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MLJ Magazines’ superhero lineup tended towards horror-themed stories during the Golden Age, and the nature of the Hangman character lent itself to horrific themes more than most. In a story by stand-out artist Bob Fujitani, Hangman Comics #7 tells the saga of a disgruntled scientist who teams up with a gangster to unleash a pandemic on the world. Possibly symbolic of that interior tale, the iconic cover of this issue features the Hangman as a looming figure of vengeance against gangsters who were there to bury him. A uniquely horrific superhero comic book in the context of its time, there’s a Hangman Comics #7 (MLJ, 1943) Condition: GD/VG up for auction at the 2022 May 15-16 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122220 at Heritage Auctions.
As Special Case No. 22: The Hangman’s Ransom opens, a scientist is shown explaining a medical breakthrough to an estimated medical board — he has developed a serum to cure a rare virus. Unfortunately, the medical board was unimpressed by his work, as there hadn’t been a case of the virus in question in more than a generation. Meanwhile, the Hangman is on the trail of a gangster known as the Ferret. As fate would have it, the Ferret ends up on the disgruntled scientist’s doorstep, and together they hatch “the most viciously diabolical scheme in the annals of crime.” The virus is unleashed on the population and, in particular, the defense plants of the United States. The Ferret will release the vaccine for the pandemic on one condition — that the Hangman is delivered to him bound and gagged.
Of course, things don’t go quite as planned for the Ferret, and the Hangman escapes the gallows death that his nemesis had in mind for him. Based on its cover and contents, Hangman Comics #7 is equally at home in Golden Age superhero and pre-Code horror collections, and there’s a Hangman Comics #7 (MLJ, 1943) Condition: GD/VG up for auction at the 2022 May 15-16 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122220 at Heritage Auctions.
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