Fawcett Publications Archives

Saunders is best remembered for his pulp magazine covers for a variety of publishers, but he also painted over 100 comic book covers, primarily for publishers Fawcett and Ziff-Davis.  Many of these are ridiculously underappreciated, but there's a very nice CGC FN 6.0 copy of this noteworthy, atmospheric, and foreboding Pre-Code Horror cover by Saunders[...]

Navy, and stolen by Sivana via his daughter Beautia.  An interesting reflection of its moment in history, there's an affordable Apparent F- copy of Whiz Comics #10 (Fawcett Publications, 1940) up for auction in the 2024 September 8-10 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122437 at Heritage Auctions. Whiz Comics #10 (Fawcett Publications, 1940) Unsurprisingly,[...]

Fawcett Publications' Wow Comics series is best known for its regular feature Mary Marvel beginning in Wow Comics #9, but the first eight issues of the series are historically fascinating as well.  The cover star of many of these issues is Mister Scarlett, a fairly typical caped crusader based in Gotham City in these early[...]

Bulletman #8 was published by Fawcett Publications in 1942 and features a cameo from Bulletgirl right on the cover It is yet another example of a dynamic cover that was well ahead of its time, and the artist Jack Binder is responsible for the glorious front of the book Look down there at the way[...]

Hitting newsstands shortly after Whiz Comics #3, Slam-Bang Comics #1 is the launch of one of Fawcett Publications' earliest yet most underappreciated comic book titles.  The debut issue includes work by two of mainstream comics' most unrestrained stylists in Gus Ricca of Chesler fame and Jack Cole of Plastic Man fame, and contains a wild[...]

take part in an epic battle against a character called Captain Nazi, who had been ordered by Hitler to take America's heroes down.  This iconic battle of good vs evil began in  Master Comics #21, then continued in Whiz Comics #25 and Master Comics #22.  There's an affordable copy of the beginning of this historic[...]

Beck makes Whiz Comics #4's Captain Marvel tale a fascinating reflection of this particular moment in history.  A tough-to-get and important issue of a historic comic book series, there's a Whiz Comics #4 (Fawcett Publications, 1940) Condition: Apparent VG- up for auction in this week's 2024 April 28-30 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select[...]

But the series really started to shine when Mary Marvel arrived, with beautiful covers and interior art by artist Marc Swayze.  There's a copy of Mary Marvel's series debut in Wow Comics #9 (Fawcett Publications, 1943) Condition: GD+ up for auction in this week's 2024 April 28-30 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction[...]

Bulletman #10, featuring the first appearance of Bulletdog, a historically significant comic book due to its introduction of what is arguably the first "superdog companion" of the Golden Age, setting the stage for the popularity of canine characters Green Lantern's Streak the Wonder Dog and Superman's Krypto.  A fascinating footnote to Golden Age comic book[...]

The cover of Fawcett romance comic Sweethearts #119 hit stands in late 1952 with a Marilyn Monroe cover for her film Don't Bother to Knock.

Riding high in the wake of their debut romance title Sweethearts, Fawcett launched a staggering nine romance titles in 1949 including Life Story, Cowboy Love, Exciting Romances, Love Memories, Romantic Story, Romantic Western, Sweetheart Diary, True Confidences, and Romantic Secrets.  Fawcett became the #1 publisher of comic book romance that year, with all of those[...]

John, 1949) The confession magazine as we know it today (or at least, as we knew it for nearly a century) was popularized by Bernarr Macfadden's True Story beginning in 1919.  Fawcett Publications jumped into the field in 1922 with True Confessions, which through various ownership and format changes, lasted until around 2017. True Confessions was one[...]

Moments from World War II often found a unique echo in the realm of comic books, particularly in a series like Spy Smasher, which mirrored the wartime ethos of its moment in time.  The cover of Spy Smasher #8 has the title character attacking a Japanese fighter pilot while saying, "Here's one for the Wake[...]

Beck make these early Whiz Comics #4's Captain Marvel tale a fascinating reflection of this particular moment in history.  Formative issues of a historic comic book series, there are several early issues of Whiz Comics available in the 2023 March 26-28 Sunday, Monday & Tuesday Comic Books Select Auction #122313 at Heritage Auctions. Whiz Comics 3[...]

With Captain Marvel riding high as one of the top characters in comics with a popularity that rivaled Superman throughout much of the Golden Age, in 1941-1942 and again in 1947-1952 Fawcett Publications produced a number of giant, squarebound annual editions targeting the holiday and otherwise gift-giving market.  Gift Comics and Xmas Comics both topped[...]

Fawcett Publications was reportedly a reluctant entrant into the Pre-Code Horror era, and never branded issues from its horror titles as "A Fawcett Publication" as it did for the rest of its comic book output.  But when they did jump in, the line came to include a number of horror titles such as Beware! Terror[...]

Fawcett Publications is hardly the first name that one thinks of when it comes to crime comic books of the 1950s, but the publisher best known for Captain Marvel still produced one of the most notorious crime comic issues of that era.  Underworld Crime #7 has a distinctively menacing cover composition (identified as the work[...]

Created by Fawcett Publications editor/writer Bill Parker and artist Jon Smalle, Bulletman debuted in the launch of the series Nickel Comics (cover-dated May 1940).  The character Jim Barr was the son of a police officer killed on the job, who wanted nothing more than to follow in his father's footsteps.  But he found he was[...]

There's a line from the recent trailer for the Black Adam movie that has Hawkman telling Black Adam that, "Heroes don't kill."  Black Adam's only response is, "Well, I do."  And really, killing was actually not so uncommon for the Golden Age heroes, at least in their earlier days.  Superman certainly killed his enemies sometimes,[...]

But the series really started to shine when Mary Marvel arrived, with beautiful covers and interior art by artist Marc Swayze.  There are a few early Wow Comics Mary Marvel issues including her series debut in Wow Comics #9 (Fawcett Publications, 1943) Condition: VG+, plus a Wow Comics #10 (Fawcett Publications, 1943) Condition: GD+ and[...]

Whiz Comics #155 is the beginning of the end of an important chapter in American comic book history.  The Fawcett Publications title had launched one of the most important and successful characters of the Golden Age 13 years earlier with the debut of Captain Marvel in Whiz Comics #2, and its end presaged the closure[...]

But the series really started to shine when Mary Marvel arrived, with beautiful covers and interior art by artist Marc Swayze.  There are a few early Wow Comics Mary Marvel issues including her series debut in Wow Comics #9 plus Wow Comics #10 and #12 up for auction at the 2022 March 27-28 Sunday &[...]

There's a general impression that the character we now call Shazam but was created as Captain Marvel was sort of a kinder, gentler version of Superman — particularly in the Golden Age.  But I think that's not quite right, at least as far as the earliest issues of Whiz Comics are concerned.  It might be[...]

Fawcett Publications' Wow Comics series is best known for its regular feature Mary Marvel beginning in Wow Comics #9, but the first eight issues of the series are historically fascinating as well.  The cover star of many of these issues is Mister Scarlett, a fairly typical caped crusader based in Gotham City in these early[...]

Beck makes Whiz Comics #4's Captain Marvel tale a fascinating reflection of this particular moment in history.  A tough to get and important issue of a historic comic book series, there's a Whiz Comics #4 (Fawcett Publications, 1940) CGC VG/FN 5.0 Cream to off-white pages available at the 2021 October 17-18 Sunday & Monday Comic Books[...]