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=== Volume 1 (1940 - 1942): MLJ ===
The first series of ''Blue Ribbon Comics'' #1-22 (Nov. 1939 - March 1942) was a 64-page anthology comic published by MLJ Magazines Inc., commonly known as MLJ Comics, the precursor to what would become the publisher [[Archie Comics]]. Issues #9-18 and #22 were cover-titled ''Blue Ribbon Mystery Comics''. The series was edited by [[Harry Shorten]].<ref>Shorten in the 1960s was publisher of [[Tower Comics]] and also a comics writer, credited with creating MLJ/Archie characters the [[
The first title published by MLJ, ''Blue Ribbon Comics'' initially ran a mixture of content, in the manner of most early comic books. These included the [[science-fiction]] feature "Dan Hastings" (#1-2), [[crime comics|crime]], short [[humor]] fillers, and adventure tales such as, from issue #1, "Burk of the Briny" in #1 and Cliff Thorndyke's [[Africa]]n adventure "Village of Missing Men". "Rang-A-Tang the Wonder Dog", the tales of an intelligent dog in the [[Rin Tin Tin]] vein, written by Joe Blair and primarily drawn by Ed Smalle, was the only feature to appear in every issue. Another, "Corporal Collins, Infantryman", a [[war comics|war]] feature drawn by [[Charles Biro]], about a U.S. soldier stranded in [[France]] when [[World War II]] breaks out<ref>an almost identical premise to a later MLJ character, "Sergeant Boyle" in ''[[Pep Comics]]'', who was stranded in [[England]] at the start of the war</ref> was in every issue but the first. As all comic books did through the early 1960s, to satisfy [[U.S. Postal Service]] requirements for magazine rates, ''Blue Ribbon Comics'' also contained text stories, sometimes about characters from the comics features, such as the titular cowboy Buck Stacey.
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