The Tragedies and Triumphs of Blue Ribbon Comics, at Auction

As the comic book market was undergoing significant expansion in late 1939, MLJ Magazines — the entity that would one day be known as Archie Comics — entered the industry with their debut title, Blue Ribbon Comics. During its short lifespan, Blue Ribbon Comics offered a variety of adventure fiction and, soon some superhero stories, embodying an era where comics were in part transitioning from pulp-inspired adventure to comic book superheroes. Issue #21 of Blue Ribbon Comics, which featured the patriotic superhero Captain Flag, is a fascinating example of a series struggling to stand out in a crowded market, a case of a pulp-legacy branding misfire eventually leading to its cancellation with the next issue.  It was the first comic book title that MLJ published, and the first title they canceled too, but probably not because of the content.  One of several rare single-digit census issues of the series, there’s a Blue Ribbon Comics #21 (MLJ, 1942) CGC GD+ 2.5 Off-white pages up for auction in the 2023 May 4 The MLJ Heroes Showcase Auction #40222 at Heritage Auctions.

The second-to-last issue of this oft-overlooked series, Blue Ribbon Comics #21 features Captain Flag without his trusty eagle sidekick Yank — whose final appearance was in issue #20. Introduced with issue #16, Captain Flag was a direct response to the rising tide of patriotic heroes that MLJ themselves had started with the Shield in Pep Comics #1.  Not really that late to the party, Captain Flag was launched roughly six months after Marvel/Timely introduced their star-spangled hero, Captain America.  Before then, Blue Ribbon’s cover-featured characters had included the wonder dog Rang-A-Tang, the virtually forgotten character Corporal Collins, and Spectre-inspired Mr. Justice.

Though the title seemed to have hit its stride editorially with the introduction of Mr. Justice and Captain Flag, it’s clear that MLJ realized with Blue Ribbon Comics #19 that they might have a branding problem. Blue Ribbon started out as a brand name used by MLJ principals Louis Silberkleit and Maurice Coyne in pulps, as the imprint Blue Ribbon Magazines and the titles Blue Ribbon Western and Blue Ribbon Sports.  In keeping with that strategy, the “Blue Ribbon” portion of the title logo soon became a tiny part of the cover, with the central focus being simply “COMICS.”  This might have seemed like a sound idea when it was dreamed up in mid-1939 as publishers didn’t really know how the comics business was going to play out yet, but in the crowded market of late 1941-1942 it didn’t really work. With issue #19, Captain Flag took up prominent space in the logo area. By issue #21, an editorial in the title was touting a shift to include “true life” stories in addition to adventure fiction.

Obviously, MLJ was not happy with the result, as the title ended just an issue later.  It’s probably under-discussed that the company’s success was in part built on aggressively reacting to their market data.  Four months after Blue Ribbon Comics ended, Top-Notch Comics became Top-Notch Laugh Comics.  Soon after that, it was clear that Archie was becoming a monster hit, and their output shifted accordingly.  Still later, they put the Black Hood through what might be the first significant comic book reboot.

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