Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jul 24, 2026 | 1 comment

Actually it was Timely then, but you get the gist…

All Winners #19 (Fall 1946, Timely/Marvel). Unidentified cover artist.

By PETER BOSCH

It was 80 years ago, on July 24, 1946, that Timely (later Marvel) Comics put their greatest heroes together for the first time as a team. Known as the All Winners Squad, Captain America, Bucky, the Sub-Mariner, the Human Torch, Toro, Miss America, and the Whizzer may well indeed have been mighty, but not enough to keep the squad going for more than one other adventure after this.

By 1946, Timely was not very timely. It took until All Winners #19 (Fall 1946), a full five years since the introduction of the title, for the publisher to follow in the footsteps of DC Comics’ Justice Society of America in All-Star Comics. Superhero teams were big for different publishers during World War II, but Timely didn’t try it until after the war — when interest in costumed characters was quickly waning.

Even though many previous covers of All Winners Comics (largely by Alex Schomburg) featured Axis entanglements with our heroes together, they never teamed up inside. And that was with Stan Lee as Timely’s youthful editor-in-chief at the time!

And, then — after All Winners Comics #19 — the Squad was gone from #20! (More about the mystery of that supposedly unpublished issue following the story pages below from All Winners Comics #19, the first Squad tale.)

The story, believed to have been written by Bill Finger, had the team already formed in this opening chapter (with art by Syd Shores)…

(Please note: Positive artist identification throughout the issue is limited. Even Marvel later had trouble confirming the illustrators. Roy Thomas, in his editorial for an All Winners #19 reprint in 1999, recruited Gil Kane – who had been drawing for Marvel since 1943 – to aid in determining the artists but found it a futile effort, other than identifying Syd Shores drawing the pages for the opening chapter above, the Miss America story, and the closing pages below.)

Anyone who didn’t figure out by Page 3 who the villain would be needs to hand in their deerstalker hat. “Meke” as the name of the meek secretary? Come on, Mr. Finger!

So, the first adventure of the All Winners Squad was done. But then came…

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THE MYSTERY OF ISSUE #20 (AND #21)

Popular belief is that after All Winners Comics #19, the next issue was #21, somehow skipping #20. Well, that’s true and yet it is far off from what actually happened.

Let’s go back to All Winners #19 for a moment. After that issue was published, the comic book title was actually cancelled! Well, as far as the publisher was concerned, it was. However, Timely continued using the numbering for a brand new title, All Teen Comics, with the debut issue being #20 (Jan. 1947). This was a common, though not exactly legit, practice by magazine and comic book publishers in order to save on the cost of having to purchase another second-class mailing permit from the U.S. Postal Service for a new publication.

The next issue after All Teen Comics #20 was not All Winners Comics #21. Yes, the 21st issue did have a change of name again, but it went from All Teen Comics (#20) to Teen Comics, which ran from #21 (Apr. 1947) to #35 (May 1950). You can picture it this way:

All Winners Comics #19 (Fall 1946) was followed by All Teen Comics #20 (Jan. 1947), which then became Teen Comics #21 (Apr. 1947). Artist credits: #19 and #20  — unknown. Issue #21  — possibly Mike Sekowsky, pencils, unidentified inker.

OK, so where did All Winners Comics #21 fit in? Well, it didn’t and it did. We have to switch over to another Timely title, Young Allies — which ceased with its 20th issue (Oct. 1946). All Winners Comics #21 (Winter 1946-47) used the Young Allies numbering for just one issue, and then the series numbering was borrowed by another new title, Hedy De Vine Comics from #22 (Aug 1947) to #35 (Oct. 1949).

Let’s go visual again:

Young Allies #20 (Oct. 1946) was followed by All Winners Comics #21 (Winter 1946-47), which then became Hedy De Vine Comics #22 (Apr. 1947). Artist credits: #20 — Syd Shores; #21 — Shores, penciller, but inker undetermined; and #22 — Ed Winiarski, pencils, and Christopher Rule, inks.

All Winners Comics #21 featured the last All Winners Squad for the Golden Age era, even though about two years later there was a new All Winners #1 (Aug. 1948), which featured individual tales of Cap, Namor, the Torch, and the Blonde Phantom. And, yes, you guessed it, with the second issue it changed its title.

Are you sure you are ready for this??? All Winners #1 became All Western Winners with #2 (Winter 1948) and then Western Winners with #5 (June 1949) — which became Black Rider with #8 (March 1950)… and Western Tales of Black Rider with #28 (May 1955)… and Gunsmoke Western with #32 (Dec. 1955).

Follow the comic title’s progression, clockwise from top left: All Winners #1 to All Western Winners #2 to Western Winners #5 to Black Rider #8 to Western Tales of Black Rider #28 to Gunsmoke Western #32. Cover art credits: #1 — artist unknown; #2 — Syd Shores; #5 — penciller: John Buscema, inker: unconfirmed; #8 — photo of Stan Lee as Black Rider; #28 — Carl Burgos; and #32 — John Severin doing “Kid Colt” and Joe Maneely drawing “Billy Buckskin.”

Aren’t you sorry now you ever wondered what happened to that missing #20 issue?

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MORE

— BATWOMAN AT 70: An Anniversary Celebration of 1956’s DETECTIVE COMICS #233 — and Beyond. Click here.

— PLASTIC MAN AT 85: An Anniversary Celebration of 1941’s POLICE COMICS #1 — and Beyond. Click here.

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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. (You can buy it here.) A sequel, American Movie Comic Books: 1930s-1970s — From the Silver Screen to the Printed Page, is out now. (Buy it here.) Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.