Yellowjacket Comics

(Frank, 1944-1946)
™ and © Frank Publishing Company

Yellowjacket Comics would rank as another completely forgettable golden age title from a third-string publisher if not for a storytelling innovation it apparently pioneered in a back-page filler series. “Tales of Terror” is not only an extremely early example of the comic book horror genre, it also features perhaps the first comic book appearance of the now-standard device of a horror “host”—in this case, an old witch who narrates the tale and provides its moral. Considering the staggering influence this device would have on subsequent horror comics from Tales from the Crypt to House of Mystery, the rest of Yellowjacket is remarkable only in its complete lack of originality. The lead feature is a routine costumed hero (“Yellowjacket”) and the rest of the pages are taken up with the standard assortment of South Seas adventures, second-banana heroes (“Diana the Huntress,” “The Filipino Kid”) and humor (“Bee Stings.”)

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