More Fun Comics #9
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMore Fun Comics #9 (cover-dated March–April 1936) holds a structurally important place in the prehistory of American comics as the first issue of the series to appear in the standard comic-book trim size, completing the physical transition from a large tabloid magazine into something recognizable as a modern periodical. It also carries the fourth and concluding chapter of the 'Vampire Master' arc — the debut multi-part story arc featuring Doctor Occult, the supernatural detective created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster under pseudonyms before they launched Superman, making this issue a direct artifact of that creative laboratory. Writers like Les Daniels have pointed to Doctor Occult as a prototype of Superman himself, so the resolution of his very first extended storyline in this issue resonates far beyond its modest page count. The same issue also delivers a contemporaneous comic-strip adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island,' situating the book as representative of how early anthology comics blended original superhero-adjacent content with literary adaptation.
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The title began life as New Fun Comics, published by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's National Allied Publications — the company that would become DC Comics — and was the first American comic book to feature entirely original material rather than reprints of newspaper strips. It was renamed More Fun with issue #7 and then More Fun Comics on the cover beginning with issue #9, though the indicia did not formally update to that title until issue #20. Issue #9 itself was produced under Wheeler-Nicholson's editorial stewardship, with the Doctor Occult and Henri Duval strips contributed by Siegel and Shuster under the pseudonyms 'Leger and Reuths' — partial anagrams of their surnames — a byline they used while still struggling to place their Superman concept with a publisher.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover-dated March–April 1936; published by National Allied Publications (the predecessor to DC Comics).
- This issue was the first standard-sized comic book in the More Fun series, completing the title's physical transition away from its original large tabloid format.
- The cover title 'More Fun Comics' debuted with this issue, though the indicia did not formally adopt the name until issue #20.
- Contains the fourth and final chapter of the 'Vampire Master' story arc — Doctor Occult's debut multi-part storyline, written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by Joe Shuster under the pen names 'Leger and Reuths.'
- The Vampire Master is revealed as Bart Moore, a rejected suitor of Mrs. Amster, and not a supernatural creature at all but a mad scientist whose 'Thought Materializer' device can create and destroy physical duplicates of any figure he imagines.
- Doctor Occult and Henri Duval, both Siegel & Shuster features, remained one-page strips in this issue while most other running features were expanded to two pages.
- The issue also includes an installment of a comic-strip adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's 'Treasure Island' (Episode 5 of 7), which is the source of the Long John Silver character indexed for this issue.
- The entire contents of More Fun Comics #9 were reprinted in New Book of Comics #1 (1936), which is documented as the first comic book annual published in the United States.
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Reprinted in New Book of Comics #1 (1936), Cavalier Comics #2 (1945), Wooley’s History of the Comic Book, 1899 – 1936: The Origin of the Superhero #[nn] (1986), DC Comics Before Superman: Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's Pulp Comics #[nn] (2018)
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