Star Spangled Comics #87
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeStar Spangled Comics #87 (December 1948) captures a pivotal transitional moment in the anthology's run: it is the first issue in which the Merry, Girl of 1,000 Gimmicks feature dropped all pretense of being a Star-Spangled Kid vehicle and operated fully under her own banner, with writer Otto Binder and artist Winslow Mortimer steering her through a standalone 'Crime on Ice' adventure. That shift matters because Merry — a gadget-wielding, powerless teen heroine who had already shouldered the Star-Spangled Kid out of his own strip by issue #84 — represents one of the few Golden Age attempts to center a female crime-fighter in a sustained solo anthology slot, making #87 a concrete data point in the short, underappreciated run she enjoyed through #90. The issue also sits squarely within Robin's long-running solo tenure at Star Spangled Comics, a stretch comics historian Brian Cronin has noted gave Dick Grayson more Golden Age appearances than Batman himself. Taken together, the four features packed into this 52-page anthology — Robin, Captain Compass, Merry, and Tomahawk — reflect the breadth of late-Golden Age DC storytelling just as the superhero genre was beginning to cede anthology real estate to westerns and other genres.
In "The Sinister Baron!", racketeer Benny Broot stumbles upon a shocking family secret: his ancestor was a medieval robber baron. Inspired—and increasingly unhinged—he begins to embody the role, leading to a wave of crimes that force the Dynamic Duo to intervene before the act becomes deadly. Written by Bill Finger and illustrated by Bob Kane, with lettering by Ira Schnapp, this 1948 adventure features a cover by Jim Mooney that captures the tale’s eerie, swashbuckling flair.
In "The Sinister Baron!", racketeer Benny Broot stumbles upon a family secret that turns his criminal ambitions into something far more theatrical—his ancestor was a medieval robber baron, and now Benny’s convinced he’s inherited the man’s spirit. As he dons a costume and begins staging elaborate robberies in the name of his long-dead predecessor, the Dynamic Duo must unravel the truth before the act turns deadly.
In the rugged frontier of Bayport, tensions flare as Rankin and Filcher scheme to ignite an Indian war and drive settlers from land rich in silver. When only Abner Lowell stands firm to protect his town, he must face the growing threat alone.
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The issue carries a December 1948 cover date and was published on approximately December 10, 1948, according to copyright registration records filed with the U.S. Copyright Office (reg. B157260). Editor Jack Schiff oversaw the title at this stage of its run, having inherited it from original editor Whitney Ellsworth. The Robin lead story, 'The Sinister Baron,' was scripted (per Grand Comics Database attribution) by Bill Finger and drawn by Jim Mooney — who was ghosting for Bob Kane, with the art signed under Kane's name, a common practice of the era; letterer Ira Schnapp handled both the Merry strip's logo and its interior lettering, marking #87 as the issue on which Merry's feature fully shed the Star-Spangled Kid masthead per lettering historian Todd Klein's research. The Tomahawk backup continued the character's ongoing series begun in #69, written in this era primarily by France Herron and drawn by Fred Ray.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: December 1948; on-sale date approximately December 10, 1948, per U.S. Copyright Office registration number B157260.
- Four features appear: Robin ('The Sinister Baron'), Captain Compass ('Mr. and Mrs. Jonah'), Merry, Girl of 1,000 Gimmicks ('Crime on Ice'), and Tomahawk ('The Man Who Built a City'); 52 pages, cover price 10¢.
- The Robin lead story was drawn by Jim Mooney ghosting for Bob Kane (art signed as Bob Kane), with script attributed to Bill Finger (per GCD), and lettering by Ira Schnapp; the story was later collected in Robin Archives Volume 2 (DC, May 2010).
- Issue #87 marks the point at which the Merry, Girl of 1,000 Gimmicks strip formally dropped the Star-Spangled Kid branding entirely — Merry had taken over the feature with #84, but #87 was the first issue where the strip's title made no effort to reference Sylvester Pemberton at all.
- Merry Pemberton (Merry Creamer) was created by writer Otto Binder and artist Win Mortimer, first appearing in Star-Spangled Comics #81 (June 1948); she is the adoptive sister of the Star-Spangled Kid and fought crime using an arsenal of gadgets and gimmicks rather than superpowers.
- Batman appears in the Robin story only in a supporting role — consistent with the title's format, where Robin carried solo adventures from #65 onward and Batman made only occasional cameos.
- Tomahawk (Tom Hawk), the Revolutionary War-era frontiersman created by Joe Samachson and Edmond Good, debuted in Star-Spangled Comics #69 (June 1947) and appeared as a backup feature throughout the title's run; his sidekick Dan Hunter accompanies him in the series.
- Merry's run in Star Spangled Comics ended with issue #90 (March 1949), just three issues after #87; Roy Thomas later made her a significant figure in DC's legacy continuity as the mother of Brainwave Jr. (Infinity Inc.) and a founding member of Old Justice.
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Reprinted in The Robin Archives #2 (2010)
Key issues in Star Spangled Comics
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