Mighty Little Person Comics? – Mighty Midget Comic, Captain Marvel, Jr. #11

You don’t see these around much. “Mighty Midget Comics” are relics of the Golden Age, that era’s forerunner of the Bronze Age’s fondly remembered digest format. Even more likely to be thrown out — or recycled in wartime paper drives — than their larger cousins, they have a certain rarity amongst collectors today. And, frankly, most don’t even know what the hell they are. I didn’t. Without the aid of Google, I never would have been able to track their listing down in the Overstreet Guide.

Sold two for a nickel (a nickel), they reprinted stories found in the regular-sized titles of their stars — and made no attempt to have a cohesive numbering system. This 1942 book, theoretically “#11,” isn’t the only book to be graced with those digits. Maybe this was because they were too small for anyone to give a damn. They’re slightly smaller than digests in all three dimensions, and they’re stapled once on the spine. Seventy years after their publication, they’re the very definition of fragile — like butterfly wings — but I did take a couple of scans from the inside, though. Don’t say I never do anything for anyone. (I was holding it on the scanner with all the delicacy of a TV character disarming a nuclear bomb.) Let’s get to those scans.  

Lest anyone miss the fact that Captain Marvel, Jr.’s first adventure reprinted here (from Master Comics #29) takes place during World War II, the giant Swastika on his first story’s title page tells you just what epoch this story is set in — “The Iron Hell of the Huns” is almost redundant after that (art by Mac Raboy):

As you see, there’s some red thrown into the black and white. That’s the only color you see on the interior, and it’s a bit strange. One Color Comics, as it were. It can sometimes be nice effect, though. Also, you have to love a time and place that allowed the conceit that a young boy could be an international wartime ambassador. What would Freddie Freeman have made of Benghazi?

Captain Marvel, Jr. has one more story reprinted (there’s a lot crammed into the wafer-thin dimensions), but he’s not alone. Sandwiched between them is the long-forgotten Sir Butch, a kid from Flatbush who falls through a magic manhole (sounds pervy) and ends up in a medieval fantasyland:

You have to love an accent so thick in print it’s almost indecipherable.

Though strange, this little bit of Captain Marvel ephemera can’t hold a candle to the bizarre, unassembled, self-loving Captain Marvel flying toy. Probably for the best. Keep your eyes peeled for these mini comics — and, as always, remember to buy war bonds and stamps to bring the Hun to heel: