King Comics #17
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeKing Comics #17 (on-sale July 20, 1937) is a representative installment of one of the earliest ongoing comic-book anthology series in North America, a title that helped define the very template of the comic-book format by packaging King Features Syndicate's most celebrated newspaper strips under a single cover. At the midpoint of the series' first year-and-a-half, this issue continued to deliver simultaneous doses of science-fiction spectacle (Flash Gordon), conjuring-hero adventure (Mandrake the Magician), and broad humor (Thimble Theatre/Popeye) — a tonal blend that would shape anthology publishing for the rest of the Golden Age. Because the strip material reprinted here was still actively running in newspapers, King Comics #17 also functioned as an early demonstration that comics readers would seek out bound, standalone collections of strips they could already read for free, a commercial insight that underpins the entire comic-book industry.
This issue is an anthology featuring multiple stories. "The Fighting Yank, Super-Patriot" depicts the hero rescuing a woman from villains who possess an indestructible metal and a ray-gun capable of atomizing matter. "Biff Powers, Big Game Hunter" shows Biff summoned by Army Intelligence to stop Nazi agents attempting to incite a native revolt in Africa, leading him to pursue a spy named Der Teufel. "Don Davis, Espionage Ace" follows Don as he investigates the theft of military intelligence from the U.S. War Office, laying a trap to catch the culprit and subsequently pursuing the suspect through the city.
ComicBooks.com Value
Show all 12 grades ▾
Find on ebay
Read it digitally
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
David McKay Publications launched King Comics in April 1936 as an anthology vehicle for King Features Syndicate strip reprints, following earlier McKay single-character collections of Henry and Popeye. The series was edited throughout this period by Ruth Plumly Thompson — best known as the successor Royal Historian of Oz — who contributed editorial content under the playful pseudonym 'Jo King.' Covers across the run were supplied by Joe Musial, and interior strip material was drawn by a roster that, in issues of this era, included Alex Raymond (Flash Gordon), E. C. Segar (Thimble Theatre), Lee Falk and Phil Davis (Mandrake the Magician), and a broad supporting cast of other King Features talents. Issue #17 falls squarely within the series' pre-superhero phase, when McKay was proving that a stable of humor and adventure strips could sustain a monthly comic book without any original content whatsoever.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by David McKay Company; on-sale date recorded as July 20, 1937, per the Catalog of Copyright Entries (as documented by the Grand Comics Database).
- Anthology format reprinting King Features Syndicate Sunday newspaper strips — no original comic-book material was produced for this issue.
- Flash Gordon sequence (script by Don Moore, art by Alex Raymond) covers the Forest Kingdom of King Barin arc, with Flash, Dale Arden, and Dr. Zarkov attacked by 'squirlongs' and Zarkov bitten — reprinting Sunday pages originally dated November 22 through December 13, 1936.
- Thimble Theatre (Popeye) strips by E. C. Segar are included, reprinting Sunday pages from the same late-1936 newspaper run (later also collected in Dell's Four Color #25, 1942).
- Mandrake the Magician strips by Lee Falk and Phil Davis appear alongside recurring supporting cast member Lothar.
- Cover art by Joe Musial; the series was edited by Ruth Plumly Thompson, credited in the indicia under the pen name 'Jo King.'
- King Comics ran from April 1936 through February 1952, totaling 159 issues, making it one of the longest-running pre-Code anthology titles rooted entirely in newspaper strip reprints.
- Regular strip lineup in issues of this era included Brick Bradford, Little Annie Rooney, Henry, Radio Patrol, The G-Man, Bringing Up Father, The Little King, Ace Drummond, and King of the Royal Mounted, in addition to the flagship adventure strips.
Full credits
Reprints
Reprinted in Four Color #25 (1942)
Key issues in King Comics
Reviews
Reader reviews
No reader reviews yet.