Parent company | Curtis Publishing Company |
---|---|
Founded | 1940 |
Defunct | 1949 |
Country of origin | United States |
Headquarters location | New York City |
Key people | Dick Briefer, Joe Simon, Jack Kirby |
Publication types | Comic books |
Fiction genres | Superhero, Crime |
Novelty Press (a.k.a. Premium Service Co., Inc.; a.k.a. Novelty Publications; a.k.a. Premier Group) was an American Golden Age comic-book publisher that operated from 1940 to 1949. It was the comic book imprint of Curtis Publishing Company, publisher of The Saturday Evening Post . Among Novelty's best-known and longest-running titles were the companion titles Blue Bolt and Target Comics .
During its nine-year run, Novelty had a roster of creators that included Al Avison, Dan Barry, Carl Burgos, L.B. Cole, Bill Everett, Al Gabriele, Joe Gill, Tom Gill, Jack Kirby, Tarpé Mills, Al Plastino, Don Rico, Joe Simon, Mickey Spillane, and Basil Wolverton. [1]
Although published in Philadelphia, Novelty Press's editorial offices were in New York City.
Novelty Press launched its first title, Target Comics , debuted with a cover date of February 1940, followed shortly thereafter by Blue Bolt . [2]
Target Comics featured such stars as Bull's-Eye Bill, Lucky Byrd, and The White Streak (Target's first superhero). Material for the book was supplied by Funnies, Inc., a packager also responsible for many of Marvel Comics' early characters. [1] Creators included Bill Everett, Joe Simon, and Tarpé Mills. Basil Wolverton's Spacehawk (which originated in Circus comics) made its Target Comics debut with issue #5, and ran for many issues. The superhero Target, created by cartoonist Dick Briefer under the pen nam "Dick Hamilton", was introduced in issue #10 (Nov. 1940), accompanied by the Targeteers the following issue. [2] The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide suggests that the first comic book letter column may have appeared in Target Comics #6. The page in question also has an early mention of comic-book collecting.) [3]
Blue Bolt's title character superhero was created by Joe Simon, and Blue Bolt #2 (July 1940) featured the first pairing of the longstanding and pioneering creative team of Simon and Jack Kirby. [2]
4 Most , launched in 1941, was Novelty's answer to DC Comics' omnibus title World's Finest Comics and All American's Comic Cavalcade. [2]
Young King Cole , debuting in 1945, was an anthology title headlined by one of the comic genre's first private detectives. [4]
In 1949, due to the growing criticism over violence in comic books, Novelty Press sold its assets to Blue Bolt cover artist L.B. Cole. [5] Using his new assets, Cole began his own company, Star Publications.[ citation needed ]
All-American Comics was a comics anthology and the flagship title of comic book publisher All-American Publications, one of the forerunners of DC Comics. It ran for 102 issues from 1939 to 1948. Characters created for the title, including Green Lantern, the Atom, the Red Tornado, Doctor Mid-Nite, and Sargon the Sorcerer, later became mainstays of the DC Comics line.
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.
Tarpé Mills was the pseudonym of comic book creator June Mills, one of the first major female comics artists. She is best known for her action comic strip, Miss Fury, featuring the first female action hero created by a woman.
Boy Commandos is a fictional organization from DC Comics first appearing in Detective Comics #64 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. They are a combination of "kid gang" characters, an international cast of young boys fighting Nazis — or in their own parlance, "the Ratzies".
The Funnies was the name of two American publications from Dell Publishing, the first of these a seminal 1920s precursor of comic books, and the second a standard 1930s comic book.
Leonard Brandt Cole, commonly known as L. B. Cole, was a comic book artist, editor, and publisher who worked during the Golden Age of Comic Books, producing work in various genres. Cole was particularly known for his bold covers, featuring what he referred to as "poster colors"—the use of primary colors often over black backgrounds. In addition to his covers, Cole did interior art for comics published by Holyoke Publications, Gilberton, and Ajax/Farrell. He also worked as an editor for Holyoke in the 1940s.
All-American Publications, Inc. was one of two American comic book companies that merged to form the modern-day DC Comics, one of the two largest publishers of comic books in the United States. Superheroes created for All-American include the original Atom, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, and Wonder Woman, all in the 1940s' Golden Age of Comic Books.
Crestwood Publications, also known as Feature Publications, was a magazine publisher that also published comic books from the 1940s through the 1960s. Its title Prize Comics contained what is considered the first ongoing horror comic-book feature, Dick Briefer's "Frankenstein". Crestwood is best known for its Prize Group imprint, published in the late 1940s to mid-1950s through packagers Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, who created such historically prominent titles as the horror comic Black Magic, the creator-owned superhero satire Fighting American, and the first romance comic title, Young Romance.
The Holyoke Publishing Company was an American magazine and comic-book publisher with offices in Holyoke, and Springfield, Massachusetts, and New York City, Its best-known comics characters were Blue Beetle and the superhero duo Cat-Man and Kitten, all inherited from defunct former clients of Holyoke's printing business.
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.
The Adventures of Dick Cole was a 1940s comic book series, created by Bob Davis. It was published by Novelty Press, and later, Star Publications. Dick Cole is a heroic cadet at the fictional Farr Military Academy. The character was introduced in the "Origin of Dick Cole," in the first issue of Novelty Press' Blue Bolt Comics.
Blue Bolt is a fictional American comic book superhero created by writer-artist Joe Simon in 1940, during the period fans and historians refer to as the Golden Age of Comic Books.
Crack Comics was an anthology comic book series published by Quality Comics during the Golden Age of Comic Books. It featured such characters as The Clock, Black Condor, Captain Triumph, Alias the Spider, Madame Fatal, Jane Arden, Molly the Model, and Red Torpedo. The title "crack" referred to "being at the top of one's form", like a "crack sharpshooter".
The Target and the Targeteers are fictional characters, a trio of superheroes who first appeared in 1940, in Target Comics from Novelty Press.
Alexander Anthony Blum was a Hungarian-American comic book artist best remembered for his contributions in the 1940s and 1950s to the long-running comic book series Classics Illustrated.
Richard Briefer was an American comic-book artist best known for his various adaptations, including humorous ones, of the Frankenstein monster. Under the pseudonym Dick Hamilton, he also created the superhero team the Target and the Targeteers for Novelty Press.
The Black Owl is the name of two fictional superhero characters. Both appeared in the Prize Publications title Prize Comics in the 1940s.
Hangman Comics was the name of an American anthology comic book series published by MLJ Magazines Inc., more commonly known as MLJ Comics, for seven issues between Spring 1942 and Fall 1943. It featured MLJs costumed vigilante The Hangman, and "Boy Buddies", featuring Shield's partner 'Dusty the Boy Detective' and Wizard's side-kick 'Roy the Superboy', throughout the series.
Star Publications, Inc. was a Golden Age American comic book publisher, operating during the years 1949–1954. Founded by artist/editor L. B. Cole and lawyer Gerhard Kramer, Star specialized in horror comics, crime, and romance comics — but also published talking animal stories. Star was originally based in New York City before relocating to Buffalo, New York.
George Kapitan was an American writer for Timely Comics, the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics, during the time fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comics. He co-created the medium's first costumed, superpowered female protagonist, the Golden Age Black Widow, an antiheroine who killed evildoers to deliver their souls to Satan, her master.