DC's collective foot floored the pedal after acquiring the rights to publish a comic based on Mattel's enormously popular Hot Wheels die cast car line. The company even hired Alex Toth to draw it, since the legendary artist had designed the line's characters for a Saturday morning cartoon show. Toth's inaugural issue with writer Joe Gill chronicled turbo charged teen Jack Wheeler and his Hot Wheels pit crew matching horse power against Dexter Carter and his Demons. The comic ran out of gas after only 6 issues, but Toth's aerodynamic story telling fueled a series that took licensed tie ins in a bold new direction.

Former Daily Planet copy boy Jimmy Olsen got his own adventure series in "Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen" which made its debut in 1954. The comic was remarkable for its inventiveness and longevity, running for an impressive 163 issues. The lead story of issue #1, "The Boy of 100 Faces" was written by Otto Binder and drawn by Curt Swan. It followed Jimmy as he disguised himself to infiltrate the criminal gang of Deuce Dorgan. Along with colleague Jumbo Jones, Jimmy succeeded in getting into Dorgan's hideaway - but was caught and had to call on Superman for help.

Lois disguises herself as actress Lois LaFlamme to try to get an interview with an ambassador. Honey in Hollywood and Peg teen stories by Henry Boltinoff. Lois Lane, Super-Chef, script by Otto Binder, art by Kurt Schaffenberger; Lois takes a job as a cook in a diner in order to be more attractive to Superman. Do You Know What's Behind a Law? public service announcement, script by Jack Schiff, art by Bob Brown

Early issues are published by World's Best Comics, National Comics, and National Periodical Publications. From #2 onwards the title of the magazine became World's Finest Comics and featured Batman and Superman every issue - although they did not have their first team up until issue # 71. As well as Superman and Batman, the early issues of World's Finest also featured many other heroes from the Golden Age, including, Sandman, Hop Harrigan, Dan the Dyna-mite, Crimson Avenger, Star Spangled Kid, Aquaman, Zatara, Tomahawk, Boy Commandos and Green Arrow. From issue #71 onwards, the lead story would always feature a team up between Superman & Batman and this remained the case through to issue #198, which saw the man of steel in a super speed race with the Flash to try and establish just who is the fastest man alive.

Like DC's popular science-fiction comics "Mystery in Space" and "Strange Adventures," "House of Mystery" was a wide ranging anthology title, but what made it different was that its content was mostly horror themed. The title's first issue contained stories of the supernatural like "Wanda was a werewolf" to articles debunking spiritualism. The meat of the series' early issues was occult stories mixed with crime thrillers, plus the occasional foray into science fiction. However, with the Comics Code Authority of 1954 - brought about because of public concerns regarding "inappropriate material in comics"- horror themes featuring werewolves, vampires etc were banned. "House of Mystery" was therefore forced to gradually re-focus itself as a suspense and science fiction title.