Comic Cavalcade was an anthology comic book published by DC Comics from 1942 to 1954.
31-586: Most American comic book publishers in the 1930s and 1940s Golden Age of comic books published anthology titles that showcased a variety of characters, usually with one star—such as Green Lantern in All-American Comics or Wonder Woman in Sensation Comics . Comic Cavalcade , however, featured both those star characters as well as the Flash , a star in his own namesake title as well as
62-484: A boy cartoonist. All-American Comics lasted 102 issues through October 1948. Also debuting that month was Movie Comics ("A full movie show for 10 cents"), featuring simple adaptations of movies using painted movie stills, as well as cartoonist Ed Wheelan 's popular Minute Movies comics. The first of its six issues through Aug. 1939 adapted no fewer than five films: Son of Frankenstein , Gunga Din , The Great Man Votes , Fisherman's Wharf , and Scouts to
93-403: A competing company if there was nothing to hold him. And it may well have been a way for Harry to keep Gaines under control; since Jack was still drawing a salary and significant bonuses from Detective Comics and [self-distributorship] Independent News , he wouldn't let Gaines take off on his own or act against the interests of the other companies. ... Gaines became the principal and Jack Liebowitz
124-754: A result, the Comics Code Authority was created by the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers to enact self-censorship by comic book publishers. At this time, EC canceled its crime and horror titles and focused primarily on Mad . The Silver Age of Comic Books is recognized by some as beginning with the debut of the first successful new superhero since the Golden Age, DC Comics' new Flash , in Showcase #4 (Oct. 1956). All-American Publications All-American Publications, Inc.
155-796: The Flash , Green Lantern , Doctor Fate , the Atom , Hawkman , Green Arrow and Aquaman . Timely Comics , the 1940s predecessor of Marvel Comics , had million-selling titles featuring the Human Torch , the Sub-Mariner , and Captain America . Although DC and Timely characters are well remembered today, circulation figures suggest that the best-selling superhero title of the era was Fawcett Comics ' Captain Marvel Adventures with sales of about 1.4 million copies per issue. The comic
186-686: The fanzine Comic Art in April 1960. An event cited by many as marking the beginning of the Golden Age was the 1938 debut of Superman in Action Comics #1, published by Detective Comics (predecessor of DC Comics ). Superman's popularity helped make comic books a major arm of publishing, which led rival companies to create superheroes of their own to emulate Superman's success. Between 1939 and 1941 Detective Comics and its sister company, All-American Publications , introduced popular superheroes such as Batman and Robin , Wonder Woman ,
217-522: The history of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known characters were introduced, including Superman , Batman , Robin , Captain Marvel , Captain America , and Wonder Woman . The first recorded use of the term "Golden Age" was by Richard A. Lupoff in an article, "Re-Birth", published in issue one of
248-689: The Archie Andrews character remaining in print well into the 21st century. At the same time in Canada, American comic books were prohibited importation under the War Exchange Conservation Act which restricted the importation of non-essential goods. Canadian publishers responded to this lack of competition by producing titles of their own, informally called the Canadian Whites . While these titles flourished during
279-913: The Atom, the Flash, Green Lantern and Hawkman, and the National characters Doctor Fate , Hour-Man (as it was then spelled), the Spectre , and the Sandman — creating comics' first intercompany crossover , with characters from different companies interacting — although National's Sandman, Spectre and Hour-Man had previously appeared in solo adventures in All Star Comics #1 (Summer 1940). With Gaines as editor, assisted by Sheldon Mayer , All-American Publications launched its flagship series All-American Comics with an April 1939 premiere. Like many comics of
310-483: The Bible as the foundation of his own new company, EC. As Jones describes, Gaines saw the end of the superhero fad coming and wanted to get into something more durable, like children's books and magazines. ... In 1944, he decided he'd had enough. He let Jack Liebowitz buy him out with a loan from Harry.... Liebowitz promptly orchestra the merger of All American Comics and Detective Comics into National Comics , of which he
341-560: The Golden Age. During this time, the popularity of superhero comics waned. To retain reader interest, comic publishers diversified into other genres, such as war , Westerns , science fiction , romance , crime and horror . Many superhero titles were canceled or converted to other genres. In 1946, DC Comics ' Superboy , Aquaman and Green Arrow were switched from More Fun Comics into Adventure Comics so More Fun could focus on humor. In 1948 All-American Comics , featuring Green Lantern , Johnny Thunder and Dr. Mid-Nite ,
SECTION 10
#1732782493014372-882: The Rescue . The next two comics were Mutt & Jeff , which ran 103 issues from Summer 1939 - June 1958; and the company's superhero debut, Flash Comics #1 (Jan. 1940), which introduced the super-speedster title character, created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert , as well as the Golden Age Hawkman and future Hawkgirl, by Fox and artist Dennis Neville , and Johnny Thunder , by scripter John Wentworth and artist Stan Aschmeier, among other features. The Golden Age Green Lantern, from Batman writer Bill Finger and artist Martin Nodell , debuted in All-American Comics #16 (July 1940), followed by
403-582: The comic book industry hit a setback when the United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency was created in order to investigate the problem of juvenile delinquency . After the publication of Fredric Wertham 's Seduction of the Innocent the following year that claimed comics sparked illegal behavior among minors, comic book publishers such as EC's William Gaines were subpoenaed to testify in public hearings. As
434-470: The entire 1950s were Action Comics , Adventure Comics , Batman , Detective Comics , Superboy , Superman , Wonder Woman and World's Finest Comics . Plastic Man appeared in Quality Comics ' Police Comics until 1950, when its focus switched to detective stories; his solo title continued bimonthly until issue 52, cover-dated February 1955. Timely Comics ' The Human Torch
465-531: The final two issues, which included Black Cat stories. Lev Gleason Publications ' Daredevil was edged out of his title by the Little Wise Guys in 1950. Fawcett Comics ' Whiz Comics , Master Comics and Captain Marvel Adventures were canceled in 1953, and The Marvel Family was canceled the following year. Also during this period, the mass media with the advent of television were forcing media companies to put out comics that reflected
496-617: The following month's All-American Comics #64 and the hyphenless All Star Comics #24. Liebowitz later merged his and Donenfeld's companies into National Comics Publications by September 30, 1946. During All-American's existence, much cross-promotion took place between the two editorially independent companies, so much so that the first appearance of the Justice Society of America , in All Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940/41), included in its roster All-American characters
527-510: The licensed Walt Disney animated-character comics) outsold the superhero comics of the day. The publisher featured licensed movie and literary characters such as Mickey Mouse , Donald Duck , Roy Rogers and Tarzan . It was during this era that noted Donald Duck writer-artist Carl Barks rose to prominence. Additionally, MLJ 's introduction of Archie Andrews in Pep Comics #22 (December 1941) gave rise to teen humor comics , with
558-458: The minority owner of All-American [Publications]. While All-American, at 225 Lafayette Street in Manhattan , was physically separated from DC's office space uptown at 480 Lexington Avenue , it used the informal "DC" logo on most of its covers for distribution and marketing reasons. In 1944, Gaines sold his share of the company to Liebowitz by June 1945, keeping only Picture Stories from
589-665: The narrative. With this issue, the series title became "Johnny Peril Tells Just a Story", eventually changed to "Johnny Peril's Surprise Story" as Johnny became the series' two-fisted hero until the series ended with issue #29 (Nov. 1948). The character went on to appear in his own feature in All-Star Comics , Danger Trail and Sensation Comics through 1953. He returned in the Silver Age of Comic Books in 1968, in The Unexpected . Initially published quarterly,
620-551: The popular culture of the time period. Comic books focused on space, mystery, and suspense that television and other forms of media were turning to in the march toward scientific progress. According to historian Michael A. Amundson, appealing comic-book characters helped ease young readers' fear of nuclear war and neutralize anxiety about the questions posed by atomic power. It was during this period that long-running humor comics debuted, including EC Comics ' series Mad and Dell's series Uncle Scrooge (both in 1952). In 1953,
651-543: The spin-off All-Flash . At 96 pages initially, Comic Cavalcade was about one-and-one-half-times the length of the average comic book of the time. It was priced at 15 cents, when the average comic cost a dime. Many stories in Comic Cavalcade were scripted by other than the characters' regular writers, for deadline reasons. Batman writer Bill Finger , for example, would occasionally write Flash stories for Comic Cavalcade when regular Flash writer Gardner Fox
SECTION 20
#1732782493014682-673: The time of the Second World War following the Shield 's debut in 1940. Many heroes of this time period battled the Axis powers , with covers such as Captain America Comics #1 ( cover-dated March 1941) showing the title character punching Nazi leader Adolf Hitler . As comic books grew in popularity, publishers began launching titles that expanded into a variety of genres. Dell Comics ' non-superhero characters (particularly
713-425: The time, All-American debuted with a mix of newspaper comic strips , reprinted in color, and a smattering of original, comic-strip-like features. Among the strips were three hits of the era: Mutt and Jeff , by Al Smith ghosting for strip creator Bud Fisher ; Skippy , by Percy Crosby ; and Toonerville Folks by Fontaine Fox . New content included Scribbly , a semiautobiographical Mayer feature about
744-765: The title went bi-monthly beginning with #14 (April–May 1946 ). It was revamped completely with #30 (December–January 1948 ), becoming a talking animal humor book when superheroes faded from popularity in the post-war era. Featured were animator Frank Tashlin 's movie - cartoon duo The Fox and the Crow , along with cartoonist Woody Gelman 's creations, The Dodo and the Frog and Nutsy Squirrel . The book's length by this time had been reduced to 76 pages. The title would later be referenced with DC's 1970s Cancelled Comic Cavalcade series. Golden Age of comic books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era in
775-423: The war, they did not survive the lifting of trade restrictions afterwards. The term Atomic Age of Comic Books is sometimes used to describe a brief time period, starting with either the end of World War II in 1945 or in 1948 with the first outcry of Fredric Wertham, and lasting until the mid-1950s. Some authors consider this an interregnum period or an era in its own right, but most regard it as still part of
806-590: Was canceled with issue #35 (March 1949) and Marvel Mystery Comics , featuring the Human Torch, with issue #93 (Aug. 1949) became the horror comic Marvel Tales . Sub-Mariner Comics was canceled with issue #42 (June 1949) and Captain America Comics , by then Captain America's Weird Tales , with #75 (Feb. 1950). Harvey Comics ' Black Cat was canceled in 1951 and rebooted as a horror comic later that year—the title would change to Black Cat Mystery , Black Cat Mystic , and eventually Black Cat Western for
837-938: 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 . Max Gaines , future founder of EC Comics , formed All-American Publications in 1939 after successfully seeking funding from Harry Donenfeld , CEO of both National Allied Publications (publisher of Action Comics and other titles) and sister company Detective Comics (publisher of that namesake comic book ). As Gerard Jones writes of Donenfeld's investment: Harry had agreed on one condition: that [Gaines] take [Detective Comics partner] Jack Liebowitz on as his partner. ... Jack would be tempted to leave and form
868-434: Was preoccupied with other projects. One non-superhero ongoing character introduced in Comic Cavalcade was newspaperman Johnny Peril. His roots, prior to his first appearance, came in the one-off story "Just a Story" in issue #15 (July 1946), by writer-artist Howard Purcell . With issue #22 (Sept. 1947), the anthological "Just a Story" series gained Peril as, generally, a witness or narrator rather than as an integral part of
899-499: Was published biweekly at one point to capitalize on its popularity. Another notable series was The Spirit by Will Eisner , which deviated from the usual publishing model of the period as a weekly multi-page supplement in the Register and Tribune Syndicate newspapers for which Eisner held the copyright, a rare consideration for creators of that period. Patriotic heroes donning red, white, and blue were particularly popular during
930-451: Was replaced with All-American Western . The following year, Flash Comics and Green Lantern were canceled. In 1951 All Star Comics , featuring the Justice Society of America , became All-Star Western . The next year Star Spangled Comics , featuring Robin, was retitled Star Spangled War Stories . Sensation Comics , featuring Wonder Woman , was canceled in 1953. The only superhero comics published continuously through
961-516: Was the junior partner, vice president, and publisher. Next he took charge of organizing National Comics, Independent News, and their affiliated firms into a single corporate entity, National Periodical Publications ". At the end of 1944, but shortly before the merger, Gaines first rebranded All-American with its own logo, beginning with books cover-dated February 1945: All-Flash #17, Sensation Comics #38, Flash Comics #62, Green Lantern #14, Funny Stuff #3, and Mutt & Jeff #16, and