Master Comics #27
Master Comics #27 stands as one of the most action-packed single issues in the early Fawcett run, delivering a wartime Captain Marvel Jr. story set in blitz-era London where the teenage hero matches wits with his arch-nemesis Captain Nazi—a villain whose brutal origin directly caused Freddy Freeman's transformation into Captain Marvel Jr. just a few months earlier. The issue exemplifies how Fawcett used its anthology format to place nearly the full roster of Earth-S heroes (Bulletman, Bulletgirl, Minute-Man, Mr. Scarlet, Spy Smasher, Commando Yank, and others) under one cover, functioning as an early model of a shared superhero universe. Mac Raboy's cover art—set against a wartime backdrop and depicting Captain Marvel Jr. in combat—is among the most admired images of the Golden Age, frequently cited as a high-water mark of WWII-era comics illustration. The issue also features a comics appearance of Winston Churchill, reflecting Fawcett's practice of grounding its wartime stories in real-world geopolitical figures to heighten stakes and patriotic resonance.
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The issue was produced by Fawcett Publications under editor Al Allard, with the lead Captain Marvel Jr. story written by Otto Binder and drawn by Mac Raboy, who handled both pencils and inks on the 14-page feature. Raboy, whose background included WPA-era illustration work, brought a distinctively realistic and dramatically lit style to the character that set him apart from C.C. Beck's more cartoonish approach on the senior Captain Marvel—a contrast that was noted even within Fawcett itself. Background work on the cover was confirmed to be by Bob Rogers, a detail corroborated in an interview with Roger Hill published in Alter Ego #7. The supporting stories were produced by the Binder Studio and other Fawcett contract artists including Phil Bard, Charles Sultan, Ralph Carlson, and Kin Platt, reflecting the studio-production model common to Golden Age anthology books.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover date: June 1942; on-sale date: May 6, 1942. Published by Fawcett Publications, 64 pages.
- Lead story is 'Captain Nazi and the Blackout Terror' (14 pages), written by Otto Binder with art by Mac Raboy, in which Captain Marvel Jr. pursues Captain Nazi through wartime London after the villain infiltrates the city by murdering and impersonating a British tugboat captain.
- Winston Churchill appears as a character in this issue, one of the earlier uses of a real Allied wartime leader in a Golden Age superhero comic.
- Captain Nazi (Albrecht Krieger), created by William Woolfolk and Mac Raboy, had his first appearance in Master Comics #21 (December 1941); issue #27 is among his earliest return appearances and established the pattern of his recurring vendetta with Captain Marvel Jr.
- The cover was penciled and inked by Mac Raboy with backgrounds by Bob Rogers—a collaboration confirmed in an interview published in Alter Ego #7.
- The anthology also features Bulletman and Bulletgirl (Jim Barr and Susan Kent), Minute-Man, Mr. Scarlet, Spy Smasher, Commando Yank, El Carim, and the Buck Jones/Companions Three western strip, making it a near-complete showcase of the Fawcett hero line at that moment.
- The Captain Marvel Jr. lead story was reprinted in DC's hardcover Shazam! Family Archives Vol. 1 (2006), part of the DC Archive Editions series collecting Master Comics #23–32 and related issues.
- PS Artbooks published a complete facsimile edition of Master Comics #27 in 2023, preserving all 64 pages and original ads.
Cast · 20 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
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Captain Marvel Jr. travels to England to stop Captain Nazi and his cohorts from co-ordinating an air attack upon the nation.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).