The First Appearance and Origin of Marvel’s Lana Lane, at Auction

Not to be confused with DC Comics’ Lana Lang, Marvel’s Lana Lane was the end result of a quantity of developments growing at the writer in the course of the post-WWII period and past.  The character was half of a wave of humor titles that Marvel launched throughout that interval, and additionally caught the rising tide of an industry-wide pattern of titles headlining feminine characters in numerous genres.  After being launched in a backup story in Annie Oakley #2, Marvel launched Lana Comics with a debut concern that hit newsstands in May 1948 together with seven different #1 points that month together with new collection launches for the Blonde Phantom, Namora, and Venus.

As defined in Lana Comics #1, Lana Lane was a potential Broadway dancer in New York City, eager for her large break within the enterprise.  She lived in Mom Murphy’s boarding home together with her roommate Eve Noble and neighbors E. Worthington Hamm and Clara Bright.  Clara was Lana’s rival, each for the affections of Mom Murphy’s son Mickey, and for making it large on Broadway.  Booking agent Speedy Swift was additionally a collection common.  In the primary concern, Clara enlists Speedy in a scheme to realize publicity at Lana’s expense by manufacturing some drama romantic drama over Mickey with newspaper photographers current.  The plan backfires with Lana making the entrance web page of the Timely Globe because of this, resulting in a number of gives from Broadway producers.

The collection continued on in that vein, lasting seven points August 1948 – August 1949.  The title was rebooted as Little Lana, a kids’s comedy alongside the strains of the likes of Little Dot or Nancy, although there is not any indication that Little Lana is supposed to be the identical character.  The creators of Lana Lane are unclear, although given the timeframe Stan Lee would seem like a powerful risk.  Lana Lane would additionally seem in tales in a quantity of different titles 1948-1950, together with Rusty Comics, Tessie the Typist Comics, Gay Comics, Hedy De Vine Comics, My Friend Irma and Nellie the Nurse.  Oddly sufficient, the Lana of Frankie and Lana which ran throughout this similar interval was clearly not the identical character.  Lana Lane’s remaining look seems to be in Joker Comics #42. which was additionally the final concern of that collection.  The humor line on the decline by this time, with the Marvel line wanting pretty numerous with crime, western, romance, horror and conflict titles.

It’s arduous to gauge what CGC census numbers imply within the context of the Marvel/Atlas late Nineteen Forties to early Nineteen Fifties humor titles, this materials is sort of a bit rarer than individuals would possibly suppose, and particular points could be extremely elusive.  Lana Comics #6 has solely two copies on the census, whereas concern #4 is totally absent from the census listings for the title. A foolish, charming state of affairs comedy with some fairly covers, the primary look of Lana Lane in Annie Oakley #2 and most points of her collection is up for public sale within the 2023 April 20 Timeless Good Girl Art Comics Featuring Dan DeCarlo Showcase Auction #40221 at Heritage Auctions.

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