Posted in: Comics, Vintage Paper | Tagged: archie, black hood, Promise Collection

The Promise Collection 1946: The Art of the Comic Book Reboot

"If you think you can dream up a more glamorous hero than Superman, or invent a more diabolic villain than the Joker, or figure out a more homicidal weapon than a Krypton gun, then you can begin figuring on how to stake yourself a claim in a $40,000,000-a-year business," Mort Weisinger wrote in a 1946 issue of Pic Magazine, for an article that featured a photo of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby working on an issue of Boy Commandos. Weisinger had not yet become a DC Comics editor, but he had contributed to numerous comics present in the Promise Collection by this time, including Superman, Batman, Detective Comics, and World's Finest Comics. "If you're interested in crashing the publishing world, consider the fact that no other medium in the magazine field can boast as many members of the comics family. A wit once observed that the reason additional comic magazines do not clutter the stands is that the editors long ago exhausted all possible titles. He wasn't far wrong. Publishers raid the thesaurus for adjectives, with the result that the stands offer Daring Comics, Exiting Comics, Daredevil Comics, Thrilling Comics, Dynamic Comics, Fight Comics, et al. The rainbow was pilfered, too. Such titles as Blue Beetle, Green Hornet, Red Ryder, Black Hood and Gold Medal make a lurid palette out of the news vendor's display counter." [note: if you wonder whether Weisinger was making up "Gold Medal", he was not. Although not part of the Promise Collection, Gold Medal Comics was an obscure 128 square-bound one-shot from publisher Cambridge House and featuring a cover by Mac Raboy and contents from Bernard Baily Studios.]

Weisinger's article described a comic book industry of 1946 which was in need of both new ideas and new blood — because with War Production Board restrictions on paper usage at an end along with the war itself, periodical publishers expected business to boom.  As Writer's Digest was reporting by mid-year, "A.A. Wyn [Whose Ace Publications put out the likes of Four Favorites, a title which can be found in the Promise Collection] will probably be the first of these to move his book and magazine publishing business into the building he bought on 47th Street just off Fifth Avenue. This is about three blocks from his present place at 67 West 44th Street.  Next is Fawcett Publications, which has just bought the twenty-one story building from which Wyn will move out. The Fawcett magazines have been scattered over the face of Manhattan. Not only do they fill a half dozen floors in the big Paramount Building at Times Square, but they spread through two separate buildings on Madison Avenue and take up a lot of space at 52 Wall Street. It will be home-coming week for sure, when they all get together under one roof."  Meanwhile, Martin Goodman's Marvel empire also continued to sprawl after the war ended, "The Goodman magazines become more complicated in set-up right along. Martin Goodman heads the outfit publishing Miss America and a long, long list of comics, with offices in the Empire State Building at 350 Fifth Avenue. The Goodman line-up of fact-detective books is edited by Robert E. Levee at 366 Madison Avenue. And now a third address: Skyline Publications, Inc., at 82 Beaver Street, N.Y. 5. Here, the other three Goodman, brothers, just recently out of the Service, are back in active magazine production."

Welcome to Part 12 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 December 1946 in the Promise Collection

The post-war economic boom implied by such moves on the part of comic book and periodical publishers was felt across most industries in the United States by 1946. "With the war finally over, American consumers were eager to spend their money, on everything from big-ticket items like homes, cars and furniture to appliances, clothing, shoes and everything else in between. U.S. factories answered their call…"

The comic book industry was also ready and eager to answer this call. This post-war comic book and periodical publishing industry boom that Mort Weisinger and the rest of the comic book industry thought was in the cards for 1946 appeared to be well on its way towards becoming a reality during the first half of the year.  Industry leaders Superman and Batman surged towards their historic peaks at over 1.8 million and 1.7 million copies sold respectively, according to Audit Bureau of Circulation numbers. As mentioned in Part 11 of this Promise Collection series, Fawcett Publications took its flagship Captain Marvel Adventures bi-weekly through the first six months of the year.

This bi-weekly move over the first half of the year for Captain Marvel Adventures is worth exploring a little, as it may have been a serious miscalculation on the part of Fawcett Publications.  Circulation on the title plummeted from 1.35 million in January to 535,000 by June — a drop of just over 60%.  The likely problem was that although the printing industry expected newsprint shortages to subside, in reality, such shortages would linger for years and actually became more acute through much of 1946.  Contributing factors include workers' strikes across some relevant industries, reduced imports due to the shifting realities of the post-war world, and exploding demand.  It's likely that Fawcett had to make a choice between its comic line and other publishing interests, and chose the latter.  Audit Bureau of Circulation numbers indicate that Street & Smith made a similar choice a few months prior — a move that would ultimately signal the beginning of the end of their comic book line.  And although its comic book line would last longer than Street & Smith's, Fawcett Publications' choice here in 1946 can be construed as the beginning of the end of Captain Marvel and company at Fawcett as well.   Overall, it appears that the publisher had decided to cede comic book market share to DC Comics and Marvel, both of whom gained significant ground over the next few years as the Fawcett comic book line faded.

The Promise Collection of 1946 represents such dynamics quite accurately.  In contrast to the first half of the year, the number of new series launches from July to December was quite limited, including the likes of Movie Comics #1 (Fiction House) and The Barker (Quality Comics).  However, the number of comic books present in the collection from this series increased to nearly 300 — about a 20% bump up over the first half of the year.  Keys and noteworthy issues from this time frame include the first appearance of the Blonde Phantom in All Select Comics #11, the origin-retold / soft reboot in Captain America Comics #59, the origin and first appearance of the All-Winners Squad in All-Winners Comics #19, plus the Joker covers of Detective Comics #114 and Detective Comics #118.

The Art of the Comic Book Reboot

Fawcett Publications and Street and Smith were not the only publishers thinking carefully about where to focus their resources in 1946. With Audit Bureau of Circulation data showing that Archie Comics circulation routinely reaching the 1.1 million copy range during this period, MLJ, the publisher which had rebranded itself as Archie, may have had less confidence in the staying power of the superhero genre than most comic book publishers.  The Golden Age lifespan of one of its most famous superhero characters, the Black Hood, provides us with another fascinating example of how the publisher navigated the Golden Age of Superheroes in the wartime era and beyond. With a name like "Black Hood", and villains like the Ghost and the Skull, the character stuck farther away from wartime exploits and closer to pulp-style crime and horror than most superhero publishers of the time frame.  The Black Hood series itself also included covers and adventures that leaned towards crime and horror rather than war or superheroics (though certainly, MLJ was not alone in this during the period).  Of course, MLJ had launched a Black Hood Detective pulp shortly after the character's debut in Top-Notch #9 as well.

But the end of the character's own series with Black Hood #19 contains an interesting and clear-cut early example of a comic book reboot. Due to the machinations of a criminal, a police sergeant was able to unmask Black Hood and reveal his identity.  Once his alter ego becomes known, the Black Hood (aka Kip Burland) makes an interesting move — he decides to reboot himself in his real identity as Burland and launch the Black Hood Detective Agency — becoming a private investigator.  The change stuck, and although the Black Hood series ends with this issue, he continues as Kip Burland of the Black Hood Detective Agency in a handful of Pep Comics stories afterward.

Meanwhile, the Black Hood series was retitled as Laugh Comics with issue #20 and featured the exploits of Archie, Jughead, Betty, Veronica and the rest of the Riverdale crew. It's a historically interesting move that seems to be foreshadowed by the tenor of the issues leading up to the series and would seem to indicate that MLJ anticipated the rise of other genres in the comic book industry — and certainly in the Promise Collection — of the post-WW2 era.

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