Star Spangled Comics #4 for Sale - First Appearance of The Needle - Where to Buy

Identification plate

Series: Star Spangled Comics (DC, 1941 series)
Issue: #4
Publication date: January 1942
Key date: 1942-01-00
On-sale date: 1941-11-03
Indicia publisher: Detective Comics Inc.
Price: $0.10
Pages: 68

Match the book in your hand against this plate before paying an edition-specific price.

Why this issue matters

First appearance of The Needle - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

First appearance of Mr. Ghool - the earliest non-flashback appearance on record for this character.

The evidence

Claims here come from the story records for this issue, listed under Sources at the bottom of the file. Character hubs with full evidence tables are coming to this site.

Seq	Story	Type	Pages	Credits	Characters
0	The Needle	cover	1	pencils: Hal Sherman; inks: Hal Sherman	Pat Dugan, The Needle First, Sylvester Pemberton, The Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy
2	The Needle	comic story	13	script: Jerry Siegel; pencils: Hal Sherman; inks: Hal Sherman	Pat Dugan, The Needle First, Sylvester Pemberton, The Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy
3	Now on Sale	promo (ad from the publisher)	1
4	Mr. Ghool	comic story	10	script: Jerry Siegel; pencils: Hal Sherman; inks: Hal Sherman	Pat Dugan, Mr. Ghool First, Sylvester Pemberton, The Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy
5	-	comic story	1	script: Henry Boltinoff; pencils: Henry Boltinoff; inks: Henry Boltinoff	Private Pete
6	The Story of the Liberty Bell	text article	2
7	The Case of the Sand Gun	comic story	8	script: Ed Moore; pencils: Ed Moore; inks: Ed Moore	Lieutenant Armstrong
8	The Blade	comic story	8	script: Manly Wade Wellman; pencils: Harold Sharp; inks: Harold Sharp	John Law, Tarantula
9	Editorial Advisory Board	promo (ad from the publisher)	0.33	letters: typeset
10	Defending America	in-house column	0.67	script: Josette Frank
11	Barges in Norway	comic story	8	script: Jon L. Blummer; pencils: Jon L. Blummer; inks: Jon L. Blummer	Captain X, Buck Dare
12	-	comic story	1	script: Henry Boltinoff; pencils: Henry Boltinoff; inks: Henry Boltinoff	Private Pete
13	The Flying Buzz-Saw!	comic story	10	script: Jerry Siegel; pencils: Hal Sherman; inks: Hal Sherman	Dr. Weerd, Pat Dugan, Sylvester Pemberton, Professor James Stanton, The Star-Spangled Kid, Stripesy
14	-	promo (ad from the publisher)	1

Plus 3 pages of advertisements and other matter across 3 sequences, as published.

Before you buy

Golden-age paper is brittle. Ask about page suppleness and check edges for chips in the photos.
Check for trimmed edges, married covers, and clipped coupons - all common on books this old.
Confirm the indicia matches this plate; many golden-age titles changed names mid-run.

Series context

‹ #34 of 130#5 ›

Sources

Grand Comics Database, issue record (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Found an error in this file? corrections@comicrecord.com