Company type | Comic book publisher |
---|---|
Industry | Publishing |
Founded | 1940 |
Founder | Aaron A. Wyn, Rose Wyn |
Defunct | 1956 |
Headquarters | , United States |
Products | Comics |
Parent | Periodical House, Magazine Publishers |
Ace Magazines [1] was a comic book and pulp-magazine publishing company headed by Aaron A. Wyn and his wife Rose Wyn. The Wyns had been publishing pulp fiction under the Periodical House and A. A. Wyn's Magazine Publishers names since 1928, and published comics between 1940 and the end of 1956.
Its most successful and longest-running superhero title was Super-Mystery Comics featuring Magno the Magnetic Man and his boy partner Davey, [2] who appeared in 28 issues of the title's 48-issue run. Magno is nearly unique among superheroes for having neither an origin for his powers or any apparent secret identity. [3] Horror comics included Baffling Mysteries, Hand of Fate, and Web of Mystery, while their contribution to the crime comics was Crime Must Pay the Penalty (the title later shortened to Penalty for the final two issues). Ace's longest running series were the company's romance comics Glamorous Romances, Love At First Sight, Love Experiences, and Real Love, which began in the late 1940s as the superhero books faded away, and continued until the company ceased publishing comic books in 1956. Other long running romance titles such as Complete Love Magazine and Ten Story Love began as pulp-magazine titles before switching to comics format in the early 1950s. [1]
A number of Ace stories were used as examples of violent and gruesome imagery in the 1950s U.S Congressional inquiries into the influence of comic books on juvenile delinquency that led to the Comics Code Authority, namely Challenge of the Unknown #6, Crime Must Pay the Penalty #3 and Web of Mystery #19. Western Adventures Comics #3 was used as an example in Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent , and in the United Kingdom Atomic War #4, Beyond #18 and World War III #2 were cited as examples by Geoffrey Wagner's 1954 book on the same subject, Parade of Pleasure — A Study of Popular Iconography in the U.S.A.
Although characters with the same names as Ace Comics characters have appeared elsewhere (most notably Jack Kirby's Captain Victory in an early 1980s series, and several DC Comics villains called the Black Spider), after the early 1950s all their characters remained unused until 2008, when Lash Lightning and Lightning Girl appeared in flashback in Dynamite Entertainment’s Project Superpowers . In the one-shot Project Superpowers: Chapter Two Prelude, it was stated that the two of them will appear in this line as part of a team called The Super-Mysterymen (presumably named after the Ace title Super-Mystery Comics).
Ace Magazine comic-book series were published through at least 17 affiliated entities: [1]
Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books.
American Comics Group (ACG) was an American comic book publisher started in 1939 and existing under the ACG name from 1943 to 1967. It published the medium's first ongoing horror-comics title, Adventures into the Unknown. ACG's best-known character was the 1960s satirical humor hero Herbie Popnecker, who starred for a time in Forbidden Worlds. Herbie would later get his own title and be turned into a superhero called the Fat Fury.
Atlas Comics was the 1950s comic-book publishing label that evolved into Marvel Comics. Magazine and paperback novel publisher Martin Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time. Atlas evolved out of Goodman's 1940s comic-book division, Timely Comics, and was located on the 14th floor of the Empire State Building. This company is distinct from the 1970s comic-book company, also founded by Goodman, that is known as Atlas/Seaboard Comics.
Fiction House was an American publisher of pulp magazines and comic books that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. It was founded by John B. "Jack" Kelly and John W. Glenister. By the late 1930s, the publisher was Thurman T. Scott. Its comics division was best known for its pinup-style good girl art, as epitomized by the company's most popular character, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.
Popular Publications was one of the largest publishers of pulp magazines during its existence, at one point publishing 42 different titles per month. Company titles included detective, adventure, romance, and Western fiction. They were also known for the several 'weird menace' titles. They also published several pulp hero or character pulps.
A. A. Wyn was an American publisher.
Magazine Publishers was a pulp magazine publishing house established by Harold Hersey and later owned by A. A. Wyn in 1929. Under Wyn, it was known as "Ace Magazines", hence titles such as Ace Mystery and Ace Sports. They also used the name "Periodical House", and also branched out to publishing comic books as Ace Comics. In the 1940s the company also began publishing books.
Lancer Books was a publisher of paperback books founded by Irwin Stein and Walter Zacharius that operated from 1961 through 1973. While it published stories of a number of genres, it was noted most for its science fiction and fantasy, particularly its series of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian tales, the first publication of many in paperback format. It published the controversial novel Candy by Terry Southern and Mason Hoffenberg, and Ted Mark's ribald series The Man from O.R.G.Y. Lancer paperbacks had a distinctive appearance, many bearing mauve or green page edging.
Magazine Enterprises was an American comic book company lasting from 1943 to 1958, which published primarily Western, humor, crime, adventure, and children's comics, with virtually no superheroes. It was founded by Vin Sullivan, an editor at Columbia Comics and before that the editor at National Allied Publications, the future DC Comics.
Lash Lightning is a fictional superhero character who first appeared in Sure-Fire Comics #1 from Ace Comics, which was renamed Lightning Comics with issue #4 to take advantage of the new character's popularity. Originally called Flash Lightning, the character's name was changed to Lash Lightning in issue #7 to avoid confusion with DC Comics' the Flash.
The Raven is a fictional superhero character who first appeared in the Ace Comics title Sure-Fire Comics. He is based on the pulp hero "The Moon Man" published by Periodic House, the pulp publisher connected to Ace Comics.
Toby Press was an American comic-book company that published from 1949 to 1955. Founded by Elliott Caplin, brother of cartoonist Al Capp and himself an established comic strip writer, the company published reprints of Capp's Li'l Abner strip; licensed-character comics starring such film and animated cartoon properties as John Wayne and Felix the Cat; and original conceptions, including romance, war, Western, and adventure comics. Some of its comics were published under the imprint Minoan. Some covers bore the logo ANC, standing for American News Company, at the time the country's largest newsstand distributor.
Key Publications was an American comic-book company founded by Stanley P. Morse that published under the imprints Aragon Magazines, Gillmor Magazines, Medal Comics, Media Publications, S. P. M. Publications, Stanmor Publications, and Timor Publications.
Jack Oleck was an American novelist and comic book writer particularly known for his work in the horror genre.
Alden Spurr McWilliams generally credited as Al McWilliams and A. McWilliams, was an American comics artist who co-created the first African-American lead character of a comic strip. He won the National Cartoonists Society's 1978 award for Comic Book: Story.
Four Favorites is a Golden Age American comics series that ran for 32 issues from September, 1941 through December, 1947. It was published by Ace Publications.
Thorpe & Porter was a British publisher, importer, and distributor of magazines and comic books. At first, the company was known for repackaging American comics and pulp magazines for the UK market. Later on, it became a publisher of original material. The company released more than 160 comics titles in the UK, the most prominent being Classics Illustrated, MAD UK, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes, Larry Harmon's Laurel & Hardy, House of Hammer, and Forbidden Worlds. T & P's most prominent imprints were Top Sellers Ltd. and Brown Watson. Thorpe & Porter operated from 1946 to c. 1979.