*Miscellaneous 1940-1959: An unusual attempt at a villainous protagonist was the Yellow Claw, an Oriental scientist whose relentless attempts to conquer the world were thwarted by the vigilance of FBI Agent Jimmy Woo – the company’s first Asian-American hero, historians please note. Resemblance to Sax Rohmer’s legendary Doctor Fu Manchu is entirely coincidental, ahem ahem. In this fourth and final issue of the Claw’s series from 1957, he launches four separate attacks upon democracy: the Living Shadows, solidified thought-projections, the unnerving bird-human hybrids the Skreemies, and his most fiendish plot yet – brainwashing by television! All four tales are illustrated by Jack Kirby and John Severin (behind a solo Sev cover), and the combination of the two artists gives a compelling air of palpable menace, highly appropriate to the narrative. The Yellow Claw returned to the Marvel Universe in the 1960s (sort of) as a nemesis of SHIELD and in the 1970s as an antagonist of Captain America, and Jimmy Woo became one of the Agents of SHIELD (and then Atlas), so both hero and villain have a lengthy pedigree. This is a reasonable copy of #4 with some cover wear including corner blunting, edge wear and a couple of cover creases which break colour but do not interfere with the cover image; small nick out of bottom centre cover and small tear without loss to right edge. Staples are firm and pages are a decent white to off-white.
PICTURED: YELLOW CLAW #4 GD/VG £240