Wings Comics #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeWings Comics #1 launched Fiction House's most durable aviation anthology at a moment when the Battle of Britain was actively being fought — placing American readers inside an air war their country had not yet officially entered, and doing so with a degree of aeronautical specificity that distinguished it from more fantastical Golden Age fare. The issue introduced nearly the entire cast of characters that would anchor the series for the next fourteen years, including Jane Martin, one of the longest-continuously-running female protagonists in all of Golden Age comics. As the opening chapter of a 124-issue run produced by the Eisner & Iger Studio — one of the era's premier comic-packaging shops — it stands as a snapshot of how the studio model shaped early American comics, and how closely tied that medium was to pulp-magazine culture. The title's willingness to feature recurring female leads in action roles, embedded from this very first issue, made Wings Comics a meaningful outlier in a genre that skewed almost entirely male.
Wings Comics #1 (1940) introduces Jane, a young woman thrust into action during a crisis, as she helps evacuate the town of Millett before a devastating bombing. With the town in chaos and a nearby factory destroyed, Jane steps forward to aid survivors, showcasing courage in the face of sudden danger. Cover by Nick Cardy.
In a tense wartime moment, Jane Martin races against time to evacuate the town of Millett as danger looms. With the Nazis closing in and a nearby factory torn apart by bombs, Jane steps into the chaos to help survivors, her courage tested as the smoke clears and the next threat emerges.
Clipper Kirk takes to the skies in a daring bid to protect a vital convoy carrying Canadian troops to aid the British, facing down both enemy aircraft and naval threats from the Nazis. With the fate of the mission hanging in the balance, his courage and skill become the last line of defense.
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Wings Comics #1 went on sale June 14, 1940 (with a September 1940 cover date per copyright records), and was packaged for Fiction House's publisher Thurman T. Scott by the Eisner & Iger Studio — with Malcolm Reiss as editor, S. M. Iger as feature editor, and Will Eisner serving as art director (credited in the indicia as 'Wm. E. Eisner'). The comic transplanted the brand identity of Fiction House's long-running Wings pulp magazine — itself a title dating to January 1928 — into the new comic-book format, carrying over that pulp's emphasis on flight enthusiasts and aviation history while adding serialized adventure strips. Artists contributing to the debut issue included Arthur Peddy, Witmer Williams, Charles Sultan, Klaus Nordling, Gene Fawcette, George Tuska, Nick Cardy, and R. A. Burley, reflecting the studio's roster of workhorse Golden Age talents.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published September 1940 (on-sale date June 14, 1940 per copyright registration records); ran for 124 issues through Summer 1954.
- First appearance of Jane Martin, an aviator and combat nurse who would run throughout the entire series — over 100 issues — making her one of the most enduring female protagonists of the Golden Age.
- First appearances of Skull Squad (Jock MacGregor, Jimmy Jones, and Kent Douglas), Parachute Patrol, Clipper Kirk, Suicide Smith, Greasemonkey Griffin, the Phantom Falcons, F-4 (Rex Keene), and Powder Burns — establishing virtually the full character roster in a single issue.
- Produced by the Eisner & Iger Studio, with Malcolm Reiss as editor, S. M. Iger as feature editor, and Will Eisner as art director; art contributors to issue #1 included Arthur Peddy, Witmer Williams, Charles Sultan, Klaus Nordling, Gene Fawcette, George Tuska, Nick Cardy, and R. A. Burley.
- The title was a direct comic-book descendant of Fiction House's Wings pulp magazine (January 1928–Spring 1953), retaining its aviation-enthusiast editorial DNA, including nonfiction airplane profiles (the 'Wing Tips' featurette) alongside adventure strips.
- Wings Comics was one of Fiction House's 'Big 6' titles, alongside Jumbo Comics, Jungle Comics, Planet Comics, Fight Comics, and Rangers Comics — all of which similarly converted successful pulp brands into comic format.
- The debut issue's cover art depicts a lone British fighter attacking Nazi bombers launching from a hidden underground hangar — reflecting the real-world Battle of Britain unfolding at the time of publication, more than a year before the U.S. entered the war.
- Selected stories from Wings Comics #1 were reprinted in Jerry Iger's Classic Wings Comics #1 (Blackthorne Publishing, October 1985), a black-and-white collector's edition with a color cover, making the issue's content accessible to a new generation of readers; the cover of the original issue was also later featured in the Fantagraphics anthology Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War (2017).
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Reprinted in Jerry Igers Classic Wings Comics #1 (1985), Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War #[nn] (2017)
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