Get ready for a TREAT!! MEN of MYSTERY #95 is NOW AVAILABLE!! Another mammoth 140-page collection of vintage comic book stories from the medium’s Golden Age!! This issue, we cook up another heaping helping of the obscure, as our MOM theme focuses on MORE Strange Heroes of the Golden Age. After starting off playing against type with an adventure of the sedate and tasteful Quality Comics star, DOLLMAN (who crosses horns with a sexy blonde villaness called Queen of the Ants in an story penciled by the great Reed Crandall), things move tamely onto Fox Features (and our cover )star The FLAME. Whats odd about a masked & costumed guy who runs around on fire, after all? This entry is reprinted from Wonderworld #2, illustrated by Larry Antoinette. Next up, it’s MOM first-timer. The SPARKMAN!! He’s a hero with electrical powers- but when he has to stop a super-speedster crook, he shoots him in the shoulder with a .45 automatic? This gem was drawn by Paul Bernadier, originally printed in Sparkler #51. Then, before our batteries run down, it’s ANOTHER electrical paladin, Foxs’ DYNAMO, straight out of a 1940 issue of Weird Comics. Following that it’s the MOM debut of The FACE!! Newscaster Tony Trent dons a “horrible” rubber fright-mask, Homburg hat and bowtie to fight crime. Wouldn’t you? Drawn by Mart Bailey, straight out of Big Shot #11. Bob Powell’s eerie MAN IN BLACK makes an appearance, narrating a twist-of-fate story involving the bombing of Hiroshima. Yet ANOTHER “fist-time” hero comes to the pages of MOM next, as Hillman’s MICRO-FACE takes the stage. John Belfi draws “The Man Who Lost His Face”, as MF turns the tables on a handsome gangster, as initially seen in Clue Comics #10. Then it’s another episode of PHANTASMO, Master Of The World. What more can we say about the consummate weirdness that IS Phantasmo? Nothing. You have to see it to believe it. It’s drawn by Elmer Stoner, from The Funnies #49. How about the origin of a costumed hero “pledged to alleviate all human suffering caused by inhuman warfare”? The RED CROSS. His first appearance is here, from Captain Aero #8, with tasteful art by Jack Alderman. We’ve run ONE story featuring the Prize/Headline superguy ATOMIC MAN previously, but here he is in his original costume, in a story from Headline #18, probably limned by Al Carreno. Then, it’s Dell Comics’ costumed answer to The Thin Man- The OWL in a typical Frank Thomas-drawn screwball mystery originally seen in Popular Comics # 79. Yet ANOTHER newby comes up after that- The VOICE, from Popular #52- as drawn by Jim Chambers. He might’ve lasted long enough to catch on, but I just couldn’t SEE him. REX DEXTER pops up again, in a VERYweird SF story written/drawn by Dick Briefer, from Mystery Men #5, followed by Sheldon Moldoff’s MOON GIRL, as she battles a sultry sorceress in “The Witch Of The Haunted Hills”. Equally macabre is the next feature; Ben Brown & Dave Gantz PURPLE CLAW!! Dr. Jonathan Weir takes on the restless ghost of the murdered Don Carlo as seen initially in Purple Claw #1. Then, reincarnated Roman Chariot racer Cauis Martius Wheeler fights crime in the 1940’s as… The DART. No kidding. Check out this story from Weird Comics #8 and see for yourself. How plausible is an ex-con attorney turned costumed hero? Check out The ZEBRA and make up your own mind. In this story, culled from Green Hornet #20, Big Z fights a costumed villain called The Silver Silouette- as drawn by a VERY young Joe Kubert!! Finally, costumed hero/magician/jungle man TABU closes out this collection, in an early story from Jungle Comics #22, drawn by George Wilhelms. 18 full stories perfectly presented in glistening black and white between full-color covers (wirth a front cover by Lou Fine, yet), 140 pages, standard comic book size- saddle-stitched.
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