He worked as writer and artist on "scores of titles" for a juvenile audience circa 1932–33, before joining the Fleischer animation studios as an "opaquer" in 1934, at the age of seventeen.

"[5] While working for the McClure syndicate, Mayer came across Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's unsold Superman comics strip, which he "immediately fell in love with.

I was singing [its] praises so much that in 1938 Gaines finally took the strip up to Harry Donenfeld, who was looking for original material to run in his new title, Action Comics,"[5] where the soon-to-be iconic character debuted as the lead feature of the first issue.

The Scarlet Pimpernel's alter ego was scared of the sight of blood, a hopeless dandy: no one would have suspected he was a hero.

[5][8][9] Comics historian Les Daniels noted that "This was obviously a great notion, since it offered readers a lot of headliners for a dime, and also the fun of watching fan favorites interact.

[18] He also created the backup feature "Doodles Duck", starring a dimwitted, easily angered instigator and his smarter, calmer nephew Lemuel, in Animal Antics #40 (Sept. 1952).

[20] Mayer even signed the stories he drew, something rare at National Periodical Publications in the late 1950s when Sugar and Spike debuted.

[26] In 1978, Mayer wrote and drew a "How to Draw Batman Booklet" as part of an ongoing debate with DC editor Paul Levitz regarding continuity in comic books.

"[5] After successful cataract surgery, Mayer returned to drawing Sugar and Spike stories for the international market;[28] only a few have been reprinted in the United States.

In 1992, Sugar and Spike #99 was published as part of the DC Silver Age Classics series;[29] this featured two previously unpublished stories by Mayer.