THE NEWSSTAND: September 1945 — 70 years ago this month

Archie Comics, Charlton Comics, DC Comics, Dell, Fawcett Comics, Fiction House, Harvey Comics, Lev Gleason, Marvel Comics, McKay Publ, Prize Comics, Quality Comics, Standard Comics, Street&Smith, The Newsstand,

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Since we last checked in on the newsstand, with books on-sale in September 1940, the comic book market has grown 35 percent from 48 to 65 titles, with a net gain of three publishers. We've lost Centaur and Worth Carnahan, but we've gained Street & Smith, Prize, Charlton, Harvey and Lev Gleason. And, it's worth noting, the market is actually a bit larger than this month would have us believe as some publishers experienced an temporary dip in output. Marvel/Timely, for example, only gets two titles to the stands this month, while it had published 16 in August 1945, and would churn out 13 in October. Meanwhile, although there are more titles and more publishers that there were five years earlier, the actual page-count output of the industry is not much higher. That's due, at least in part, to paper rationing during World War II. Most titles have already shrunk down to 48 pages from what is generally considered the Golden Age standard of 64 pages, while a few even dress out at the 32 page floppies modern readers are used to.

Unlike the last chapter in this series, I won't make an effort to discuss each and every title that what on sale this month. Frankly, the industry is sort of coasting at this point. Super-hero fare is still the pacesetter but they've lost their dominance, shrinking from 60.4 to 30.8 percent of all cover features this month. Most titles seem to be coasting on former popularity. Certainly, no new super-heroes had been introduced in quite some time. Humor and comic strip characters still hold sway, with funny animal having jumped to the forefront. From the lone offering of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #1 five years earlier, anthropomorphics now command 16.9 percent of all cover features. Meanwhile, the new genres of working girl comics and teen humor have taken root.

War comics, of course, have grown, from three to six titles in the genre, but with the war over they, too, have begun to fade from prominence. In fact, nothing this month typifies the change of eras quite so much as the transition of Quality's Military Comics which becomes Modern Comics with No. 44 (on-sale Sept. 12).

Launched in May 1941 and featuring the debut of Blackhawk, Military, as the name would imply, featured "stories of the army and navy," as Quality, like much of the comics industry, went to war long before Pearl Harbor. Even so, while many of Blackhawk's early adversaries were unmistakably German, Military did not clearly identify an enemy combatant on the cover until stereotypical Japs show up with their rising sun flag on Issue No. 15, on -sale Nov. 11, 1942, nearly a full year after America officially entered World War II.

The war in Europe had ended four months earlier, in May 1945, so the decision to change the title of this book was probably made soon after. However, it may well have been a last-minute decision following the Hiroshima bombing that knocked Japan out of the war. Japan's formal surrender did not occur until Sept. 2, but the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and Aug. 9, respectively — plenty of time for the full horror of the event to become known and for Quality to make a move to distance itself from any resulting PR fallout.

As Modern Comics, the title would continue to feature Blackhawk on the cover until cancellation, five years later, with Issue No. 102 (Aug. 9, 1950). And, while Blackhawk's mission becomes somewhat less overt by the change of title, he does land his own title starting next month (one previous issue had been published back in 1943). Blackhawk would be picked up by DC Comics in 1956 when Quality folded, which would keep the air ace flying until 1968, with frequent revivals ever after.

Also out from Quality this month, Doll Man has a gun to his head, literally, on Feature Comics No. 93 (Sept. 19) while Plastic Man blows a bubble on Police Comics No. 48 (Sept. 14). Quality also still has Crack Comics, Hit Comics, National Comics and Smash Comics going, but all had converted to bi-monthly status during the war and skipped September.

Over at DC, the change of era's can be seen in the shift from super-heroes to funny animals. Leading Comics has been a quarterly title and until Feb. 1945 had featured the Seven Soldiers of Victory. That changed in May and Issue No. 16 (on-sale Sept. 5) is the second since the genre switch. It took a few issues for the title to find a star in Peter Porkshops, but with him and his adversary, Wolfie, leading the menagerie, Leading would last until No. 77 (June 14, 1955).

September is also the last month in which super-heroes — here in the form of the recently introduced Superboy — would grace the cover of More Fun Comics. Sept. 1945 marked just the fourth appearance of Superman when he was a boy. The cover to this month's issue, No. 106 (Sept. 26), would also feature comedy twins Dover and Clover, who would take over the top spot with No. 107 (Nov. 23), alternating covers with Genius Jones, until Jimminy and his Magic Book claimed front billing for the final seven outings leading up to the series' cancellation with No. 127 (Sept. 26, 1947). Meanwhile, the end was near at this point for Sandman and Starman over in the bi-monthly Adventure Comics, which skips this month. They'd only have two more outings until Superboy, Aquaman, Green Arrow and Johnny Quick, all recently ousted from More Fun, would take over Adventure with No. 103 (Feb. 27, 1946).

It's also worth noting that this month features the last gasp of Max Gaines' quasi-independent All-American Publications line. Founded with financial help from DC's Harry Donenfeld, with the stipulation that Gaines take on Donenfeld partner Jack Liebowitz as a minority owner, All-American was technically a separate company from DC, although they shared printing, distribution and cover-branding in addition to Jack. However, beginning in Feb. 1945, Gaines' titles began sporting an All-American icon in place of the familiar DC bullet. Whatever point Gaines was trying to prove was short-lived, however, as he sold out to Liebowitz (keeping only his Picture Stories from the Bible series) and the DC icon would return to the former All-American titles starting in October. Liebowitz would soon merge All-American with the twin DC DBAs (National Allied Publications and Detective Comics) to form National Comics, then also folded in another sister company, distributer Independent News, to form National Periodrical Publications. The unified company would last until the 1970s, when corporate American came calling. Anyway, out this month under the All-American logo were All-American Comics No. 69 (Sept. 12), All-Flash Comics No. 20 (Sept. 19), Comic Cavalcade No. 12 (Sept. 5), Green Lantern No. 17 (Sept. 14), and Sensation Comics No. 47 (Sept. 7).


Over at DC proper, super-heroes still fight evil in Action Comics No. 90 (Sept. 14), Detective Comics #105 (Sept. 21), and Star-Spangled Comics No. 50 (Sept. 5). But the company is already begun chasing new genres, with Funny Stuff No. 6 (Sept. 12) and Real Screen Comics No. 3 (Sept. 19) joining the aforementioned Leading into the funny-animal barnyard.

And, speaking of publisher permutations, MLJ Magazines is only four months away from changing its name to Archie Comic Publications, to reflect the dominance of a certain red-headed teen. This month sees the company publishing Archie Comics No. 17 (Sept. 24), and Pep Comics No. 55 (Sept. 15) — from which Archie has within the past five months given a permanent das boot to The Hangman and The Shield — as well as Wilbur Comics No. 6 (Sept. 12). Wilbur Wilkin was a teen humor character that actually appeared in Pep three months before Archie made his debut in that title, although he clearly had far less appeal, for whatever reason. Even so, Wilbur managed to hold on in his own title until No. 87 (Aug. 17, 1959), with an additional three issues released in 1963-1964.

Fawcett is still pumping out Marvel Family tales with Captain Marvel Adventures No. 49 (Sept. 21), Captain Marvel Jr. No. 32 (Sept. 19), Whiz Comics #67 (Sept. 12), and Wow Comics No. 38 (Sept. 5), having not yet latched on to the cowboy craze that would see it through its final decade. Meanwhile, McKay Publishing continues to chug along with strip reprints in Ace Comics No. 104 (Sept. 28), King Comics No. 115 (Sept. 19) and Magic Comics No. 75 (Sept. 7), as does United Features, with Sparkler Comics No. 48 (Sept. 14) and Tip-Top Comics No. 28 (Sept. 28). Interestingly, Ace, Sparkler and Tip-Top all feature the Katzenjammer Kids. Uber-pops then, try finding anyone under 30 who's ever heard of the terrible tykes.

Over at Fiction House, the company is well into its women-in-peril period, with Fight Comics No. 41, Jumbo Comics No. 81, Jungle Comics No. 71, Rangers Comics No. 26, and Wings Comics No. 63, all apparently released on Sept. 17. Others still in the game include Columbia, with Big Shot Comics #60 (Sept. 7), Novelty with Blue Bolt No. 61 (Sept. 12), Ace with Hap-Hazard Comics No. 6 (Sept. 18), and Eastern Color Press, with Famous Funnies No. 135 (Sept. 14) and war-themed Heroic Comics No. 28 (Sept. 28).

Standard is beginning to flail about for sales, however. It's still churning out pretty forgettable tales of The Black Terror, with No. 12 of his titular title (on-sale Sept. 11), as well as The Fighting Yank in Startling Comics No. 36 (Sept. 4). But the company has largely left super-heroes behind for funny animals — in the form of Coo-Coo Comics No. 20 (Sept. 7), Goofy Comics No. 11 (Sept. 14) — and non-fiction stories, including the origin of the U.S. Marine Corps in Real Life Comics No. 26 (Sept. 4). But it's still all about super-heroes at Fox Features which has recently recovered from bankruptcy and reclaimed its characters. This month it gives us Blue Beetle No. 40 (Sept. 5), and The Green Mask No. 13 (Sept. 14). In the case of the latter, the gap of two-plus years between issues No. 9 and 10 is explained by having the mask pass from father to son.

At the company-of-many-names we now call Marvel, and refer to during this period for no particular reason as Timely, super-heroes are still de rigueur with Captain American, Human Torch and Sub-Mariner still headlining their own titles, alongside a host of anthology series. However, Marvel misses on all counts this month, publishing only a new No. 1 of Miss America Magazine (Sept. 7) — it was the third No. 1 for the title, which would get four more before sticking to a numbering scheme that would see it through 1954 — and Terry-Toons Comics No. 38 (Sept. 17), starring Mighty Mouse.

Dell, of course, is still going strong, issueing this month Pogo reprints in Animal

Comics No. 17 (Sept. 14), Bugs Bunny in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Comics No. 49 (Sept. 28), Andy Panda in New Funnies No. 105 (Sept. 28), the post-Spanky crew in Our Gang Comics No. 20 (Sept. 28), along with strip reprints in Popular Comics No. 117 (Sept. 28) and Super Comics No. 80 (Sept. 14), and Donald and his nephews in Walt Disney Comics and Stories No. 61 (Sept. 14). The Four Color comics line this month sees No. 86 (aka Roy Rogers Comics No. 3) on Sept 14 and No. 87 (Fairy Tale Parade) on Sept. 28.

Of the publishers who had entered the field since 1940, Lev Gleason Publications, founded by a former advertising manager at Eastern Color, gave us Boy Comics No. 25 (Sept. 11). Launched June 24, 194, amid the patriotic hero craze as Captain Battle Comics, Boy became Boy with No. 3 (Jan. 19, 1942) and starred Crimebuster among its stable of "boy heroes." Despite a genuine long-underwear costume that featured boxer shorts over a letterman's sweater and matching long johns, Crimebuster got by on the strength of covers by the great Charles Biro. Eventually, Gleason would try to mature the title by changing it from Boy Comics to Boy Illustories, and by putting Crimebuster in plain cloths garb including jeans and sneakers. Boy lasted to No. 119 (Jan. 1, 1956).
crime comics in the 1950s, but here offers us

Prize — actually Crestwood Prize Publications — was a pulp magazine publisher that entered the comics field with Prize Comics in 1940. This month it gives us Headline Comics No. 16 (Sept. 11) featuring the debut of Atomic Man among its tales "for the American boy." Atomic Man had superman like powers thanks to uranium exposure, which also enabled him to protect energy rays from his right hand when not wearing a protective lead glove. His crimefighting days were over by No. 21 (Aug. 9, 1946), however, about the time Headline changed its tagline from "for the American Boy" to "Crime never pays." As a crime comic, Headline lasted until No. 77 (May 28, 1956). Also out from Prize this month were Treasure Comics No. 3 and Wonderland Comics No. 2, both also out on Sept. 11. Both were short-lived. Treasure, which starred Paul Bunyan, of all characters, lasted just 12 issue to June 1, 1947, while cartoon-fantasy themed Wonderland managed only nine issues, to Feb. 28, 1947.

Street and Smith had been publishing dime novels and pulp magazine since 1855, making it among, if not the most venerable company in the comic book field. Comics were prefect for the company's pulp sensation, The Shadow, and this month sees Shadow Comics No. 56 (Sept. 28), as well as Super-Magician Comics No. 43 (Sept. 18), Supersnipe Comics No. 24 (Sept. 14), and True Sport Picture Stories No. 28 (Sept. 21). Super-Magician was canceled with No. 56 (Dec. 17, 1946), but the other three titles lasted until 1949 when S&S bailed on both comics and pulps, the conventional wisdom being that it succumbed to competition from television. The Shadow ended with No. 101 (June 24, 1949), while Supersnipe ended at No. 49 (June 10, 1949) and True Sport at No. 50 (May 20, 1949).

At this point in 1945, Harvey Comics is still several decades away from flooding the market with Richie Rich comics. In fact, the company is several years away from publishing humor comics of any kind. The company got its start in comics in 1940 when brothers Leon, Robert and Alfred Harvey bought Champion Comics from Worth Carnahan (changing the title to Champ Comics) and then Speed Comics from faltering Brookwood Publications the following year. The Harvey brothers had put out dozens of short-lived titles by the time they got to Front Page Comic Book No. 1 (exact day of issue in Sept. 1945 not known). The book is credited in its spartan indicia to Front Page Comic Book Inc., with no address for the publisher. Still, I take the Grand Comics Database at its word that this is a Harvey comic based largely on the presence in it of ads for other Harvey comics. This title is often listed as a one-shot, but there was clear intent for a second outing based on the "Be seeing you next issue" blurb at the end of the Johnny Nebisco story. This issue is notable in that it is the first appearance of both Johnny, who would go on to feature in Harvey's long-running Black Cat series, and The Man in Black, a Phantom Stranger-like character who narrated horror stories in a fashion that pre-dated the EC Comics line by several years. He would make several more appearances and even get his own title in 1957. Also of note in this issue is a war story signed by Joe Kubert in what would have been some of his very earliest solo work in comics.

And finally, Zoo Funnies No. 1 (exact day of publication unknown) is probably the first official title from Charlton Comics, although that company name is still a year or so in the future. Here, the book is credited to Childrens Comics Publishers, but all the Darby, Conn., info in the indicia is the same as for Charlton. Yellowjacket Comics is often cited as Charlton's first book, but it was actually put out by The Frank Comunale Publishing Company, also based in Darby. That does mean it was almost certainly printed by Charlton, but still, separate company. The confusion arrives from the same town of origin as well as the fact that Charlton took over the book with its 10th issue, in 1946. Buying out material from bankrupt companies was a longstanding Charlton tradition in its other publishing ventures — mostly puzzle books and song-lyric magazines —  that translated well to comics. when it decided the new medium might be a good way to keep the presses running round the clock. However, the initial foray into comics may have been as much a gift to the sons of company founders John Santangelo and Ed Levy, each named Charles, thus the Charlton name. The boys are listed as "student editors" of Zoo Funnies No. 2, and so can be credited with entering the field at an age even younger than the industries most famous example of precociousness, Jim Shooter.

Data Errata

For September 1945 

65 comics from 20 publishers

DC Comics (12 issues - 18.5% of the market): Action Comics #90, All-American Comics #69, All-Flash #20, Comic Calvacade #12, Detective Comics #105, Funny Stuff #6, Green Lantern #17, Leading Comics #16, More Fun Comics #106, Real Screen Comics #3, Sensation Comics #47, Star-Spangled Comics #50

Dell Publishing (9 - 13.8%): Animal Comics #17, Four Color #86 (Roy Rogers), Four Color #87 (Fairy Tale Parade), Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies Comics #49, New Funnies #105, Our Gang Comics #20, Popular Comics #117, Super Comics #89, Walt Disney's Comics & Stories #61

Fiction House (5 - 7.7%): Fight Comics #41, Jumbo Comics #81, Jungle Comics #71, Rangers Comics #26, Wings Comics #63

Standard Comics/Nedor (5): Black Terror #12, Coo Coo Comics #20, Goofy Comics #11, Real Life Comics #26, Startling Comics #36

Fawcett Comics (4 - 6.2%): Captain Marvel Adventures #49, Captain Marvel Jr. #32, Whiz Comics #67, Wow Comics #38

Street & Smith Publishing (4): Shadow Comics #56, Super-Magician Comics #43, Supersnipe Comics #24, True Sport Picture Stories #28

Archie Comics/MLJ (3 - 4.6%): Archie Comics #17, Pep Comics #55, Wilbur Comics #6

McKay Publishing (3): Ace Comics #104, King Comics #115, Magic Comics #75

Quality Comics (3): Feature Comics #93, Modern Comics #44, Police Comics #48

Eastern Color Press (2 - 3.1%): Famous Funnies #135, Heroic Comics #33

Fox Features (2): Blue Beetle #40, Green Mask #13

Marvel Comics/Timely (2): Miss America Magazine #1, Terry-Toons Comics #38

Prize Comics (2): Headline Comics #16, Treasure Comics #2

United Features (2): Sparkler Comics #48, Tip Top Comics #112

Ace Magazines (1 - 1.5%): Hap Hazard Comics #6

Charlton Comics (1): Zoo Funnies #1

Columbia Comics (1): Big Shot Comics #60

Harvey Comics (1): Front Page Comic Book #1

Lev Gleason Publishing (1): Boy Comics #25

Novelty Press (1): Blue Bolt #61

Genres (13): Super-Hero (20 - 30.8% of all cover features), Funny Animal (11 - 16.9%), Comic Strip Characters (7 - 10.8%), War (6 - 9.2%), Humor (5 - 7.7%), Action/Adventure (3 - 4.6%), Teen Humor (3), Crime (2 - 3.1%), Fantasy (2), Jungle (2), Sports (2), Western (1 - 1.5%), Working Girl (1)

Cover Price (median): 10¢ ($1.33 in 2015 dollars)

Cover Price (average): 10.1¢ ($1.34) 

Page Count (median):  48

Page Count (average): 43.38

Come back on the following dates for the remainder of this review:

Sept.  8 — 1955 (60 years ago)

Sept. 10 — 1965 (50 years ago)

Sept. 15 — 1975 (40 years ago)

Sept. 17 — 1985 (30 years ago)

Sept. 22 — 1990 (25 years ago)

Sept. 24 — 1995 (20 years ago)

Sept. 29 — 2005 (10 years ago)

Or, go even further back in time with:

Sept. 1935 (80 years ago)

Sept. 1940 (75 years ago)