Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Columbia Comics, gardner fox, golden age, Vin Sullivan

The Golden Age Legends in Big Shot Comics Up for Auction

Published Sat, 19 Mar 2022 23:32:09 -0500

During the boom years of 1939 and the early 1940s of the Golden Age of American comic books, most new entrants in the field naturally had little or no experience in comics publishing. Such was not the case for Columbia Comics Corporation, which entered the field in April 1940 with Big Shot Comics #1, a series debut that had an impressive array of creative talent behind it. Columbia had brought in foundational DC Comics editor/creator Vin Sullivan as their editor. By some accounts, it was Sullivan who had acquired Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman for his publisher and then asked Bob Kane to develop a superhero character for the Detective Comics title — resulting in the creation of Batman. Sullivan tapped his industry contacts for Columbia, and foundational Golden Age greats like Gardner Fox, Creig Flessel, Fred Gardineer, Ogden Whitney, and others produced work for Big Shot Comics. An underappreciated title featuring work by a number of important creators, there's a number of Big Shot Comics issues including a Big Shot Comics #1 up for auction in this week's 2022 March 20-21 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122212 from Heritage Auctions.

Even aside from Vin Sullivan and the creative talent he brought to the company, the people behind Columbia Comics already had an impressive history in comics by 1940. The publisher was a partnership between Sullivan, the McNaught Syndicate, and the Frank Jay Markey Syndicate. McNaught was among the newspaper syndicates to provide material for the important 1933 comic book giveaway Funnies on Parade. In 1937, McNaught, Markey, and Iowa's Register and Tribune Syndicate provided material for Everett M. Arnold's Feature Funnies anthology.

Frank Jay Markey, who had started his newspaper career for the Baltimore Evening Sun in 1912 before working for McNaught Syndicate and then starting his own syndicate service, leaned into the expertise of his star editor Sullivan in an editorial in Big Shot Comics #1:

Vincent Sullivan, the Editor of Big Shot Comics, is recognized in the comic magazine field as its outstanding Editor. His work has delighted millions of readers.

For several years Mr. Sullivan has edited and originated the most successful and outstanding features which are appearing in many of the current comic magazines. You are familiar with his work.

The best outstanding original features will appear each month in Big Shot Comics together with such world famous headliners as Joe Palooka, Dixie Dugan, The Bungles, Charlie Chan, etc.

Our sources of production are unequalled by any other organization. Because of Mr. Sullivan's great experience and ability in selection and editing, you will always find every issue of Big Shot Comics interesting from cover to cover.

Skyman by Ogden Whitney and Gardner Fox was the stand-out original feature of Big Shot Comics, with some historians describing Skyman as a precursor of sorts to Gardner Fox's later creation Starman for DC Comics. An underappreciated series featuring work by several foundational Golden Age creators, there's a number of Big Shot Comics issues including a Big Shot Comics #1 up for auction in this week's 2022 March 20-21 Sunday & Monday Comic Books Select Auction #122212 from Heritage Auctions.