Simon & Kirby Reboot the Black Owl in Prize Comics, at Auction (original) (raw)
Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: golden age, jack kirby, joe simon
The Black Owl went through two quick reboots in the early days of Prize Comics -- one from a character called K the Unknown.
Published Sun, 21 Aug 2022 23:58:14 -0500
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Last updated Wed, 18 Sep 2024 19:51:35 -0500
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Article Summary
- Prize Comics #7-9 are highly sought after for featuring Frankenstein, Green Lama, and Black Owl's reboot.
- The Black Owl character evolved from K the Unknown, a wealthy playboy named Douglas Danville.
- Joe Simon & Jack Kirby revamped Black Owl with a complete superhero costume and magical sword in Prize Comics #7.
- Black Owl became a regular cover feature in Prize Comics, signifying a key turning point for the series.
Power Nelson, Man of the Future had been the cover feature of the first six issues of Prize Comics, but that ended for good with Prize Comics #7. A burst of new creators and new features quickly left Power Nelson on the back pages of the title, and as a result of this new mix of features Prize Comics #7-9 are highly sought after by collectors to this day. Prize Comics #7 introduced Dick Briefer's wild take on Frankenstein, brought Ken Crossen's Green Lama to comics in stories by Mac Raboy, and had Joe Simon & Jack Kirby reboot the Black Owl into a full superhero. These issues are an interesting combination of tough to get and desirable, with crossover appeal to both superhero and horror collectors (Briefer's Frankenstein started out serious, turned into a humor feature, then turned serious again during the course of its lifespan),
Prize Comics #9 featuring the Black Owl (Prize, 1941)
Fascinatingly, the Black Owl seems to have started life as a completely different superhero entirely. In Prize Comics #1, wealthy playboy Douglas Danville is secretly the costumed hero called K the Unknown, who gets into adventures with his female friend, private investigator Terry Dane. While the blurb at the end of this issue #1 installment of the K the Unknown feature promised further adventures, Prize Comics #2 instead featured the same wealthy playboy Douglas Danville and private investigator Terry Dane, but now Danville was secretly the masked hero the Black Owl. No explanation was given, and K the Unknown would never appear again.
It seems likely that after that issue #1 had been turned in, someone realized that scripter Robert Turner had borrowed the name K the Unknown from a 1924 Universal Pictures silent film of that title. Universal's K the Unknown was itself based on the 1915 crime novel K by Mary Roberts Rinehart. The storyline centers around a mystery man who goes by the initial K, who becomes involved with the story's protagonist, a woman named Sidney. It appears that Turner simply thought it was an interesting name and borrowed nothing else from the original versions.
But this led to a hastily reimagined regular feature for Prize Comics. While K the Unknown of Prize Comics #1 wore a standard superhero costume, his replacement the Black Owl was a masked hero in the pulp mold, wearing a cowl and cape with a regular suit. Neither K the Unknown nor the Black Owl had any particular powers beyond a wealthy playboy's free time and ambition. Simon & Kirby changed the character beginning in Prize Comics #7 in what could be considered a soft reboot. The character was redesigned with a complete superhero-style costume and cape and given a magical sword that energized his body with undefined power when he held it. The sword seems to have been forgotten after a couple of issues, but the costume stuck. The Black Owl subsequently became a regular cover feature until Yank & Doodle took the covers over beginning with Prize Comics v2#7 (19). The character would remain a solo interior feature until Prize Comics #v3#8 (32). He would then team with Yank & Doodle periodically on covers and interior stories through Prize Comics #v4#8 (44), and sporadically after that through the end of the series.
Part of a brief run of issues that could be considered an important turning point for the Prize Comics Group as a whole,
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About Mark Seifert
Co-founder and Creative director of Bleeding Cool parent company Avatar Press since 1996. Bleeding Cool Managing Editor, tech and data wrangler, and has been with Bleeding Cool since its 2009 beginnings. Wrote extensively about the comic book industry for Wizard Magazine 1992-1996. At Avatar Press, has helped publish works by Alan Moore, George R.R. Martin, Garth Ennis, and others. Vintage paper collector, advisor to the Overstreet Price Guide Update 1991-1995.
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