Planet Comics #35
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freePlanet Comics #35 (cover-dated March 1945) is the debut issue of Mysta of the Moon, one of the most fully realized science-fiction heroines of the Golden Age — a young woman endowed with the sum of all human knowledge who goes on to anchor the title for nearly four more years. The issue is simultaneously the swan song of the 'Mars, God of War' serial that had run since issue #15, making it a rare single-issue hinge point where one long-running feature literally births its replacement mid-story. In an era when female protagonists were usually imperiled bystanders, Mysta's origin — defeating an evil god, avenging her mentor, and voluntarily assuming the burden of guarding all of civilization's accumulated knowledge — was a genuinely distinctive premise; the Science Fiction Encyclopedia later singled out Mysta and Futura as the title's most 'dynamic and independent' female leads. Fiction House's deliberate practice of assigning female artists to female-led strips also makes this issue part of a broader, historically notable editorial policy.
In "Jupiter," Mars launches a brutal campaign to erase Earth's cultural legacy, destroying museums and churches before turning his fury on the planet's last university. With the help of a rogue robot and a stolen mind, he infiltrates the moon's hidden lab, where Dr. Kort has raised Mysta and Nors as guardians of humanity's past. Written by Ross Gallun and illustrated by Joe Doolin, this 1945 adventure sees the young saviors face their darkest trial when Mars corrupts Nors and forces him to betray everything they stand for. The cover, a striking piece by Lily Renée, captures the cosmic stakes of a war fought not just for Earth, but for memory itself.
In "null," Hunt and Lyssa explore a derelict amusement park, where they encounter the outcast Waxman—a hunchbacked figure with a grudge against the Volta Men. When more of the alien invaders arrive, the trio is captured, but the story leaves their fate hanging in the balance.
In "null," Mars unleashes a violent crusade against Earth’s remaining cultural bastions, targeting the last university after dismantling museums and churches. With Dr. Kort’s lunar laboratory as his final objective, Mars manipulates a robot and then possesses Nors, forcing him to kill the scientist and destroy the sanctuary where Mysta and Nors were raised as Earth’s last hope. Mysta, driven by grief and resolve, ends Nors’s life and swears to one day stand against Mars.
In "null," Gale leads Professors Wise and McGinty on a perilous expedition to an unknown planetoid, where ancient, hibernating followers of the Pluto Cult awaken to confront the intruders. With quick thinking and decisive action, Gale stands against the towering cultists, turning the tide in a tense, high-stakes encounter.
An Earthman explorer travels to Jupiter aboard a tractormobile equipped with anti-gravity devices, where he'll encounter the stocky, four-foot-tall Gurks—semi-civilized inhabitants locked in constant battle against bizarre fungus creatures and grotesque monstrosities. The tropical planet, still young with a hot core, teems with lush vegetation and startling alien life forms at every turn. This 1945 tale captures the raw wonder and danger of a world utterly unlike Earth, where survival itself is an adventure.
In the 1945 sci-fi tale "null" from Planet Comics #35, the mysterious Dorna unleashes tiny "molecule men" upon Earth, watching as they swell to monstrous size and defy destruction. With the planet under siege, Flint and Reef turn to World War Two-era flame throwers from a museum, wielding them in a desperate bid to shrink and destroy the invaders—though even they admit they’re not sure how it works.
In "null," Star and Gura confront Senator Braxon with the brutal reality of the Orion mines, forcing him to witness the suffering under his oversight. As the senator grapples with the truth, he’s compelled to act—though what comes next remains uncertain.
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The issue was published by Fiction House on March 10, 1945, edited by Paul Payne, and priced at ten cents for 52 pages. The key origin story — a Mars, God of War installment — was written under the house pseudonym Ross Gallun and drawn in its entirety by Joe Doolin, who was then in the peak year of a prodigious run producing roughly 40 Fiction House covers in a single twelve-month stretch. The cover itself is by Doolin as well, consistent with his near-total monopoly on Planet Comics covers between issues #26 and #65. Interior art was also contributed by Lily Renée, Murphy Anderson, and Fran Hopper (née Dietrick), three artists whose names became synonymous with the title's visual identity; Fiction House was one of the few publishers of the era that actively employed female artists, and those artists' contributions to this and surrounding issues were later recognized as among the finest good-girl-art illustration of the period.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance and full origin of Mysta of the Moon, cover-dated March 10, 1945 — her adventures subsequently ran through Planet Comics #62 (1949).
- Final chapter of the 'Mars, God of War' serial, which had occupied the title since issue #15; after #35, Mysta absorbed Mars's slot and the feature was renamed in her honor starting with issue #36.
- The origin story establishes the core concept: scientist Dr. Kort has raised two stolen infants — Mysta and her brother Nors — on the Moon, using a hypno-transmitter to download the entirety of human culture and knowledge into their minds, as a safeguard against Mars's campaign to destroy all learning on Earth.
- Mars possesses the boy (Nors) and uses him to murder Dr. Kort; Mysta kills Nors, defeats Mars, and takes up the mission of restoring knowledge and civilization — establishing her robot companion and moon-base headquarters that define the series.
- Written under the pseudonym 'Ross Gallun' (also spelled 'Ross Gallen' in some secondary sources), with pencils and inks both attributed to Joe Doolin — the same creative team that produced the entire Mars, God of War run from #15 onward.
- Art contributions across the issue from Lily Renée, Murphy Anderson, and Fran Hopper, reflecting Fiction House's documented policy of assigning female artists to female-led strips.
- The debut story was reprinted in Thrilling Planet Tales (AC Comics, 1991) and in the Gwandanaland Comics collection 'Mysta of the Moon' (#366, March 2017), making it one of the better-documented Planet Comics reprints.
- Planet Comics was identified by the Science Fiction Encyclopedia as 'the first comic book dedicated wholly to science fiction,' giving this issue a place in the foundational run of the medium's sci-fi genre.
Cast · 2 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Man O' Mars #1 (1953), Thrilling Planet Tales #[nn] (1991), Men of Mystery Comics #26 (2000), Gwandanaland Comics #366 (2017), Gale Allen and the Girl Squadron #5
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