Whiz Comics #3
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeWhiz Comics #3 — properly catalogued today as #3A — is the second issue ever published in the series and arrives just weeks after the debut of Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher, Ibis the Invincible, Golden Arrow, and the rest of Fawcett's inaugural anthology lineup. As only the second chapter of stories featuring characters who would define the Golden Age's superhero boom, it planted the narrative groundwork for several of the medium's most durable serial rivalries: Sivana declares literal war on the United States in his second-ever appearance, establishing the template for the grandiose supervillain threat that the genre would rely on for decades. The Spy Smasher installment delivers an early, tantalizing secret-identity moment — Alan Armstrong unmasks before Eve Corby, though Fawcett teased readers by keeping the reveal off-panel — showcasing the kind of serialized suspense that built loyal readerships in the pre-television era. Issued with a cover date of March 1940, it also represents a peculiar artifact of Golden Age publishing: Fawcett accidentally used the number '3' twice, creating a documented numbering anomaly that complicates the series' bibliography to this day.
In "Sivana Strikes Again," the mad scientist Doctor Sivana escalates his schemes by directly challenging the U.S. President, issuing a dramatic ultimatum that threatens to destroy the nation unless he is crowned emperor. Written by Bill Parker and brought to life with bold, dynamic art by C. C. Beck—both inks and pencils—this 1940 issue captures the high-stakes tension of a world on the brink, all rendered in a striking cover by Beck that sets the tone for the chaos to come.
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The issue was produced under the same creative conditions as the debut issue, with writer Bill Parker — who is generally credited with scripting all of Whiz Comics' early features — providing scripts, and C. C. Beck handling the Captain Marvel and Spy Smasher art, supported by other studio hands on backup strips. Parker had originally conceived the magazine as a team anthology where separate heroes each embodied one mythological power; after editorial pressure collapsed that into a single character, Captain Marvel, the other concepts survived as the surrounding backup features that fill this issue. The numbering confusion — the same '#3' cover label appearing on two consecutively released issues, on sale January 12 and February 23, 1940 respectively — is thought to have been either an intentional marketing tactic or a production oversight, and resulted in every subsequent Whiz Comics issue being effectively one digit behind what its cover read.
Trivia · 8 facts
- This is the second published issue of Whiz Comics, designated #3A (cover date March 1940); the series began numbering at #2, and Fawcett used the number '3' on two consecutive issues released in January and February 1940.
- The lead Captain Marvel story, 'Sivana Strikes Again!', is the second appearance of Dr. Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, who raises a private army and declares war on the United States — an early example of the 'supervillain threatens a nation' story structure.
- Spy Smasher — created by Bill Parker and C. C. Beck — makes his second-ever appearance in the story titled '[Spy Smasher Unmasks]'; in it, Alan Armstrong reveals his costumed identity to Eve Corby on-panel, but the unmasking itself is kept off-page, preserving the mystery for one additional issue.
- The Ibis the Invincible segment, 'The Kidnapping of Taia,' continues the serialized pursuit of the Ibistick thief from the debut issue, with Ibis racing to save Taia from suffocation in her airtight museum display case — the second chapter of Ibis and Taia's ongoing arc.
- Golden Arrow (secret identity: Roger Parsons) appears in 'The Rustlers of Gila Creek,' an early installment cementing the character as Whiz's Western-frontier strip alongside its superhero and spy features.
- Writer Bill Parker is credited with scripting all of the early Whiz Comics features — including Captain Marvel, Spy Smasher, Golden Arrow, Ibis, Lance O'Casey, Scoop Smith, and Dan Dare.
- The Captain Marvel story from this issue, 'Sivana Strikes Again!', was reprinted in DC's The Shazam! Archives Vol. 1, a hardcover collection that also covered Whiz Comics #2 through #5.
- A figure of Captain Marvel in chains appearing in panel 4 on page 12 of this issue is documented as having also appeared on the cover of the Flash Comics #1 ashcan from January 1940 — a detail that illustrates how closely Fawcett recycled and cross-referenced its own early prototype materials.
Cast · 12 characters
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Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Sivana sends a note to the President of the United States, demanding that he resign and allow Sivana to become Emperor of the United States. Otherwise, the mad scientist will destroy the country.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).
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