| All Select Comics | |
|---|---|
 All Select Comics #8 (Summer 1945), cover art byAlex Schomburg. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Timely Comics |
| Publication date | Fall 1943 to Fall 1945 |
| No. of issues | 11 (retitledBlonde Phantom Comics andLovers) |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Stan Lee |
| Artist(s) | Alex Schomburg Ken Bald Stan Drake Carl Pfeufer Bob Powell Syd Shores Chic Stone |
All Select Comics is a 1943–1945Americancomic book series published byTimely Comics, the 1940s predecessor ofMarvel Comics, during the period fans and historians call theGolden Age of comic books. An omnibus series with several differentsuperhero and other features each issue, it primarily starredCaptain America and the originalHuman Torch, two of Timely's most popular characters, as well as fellow Timely star theSub-Mariner in several.
All Select Comics ran 11 issues,cover-dated Fall 1943 to Fall 1945. The series was renamedBlonde Phantom Comics from issues #12–22 (1947 – March 1949), and revamped as theromance comicLovers from #23-86 (May 1949 – Aug. 1957).[1]
The first 10 issues ofAll Select Comics starred thesuperheroesCaptain America and the originalHuman Torch, as well asNamor the Sub-Mariner in the first five issues plus #10 (Summer 1946). The costumed crime-fighter theBlonde Phantom, created by writer-editorStan Lee and artistSyd Shores, debuted inAll Select Comics #11 (Fall 1946). The same issue also introduced the feature "Mr. Wu" (a.k.a. "The Mysterious Mr. Wu"), starring Marvel Comics' firstAsian hero, an Asian-Indianprivate detective who went on to make one additional Timely appearance, inBlonde Phantom #12.[2][3]
Other Timely superheroes appearing in various issues were the Golden AgeBlack Widow, theDestroyer, super-speedster theWhizzer, and, in the final issue,Miss America. Thewar comics feature "Jap Buster Johnson", about a two-fistedU.S. Navylieutenant out to avenge his dead buddy,[4] appeared in three issues, and themilitary humor feature "Jeep Jones" in two.
Writers and artists on the various features includedVince Alascia,Larry Antonette,Ken Bald,Dan Barry,Allen Bellman,Jack Binder,Stan Drake,Al Gabriele,Patricia Highsmith,Chad Grothkopf,Carl Pfeufer,Bob Powell,Chic Stone, and, on the final issue, Lee, Shores,Charles Nicholas, andEd Winiarski.
All covers were byAlex Schomburg except the last, by Shores.
The featured characters appeared in these issues:[5]
The first issue was reprinted in 1974 by publisher Alan L. Light's company Flashback asSpecial Edition Reprints #14.[6]