Real Fact Comics #13
Real Fact Comics #13 holds a specific niche in DC's Golden Age history as one of only four issues — alongside #6, #8, and #16 — to feature an early Tommy Tomorrow story before the character was recast and relocated to Action Comics. The 'Planet of Peril' installment here is the third such appearance and, along with the prior two, is generally treated by DC historians as apocryphal: the character's origin, rank, and world-building contradict everything that would follow when editor Mort Weisinger brought Tommy to Action Comics #127 later in 1948. Beyond Tommy Tomorrow, the issue spotlights Dale Evans in a five-page 'Queen of the Westerns' profile — a rare early comics appearance for the real-life entertainer at a moment when Western heroines were underrepresented on newsstands — making this issue a genuine cross-section of postwar DC's educational and entertainment ambitions.
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Real Fact Comics was DC's sole foray into the educational-comics genre that had grown popular by the mid-1940s, and issue #13 (cover-dated March–April 1948) was produced under the same editorial trio that guided the entire 21-issue run: writers Jack Schiff, Mort Weisinger, and Bernie Breslauer handled scripts uncredited, while cover lettering throughout the series was the work of Ira Schnapp, then developing the style he would refine on DC's Superman newspaper strip. The Tommy Tomorrow segment, like its predecessors in the series, was conceived as a speculative 'future fact' rather than pure fiction — a deliberate editorial strategy to make the book feel engaging without fully abandoning the non-fiction mandate. Art for the King of Coins feature was supplied by Win Mortimer, a regular contributor to the title, while a Sam Spade Wildroot Creme-Oil advertisement with pencils by Lou Fine and an R.C. Cola ad with art by Creig Flessel rounded out the 52-page package.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published March–April 1948 by DC Comics (National Comics Publications), 52 pages, part of the 21-issue Real Fact Comics run (1946–1949).
- Contains 'The Planet of Peril,' Tommy Tomorrow's third appearance (following Real Fact Comics #6 and #8); historians and the GCD note that this story, along with the other two Real Fact Tommy Tomorrow outings, contradicts all subsequent Tommy Tomorrow continuity and is generally considered apocryphal to the canon that began in Action Comics #127 (December 1948).
- Tommy Tomorrow was created by Jack Schiff, George Kashdan, Bernie Breslauer, Virgil Finlay, and Howard Sherman — though the DC Database credits Mort Weisinger in place of George Kashdan (see Flagged).
- Features 'Queen of the Westerns,' a five-page biography of Dale Evans — one of the earliest comic-book profiles of the real-life Western film star and television personality.
- Also includes 'He Challenged the Unknown,' a six-page story about explorer Richard Francis Burton, and a seven-page FBI feature covering the Brady Gang (with historical figures including John Dillinger and Alvin Karpis).
- Scripts throughout the issue are credited to the Schiff–Weisinger–Breslauer editorial team; art on 'The King of Coins' (featuring Vernon L. Brown) was by Win Mortimer.
- Real Fact Comics was DC's only attempt to compete in the mid-1940s educational comics market, and the series ran for exactly 21 issues before cancellation in 1949.
- Cover lettering across all 21 issues of Real Fact Comics, including #13, was the work of Ira Schnapp, who was simultaneously lettering DC's Superman newspaper strip.
Cast · 10 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Half a century in the future, Col. Tommy Tomorrow leads the first interplanetary expedition to Venus.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).