Thin Man

Thin Man
Mystic Comics #4 (July 1940)

Lost in a snow storm while exploring in the Himalayan Mountains, Bruce Dickson, stumbles across a tunnel leading to a hidden valley and the utopian civilization of Kalahia. The Kalahians are possessed of advanced scientific knowledge, including the odd ability to make their bodies paper thin and elongated – a gift they share with Bruce. Convincing the Council of Elders that his new abilities would be of great help in battling the forces of evil that exist outside of the paradise of Kalahia, Bruce is allowed to return to the outer world, accompanied by Olalla, the beautiful daughter of the head of the council. After flying back to America in their "stratoplane" Bruce and Olalla take down mobster Clip Walton.

Thin Man was another of Mystic Comic's lost opportunities. As demonstrated by the success of Plastic Man a year later, the concept had potential -though to be fair, Thin Man was much closer in tone to the Elongated Man strips of the 1960's than to the work of Jack Cole. Equally promising was the early artwork by Klaus Nordling, who would go on to work with Will Eisner on The Spirit and Lady Luck. The Thin Man strip's main failing was that it didn't fit the mold of the square jawed, two-fisted crime buster that was fast becoming the standard for costumed heroes as America drifted closed to World War II.