Mystic Comics

Mystic Comics
Mystic Comics #10 (cover-dated Aug. 1942), featuring the Destroyer. Cover art by Al Gabriele and Syd Shores.
Publication information
Publisher	Timely Comics
Schedule	(Vol. 1) monthly (Vol. 2) bimonthly
Format	Series
Genre	superhero
Publication date	(Vol. 1) March 1940 - August 1942 (Vol. 2) October 1944 - March 1945
Number of issues	(Vol. 1) 10 (Vol. 2) 4
Main character(s)	(Vol. 1) Blazing Skull, Destroyer, Black Widow, Thin Man, Blue Blaze, Flexo the Rubber Man, Terror (Vol 2) Destroyer, Angel, Young Allies, Human Torch, Tommy Tyme
Creative team
Writer(s)	various
Artist(s)	various
Editor(s)	(Vol. 1) Martin Goodman, Joe Simon, Stan Lee (Vol. 2) Vincent Fago

Mystic
Publication information
Publisher	Atlas Comics
Schedule	monthly
Format	Series
Genre	horror-suspense
Publication date	March 1951 - Aug. 1957
Number of issues	61
Creative team
Writer(s)	various
Artist(s)	various
Editor(s)	Stan Lee

Mystic Comics is the name of three comic book series published by the company that would eventually become Marvel Comics. The first two series were superhero anthologies published by Marvel's 1930-1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, during what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books. The third, simply titled Mystic, was a horror fiction-suspense anthology from Marvel's 1950s forerunner, Atlas Comics.

The first two series titled Mystic came during the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books from publisher Martin Goodman, whose Timely Comics by the early 1960s would evolve into Marvel Comics. The first four issues were nominally edited by Goodman, but the contents came almost entirely from either the Funnies, Inc. or Harry "A" Chesler studios. Editor Joe Simon relaunched the series after a seven-month gap, with future Marvel chief Stan Lee taking over with issue #8 or #9 after Simon left the company. It ran 10 issues (March 1940 - Aug. 1942).

A superhero anthology with no regular starring feature, Mystic Comics introduced at least three notable characters: the Blazing Skull (issue #5, March 1941), who made appearances both in the Golden Age and in the 2000s; and the Destroyer (issue #6, Oct. 1941), noted by comics historian and former Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas as "Stan's most popular superhero creation before the Fantastic Four". The Destroyer was cover-featured for the last half of the run. The Black Widow is comic books' first super-powered, costumed female character; She appeared in Mystic Comics #4 (Aug. 1940) and #5 (Mar. 1941), as well as #7 (Dec. 1941). An antihero who killed evildoers to deliver their souls to Satan, her master, she is unrelated to Marvel Comics' later superspy character, Black Widow.