Clock (comics)

The Clock
Funny Picture Stories #1 (Nov, 1936). Comic Magazine Company.
Publication information
Publisher	Comics Magazine Company, Ultem Quality Comics
First appearance	Funny Pages #6 and Funny Picture Stories #1; November 1936
Created by	George Brenner
In-story information
Alter ego	Brian O'Brien
Partnerships	Pug Brady Butch

The Clock is a fictional masked crime-fighter character created in 1936, during the Golden Age of Comic Books. According to the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, he was the first masked hero to appear in American comic books.

Created by cartoonist George Brenner, the Clock first appeared in two Comics Magazine Company publications: Funny Pages #6 and Funny Picture Stories #1 both cover-dated November 1936. His first appearances were in two-page features, with little room for character development. The Clock's secret identity was eventually disclosed as Brian O'Brien, a wealthy member of high society.

The Clock may be a “missing link” between pulp and comic-book heroes. A hypnotist with a secret underground lair, his minimalist costume as a master of disguise was a three-piece suit and mask. The Clock used a number of gadgets (including a cane whose head becomes a projectile, and a diamond stud which fires tear gas), and customarily left a calling card with a clock face and "The Clock Has Struck".

The character appeared in Funny Pages #6–11 and other titles from the Comics Magazine Company, including Detective Picture Stories and Keen Detective Funnies. In 1937 the company was bought by Ultem, which encountered financial difficulties and sold the Clock (and other characters) to Quality Comics. Ultem was purchased and renamed Centaur Publications; despite the sale to Quality, Centaur continued to reprint old Clock stories.

The Clock continued to be written and drawn in new stories by Brenner in Feature Funnies (later retitled Feature Comics) from #3 (December 1937) through #31 (April 1940). Quality editor Will Eisner may have been inspired by this run of the Clock to create the Spirit. The Clock feature was moved to Crack Comics #1 (May 1940).