Volume: 1
Price: 0.10 USD
Pages: 68
On-sale Date: 1937-10-10
Editing: Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson (credited) (editor and publisher); Vin Sullivan (credited as Vincent A. Sullivan) (associate editor); Whitney Ellsworth (credited as F. Whitney Ellsworth) (associate editor)

[no title indexed]

Speed Saunders / cover / 1 page


  • Genre:detective-mystery
Characters:
Synopsis:
A police detective is hiding under a dock, with either a body or a suspect.

Issue Data

  • Indicia / Colophon Publisher: Detective Comics Inc.
  • Indicia Frequency: monthly
  • Printer: [none printed]

Indexer Notes

The on-sale date is the publication date reported in the U. S. Copyright Office filing.

Detective Comics

table of contents / 1 page

Script:
?
Letters:
typeset

Indexer Notes

Inside front cover. Includes indicia.

[Case of the Hobo Hero]

Speed Saunders / comic story / 6 pages


  • Genre:detective-mystery
  • First Line of Dialogue or Text:Who is the old gent...
  • Universe:DC : mainstream
Characters:
Gloomy Jake Jones (introduction); Mike Molona (introduction, villain); the Mayor (introduction, villain)
Synopsis:
Speed notices how many hobos and derelicts are on the street. He trails one named Gloomy Jake, and sees him get into a car belonging to racketeer Mike Molona. Disguised as a delivery man he knocks at Molona's door, is recognized by the goon who answers, and knocks him out. Putting on a butler's outfit he hides under the table, where he overhears Jake trying to sell missing tax reports to Molona and the Mayor. Speed confronts them, but is shot, The police break in, and Jake is revealed to be an undercover police investigator.

Indexer Notes

Gardner Fox does not begin writing until issue 18.

[no title indexed]

Sgt. Simp / comic story / 0.67 page


  • Genre:humor
  • First Line of Dialogue or Text:Boy, he's doin' at least sixty!

Larry, We'd Like To Have You, - But...

Hohner Harmonicas / advertisement / 0.33 page

[Mystery of the Wholesale Kidnappings, Part 5]

Larry Steele / comic story / 6 pages

Script:
Bill Ely (credited as Will Ely)
Pencils:
Bill Ely (credited as Will Ely)
Inks:
Bill Ely (credited as Will Ely)
Colors:
?
Letters:
?

  • Genre:crime; detective-mystery
Characters:
Dr. Sargoff (introduction, villain); Sonia Sargoff (villain); Dutch (villain); Squinty (villain)
Synopsis:
Larry and Hatch have discovered a basement laboratory and are being held at gunpoint by the doctor's wife. Larry overpowers her and they confront the doctor. He claims he will drain the embalming fluid from the four bodies and restore them to health, but Sonia snatches a gun and again holds them prisoner. A boat filled with G-Men have arrived, and the operation is performed successfully. One of the revived bodies turns out to be that of Larry's missing father. The doctor poisons himself in preference to being taken alive.

Death in the Radio-Studio

Cosmo, the Phantom of Disguise / comic story / 6 pages

Script:
Pencils:
Sven Elven (credited as Sven Elvén) (illustrated by)
Inks:
Sven Elven (credited as Sven Elvén) (illustrated by)
Letters:
?

  • Genre:detective-mystery; adventure
Characters:
Brenner; Glasser (introduction, villain); Hal Lane (introduction, death)
Synopsis:
Singers over the Federal Broadcasting System are being mysteriously killed. Vice-President Brenner asks Cosmo to look into it. He discovers an elaborate device which releases a poison gas into the faces of the singers as they step up to the microphone. The radio monitor Glasser is revealed to be behind the extortion plot.

The Blood of the Lotus [Part 1]

Bruce Nelson / comic story / 12 pages

Script:
Pencils:
Tom Hickey (credited) (signed as TH)
Inks:
Tom Hickey (credited) (signed as TH)
Colors:
?
Letters:
?

  • Genre:detective-mystery; adventure
Characters:
Sing Lee (introduction); Lois Woodworth (introduction); Donald Barnes (introduction); Philip Pomeroy (introduction, villain)

Indexer Notes

story does not match writing style of Wheeler-Nicholson

Death at Latitude 30

text story / 5.84 pages

Script:
Pencils:
Creig Flessel (credited, signed) (illustrated by)
Inks:
Creig Flessel (credited, signed) (illustrated by)
Colors:
?
Letters:
typeset

  • Genre:adventure; drama
Characters:
Jed Johnson; Lola Mendez; Tim O'Connor

Free Mail Coupon for Big Train Book in Full Colors

American Flyer Trains / advertisement / 0.16 page

The Johnson Mystery

comic story / 4 pages

Script:
Russell Cole (credited as Alger)
Pencils:
Russell Cole (credited as Alger)
Inks:
Russell Cole (credited as Alger)
Colors:
?
Letters:
?

  • Genre:detective-mystery

[The Vanishing of R-42]

Spy / comic story / 4 pages


  • Genre:adventure; spy; detective-mystery
Characters:
Agent R-42 (introduction); Talvanian ambassador (introduction, villain); Talvanian spies (introduction, villain)
Synopsis:
Bart and Sally are sent to the Talvanian Embassy in order to help Agent R-42. Bart enters under false pretenses, but hides and locates R-42, who is a captive. The ambassadors try to discover where he has hidden some stolen dispatches. Bart is caught and is about to be shot, when Sally sends a gas bomb through the window and saves both Bart and R-42.

Silver and Lead

Buck Marshall / comic story / 6 pages


  • Genre:adventure; western-frontier
Characters:
The Sheriff; Bender (introduction, villain); Latigo (introduction, villain)

Indexer Notes

story in black and white

[The Human Fly]

Slam Bradley / comic story / 12.89 pages


  • Genre:adventure; detective-mystery
Characters:
Sgt. Kelly; The Human Fly (introduction, villain); Snoop Dolan (introduction)
Synopsis:
Slam demonstrates how a thief might have scaled the outer wall of the skyscraper and stolen jewels from a room on the 14th floor. He later captures "The Human Fly" by pursuing him up the outer wall to the roof.

Indexer Notes

Story title from next issue blurb in previous issue.

A poster on the wall in panel 21 urges readers to join the Junior Federal Men Club, New Adventure Comics. Federal Men was another of Siegel and Shuster's strips.

Now Ready - New Catalog of Lionel Trains

Lionel Trains / advertisement / 0.11 page

Better Than Ever!

More Fun Comics / promo (ad from the publisher) / 1 page

[no title indexed]

Johnson Smith & Co. Catalog / advertisement / 1 page

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