Posted in: Comics, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Promise Collection, Venus

Promise Collection 1948: Gunmen and Goddesses

It's hard not to wonder what the young fan who assembled the Promise Collection may have thought about the media and legal firestorm that surrounded the medium he loved as 1948 progressed.  A frequent subject of newspapers, magazines, radio reports, and local school and parent organizations during this period, the controversy would likely have been hard to avoid for a serious 17-year-old comic book fan at this time. Mid-1948 through early 1949 is an under-discussed flashpoint for the comic book industry and its battle with would-be censors.  Even as the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers announced its code guidelines and the U.S. Supreme Court's rejection of a New York State statute prohibiting the sale of publications with "pictures and stories of deeds of bloodshed, lust or crime" in WINTERS v. PEOPLE OF STATE OF NEW YORK, dozens of cities across the country were preparing local comic book ordinances designed to circumvent that decision.  On September 22, 1948, the Los Angeles Country Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance effectively banning an enormous range of comic books.

But as these things often go, the censors went too far — the Los Angeles Country ordinance could also be used against newspaper comic strips.  This began to get the attention and even the sympathy of observers outside of the comic book industry. Editor and Publisher was one of the voices that helped shape the conversation to come: "The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has passed a censorship ordinance aimed at banning crime comic books but which includes comic strips appearing anywhere including newspapers. Counsel for the county points out the ordinance does not ban publication but merely its sale to children, as if that were an ameliorating factor. It doesn't make any difference at what point in the production and distribution train the prohibition takes place, it is still censorship pure and simple. Editor & Publisher has pointed out time and again that soon newspaper comic strips would be included in the current attempts to clear distasteful comic books from the newsstands. Here it is."

"Whether comic strips appearing in Los Angeles newspapers are or are not of the caliber aimed at in this ordinance is begging the issue. Here, under the guise of protecting the morals of a community's youth against harmful comic books and comic strips, is a censorship law permitting local authorities to tell a newspaper what it may or may not print in one section of that paper. It sounds innocuous enough when the target is only the comics.

"But here is an opening wedge for the censors into the newspaper's columns. It is an insidious wedge that might be tolerated because it sounds like a good way to get rid of harmful comics—books and strips. It is a wedge that if permitted to exist will be a constant temptation to all city officials to expand it The County Counsel admits the "uncertain legality" of the ordinance. He should have admitted it is clearly unconstitutional. We hope the Los Angeles newspapers will be joined by all newspapers in that state in a vigorous effort to upset the law.

"The Association of Comics Magazine Publishers is fully aware of the necessity to establish some moral standards and clean house in their own industry. There are other comics books publishers whose products have been above reproach. All of the newspaper syndicates distributing comic strips are conscious of the problem and making an effort to keep their products on a high plane. Most of them are above reproach. Let's give the comics people a chance to police their own ranks in their own self-interest. Let's keep the censors out of newspaper offices."

Welcome to Part 17 of the Promise Collection series, which is meant to serve as liner notes of sorts for the comic books in the collection. The Promise Collection is a set of nearly 5,000 comic books, 95% of which are blisteringly high grade, that were published from 1939 to 1952 and purchased by one young comic book fan.  The name of the Promise Collection was inspired by the reason that it was saved and kept in such amazing condition since that time. An avid comic book fan named Junie and his older brother Robert went to war in Korea.  Robert Promised Junie that he would take care of his brother's beloved comic book collection should anything happen to him. Junie was killed during the Korean War, and Robert kept his promise.  There are more details about that background in a previous post regarding this incredible collection of comic books.  And over the course of a few dozen articles in this new series of posts, we will also be revealing the complete listing of the collection.  You can always catch up with posts about this collection at this link, which will become a hub of sorts regarding these comic books over time.

July Through August 1948 in the Promise Collection

In the midst of this seeming uncertainty, the number of comic books on the newsstands would continue to explode.  There is a staggering 28 new #1's present in the Promise Collection from this three-month period alone.  Interestingly, this period tracks closely with the post-Comics Code era in that publishers were trying to find ways to adjust to their new market reality.  Some publishers tried to make crime comics more palatable by putting more focus on crime fighters than criminals.  Perhaps most notably, Western comics were on the rise.  And interestingly, according to Audit Bureau of Circulation data, DC Comics circulation took a significant tumble during this part of 1948, while Marvel attained an equally steep rise.

• Complete Mystery #1
• Crime Reporter #1
• Crime Smasher #1
• Dale Evans Comics #1
• Guns Against Gangsters #1
• Ideal #1
• Kid Colt #1
• My Romance #1
• Namora #1
• Pay-Off #1
• Roundup #1
• Select Detective #1
• Sky Sheriff #1
• Sun Girl #1
• Tegra #1
• Tex Morgan #1
• Tex Taylor #1
• Texan #1
• Tim Holt #1
• Venus #1
• Vic Flint #1
• Western Thrillers #1
• The Witness #1
• Women Outlaws #1
• Zago #1

One Touch of Venus

Marvel publisher Martin Goodman is often derided as comic book history's ultimate trend chaser, but he probably deserves more credit for his publishing strategies than that, and this mid-1948 moment is a good example of the reasons why.  It's certainly true that he was eager to jump on trends pioneered by others, but Goodman's adept execution of this strategy served Marvel well over time.  Marvel cast a wide net during this period, taking inspiration from a broad range of trends across not just comic books, but all media. And the company typically jumped on trends quickly, while killing titles that weren't working just as fast.  New series launches like Kid Colt were an attempt to take advantage of the television-powered rise in the popularity of Westerns, while The Witness was likely inspired by the popular Tales of the Mysterious Traveler radio show. Complete Mystery attempted to make crime content more highbrow in a similar way, and the Ideal title was obviously a try at mimicking the Classics Illustrated juggernaut.  Sun Girl and Namora tried to boost the superhero genre with female heroes in their own titles.

But the title Venus launched during this period deserves some special attention.  This truly unusual Marvel series started out by attempting to appeal to the rapidly-growing readership of women's magazines while patterning its main character after a very popular stage musical and movie. The title's 19 issues run from 1948 to 1952 spans a time of major change in the American Comic book industry.  Superheroes were on the decline, and other genres such as romance, horror, and science fiction were on the rise on America's newsstands.  Venus started as a sort of light-hearted superhero/romance hybrid, with the character herself perhaps having a loose connection to the 1948 Ava Gardner film One Touch of Venus or the long-running stage musical starring Mary Martin that preceded it starring.

While some feel it's likely that Stan Lee was inspired by the 1948 film One Touch of Venus in the creation of the comic book — and the aesthetic and thematic similarities make such a connection compelling — it's difficult to work out the timing for a direct inspiration.  Venus #1 has a cover date of August 1948, and an on-sale date of around May 15, 1948. Generally speaking, that means we can assume the title was likely in production around mid-March.

However, the film didn't hit theaters until September 1948, with publicity photos also making the rounds that month. The film seems to have been shot during February and March of that year. Life Magazine photographer J.R. Eyerman did a shoot with Gardner in connection with the film in March, but these photos didn't run in Life Magazine that month (or any other month in 1948, as far as I can tell).  The film certainly generated plenty of publicity during this period, however, and that plus the Broadway musical version's high-profile success just a few years earlier (it had even garnered a Life Magazine cover itself) is probably sufficient to provide the spark of inspiration for the series, with Goodman and Stan Lee hoping to catch the rising publicity of the film that year.

The series has a simple premise, as outlined in the debut issue:  the goddess Venus is the mistress of her domain on the planet Venus, but she is lonely there.  She wishes she could live a normal life on Earth, and this wish is granted.  Once on Earth, she comes to the attention of Beauty Magazine publisher Whitney P. Hammond, who is so stunned by Venus's beauty that he makes her the magazine's editor.  Hammond reasons that beauty magazines are in a slump and that no one buys them, and he needs a way to make his magazine sell again.  This might be seen as an allegory of sorts for the state of the magazine publishing industry during this period.  Marvel rival Street & Smith, who still had a handful of comics on the stands in 1948, would announce that it was ending its pulp and comic magazine lines early the next year, because they were slumping by comparison to their booming women's and fashion magazine line.

Some of the Marvel titles launched during mid-1948, like Witness, Ideal, and Complete Mystery, were very short-lived, while some of its Western titles such as Kid Colt enjoyed long, successful runs. Meanwhile, Venus survived by making pivots from its original premise into science fiction and horror.  Such tactics allowed Marvel to navigate the treacherous waters of the late 1940s and beyond.

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