After a month of spotlighting the strange (if endearingly strange) history of comic books (and especially the Silver Age), I think it is worthwhile to show the comic books of the Silver Age that are simply great stories period. Here is an archive of all the Silver Age comics features so far!

Today we take a look at the debut of Magnus, Robot Fighter in the pages of (appropriately enough) 1963's Magnus, Robot Fighter #1. The comic was written and drawn by the legendary Russ Manning!

Enjoy!

Russ Manning created the character of Magnus and wrote and drew the comic for 21 issues. They were some amazing comic books.

Check out how he begins #1 with the ball already rolling...

As you can tell, Manning was really pushing the Tarzan angle right from the get-go (the comic strip that Manning had become famous for drawing).

Manning was such a brilliant sequential artist - check out the action in these scenes...

It's amazing how straightforward and simple his lines are, and yet so dynamic and forceful. He was a master.

Here's Magnus' origin from the issue, which is also the issue where he first meets his love interest, Leeja Crane...

Fabulous stuff. Really, all of Manning's Magnus work was top-rate. Heck, pretty much all of Manning's work PERIOD was top-rate!