World's Finest Comics #4
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeWorld's Finest Comics #4 (on sale November 10, 1941) holds a specific and verifiable place in Golden Age history as the issue in which Wing How — the Chinese-American aide to the Crimson Avenger (Lee Travis) — first appeared in a superhero costume, an event confirmed by U.S. Copyright Office dating to precede his next costumed appearance in Detective Comics #59 by nearly two weeks. That single costume change carries outsized meaning: Wing was one of the very few non-white characters in 1941 American superhero comics to receive a hero's uniform of his own, however limited his agency remained within the stories of the era. The issue also showcases the full breadth of DC's early Golden Age anthology model — a 96-page quarterly packed with Superman, Batman and Robin, the Sandman, Zatara, the Crimson Avenger, Hop Harrigan, King Standish, and the military trio Red, White and Blue — demonstrating how National/DC used the World's Finest platform to centralize its most popular properties under one prestige cover. Stories in this issue were subsequently reprinted across multiple modern collected editions, including the Batman and Superman Golden Age Omnibus lines, confirming the issue's enduring value as a primary source document for the era.
In "The Case of the Crime Crusade," the Sandman faces a deadly new threat in 1941: a sinister group exploiting a forgotten military gas called Lewisite, masked by fog to commit crimes in plain sight. With his wits and courage tested, he must unravel a conspiracy that turns the very air into a weapon. Art by Cliff Young, with cover by Fred Ray.
When a string of bizarre streetcar accidents rocks the city, Clark and Lois launch a joint investigation—uncovering a pattern that points to a cunning mind behind the chaos. As the trail leads to Hugh Manton, a man with secrets of his own, the duo must untangle a web of deception before the next disaster strikes.
In "The Story of the Secret Six," the Sandman confronts a sinister plot orchestrated by the Society of Six, a clandestine group using a deadly gas called Lewisite—leftover from wartime experiments—masked as fog to commit crimes in the shadows. With the hermit miser Peter DeWint and the elusive Muggs Marks entangled in their schemes, the Sandman must unravel a web of deception before the city falls to their deadly fog.
Bruce and Dick head west to a dude ranch, but their vacation takes a supernatural turn when they encounter the newly arrived Ghost Gang—a mysterious band of villains led by the sinister Laff Brunt. As the Caped Crusader finds himself in a perilous situation, the duo must outwit the spectral outlaws before they're hung for a crime they didn’t commit.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The series that became World's Finest Comics launched in Spring 1941 under editor Whitney Ellsworth, who had guided Superman's newspaper strip and numerous DC titles since the late 1930s; the fourth issue continued his editorial stewardship on a quarterly schedule. The cover for issue #4 was produced by Fred Ray, the primary Superman cover artist of the 1940s whose redesign of the 'S' symbol had already become a defining element of the character's visual identity. Interior strips were contributed by a roster of Golden Age craftspeople including writer-artist Jack Lehti on the Crimson Avenger feature (with inks by Charles Paris), writer Jerry Siegel and artist Leo Nowak (credited as Joe Shuster) on Superman, writer Gardner Fox and artist Joseph Sulman on Zatara, and writer-artist Jon L. Blummer on Hop Harrigan. The issue was published under the legal indicia of 'World's Best Comics Co.,' a holdover corporate name even as the series title had shifted to World's Finest from issue #2 onward.
Trivia · 9 facts
- On-sale date confirmed by U.S. Copyright Office filing: November 10, 1941; published as a 96-page quarterly anthology priced at 15 cents.
- First appearance of Wing (Wing How) in a superhero costume — a color-reversed version of the Crimson Avenger's own suit — predating his next costumed appearance in Detective Comics #59 (copyrighted November 22, 1941) by twelve days, with priority established by copyright date comparison.
- Wing's costumed debut story ('Mystery of the Modern Methuselah') was written and penciled by Jack Lehti with inks by Charles Paris; the story involves the villain Methuselah using a youth-restoring ray machine to coerce victims into crime.
- The Superman story ('The Case of the Crime Crusade') was scripted by Jerry Siegel with art by Leo Nowak (published under the Joe Shuster house byline), featuring Clark Kent and Lois Lane investigating sabotaged streetcar accidents.
- The Sandman story ('The Story of the Secret Six') features Wesley Dodds and Dian Belmont battling a criminal gang that weaponizes Lewisite — a real World War I-era chemical agent — under cover of coastal fog.
- The Zatara story ('The Pageant of Plunder') was scripted by Gardner Fox with art by Joseph Sulman, set during New Orleans Mardi Gras.
- Young Doc Davis, created and drawn by Henry Boltinoff, makes one of his final appearances in the series with this issue — sources confirm his run ended with World's Finest Comics #4.
- Hop Harrigan's adventure ('Adventure of the Torpedoed Trawler') was scripted and drawn by Jon L. Blummer; Red, White and Blue ('The Skies Scream Murder') was drawn by Harry Lampert — both strips ran in the series through issue #7 (Fall 1942).
- Stories from this issue have been reprinted in at least eight collected editions, including Batman: The World's Finest Comics Archives Vol. 1 (2002), Superman: The World's Finest Comics Archives Vol. 1 (2004), Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 2 (2016), and Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus Vol. 2 (2016).
Cast · 24 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Batman: The World's Finest Comics Archives #1 (2002), Superman: The World's Finest Comics Archives #1 (2004), The Batman Chronicles #5 (2008), The Superman Chronicles #7 (2009), Superman: The Golden Age Omnibus #2 (2016), Batman: The Golden Age Omnibus #2 (2016), Batman: The Golden Age #3 (2017), Superman: The Golden Age #4 (2018)
Key issues in World's Finest Comics
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