Hot Stuff, the Little Devil #17
Hot Stuff, the Little Devil #17 (November 1959) is a strong representative issue of Harvey Comics' Silver Age children's line at its creative peak, showcasing the title's dual-feature structure that made Stumbo the Giant a fixture equal in page-space to Hot Stuff himself. The issue is also notable for introducing a Harvey-universe character named Thor — explicitly not the familiar Norse god of Marvel or DC — demonstrating how Harvey's writers freely plundered mythology and pop culture for their own all-ages ecosystem. Within the run, this issue crystallizes a storytelling formula — Hot Stuff's mischief contrasted against Stumbo and Officer O'Floodle's community-minded adventures in Tinytown — that would define both characters across the following two decades of Harvey publishing.
In "The Land of Music," Hot Stuff, the Little Devil, brings his signature heat to the Enchanted Forest—only to find one man who claims to be cold despite the inferno. When Hot Stuff retreats, the man reveals a surprising truth: he’s not just another resident, but a grown-up devil in disguise. Art by Warren Kremer brings the whimsical, fiery spectacle to life in this 1959 Harvey classic.
Sell my copy
Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.
We Buy Collections ▸History
The series was the creative product of Warren Kremer, Harvey's resident art director and the designer of Hot Stuff, Stumbo, and Richie Rich, who pencilled covers and interiors while working alongside editor Sid Jacobson — a partnership that deliberately chased the visual fluency of theatrical animation rather than conventional comics draftsmanship. The Grand Comics Database, citing Robin Snyder's scholarly newsletter The Comics (Vol. 33, No. 5, May 2022), attributes the script for at least one story in this issue to Carl Wessler, while interior art is credited to Howie Post, who alongside Kremer helped define the look of the Hot Stuff universe in its first years. By issue #17 the series had settled into its mature format, with Stumbo and O'Floodle backup stories occupying a consistent position in the book's page count.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published November 1959 by Harvey Comics as part of the Hot Stuff, the Little Devil ongoing series (Vol. 1), which ran from October 1957 to January 1991 for 177 issues total.
- Interior art credited to Howie Post (artist) and Warren Kremer (penciller); edited by Sid Jacobson and Leon Harvey; script on at least one story attributed to Carl Wessler per Robin Snyder's bibliographic research in The Comics newsletter (2022).
- The issue runs 36 pages and features multiple short stories in Harvey's standard anthology format, with Hot Stuff headlining and Stumbo the Giant appearing in a backup strip.
- A Stumbo/Tinytown backup story features ghosts attempting to take over Tinytown and steal Stumbo's clothes, with Officer O'Floodle resolving the crisis — a typical pairing for the two characters.
- A Hot Stuff story set in 'The Land of Music' — a world of sentient musical instruments — appears in this issue, and the issue also names Hot Stuff's most powerful attack the 'Super-Ultra-Colossal Heat Wave.'
- A second Hot Stuff story involves the little devil attempting to heat up the Enchanted Forest; a mysterious man who claims to feel cold is ultimately revealed in the final panel to be a grown-up devil (possibly Satan, though the GCD flags this as ambiguous).
- The character indexed as 'Thor' is explicitly noted by the Grand Comics Database as not being the familiar Norse-mythology Thor popularized by Marvel or DC — this is a distinct Harvey Comics character by the same name.
- Stories from this issue were reprinted in Hot Stuff Sizzlers #2 and #12 (Harvey, 1960 series), and at least one story was reprinted again in Casper the Friendly Ghost Presents Hot Stuff Sizzlers #1 (American Mythology Productions, January 2020).
Cast · 4 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Hot Stuff heats up the Enchanted Forest, making everyone uncomfortable except for one man who claims to be cold, no matter how much the little devil turns up the heat. After he gives up and goes away, the man reveals himself to be a grown-up devil.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).