Popular Comics #52
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freePopular Comics #52 (Dell, 1940) is an early example of American comic books treating a Founding Father as a recurring character subject, placing Benjamin Franklin — statesman, scientist, and inventor — into the emerging comic-book medium at the height of the Golden Age. The title itself was one of Dell's flagship newspaper-strip reprint anthologies, launched in 1936, and its inclusion of Franklin content reflects a broader wartime-era publishing trend of using patriotic historical figures to connect young readers to American civic identity. Franklin would go on to appear in Popular Comics again (issue #61), showing that the character had enough appeal for repeated use within the same title. The issue sits within a series widely credited with helping establish the anthology comic-book format that would define the Golden Age marketplace.
The Masked Pilot and Tom race to the aviation factory of their friend Dwight Ellis, whose plane designs have been mysteriously compromised. With tension mounting, the Pilot uncovers a traitor among the workers—only to find himself in a desperate struggle for survival. Written, drawn, and inked by Bob Jenny, this 1940 adventure blends wartime intrigue with high-stakes action in a 10-cent comic that captures the spirit of early superhero pulp.
In "null," the Masked Pilot and his ally Tom race to uncover a saboteur at an aviation factory tied to mysterious leaks in plane designs. When the truth surfaces, the Pilot must fight for his life to stop the traitor before the sabotage spreads further.
In "null," Martan, a scientist from the distant planet Antaclea, arrives on Earth during a desperate stand at Hoboken, offering his alien knowledge of inter-planetary warfare to help defend the Jersey shore from a sudden invasion from beyond the stars. With no time to spare, he joins the fight, bringing with him secrets of cosmic defense that could turn the tide—though the true cost of his aid remains unknown.
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Popular Comics launched with Dell's first issue in 1936 as a reprint vehicle for popular newspaper strips — titles like Terry and the Pirates, Felix the Cat, Smilin' Jack, Smokey Stover, and Gasoline Alley filled its pages throughout its run. The series was produced in partnership with Western Printing and ran until 1948, and issues from the 1940 period typically ran 68 pages in full color at a ten-cent cover price. The Benjamin Franklin content in issue #52 would have been new editorial material rather than a newspaper-strip reprint, consistent with the biographical and patriotic short features Dell occasionally inserted alongside its strip reprints during this period, though specific creator credits for this segment have not surfaced in available online sources.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Popular Comics was published by Dell from 1936 to 1948, serving as one of the company's primary newspaper-strip reprint anthology titles.
- Issue #52 is indexed as containing a comics appearance of Benjamin Franklin, making it one of the earliest comic-book treatments of that Founding Father by a major publisher.
- Franklin would appear again in Popular Comics #61, indicating the character was revisited within the same title — a notable pattern for historically themed content in this era.
- Typical issues of Popular Comics around issue #52 ran approximately 68 pages in full color, featuring strips from creators including Milton Caniff (Terry and the Pirates), Bill Holman (Smokey Stover), and Frank King (Gasoline Alley).
- The series was produced in conjunction with Western Printing, the same production partner behind many of Dell's Golden Age titles.
- Benjamin Franklin's appearance in Popular Comics #52 is part of a documented wave of Golden Age comics — including titles such as World Famous Heroes #1, True Comics, and Whiz Comics #26 — that featured Franklin as a patriotic/historical subject during the early 1940s.
- The Public Domain Super Heroes wiki indexes Popular Comics #52 among more than a dozen Golden Age comics featuring Benjamin Franklin as a character, situating it in a recognizable subgenre of civic-educational comics content.
- No specific writer or artist credit for the Benjamin Franklin segment of issue #52 has been identified in currently available online databases or collector resources.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Large Feature Comic #17 (1941), Men of Mystery Comics #95 (2014), Men of Mystery Comics #94 (2014), Men of Mystery Comics #104 (2017), Men of Mystery Comics #112 (2019)
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