Star Spangled Comics #69
Star Spangled Comics #69 (June 1947) is a genuine double-debut issue: it contains the first appearance of Tomahawk (Tom Hawk), DC's foremost Revolutionary War frontiersman, who would anchor his own 140-issue solo series and appear in backup slots for over two decades. Equally notable, the issue falls within the early run of Robin's landmark solo feature — the first time any Batman supporting character anchored a title independently — meaning the book captures two distinct chapters in DC's postwar expansion of its character universe. Together, the atomic-age Robin mystery and the colonial-frontier Tomahawk adventure illustrate the breadth of genre storytelling DC was experimenting with in a single anthology package of 1947.
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The issue went on sale April 2, 1947, under the editorial hand of Jack Schiff (with overall editing credited to Whitney Ellsworth), and carried a cover penciled and inked by Win Mortimer, who was at that moment becoming one of DC's most prolific cover artists. The Tomahawk debut — titled 'Flames Along the Frontier!' — was written by Joe Samachson (the same writer who would later pen the debut of the Martian Manhunter) and drawn by Edmond Good; the character and his orphan companion Dan Hunter were introduced against an 18th-century Kentucky Territory backdrop. The letterer for multiple stories in the issue was Ira Schnapp, a credit confirmed by typographer Todd Klein through documentary research.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Tomahawk (Tom Hawk / Thomas Haukins), a frontier hero fluent in Native American languages and customs, in the story 'Flames Along the Frontier!' — created by writer Joe Samachson and artist Edmond Good.
- First appearance of Dan Hunter, Tomahawk's young orphaned companion, who was later retroactively established in the Time Masters miniseries as a cousin of Rip Hunter who had traveled back in time.
- Tomahawk debuted as a backup feature and ran in Star Spangled Comics through issue #130 (July 1952), then continued in World's Finest Comics from #33 (March 1948) through #101 (May 1959), before launching his own solo series in September 1950 that ran 140 issues until June 1972.
- The lead Robin story, 'The Stolen Atom Bomb!' (10 pages, art by Win Mortimer), features Dick Grayson tracking a stolen atomic bomb to a circus, with Batman in a supporting role — part of the first dedicated solo Robin feature in comics, which began in Star Spangled Comics #65.
- The Robin story was reprinted in Robin Archives Vol. 1 (DC, October 2005).
- Cover art is by Win Mortimer, who between 1946 and 1955 produced one of the highest volumes of DC covers of any artist of that era.
- The Star-Spangled Kid and Stripesy (Sylvester Pemberton and Pat Dugan) appear in the third story, 'A-Hunting We Will Go!' — continuing the run of the Jerry Siegel/Hal Sherman–created duo, whose inverted teen-hero/adult-sidekick dynamic distinguished them from virtually every other superhero pair of the era.
- Editor Jack Schiff oversaw all stories in the issue; letterer Ira Schnapp's involvement was documented by typographic historian Todd Klein through archival research.
Cast · 13 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Having lived among the natives for a year, Tom Hawk and his new friend Dan Hunter help them when white renegades disguise themselves as natives in order to loot and pillage.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).