Startling Comics #49
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeStartling Comics #49 stands as one of the most visually arresting achievements of the late Golden Age, anchored by an airbrushed robot-and-bondage cover painted by Alex Schomburg — a piece that Tripwire Magazine's critics have described as evoking the quality of a film poster rather than a newsstand comic. The cover encapsulates a pivotal editorial turning point: Pines/Better Publications was consciously steering Startling Comics away from wartime superheroics toward science-fiction space opera, with Lance Lewis, Space Detective displacing patriotic characters like the Fighting Yank as the title's headliner. The issue also marks the last appearance of Fighting Yank in Startling Comics, closing out the character's seven-year run in the title where he had debuted back in issue #10 (1941). The robot depicted on Schomburg's cover later attracted widespread popular speculation — noted on Key Collector Comics, Flickr collector forums, and Bleeding Cool — that it may have been a visual precursor to Bender Bending Rodríguez from the animated series Futurama, though that connection has never been confirmed by series creator Matt Groening.
In "The Green Men of Kharma," a centuries-old survivor of Atlantis—long hidden beneath the earth—rises from his subterranean refuge with a new ambition: to claim the surface world. Written by Joseph Greene, this 1948 tale unfolds with a mythic tone, weaving ancient origins and a mysterious figure’s return to the living world. The story’s striking visuals are brought to life by Alex Schomburg, whose cover art captures the eerie grandeur of the Green Men’s awakening.
In a forgotten chapter of ancient history, a lone survivor of Atlantis—buried beneath the earth for millennia—rises to claim the surface world. Drawn by a restless hunger for power, he sets his sights on Africa, where his green-skinned kin await his command.
Lance Lewis, the solar system's top space detective, faces an unprecedented threat when crab-like invaders from beyond our galaxy seize the Saturnian city of Koh-Mir and threaten conquest of the entire twenty-second century with a weapon that can reverse gravity itself. Captured and brought before the ruthless Buhl-Am, Lance must find a way to stop the gravitation-nullifier before the crab men's ultimatum transforms into wholesale destruction. With Earth's fleet mobilizing for direct confrontation, time is running out to prevent catastrophe.
When carnival owner Bubby Jinks and his gang of ruthless gamblers take over the midway to fleece unwary visitors, Bruce Carter III—the Fighting Yank—spots the rigged games and decides to expose the whole operation by accepting a high-stakes wager with the crooks themselves. As the Yank outwits them at their own fixed wheel, the desperate gang's betrayal sets off a deadly trap involving the carnival's Loop-the-Loop—forcing our hero to call on all his courage and cunning to save the innocent riders caught in the crossfire.
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The issue was published by Better Publications Inc. (the Pines imprint) and hit newsstands on November 4, 1947, carrying a January 1948 cover date, as confirmed by the U.S. Copyright Office's Catalog of Copyright Entries. Ned Pines served as editor, and the interior Lance Lewis story was written by Charles S. Strong, with cover and Lance Lewis story art credited to Alex Schomburg — who during his 1947–1949 run for Pines signed his airbrushed covers under the pseudonym 'Xela' (his first name spelled backward). Schomburg's relationship with Pines stretched back to the 1930s, when he had provided interior pulp art for Thrilling Wonder Stories, making the Startling Comics robot cover something of a crowning collaboration between a long-standing publisher-artist partnership. Interior story art was handled by Hal Sherman (Lance Lewis) and Ken Battefield.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Cover painted by Alex Schomburg (signing as 'Xela') — an airbrushed work produced during his approximately 40-cover run for Ned Pines's Standard/Better/Nedor titles in 1947–1948.
- The issue marks the final appearance of Fighting Yank (Bruce Carter III) in Startling Comics; the patriotic hero had debuted in the title with issue #10 (September 1941) and his exit here signals the end of superhero dominance over the series.
- Published by Better Publications Inc. (Pines); editor Ned Pines; interior story written by Charles S. Strong; interior art by Hal Sherman (Lance Lewis story) and Ken Battefield.
- The Lance Lewis, Space Detective feature — a Buck Rogers-style 22nd-century investigator — was by this point the cover star of Startling Comics, having taken over from superhero features beginning with issue #44 (March 1947).
- The cover robot has been widely speculated (across Key Collector Comics, collector forums, and Flickr) to have inspired Futurama's robot character Bender, though Futurama creator Matt Groening has never confirmed the connection.
- The issue has been reprinted multiple times: in Classic Pulp: Robots (Source Point Press, April 2022), as a facsimile edition by PS Artbooks (2023), and in Dangerous Dames (Odd Publishing, December 2023) — reflecting sustained scholarly and collector interest in its contents and cover art.
- Alan Moore later revived Lance Lewis (along with other Nedor/Better characters) for his America's Best Comics line, specifically in Tom Strong #12 (June 2001), extending the character's cultural footprint well beyond the Golden Age.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Classic Pulp: Robots #[nn] (2022), Startling Comics #49 (2023), Dangerous Dames #2 (2023)
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