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All-Winners Comics #5-8
Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age All-Winners 2
You've been conscripted into the Golden Age in all its glory with All-Winners Comics. Captain America stops a plot against General Douglas MacArthur! The Human Torch foils a plan to freeze the English Channel! The Destroyer fi ghts the forces of the Devil himself! Plus the Sub-Mariner, the Whizzer, and more! With such warti me villains as the Stone-Man Slayer, Doctor Togu the Vampire, the Mock Mikado and Doctor Crime.
COLLECTING: ALL-WINNERS COMICS (1941) 5-8
COLLECTING: ALL-WINNERS COMICS (1941) 5-8
- GenresComicsGraphic Novels
267 pages, Paperback
First published December 9, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 20, 2013
This book collects Issues 5-8 of Timely's Quarterly All Winners Comics from Summer 1942-Spring 1943. As the introduction notes, there was a big shuffle of talent at Timely as many talented artists and writers were called away to serve their country including the ever-talented Stan Lee.
However, the books themselves had a pretty consistent lineup. Each book features Marvel's big 3: Captain America, Sub-mariner, and the Human Torch, plus the Destroyer. Three of the four issues contained stories from the Whizzer, while one debuted a forgetable one-shot character.
The stories were mostly centered on battles against Nazis and the Japanese to a degree rarely seen in these collections. Of the 20 stories in this collection, all but two were War related.
I'll talk about this book and review each character's performance from my favorite to least favorite:
1) The Destroyer: The Destroyer is probably the most underrated golden age hero and even with the other big characters in his here. His stories stand out. Issue 5 is just amazingly well-written as the Destroyer has nearly everyone thinking he's someone else which he uses to great effect against the Germans. Issue 6 takes on a truly nasty supervillainous robot. In Issue 7 has the Destroyer singlehandedly thwarting a Nazi invasion of Switzerland (also features a great splash page intro). And then in Issue 8 he takes on Hitler. Of course, this isn't the only Hitler guest appearance in the book but the Destroyer takes on Attila the Hun and Satan to boot.
In essence, the Destroyer could give awesome lessons to Batman. Marvel ought to collect all of his adventures scattered across 9 titles into one book.
2) Captain America: I love Captain America and these stories work. Captain America splits his time between battling the Nazis twice and the Japanese twice in imaginative tales of war with a bit of horror mixed in in a couple stories. The Mock Mikado Strikes" (Issue 6) is the one that stretches credulity. A descendant of a prior Emperor of Japan actually conquers California with the help of a small gang of horseback riding Japanese, though Cap takes care of that.
3) Sub-mariner: Sub-mariner has stopped his prewar menacing of Americans, but he's still somewhat edgier than the other heroes in a way that works. Issue 6 is somewhat notable as the Sub-mariner spends most of the issue clothed in a suit as he works undercover for Navy Intelligence. It was somewhat annoying that had Namor choosing to sleep on a land as a major plot point in Issue 5. But it's probably a geeky point.
4) The Human Torch: Overall, the Torch stories are all war stories and typical solid ventures for one of Timely's flagship character. Nothing special about them. What stands out is the splash in Issue 6 which was just some nice artwork.
5) The Whizzer: The Whizzer appeared in 5, 7, and 8. Issue 5 was somewhat noteworthy because the Whizzer wore a cape, which really isn't a great accessory for a speedy superhero. The Whizzer the was the only one who fought criminals as opposed to enemy agents, only fighting the Nazis in Issue 7.
6) The Black Avenger: Somewhat of a pointless character. The story was decent, but I really had a question as to why they introduced this. The Black Avenger just seemed to be an acrobatic guy in a costume with a black hood. They'd already introduced a guy in a black costume called the Black Marvel. So, not certain the point. The only thing to say for the Black Avenger is that when Spider-man: The Animated Series brought back the Black Marvel, the costume looked more like the Black Avenger's.
This book also has a couple other features. First, Nazi executions are dealt with and the book pretends that Hitler was guillotining people, but the truth was far worse. Also, as required by the then-law, each book contained a text story. Two of these were by Mickey Spillane who'd go on to write Mike Hammer including a delightful fantasy about a young man going to the moon in Issue 5.
Overall, these are some great wartime comics and not to be missed for the wonderful Destroyer stories.
However, the books themselves had a pretty consistent lineup. Each book features Marvel's big 3: Captain America, Sub-mariner, and the Human Torch, plus the Destroyer. Three of the four issues contained stories from the Whizzer, while one debuted a forgetable one-shot character.
The stories were mostly centered on battles against Nazis and the Japanese to a degree rarely seen in these collections. Of the 20 stories in this collection, all but two were War related.
I'll talk about this book and review each character's performance from my favorite to least favorite:
1) The Destroyer: The Destroyer is probably the most underrated golden age hero and even with the other big characters in his here. His stories stand out. Issue 5 is just amazingly well-written as the Destroyer has nearly everyone thinking he's someone else which he uses to great effect against the Germans. Issue 6 takes on a truly nasty supervillainous robot. In Issue 7 has the Destroyer singlehandedly thwarting a Nazi invasion of Switzerland (also features a great splash page intro). And then in Issue 8 he takes on Hitler. Of course, this isn't the only Hitler guest appearance in the book but the Destroyer takes on Attila the Hun and Satan to boot.
In essence, the Destroyer could give awesome lessons to Batman. Marvel ought to collect all of his adventures scattered across 9 titles into one book.
2) Captain America: I love Captain America and these stories work. Captain America splits his time between battling the Nazis twice and the Japanese twice in imaginative tales of war with a bit of horror mixed in in a couple stories. The Mock Mikado Strikes" (Issue 6) is the one that stretches credulity. A descendant of a prior Emperor of Japan actually conquers California with the help of a small gang of horseback riding Japanese, though Cap takes care of that.
3) Sub-mariner: Sub-mariner has stopped his prewar menacing of Americans, but he's still somewhat edgier than the other heroes in a way that works. Issue 6 is somewhat notable as the Sub-mariner spends most of the issue clothed in a suit as he works undercover for Navy Intelligence. It was somewhat annoying that had Namor choosing to sleep on a land as a major plot point in Issue 5. But it's probably a geeky point.
4) The Human Torch: Overall, the Torch stories are all war stories and typical solid ventures for one of Timely's flagship character. Nothing special about them. What stands out is the splash in Issue 6 which was just some nice artwork.
5) The Whizzer: The Whizzer appeared in 5, 7, and 8. Issue 5 was somewhat noteworthy because the Whizzer wore a cape, which really isn't a great accessory for a speedy superhero. The Whizzer the was the only one who fought criminals as opposed to enemy agents, only fighting the Nazis in Issue 7.
6) The Black Avenger: Somewhat of a pointless character. The story was decent, but I really had a question as to why they introduced this. The Black Avenger just seemed to be an acrobatic guy in a costume with a black hood. They'd already introduced a guy in a black costume called the Black Marvel. So, not certain the point. The only thing to say for the Black Avenger is that when Spider-man: The Animated Series brought back the Black Marvel, the costume looked more like the Black Avenger's.
This book also has a couple other features. First, Nazi executions are dealt with and the book pretends that Hitler was guillotining people, but the truth was far worse. Also, as required by the then-law, each book contained a text story. Two of these were by Mickey Spillane who'd go on to write Mike Hammer including a delightful fantasy about a young man going to the moon in Issue 5.
Overall, these are some great wartime comics and not to be missed for the wonderful Destroyer stories.
June 6, 2025
Historical interest only.
The art and stories from the early 1940s are very crude, and littered with racism. This is nothing like the Marvel Comics of the 1960s and beyond. Avoid unless you are interested in history.
The art and stories from the early 1940s are very crude, and littered with racism. This is nothing like the Marvel Comics of the 1960s and beyond. Avoid unless you are interested in history.
April 28, 2025
It felt like the script was written by baby dolphins.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews