Paragon Presents #1

History

Bill Black founded Paragon Publications in 1969, initially operating through fanzines and the Paragon Illustrated magazine before graduating to comic format with Paragon Presents in 1970. The creation of the flagship character, Captain Paragon, was directly prompted by legal caution: Black had written and drawn a Captain Marvel revival for an earlier fanzine issue, but on advice from publishing mentor Martin Greim, he destroyed nearly the entire print run of that story and rebuilt the concept as an original character to avoid any conflict with Fawcett Publications. The early Paragon titles were produced almost entirely by Black himself — writing, inking, lettering, and editing — with the company able to output only about three issues per year during this period.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Paragon Presents #1 (1970) was the first comic book title published by Bill Black's Paragon Publications, the company that would later rebrand as Americomics (1982) and then AC Comics (1984).
• The issue introduced Captain Paragon in comics form — an original superhero character created by Bill Black whose secret identity is Charlie Starrett, a 19th-century ranch hand who had also operated as the Western gunslinger the Latigo Kid before being super-powered by a secret organization called the Paragon Foundation.
• Captain Paragon's creation was a deliberate pivot: Bill Black had originally written a Captain Marvel revival story for a prior fanzine but destroyed almost the entire print run on legal advice from mentor Martin Greim, then rebuilt the concept as his own character for this series.
• The issue features art and writing credits from both original creators (Bill Black, Dave Manning) and prominent Marvel Comics talent of the era (John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Dick Ayers, Werner Roth, Syd Shores, Tom Sutton, Doug Wildey, C.C. Beck), indicating the anthology included reprinted Marvel and/or Golden Age stories alongside original material.
• Marvel characters Black Widow (Natasha Romanova) and the original Western Ghost Rider (Carter Slade) are indexed as appearing in this issue — consistent with the Silver Age Marvel artist credits, suggesting reprinted Marvel stories were part of the anthology mix.
• The Captain Paragon stories from Paragon Presents #1 and #2 were recapped in Captain Paragon (AC, 1972) #1, establishing the 1970 series as the direct narrative origin point of the AC superhero universe.
• The issue was published in black-and-white at 32 pages, typical of the budget-constrained early Paragon output, during a period when Black handled nearly all creative and editorial duties himself.
• Villain characters the Shroud and Proxima — who became recurring antagonists in the Captain Paragon mythology — were established in the Paragon Presents storyline, with the Shroud placing Captain Paragon in a supernatural trance and Proxima later stealing his body to use as a weapon.

Cast · 11 characters

Full credits