one of Fawcett's most commercially important licensed titles of the 1940s. The issue also launched Balbo the Boy Magician, a strip whose Black supporting character John Smith was drawn by Bert Whitman with a realism and dignity that was genuinely exceptional by the standards of 1942 comic-book representation. Capping the issue is Mac Raboy's war-cover showing Captain Marvel Jr. physically demolishing a Nazi swastika, one of the period's most direct pieces of superhero anti-fascist imagery.
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The issue went on sale November 4, 1942, under Ralph Daigh as executive editor, with Rod Reed and Al Allard sharing editorial duties. The sprawling 68-page anthology was produced by a large studio roster — Otto Binder and Joe Millard wrote the lead Captain Marvel Jr. and Bulletman strips respectively, while artist Mac Raboy (with backgrounds by Bob Rogers, as Rogers himself confirmed in an Alter-Ego #7 interview) executed the cover. Ralph Carlson drew the inaugural Hopalong Cassidy story with a script credited at the time to 'Parkhurst' but now identified by the Grand Comics Database as Carlson himself working from an Otto Binder script. Bert Whitman both wrote and drew the first Balbo the Boy Magician installment, 'Death Walks the Stage!'
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published November 4, 1942, by Fawcett Publications; 68 pages, anthology format.
- Cover: Mac Raboy (pencils/inks) with backgrounds by Bob Rogers — depicts Captain Marvel Jr. smashing a Nazi swastika; titled internally 'Captain Marvel Jr. Swats the Swastika!'
- First comics appearance of Hopalong Cassidy, the licensed movie-cowboy character portrayed on screen by William Boyd; his strip ran in Master Comics through issue #49 before Fawcett launched a standalone Hopalong Cassidy title in 1943.
- First in-title appearance of Balbo the Boy Magician, a non-powered stage magician strip created and drawn by Bert Whitman; ran in Master Comics #33–47 and crossed over into America's Greatest Comics #7.
- Balbo's strip is notable for John Smith, a recurring Black adult supporting character rendered with unusual dignity and realism for the Golden Age — a meaningful contrast to the period's common caricatures.
- Captain Marvel Jr. (Freddy Freeman) is the lead feature, continuing his established run in the title; regular antagonist Captain Nazi also appears in this issue.
- Additional features include Bulletman and Bulletgirl, Minute-Man, and a western backup previously headlined by Buck Jones — now replaced by Hopalong Cassidy.
- The cover's background credit to Bob Rogers was misattributed to Master Comics #27 in the Alter-Ego #7 interview; Rogers himself clarified the correct issue was #33.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Balbo, the Boy Magician [Mighty Midget Comic] #12 (1943), Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War #[nn] (2017)
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