''Black Hood Comics'' was the name of an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

anthology

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

series published by MLJ Magazines Inc., more commonly known as MLJ Comics, for eleven issues between Winter 1943 and Summer 1946. The series featured MLJs costumed hero

Black Hood The Black Hood is a fictional character created by MLJ Comics (later known as Archie Comics) during the period known as the "Golden Age of Comic Books". The Black Hood first appeared in ''Top-Notch Comics #9'', October 1940 and became one of MLJ ...

, and "Boy Buddies", featuring Shield's partner 'Dusty the Boy Detective' and Wizard's side-kick 'Roy the Superboy', together with humor strips.

Publication history

''Black Hood Comics'' was published by MLJ Magazines Inc., the precursor to what became the publisher Archie Comics. The title continued directly on from ''

Hangman Comics ''Hangman Comics'' was the name of an American anthology comic book series published by MLJ Magazines Inc., more commonly known as MLJ Comics, for seven issues between Spring 1942 and Fall 1943. It featured MLJs costumed vigilante The Hangman, ...

'', starting from issue #9 (Winter 1943), with a 68-page issue featuring new stories of the costumed hero Black Hood replacing Hangman, and a continuation of the "Boy Buddies" series featuring Shield's partner 'Dusty the Boy Detective' and Wizard's side-kick 'Roy the Superboy' The series was edited by

Harry Shorten Harry Shorten (1914–1991) was an American writer, editor, and book publisher best known for the syndicated gag cartoon ''There Oughta Be a Law!'', as well as his work with Archie Comics, and his long association with Archie's publishers Louis Si ...

.Shorten was publisher of Tower Comics in the 1960s and also a comics writer, credited with creating MLJ/Archie characters

and Shield''Black Hood Comics'', MLJ imprint, 1941 Series
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...

The feature character throughout the series was the titular Black Hood, a masked hero who first appeared in

Top-Notch Comics ''Top-Notch Comics'' is an American comic book anthology series that was published by MLJ Magazines Inc., more commonly known as MLJ Comics, during the 1930s and 1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. From issue #28 it was re-titled ...

#9 (October 1940). Black Hood appeared in four stories in each issue of ''Black Hood Comics'' to begin with, and most issues also carried a Black Hood text story, something all comic books did through the early 1960s, to satisfy U.S. Postal Service requirements for magazine rates. The stories were drawn by a number of artists, including Clem Weisbecker, Bob Fujutani, Bill Vigoda,

Irv Novick Irving Novick (; April 11, 1916 – October 15, 2004) was an American comics artist who worked almost continuously from 1939 until the 1990s. Career A graduate of the National Academy of Design, Irv Novick got his start in the workshop of Harry " ...

, Al Fagaly and Raymond Kinstler. Issues #9 (Winter 1943) and #11 (Summer 1944) also starring "Boy Buddies", the Shield's partner 'Dusty the Boy Detective' and the Wizard's side-kick 'Roy the Superboy' in a dual adventure with art by Bill Vigoda, while issue #10 (Spring 1944) featured a Dusty the Boy Detective solo story, also by Bill Vigoda. The "Junior Flying Corps Club" pages were also continued from ''Hangman Comics'', with plans for making model gliders in issues #9-13, but with issue #14 (Spring 1945) the Club page disappeared, replaced by a true-facts page entitled 'World of Wonder'. From issue #10 (Spring 1944) the series dropped to 52-page issues, and with #12 (Fall 1944) the number of Black Hood stories was reduced to three, with a war adventure series "The Flying Dragons" taking up the extra space in #12-13, followed by "Gloomy Gus the Homeless Ghost" by Red Holmdale from #14-19. "Bentley of Scotland Yard" (who previously had a long-running series in ''

Pep Comics ''Pep Comics'' is the name of an American comic book anthology series published by the Archie Comics predecessor MLJ Magazines Inc. (commonly known as MLJ Comics) during the 1930s and 1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. The titl ...

'') had one story in #14 (Spring 1945) by Joe Blair and artist

Paul Reinman Paul J. Reinman (; born Joseph Paul Reinmann, ; 2 September 1910 – 27 September 1988)Paul J. Reinmen

, while the animal humor strip "It shouldn't happen to a dog" by Burton Geller completed issues #16-17. Issues #18-19 of ''Black Hood Comics'' were published under MLJs new title, the ''Archie Comic Publications'' imprint; although the covers featured the 'An Archie Magazine' logo instead of 'An MLJ Comic' from issue #16 (Fall 1945). For the last issue of ''Black Hood Comics'', #19 (Summer 1946), there were only two Black Hood tales, the 14-page "The Black Hood versus NeedleNoodle" and a 19-page finale, "NeedleNoodle Strikes Back", both drawn by Irv Novick. Following MLJs new editorial direction towards teen humor comics after the success of

Archie Andrews Archibald "Archie" Andrews, created in 1941 by publisher John L. Goldwater and artist Bob Montana in collaboration with writer Vic Bloom,

, from issue #20 (Fall 1946) ''Black Hood Comics'' was retitled ''

Laugh Comics ''Laugh Comics'' was a comic book produced by Archie Comics in two volumes, from 1946 to 1987 and 1987 to 1991. The title showcased some of the early appearances of the "Archie gang." Beginning with issue #145, Josie began making semi-regular a ...

'' and became an all-humor title. Black Hood made two further appearances in the next year, in ''Pep Comics'', while "Gloomy Gus" moved to the same title for a long run as ''Pep Comics'' also went to an all-humor theme.

Footnotes

References

* Overstreet,Robert M., ed. ''Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'', 38th Edition (Gemstone Publishing, 2008) * Thompson, Maggie, Brent Frankenhoff and Peter Bickford, eds. ''Comic Buyer's Guide Standard Catalog of Comic Books'' (Krause Publications, 2008)

External sources

{{Otto Binder Comics magazines published in the United States Golden Age comics titles 1943 comics debuts 1946 comics endings Magazines established in 1943 Magazines disestablished in 1946