Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age U.S.A. Comics

    (Marvel, 2007)
™ and © Marvel Characters, Inc.

Make no mistake: USA Comics #1-4 were by no means great comics. The highest of the high points occur in the first issue, with the debuts of both The Whizzer and Jack Frost. (“High point” is a relative scale, though. There’s a reason Captain America’s origin has been retold umpteen times and The Whizzer’s hasn’t.) The real joy is in being able to see these pieces of history at all, even if they’re mediocre comics.

The Whizzer and Jack Frost are perhaps the only characters here with which most readers may be familiar. Marvel has many characters who never made it into The Invaders or The Liberty Legion. Among the surprising, obscure characters in this volume you’ll find names later re-used, including The Defender and Young Avenger. There’s also Mr. Liberty, later Major Liberty, and The Vagabond, aka Chauncey Throttlebottom III, who dressed as a hobo to fight crime. (Huh?)

Perhaps the most jaw-dropping feature is Rockman—Underground Secret Agent, whose earliest adventures were drawn by Basil Wolverton. You haven’t lived until you’ve read Golden Age Marvel super-heroes by Basil Wolverton.

— Jack Abramowitz
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  • 1/A
    #1 Variation A
    Marble Cover A by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon
    Cover: $59.99
    W: Stan Lee, Basil Wolverton, Syd Shores, George Klein, Mike Suchorsky, Ed Winiarski  ·  A: Basil Wolverton, Syd Shores, George Klein, Mike Suchorsky, Ed Winiarski
    Collects U.S.A. Comics #1–4; Introduction by Dr. Michael J. Vassallo; ca. 2007
    1 copy for $49.95