Blue Beetle #42 (1939)

(Fox/Holyoke, 1939)

Edited by Victor Fox. Cover by E. C. Stoner. Stories by Elmer C. Stoner and A. C. Hollingsworth. Tales of daring-do, with such colorful characters as the Bronze Man and Blue Beetle, a super-hero who wears a special bulletproof costume and takes “Vitamin 2X” which gives him super-energy. Pirate Treasure; The Beetle and his friends go to South America to find a hoard of counterfeit currency originally printed by the Japanese and now the target of U.S. gangsters. Murder on Stage; Murder is committed to obtain the Jewels of Kwannon which have been smuggled in from the mysterious orient by a troop of actors.

In July/August 1946, Fox Feature Syndicate’s Blue Beetle #42 quietly introduced a new hero to the Golden Age of comics: Bronze Man. The character was created by artist A.C. Hollingsworth (Negro Romance #2, 1950), whose work on the issue stands as an early and significant contribution by a Black creator to mainstream superhero comics.

In the story, penned by another Black creator and illustrator by the name of E.C. Stoner (The Funnies #45), U.S. Army Air Force pilot Randy Ronald is shot down and reported missing in action. In truth, he had been captured by enemy forces, tortured, and left disfigured before managing to escape. Donning a mask, Ronald reemerges as Bronze Man, a hero with the power of flight and enhanced strength, dedicated to fighting brute force and injustice.

What makes Bronze Man’s debut especially notable is the story behind the story. Hollingsworth reportedly intended for the character to be Black, outfitted with an iron mask (see the illustration below by John Jennings). But by the time the issue reached print, the character was described only as wearing a “bronze mask,” with no race specified in the text or art — leaving Bronze Man to read visually like any other white Golden Age hero.

That gap between Hollingsworth’s original vision and the finished page is a small but telling artifact of the era: a Black artist working within a mainstream industry that had little room for a Black superhero, even one he created himself. Bronze Man went on to appear in Blue Beetle #44 and Jo-Jo #7, but never became more than a footnote — one now worth revisiting for what it reveals about representation, authorship, and erasure in Golden Age comics.

Nearly eight decades later, Bronze Man remains a small but meaningful entry point into the larger, often overlooked history of Black creators shaping the earliest years of the American comic book industry.

Collector Value

Blue Beetle #42 remains an affordable Golden Age key relative to earlier issues in the run. As of this writing, ungraded/raw copies are trading in the range of roughly $150–$250, with values rising sharply for higher CGC grades, consistent with other mid-1940s Fox Feature Syndicate issues of similar scarcity. A current, grade-specific CGC census breakdown (population counts and recent sale prices by grade) can be checked directly at CGC’s census search or a live price-guide site such as GoCollect, since these figures shift with the market and new submissions.

References

“Bronze Man.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bronze_Man

“Bronze Man.” Public Domain Super Heroes Wiki. https://pdsh.fandom.com/wiki/Bronze_Man

“Blue Beetle Comics Price Guide.” SellMyComicBooks.com. https://www.sellmycomicbooks.com/blue-beetle-comics.html

“Blue Beetle #42 (1946).” PriceCharting.com. https://www.pricecharting.com/game/comic-books-blue-beetle/blue-beetle-42-1946

“Blue Beetle #42 Value.” GoCollect.com. https://gocollect.com/comic/blue-beetle-42