Remembered for Freelance, among other things for its unique redrawn republishing of Fawcett Captain Marvel and other material in Canada, Anglo-American Publishing was one of the foundational companies of the Golden Age of comic book in Canada. Under the War Exchange Conservation Act Schedule One, Canadian publishers could not import the materials necessary for traditional […]
We've discussed a number of Golden Age Canadian publishers about which little is known during our recent posts on Canadian comic books, including Al Rucker, Lou Ruby, Morris Ruby, and Pioneer Publications of London Ontario. We've talked a little bit about Frank E. Howard as well, whose struggles to get the Super Duper Comics #3 […]
The oddly-titled Avenger Crime Comic #25 was published by the equally obscure Canadian publisher Pioneer Publications of London, Ontario. Little is known about this company beyond the handful of comic books it published in 1948. There is some confusion between this company and the publisher Pioneer Publications, Inc., which had offices in London (England), Toronto, […]
The use of atomic bombs on August 6 and August 9, 1945, fundamentally changed world history, and these changes quickly permeated various aspects of media and culture. In the United States, late 1945 saw the start of a burst of atom bomb-inspired series such as Atoman Comics, Atomic Thunderbolt, Atomic Comics, and the debut of […]
Probably the single most historically famous comic book published in Canada during the Golden Age and certainly featuring the most famous Canadian superhero from that era from our modern perspective, the 1945 Nelavana of the Northern Lights one-shot comic book has often been called the Action Comics #1 of the Canadian Golden Age. In the […]
Far and away the most famous Canadian superhero of the Golden Age from our modern perspective, Nelvana of the Northern Lights debuted in Triumph-Adventure Comics #1 (cover-dated August 1941) from Hillborough Studio. Hillborough was founded by Nelvana creator Adrian Dingle, brothers Rene and Andre Kulbach, and an unknown financial backer. After publishing the first six issues of […]
The infamous Marvel villain Dr. Doom was far from the first comic book character to use that name. Dell's The Comics #5 ran International Spy featuring Doctor Doom in 1937. Victor Fox introduced his Dr. Doom in Science Comics #1 (1940). We recently discussed Canadian comic book publisher Al Rucker Productions' 1946 release of the […]
The post-WWII era was a challenging time for publishers in both the U.S. and Canada. Paper shortages lingered on, and publishers were moving on from war-driven heroes and storylines as the Golden Age superhero era began to fade. For example, Marvel introduced Millie the Model in the first issue of her own series shortly after […]
In his book Invaders from the North: How Canada Conquered the Comic Book Universe, comic book historian John Bell has noted of foundational Golden Age Canadian comic book publisher Anglo-American, "Maple Leef's first competitor, Anglo-American, was owned and operated by four Toronto businessmen: Thomas H. Sinnott, John M. Calder, John G. Baker, and Edward C. […]
As we've noticed recently with comics like Rocket Man Comics, Weekender v2 #1 and Active Comics #29, Golden Age Canadian comics which used U.S. reprint material sometimes had covers that seemed to have little to do with their contents. Those three examples came in the wake of the ending of the War Exchange Conservation Act […]
Active Comics #29 came out at a time when Bell Features was attempting to gear up to take on the increasing competition of U.S. comic book publishers. By the time this issue hit newsstands around July 1946, WECA Schedule One, which had effectively prohibited the import and reprinting of U.S. comic books in Canada, had […]
Sometime in 1948, an unusual-looking comic book called Flash appeared on Canadian newsstands, with two different covers. It was not the DC Comics superhero Flash, as the import of printed American comic books was banned at that time due to Canada's Foreign Exchange Conservation Act (FECA), which was in effect from November 17, 1947, to […]
Rocket Man Comics v2 #1 features Gus Ricca's vision of a comic artist's nightmare on its cover, from Canadian publisher Rucker Publications. We've talked about this cover before, for its original appearance on Chesler's Punch Comics #9. Figuring out Ricca's intentions for his comic book covers is always part of the fun here, as we also […]
According to GCD, Canadian comic book company Bell Features only published a handful of issues featuring Blue Beetle, scattered across titles such as Mystery Adventure Thrillers and Zoot. Publisher Superior also put out three issues of the Blue Beetle series in Canada. But 4Most #22 from Bell Features might be the most interesting Canadian-published Blue […]
World War II-era Canadian pulp and comic book publisher Rucker Publications might be best known to collectors today for its series the Weekender, but the title itself has a long history before Rucker rebooted it as a comic book. Al Rucker launched the Week Ender as a tabloid in 1934, which explains quite a bit […]
Throughout a Golden Age lifespan that ran through Mystery Men Comics #1-24 and the attempted launch of his own series, Rex Dexter was only featured on three covers. Created by Dick Briefer, the character made his cover debut with Mystery Men Comics #2 with an underappreciated Lou Fine piece. While Fine is justifiably known for […]
L.B. Cole and Jerome A. Kramer launched Star Publications in 1949 before the Pre-Code Horror era had become a boom. It's clear from looking at the first three years of Star Publications title launches that horror wasn't really on their radar. And of course, the inventory they acquired from Curtis/Novelty Publications contained very little real […]
The concept of legendary artist Sheldon Moldoff, This Magazine is Haunted was publisher Fawcett's debut entry into comic book horror. The title lasted for 14 issues there from 1951 to 1953 and was sold by Fawcett to Charlton in 1953 along with much of the rest of their non-Captain Marvel comic book line. Legendary creator […]
Lasting for for 21 issues 1951-1955, Strange Mysteries was a successful Pre-Code Horror title by any standard. Its publisher Superior Publications was a Canadian company that reprinted a wide range of material from U.S. publishers but also created original material for distribution in both the U.S. and Canada. Strange Mysteries was one of these original […]
Charles Biro and Bob Wood's exceedingly brief late 1942 stint at Hillman Periodicals is an interesting historical oddity. The pair had been editors and contributors at publisher Lev Gleason for nearly a year by that time, and had three issues of Crime Does Not Pay under their belts. Hillman, as the publisher of true crime magazines […]
