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38-414: It was launched a month after Blue Ribbon Comics #1 (Nov. 1942) with an editorial page exclaiming 'Let's all whoop it up together for TOP-NOTCH....THE WORLD'S GREATEST COMIC BOOK!' . The series was edited by Harry Shorten . The format of Top-Notch Comics was very similar to Blue Ribbon Comics ; 64 pages of short strips, initially featuring a mixture of science-fiction stories such as "Scott Rand in

76-687: A back-up story starring NoMan , one of the Agents. Martin L. Greim 's company-hopping Thunderbunny starred in #13 (Oct. 1984), in a story also featuring Archie Comics' Mighty Crusaders superhero team. The last issue, #14 (Nov. 1984), teamed the Web and the Jaguar. A "next-issue" box in #14 announced that a planned but ultimately unpublished issue #15 would feature a sword-and sorcery adventure, "The Cat Queen", featuring Catgirl by writer Paul Kupperberg and artist Pat Boyette . The series by then had been canceled, along with

114-504: A backup feature in another Archie title, The Shield . There were also two new stories of The Fly and Flygirl , featuring Jaguar , by writers Rich Buckler and Stan Timmons, with art by Trevor Von Eeden in #4 (Jan. 1984), and a two-part Fox story by Buckler and Timmons, with art by Dick Ayers and Tony DeZuniga , in #6–7 (March–April 1984). A revival of Black Hood by Gray Morrow took up issue #8 (May 1984). As well as revivals of MLJ/Archie inventory characters, volume two introduced

152-496: A more surreal path; his solo appearance in Shield-Wizard Comics #08 (Fall 1942) was a standard adventure/superhero-tale, but #10 (Spring 1943) involved a talking dog, while #11 (Summer 1943) saw Roy going through a painting into prehistoric times; in #12 (Fall 1943) he met his conscience and went to heaven, and he had trouble with a magic carpet in #13 (Winter/Spring 1943). Issue #9 also contained "Shield-Wizard Hall of Fame" -

190-727: A rhyming funny animal strip "Pokey Forgets to Remember" (all in issue #1), while "Noodle" by Quincy featured in six issues (#2–7). The "Impy" 1-page strip was the only reprint during the Top-Notch Comics run. No single character lasted for the whole run of Top-Notch Comics / Top-Notch Laugh Comics , although the costumed hero the Wizard – subtitled "The Man With the Super-Brain", which began in issue #1, ran until #27 (May 1942). A number of other costumed heroes accompanied The Wizard with long runs in Top-Notch Comics , " Bob Phantom – The Scourge of

228-421: A roster of characters that changed very little over the life of the title, outlasting its companion Blue Ribbon Comics by a year – over two if the revamp to Top-Notch Laugh Comics is included. MLJ ran a reader-participation competition in Top-Notch Comics #6 (June 1940), offering 100 prizes to readers who completed a coupon listing their favorite characters. Another feature unusual in early superhero strips

266-529: Is not to be confused with the later Laugh Comics series). Blue Ribbon Comics Blue Ribbon Comics is the name of two American comic book anthology series, the first published by the Archie Comics predecessor MLJ Magazines Inc. , commonly known as MLJ Comics, from 1939 to 1942, during the Golden Age of Comic Books . The revival was the second comic published in the 1980s by Archie Comics under

304-522: The Blue Ribbon Comics superhero cluster. Mr. Justice was the cover feature from his debut in #9 (Feb. 1941), then shared the cover with Captain Flag from #16–18, and took over from #19 (Dec. 1941) until the end of the title's run. Blue Ribbon Comics #21 (Feb. 1942) introduced a new direction, advertising on the cover 'new sensational true life features' , with an inside-front cover editorial explaining

342-587: The Doc Savage -like Doc Strong by Sam Cooper, set on a desolate Earth 100 years in the future soon after World War II had ended (#4–12); and the Green Falcon , a medieval adventurer whose feature was drawn by one of very few women then working in the comics, Ramone Patenaude (#4–15). Two long-running features were "Loop Logan, Air Ace", about an American pilot in WWII prior to U.S. involvement (#4–20), and "Ty-Gor, Son of

380-557: The Red Circle and Archie Adventure Series banners. Blue Ribbon Comics was also the title of an unrelated six-issue comic book series published in 1948–1949 by St. John Publications . The first series of Blue Ribbon Comics #1–22 (Nov. 1939 – March 1942) was a 64-page anthology comic published by MLJ Magazines Inc., commonly known as MLJ Comics, the precursor to what would become the publisher Archie Comics . Issues #9–18 and #22 were cover-titled Blue Ribbon Mystery Comics . The series

418-442: The romance -themed Diary Secrets in issues #2, 4 & 5 (the last two fully titled Teen-Age Diary Secrets ), and, in the final issue, the talking-animal feature "Dinky", starring Dinky Duck . In the 2000s came two issues of a fan publication, Blue Ribbon Fanzine (Nov. 2005 & March 2006), published by Mike Bromberg and dedicated to Blue Ribbon Comics . These reprinted selected Mr. Justice, Captain Flag and Fox stories from

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456-452: The 1940s MLJ Blue Ribbon Comics that were then in the public domain . Shield-Wizard Comics Shield–Wizard Comics was the name of an American comic book series published by MLJ Magazines Inc. , more commonly known as MLJ Comics, for thirteen issues between Summer 1940 and Winter 1944. It featured the titular comics superheroes The Wizard and The Shield and their supporting characters throughout. Shield-Wizard Comics

494-708: The 1960s in several Archie comics series. Next was Mr. Justice (#9–22), a ghostly superhero also created by writer Blair although mainly scripted by Charles Biro with artist Sam Cooper. Inferno the Flame-Breather , originally a supporting character seen in Steel Sterling tales in Pep Comics , was given his own feature by writer Blair and artist Paul Reinman (#13–19). The patriotically themed Captain Flag , created by Blair and artist Lin Streeter in #16 (Sept. 1941), completed

532-648: The Fly #1–2 (Aug–Sept. 1959), and Simon/Kirby Lancelot Strong: Shield stories primarily from The Double Life of Private Strong #1 (June 1959). However, the second volume largely comprised new stories of previous MLJ/Archie characters: a Mr. Justice origin story by writers Robin Snyder, who also provided a Blue Ribbon Comics checklist over various issues of the comic's run, and Bill Dubay , with art by Trevor Von Eeden and Alex Niño in issue #2 (Dec. 1983). An origin for Steel Sterling followed, in issue #3 (Dec. 1983), leading into

570-695: The Jungle", drawn by Mort Meskin , about a jungle boy taken to America (#4–20). The first superhero introduced to Blue Ribbon Comics was in the two-issue feature " Bob Phantom , the Scourge of the Underground" (#2–3), with early work by artist Irv Novick . Bob Phantom moved to Pep Comics and was shortly followed by the Fox (#4–22), a costumed adventure hero created by writer Joe Blair and artist Irwin Hasen who would return during

608-631: The Run" strips, subtitled "True Stories of Crime", in #1 and #3, and "Devils of the Deep", a two-part adventure in #2–3. Will Eisner , future creator of the Spirit , produced a single humor strip, "Boodini the Great" in issue #1. By issue #4, however, MLJ replaced the humor strips with more adventure and crime stories, and introduced fantasy - adventure characters such as the mythological Hercules in modern-day America (#4–8);

646-641: The Soapy Sleuth" joined the roster. From issue #28 he was joined by "Pokey Oakey", "Senor Siesta", the boxing humor strip "Canvas Back Corkle", "Percy The Three Monkey-teers" and, from issue #29 (Sept. 1942), "Gloomy Gus – the Homeless Ghost". One of these new humor strips, "Dotty and Ditto" by Bill Woggon (best known for his " Katy Keene " comic) was unusual as it featured a continuing storyline as opposed to single-issue scripts. A peculiar effect of MLJ retaining Black Hood, one of their most popular characters, on

684-578: The Underworld " (#3-25), initially by Irv Novick but later written by editor Harry Shorten and drawn by Bernie Klein, had made two appearances in Blue Ribbon Comics prior to transferring to Top-Notch Comics . The superhero the " Firefly " made 19 appearances (#8–26) while "Kardak the Mystic Magician", by the Shorten/Klein team lasted 25 issues. Black Hood , who appeared from issue #9 (Oct. 1940) until

722-554: The Wonder Dog ", the tales of an intelligent dog in the Rin Tin Tin vein, written by Joe Blair and primarily drawn by Ed Smalle, was the only feature to appear in every issue. Another, "Corporal Collins, Infantryman", a war feature drawn by Charles Biro , about a U.S. soldier stranded in France when World War II breaks out was in every issue but the first. As all comic books did through

760-573: The Worlds of Time" (#1–2) written by Otto Binder as ' Eando Binder ' and drawn by his brother Jack Binder; and "Streak Chandler on Mars" (#4–8), the crime story "Lucky Coyne, Undercover Man" (#1) and true crime detection stories in "Manhunters" by future Plastic Man creator Jack Cole (artist) (#1–3); and a number of adventure tales, "Swift of the Secret Service" (#1–3), "The Mystic" (#1–3), "Dick Storm" (#2–8) and "Stacey Knight, M.D." (#2–4). Furthering

798-533: The art position on The Wizard from issue #5 (Fall 1941). From issue #3 (Spring 1941), The Shield stories became "The Shield with Dusty, the Boy Detective", and The Wizard "The Wizard with Roy the Super Boy", in conjunction with their other MLJ appearances. "Dusty the Boy Detective" also had a number of solo superhero tales in Shield-Wizard Comics #5-8 and #10 (Spring 1943). "Roy the Super Boy" solo adventures carved

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836-433: The change of direction, Blue Ribbon Comics ended with issue #22 (March 1942). The second series to carry the Blue Ribbon Comics name was initially published by the Archie Comics imprint Red Circle Comics. It ran for 14 issues cover-dated November 1983 to December 1984. After four issues, the imprint, initially directed at the "direct-sales market" of comic-book stores, repositioned to newsstand distribution and changed

874-461: The cover of Top-Notch Laugh Comics was that he shared the covers in humorous situations with the other featured characters, despite maintaining the dark, violent tone of his previous stories within the issues. Despite the switch to a humor theme, Top-Notch Comics first went to a bi-monthly schedule with #43 (Feb. 1944), and then was retitled Laugh Comix with issue #46 (Summer 1944) for three more issues before being canceled with #48. ( Laugh Comix

912-445: The early 1960s, to satisfy U.S. Postal Service requirements for magazine rates, Blue Ribbon Comics also contained text stories, sometimes about characters from the comics features, such as the titular cowboy Buck Stacey. With the exception of a reprinted Little Nemo newspaper comic strip story by Winsor McCay in #1, all stories in the comic were new. Reader participation was encouraged; in issue #3 (Jan. 1940) MLJ offered $ 5 for

950-593: The first time; plus two stories of a historical version of the " Wizard , The Man with the Super-Brain" by Harry Shorten and artist Edd Ashe; not the Blane Whitney version of The Wizard from the Pep Comics title but a historical ancestor from the American Revolutionary War period. The writer/artist team on The Shield changed to Joe Goggins and Clem Harrison from #11 (Summer 1943), while Paul Reinman took up

988-408: The imprint name to Archie Adventure Series , which Archie Comics had used for its superhero line in the 1960s. Concurrently, the printing format changed from glossy Baxter paper to standard comics print. Blue Ribbon Comics vol. 2 published a combination of new and reprinted work featuring a variety of Archie superheroes. Reprints including Joe Simon and Jack Kirby stories from Adventures of

1026-563: The issue. In a change of editorial direction, from issue #28 (July 1942) the story emphasis changed to humor strips and the title became Top-Notch Laugh Comics to reflect this. All the long-running adventure series from Top-Notch Comics ended between issue #24 (Feb. 1942) and #27 (May 1942), leaving only Black Hood and Kardak the Mystic Magician as non-humor strips in the title; although Kardak only lasted until issue #30 (Nov. 1942). This change of emphasis to humor strips had been presaged in Top-Notch Comics #25 (March 1942) when "Snoopy McGook,

1064-506: The last issue of the renamed Top-Notch Laugh Comics (#45, June 1944), was the longest running character in the title, displacing The Wizard to feature on every cover from #9. MLJ also introduced a wide range of long-lasting adventure characters early on in the series; "Air Patrol" (#1–27), re-titled "Wings Johnson of Air Patrol" from #3 (Feb. 1940), about an American flyer who enlists in the British R.A.F. before America enters World War II ,

1102-626: The prize letter of the month and $ 1 for 10 runners-up, and issue #4 (June 1940) introduced the Rang-a-Tang Club , boasting its own registered veterinarian to answer questions on dog health and training. Future Plastic Man creator Jack Cole , then working for the Harry "A" Chesler studio, wrote and drew a number of one off-humor strips in the first issue: "Hold That Line", "Ima Slooth", "Foxy Grandpa" and "King Kole's Kourt." Issue #2 (Dec. 1940) had his "Knight Off". He additionally provided two "Crime on

1140-540: The rest of the Archie Adventure Comics" line. St. John Publications produced six issues of an umbrella series, Blue Ribbon comics, that featured highly disparate contents each issue. It was published from late 1948 to mid-1949, with only issue #4–5 given cover dates (June & Aug. 1949) but postal indicia given as February to August 1949. The series starred the movie studio Terry Toons ' talking animal characters Heckle and Jeckle in issues #1 & 3;

1178-519: The similarities with Blue Ribbon Comics , the medieval Knights of the Round Table tale " Galahad " by Lim Streeter (#5–11), mirrored the Green Falcon series in that title. Early issues of Top-Notch Comics also contained text stories, as all comic books did through the early 1960s to satisfy U.S. Postal Service requirements for magazine rates. A few short humor strips also featured in the first four issues, "Lonesome Luke", "Impy" by Winsor McCay and

Top-Notch Comics - Misplaced Pages Continue

1216-520: The title would now mix superhero and adventure stories with real-life tales: 'Just as many thrills, just as much red-blooded reading pleasure' . The last two issues had features on the life of Galileo , Leonardo da Vinci , and Beethoven , and a tale about malaria in Cuba . Incongruously, MLJ also introduced a short horror story feature, "Tales from the Witches Cauldron" (#20–22) at this time. Despite

1254-428: The underwater adventures of "Agents of Atantis" in #9 (June 1984). On the letters page of issue #10 (July 1984), Buckler signaled another editorial change, to "more lighthearted stories", with more Simon/Kirby reprints from the early 1960s Adventures of the Fly , followed by a reprint in issue #11 (August 1984) of a Black Hood story from Archie Superhero Special Digest Magazine #2 (Aug. 1979), originally written for

1292-591: The unpublished Black Hood #1. The story had already been reprinted in JC Comics #1 (1981). John Carbonaro appears to have bought the work from Archie to publish in JC, then paid Archie to reprint the tale in Archie/Red Circle Comics. Characters from other publishing companies were featured in the following issues: First came Tower Comics ' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents in #12 (Sept. 1984), with art by Steve Ditko on

1330-465: Was edited by Harry Shorten . The first title published by MLJ, Blue Ribbon Comics initially ran a mixture of content, in the manner of most early comic books. These included the science-fiction feature "Dan Hastings" (#1–2), crime , short humor fillers, and adventure tales such as, from issue #1, "Burk of the Briny" in #1 and Cliff Thorndyke's African adventure "Village of Missing Men". " Rang-a-Tang

1368-684: Was the fifth title published by MLJ Magazines Inc., the precursor to what would become the publisher Archie Comics. The series was edited by Harry Shorten . Unlike the previous MLJ anthology titles Blue Ribbon Comics , Top-Notch Comics and Pep Comics , as a spin-off from previous titles Shield-Wizard Comics was almost exclusively dedicated to stories of The Shield (from Pep Comics ) and The Wizard (from Top-Notch Comics ). Issue #1 (Summer 1940) and #2 (Winter 1940) contained "The Shield - G-Man Extraordinary" strips by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick , and one single-page text story, six months after his introduction in Pep Comics and including his origin for

1406-545: Was used several times by MLJ. In Top-Notch Comics #5 (May 1940), MLJs Pep Comics character the Shield guests in the Wizard story, while The Wizard appeared in the "Keith Cornell, West Pointer" story. This cross-over gimmick was repeated in #7 by The Shield and The Wizard again (although only in a 3-panel cameo). This time the appearance was designed to set up the announcement of a new MLJ title, Shield-Wizard Comics #1, advertised in

1444-546: Was written and drawn by Irv Novick , and later by Jo Blaire and Ed Smalle, "The West Pointer", later renamed "Keith Cornell, West Pointer" (#7–27) which followed Keith Cornell through United States Military Academy and into various theaters of war, "Fran Fraser"', about a girl photographer who travelled the world on adventure assignments, by Irv Novick and Joe Blair (#9–24) and a boxing story, "The St Louis Kid" (#14–26) with artwork mainly by Bob Montana best known for his work on Archie Andrews . This line-up gave Top-Notch Comics

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