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57-411: In the latter half of 1934, having seen the emergence of Famous Funnies and other oversize magazines reprinting comic strips, Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications and published New Fun #1 on January 11, 1935 ( cover-dated February 1935). A tabloid-sized, 10-inch by 15-inch, 36-page magazine with a cardstock, non-glossy cover, it was an anthology of humor features, such as

114-526: A Ripley's Believe It or Not! -style collection of illustrated cartoons describing odd historical facts and scientific phenomena. In 1937, Eastern releases a second volume under the name The Second Strange as It Seems Scrapbook . Having filled up the maximum floor space at their old American press-room at Printers Court, Eastern constructs a separate and new plant on Commercial Street. The new plant includes two new Scott presses. In addition to publishing its own comic books, Eastern continues to do printing for

171-687: A Goss International single-width printing press to use in printing Sunday color newspaper comics sections . The Knickerbocker Press of Albany, New York , and the Springfield Republican of Springfield, Massachusetts , approached the Republican about using the press to print their own color comics supplements. The Springfield Union soon afterward did as well. Shortly, Pape was selling his color printing services to other newspapers. A few years later, in August 1928, Pape formed

228-455: A $ 30,000 profit each issue starting with issue #12. The success of Famous Funnies soon led to the title being sold on newsstands alongside slicker magazines. Eastern began to experiment with modifying the newspaper reprints to be more suitable to the comic book format. Lettering, reduced in reproduction to the point of illegibility, was reworked for the size of the comic book page. Adventure strips, reprinted in several weeks' worth of strips at

285-572: A 50/50 joint venture with Dell president George Delacorte to publish and market a comic book for retail sales. As a test to see if the public would be willing to pay for comic books, Dell published the single-issue Famous Funnies: Series 1 , also printed by Eastern Color. Unlike its predecessor, it was intended from the start to be sold rather than given away. A 68-page collection of comic strips previously published in Funnies on Parade and Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , this 10¢ periodical had

342-409: A 68-page periodical selling for 10¢. Distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company , it proved a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression , selling 90 percent of its 200,000 print run; however, its costs left Eastern Color more than $ 4,000 in debt (prompting George Delacorte to sell his interest back to Eastern). That situation quickly changed, with the book turning

399-515: A Carnival of Comics , A Century of Comics , and Skippy's Own Book of Comics . The latter was the first modern-format comic book about a single character. Eastern prints Shell Globe , for distribution at 13,000 Shell gas stations. The series features cartoonist Bud Fisher ’s popular characters Mutt and Jeff . The characters of Shell Globe are marketed wildly, through miniature figurines, posters, radio announcements, billboards, play masks, and window stickers. Interest from advertisers tapers off

456-472: A Goss press valued at over $ 1 million in a fire at the plant. Eastern suffers a significant setback with the loss of its longtime customer, Sears Roebuck and Company. Sears-Roebuck converts all print advertising to heatset, a process Eastern is not equipped to produce. Within 6 weeks, Eastern loses approximately 40% of its sales. Eastern embarks on a rebuilding program to replace the lost Sears business. The company experiences financial hardships compounded by

513-556: A bit when advertisers doubt that children would be willing to pay money for comic strip reprints. Eastern Color Printing president George Janosik forms a 50/50 joint venture with Dell publisher George Delacorte to publish and market a comic book for retail sales. As a test to see if the public would be willing to pay for comic books, Famous Funnies: Series One , distributed locally, is published and sold for 10 cents each and sells out quickly. 40,000 copies of Famous Funnies: Series One are distributed in chain stores, featuring reprints from

570-544: A boating accident, and EC is taken over by his son William M. Gaines , who focused production on crime, horror and science fiction. EC was a primary target for Fredric Wertham ’s Seduction of the Innocent , and the focus of the senate hearing that followed; the end result was that eventually EC cancelled all of its publications except for Mad .) Eastern publishes the first issue of The John Hix Scrapbook , reprinting McClure 's syndicated strip Strange as It Seems ,

627-475: A change in mood for Famous Funnies , as the covers switch from whimsical gags to more serious adventurous fare. With the outbreak of World War II , the publishing industry participates in national drives to conserve paper. As a conservation measure, syndicates reduce the size of full-page Sunday comic strips to three-quarters or half the size of the newspaper page. As a result of this size reduction, newspaper strips are no longer suitable for further reduction in

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684-461: A change in mood for Famous Funnies , as the covers switched from whimsical gags to more serious adventurous fare. Buck Rogers returned to Famous Funnies in issue #209, having been dropped from the title two issues earlier. The event was celebrated by the first of a series of eight covers by Frank Frazetta , and these issues are among the most sought-after among collectors today. Eastern Color Printing The Eastern Color Printing Company

741-467: A close relationship with Columbia, running advertisements for Columbia books in their own comic book titles. Eastern Color Printing purchases a new Goss press, its sixth one. Eastern publishes Dickie Dare , featuring reprints of the newspaper strip of the same name. Dickie Dare features artwork by Bill Everett and Milt Caniff , two influential illustrators of golden age comic books. The series lasts four issues and runs until 1942. Eastern acquires

798-527: A comic strip based on true stories of FBI agents. Collier’s strip, War on Crime , is reprinted in the October issue (#27) of Famous Funnies — the first " true crime " story in comic books. Stookie Allen contributed the feature Above the Crowd to Famous Funnies from 1935 to 1943, in most issues from #11 to #109. Lank Leonard 's Mickey Finn was featured in issues #28–35. Famous Funnies #32 featured

855-410: A print run of 35,000 and sold successfully. With the outbreak of World War II , the publishing industry participated in national drives to conserve paper. As a conservation measure, syndicates reduced the size of full-page Sunday comic strips to three-quarters or half the size of the newspaper page. As a result of this size reduction, newspaper strips were no longer suitable for further reduction in

912-401: A run of Buck Rogers features. Famous Funnies turns a profit beginning with issue #7. It gains popularity quickly, and the title lasts about 20 years. The success of Famous Funnies soon leads to the title being sold on newsstands alongside slicker magazines, and inspires at least five other competitors to begin publishing their own comic books. Eastern begins to experiment with modifying

969-556: A second edition of Heroic Comics on alternate months, switching between stories of everyday heroism and true war stories, respectively. The alternating format continues for a year, then Reg’lar Fellers... is terminated in favor of the more adult-oriented war comic book. Eastern Color Printing prints comic books for Export Newspaper Services, a New York–based company producing Spanish-language reprints of American comic books for distribution in Mexico. Eastern Color Printing clashes with

1026-681: A seventh press. Finding it necessary to do own cover printing and binding for its successful comic books, Eastern acquires the Curtiss-Way plant in Meriden. Curtiss-Way was a Meriden printing facility dating back at least as far as 1895, when it was known as the Converse Publishing Company. Inspired by the popular trend of superheroes, Famous Funnies #81 introduces Invisible Scarlet O'Neil , one of comics’ earliest super-heroines, authored by Russell Stamm. This issue marks

1083-639: A strip based on an early Walt Disney creation Oswald the Lucky Rabbit . Most significantly, however, whereas some of the existing publications had eventually included a small amount of original material, generally as filler, New Fun #1 was the first comic book containing all-original material. Additionally, it carried advertising, whereas previous comic books were sponsored by corporations such as Procter & Gamble , Kinney Shoes , and Canada Dry beverages, and ad-free. The first four issues were edited by future Funnies, Inc. , founder Lloyd Jacquet ,

1140-673: A ten-cent pricetag [ sic ] on the comic books". A Carnival of Comics featured such popular syndicated comic strips as The Bungle Family , Dixie Dugan , Joe Palooka , Keeping Up with the Joneses , Mutt and Jeff , Reg'lar Fellers , and Somebody's Stenog , as well as many more. Creators included F. O. Alexander , Gene Byrnes , Al Capp , Wallace Carlson , Clare Victor Dwiggins , Frank Godwin , A. E. Hayward , Sol Hess , J. P. McEvoy , C. M. Payne , Al Smith , John H. Striebel , and Harry J. Tuthill . In early 1934, Eastern Color Printing president George Janosik formed

1197-654: A time, were trimmed of panels providing a recap of previous events, contributing to a concise and more smoothly flowing version of the story. Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues, inspire imitators, and largely launch a new mass medium . The Ledger Syndicate provided many strips for Famous Funnies issues #1–87 (from 1934 to 1941), including A. E. Hayward 's Somebody's Stenog and The Back-Seat Driver ; Frank Godwin 's Connie , The Wet Blanket , Babe Bunting , Roy Powers , Vignettes of Life , and War on Crime ; F. O. Alexander 's Hairbreadth Harry and High-Gear Homer ; Clare Victor Dwiggins ' Footprints on

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1254-461: Is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book , following seminal precursors. The creation of the modern American comic book came in stages. Dell Publishing in 1929 published a 16-page, newsprint periodical of comic strip -styled material titled The Funnies and described by the Library of Congress as "a short-lived newspaper tabloid insert". This

1311-443: Is not to be confused with Dell's later same-name comic book, which began publication in 1936. Historian Ron Goulart describes the four-color , newsstand periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than a true comic book". It was followed in 1933 by Eastern Color Printing 's Funnies on Parade , a similarly newsprint tabloid but only eight pages and composed of several comic strips licensed from

1368-524: The Comics Code Authority over Heroic Comics . The CCA charges that Heroic – a war-themed comic book – contributes to juvenile delinquency by promoting violence. Eastern defends the title as an illustrated magazine of military history but makes the decision to suspend publication. Famous Funnies ends publication with issue #218. Eastern constructs a new modern plant in Meriden that is not closely identified with comic book production. With

1425-538: The Ledger Syndicate of Philadelphia , printing Sunday color comics from 7 in × 9 in (180 mm × 230 mm) plates. Wildenberg and his coworkers realized that two such plates would fit on a tabloid-sized page, and later that year, Wildenberg created the first modern-format comic book when idly folding a newspaper into halves and then into quarters and finding that a convenient book size. In Spring 1933, Eastern printed one million copies of

1482-710: The McNaught Syndicate , the Ledger Syndicate , Associated Newspapers , and the Bell Syndicate , and reprinted in color. Neither sold nor available on newsstands, it was sent free as a promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter & Gamble soap and toiletries products. Other sponsoring corporations utilizing the comic as a giveaway included Kinney Shoes and Canada Dry beverages. That same year (1933), Eastern Color salesperson Maxwell Gaines and sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg collaborated with Dell Publishing to publish

1539-522: The talking animal comic "Pelion and Ossa" and the college-set "Jigger and Ginger", mixed with such dramatic fare as the Western strip "Jack Woods" and the " yellow peril " adventure "Barry O'Neill", featuring a Fu Manchu -styled villain, Fang Gow. The first issue also featured humor strip "Caveman Capers", an adaptation of the 1819 novel Ivanhoe , spy drama "Sandra of the Secret Service", and

1596-718: The 1960s, including comic books for Timely (Marvel), EC, and Big Boy Restaurants . Eastern also printed the Sunday funnies for a number of newspapers, including the Waterbury Sunday Republican , the New Haven Register , the Hartford Courant , and newspapers in Boston, Providence, and Worcester. Eastern introduces its second monthly title, Reg’lar Fellers Heroic Comics . The title is

1653-528: The 36-page one-shot Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , considered by historians the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing". It was distributed through the Woolworth's department store chain, though it is unclear whether it was sold or given away; the cover displays no price, but Goulart refers, either metaphorically or literally, to Gaines "sticking

1710-615: The American comic book industry. Eastern published its own comic books until the mid-1950s, and continued to print comic books for other publishers until 1973. Eastern Color Printing struggled financially from the 1970s to 2002, when the business closed, a victim of changing printing technologies. In March 1924, William Jamieson Pape , owner of the Waterbury Republican newspaper in Waterbury, Connecticut , purchased

1767-551: The Eastern Color Printing Company, with himself as vice president and principal executive officer. Replacing the original press with a Goss four-deck press, the company acquired additional presses in 1929 and 1931. During this time period, Eastern, headquartered at 61 Leavenworth Street in Waterbury, established itself in the pulp magazine industry by being one of the few firms to print color covers for

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1824-506: The Golden Age Daredevil ), and many other future industry creators are all brought in to work under Wildenberg's supervision. The Funnies on Parade promotion proved a success, and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for Canada Dry soft drinks , Kinney Shoes , Wheatena cereal and others, with print runs of from 100,000 to 250,000. By late 1933, Eastern was publishing more giveaways: Famous Funnies:

1881-582: The New York–based Hughes Corporation, owner of several printing plants throughout Connecticut. After serving about three years at the Curtiss-Way division, Richard J. Pape, William B. Pape’s son, is put in complete charge of Eastern’s mechanical operations. Plans are formulated for a new building. Several new presses are purchased over the next couple of years. Eastern Color Printing closes its Waterbury plant and moves to Avon. Around

1938-548: The Sands of Time ; Joe Bowers' Dizzy Dramas ; Gar (Schmitt)'s Dumb-Bells ; and Walt Munson & Kemp Starrett's Such is Life . Issue #2 marked the start of original material produced specifically for the book, including Art Nugent 's Funland (occasionally called Funland Everybody's Playmate ), which appeared in most issues from #1 to #162 (1934–1948). Issue #3 began a run of Buck Rogers features. Buck Rogers would eventually run in issues #3–190 and 209–215. Jane Arden

1995-428: The addition of color to black-and-white comics, proving a boon to newspaper syndicates just beginning to introduce full-page Sunday comics sections. From 1929 through 1932, Sunday comic pages were printed in both black-and-white and color. By 1932, Eastern Color Printing was printing comic sections for a score of newspapers, and by the following year, color for newspapers' Sunday comics section and black-and-white for

2052-537: The comic book format, and Eastern is forced to commission new work rather than reprint material. Famous Funnies #88 carries the last sets of reprint material from the full-size newspaper page. Beginning with the following issue, Eastern Color Printing starts to commission new work for their comic book publications. Many features from the original Famous Funnies format are continued by the same artists. These artists now turned their strips into dual features – one for newspaper syndication with an emphasis on adult appeal, and

2109-423: The comic book format, and Eastern was forced to commission new work rather than reprint material. Famous Funnies #88 (cover-dated November 1941) carried the last sets of reprint material from the full-size newspaper page. Beginning with the following issue, Eastern Color Printing started to commission new work for their comic book publications. Many features from the original Famous Funnies format were continued by

2166-602: The comic measured 10-½" x 15" and was advertised on national radio . Each of its four pages contained a full-color single-page comic strip. The tabloid proved a hit at Gulf service stations. It was retitled Gulf Funny Weekly . Distribution rose to three million copies a week. The series ran as a tabloid until 1939 before adopting the standard comic-book format of the time; it ran a total 422 issues through May 23, 1941. Eastern also published another four-page tabloid, for Standard Oil , titled Standard Oil Comics . In early 1933, Eastern also began producing small comic broadsides for

2223-648: The daily strips becomes the industry standard. In 1933, Eastern's 45-year-old sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg reinvented the comic-book format when he saw the increasing popularity of newspaper comic strips and determined comics could be a successful medium for advertising. Sales offices at this time were located in New York City , New York (alternately listed at 40 or 50 Church Street in different sources). In April 1933, Gulf Oil Company approved Wildenberg's idea and hired artists to create an original, promotional giveaway, Gulf Comic Weekly . Printed by Eastern,

2280-473: The declining comic book market, Eastern begins to phase out publication of its own comic books, offsetting the shrinkage by printing more advertising circulars. Sunday newspaper comic supplements continue to be a standard product for Eastern. Eastern Color Printing, continuously installing and modifying its equipment, acquires its 14th press. Eastern adds a 15th press, which is modified in the mid-1960s. Eastern Color Printing sells its Curtiss-Way subsidiary to

2337-542: The exception of two. These two titles ( Picture Stories from the Bible and Picture Stories from World History ) are launched under a new publishing venture in 1946 under the name of EC . Although the EC initials stood for both Educational Comics and Entertaining Comics, it has been speculated that the initials were also a tribute to the first comic book company Gaines worked for, Eastern Color [Printing]. (In 1947, Max Gaines dies in

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2394-542: The first appearance of the Phantom Magician as a supporting character in the feature The Adventures of Patsy . The Phantom Magician was an early costumed hero pre-dating Superman . Famous Funnies #38 began reprints of the Ledger Syndicate strip Eagle Scout Roy Powers . Penned by artist Paul Powell, himself a former Boy Scout , this strip became the official symbol of the Boy Scouts of America and

2451-514: The first modern-format comic book, the 32-page Funnies on Parade , as a way to keep their press running, and as a promotion for Procter & Gamble . The names of those associated with the project read as a who's-who of early publishers in what comics historians and fans call the Platinum Age and Golden Age of Comic Books : Max Gaines (founder of EC Comics), Leverett Gleason (publisher of Comic House and other titles, and creator of

2508-479: The latter title through issue #32 (June 1938), following the magazine's retitling as More Fun (issues #7–8, Jan.-Feb. 1936), and More Fun Comics (#9-on). In issue #101 (Feb. 1945), Siegel and Shuster introduced Superboy , a teenage version of Superman, in a new feature chronicling the adventures of the Man of Steel when he was a boy growing up in the rural Midwestern United States . With issue #108 (March 1946), all

2565-499: The majority of publishers in the comic book industry. An article in the Hartford Courant dated Feb. 15, 1954 states that “An executive of one of the largest comic book printing firms in the nation, located in Waterbury, Conn. said 65,000,000 issues are printed each month. Of these 65 million issues, more than 40 per cent are printed in Connecticut.” Eastern Color Printing prints comics and advertising for other publishers through

2622-468: The newspaper reprints featured in Eastern’s earlier books. The comic book sells out completely. Eastern employee Harold Moore proposes a monthly comic book series. Famous Funnies #1 appears with a July cover date. The title loses money at first, and George Delacorte sells his interest back to Eastern. Famous Funnies #2 marks the start of original material produced specifically for the book, and #3 begins

2679-546: The newspaper reprints to be more suitable to the comic book format. Lettering, reduced in reproduction to the point of illegibility, is reworked for the size of the comic book page. Adventure strips, reprinted in several weeks’ worth of strips at a time, is trimmed of panels providing a recap of previous events, contributing to a concise and more smoothly flowing version of the story. Eastern executive Max Gaines leaves Eastern Color Printing to work for Dell Comics . In 1945, Gaines sells all of his comic book properties to Dell with

2736-440: The next, after a three-month hiatus, by Wheeler-Nicholson himself. Issue #6 (Oct. 1935) brought the comic-book debuts of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster , the future creators of Superman , who began their careers with the musketeer swashbuckler "Henri Duval" (doing the first two installments before turning it over to others) and, under the pseudonyms "Leger and Reuths", the supernatural adventurer Doctor Occult . They would remain on

2793-528: The official publication of Reg’lar Fellers of America, a junior athletic organization dedicated to developing wholesome summer recreation for teens. The title lasts until 1955; it eventually shortens its title to simply Heroic Comics beginning with issue #16 and changes again with issue #41 to New Heroic Comics . Properties owned by the McNaught Syndicate and published by Eastern Color Printing are transferred to Columbia Comics , publishers of Big Shot Comics and other titles. Eastern appears to have retained

2850-535: The other to fit the new comic book page size and an emphasis on juvenile appeal. Eastern, needing to expand again, begins construction of an addition to its Commercial Street plant. The addition is completed and operational in 1946. The paper shortage of WWII forces publishers to drop from its standard 64-page format to a 52-page format, and in some cases a 48-page format. Eastern publishes the humor comic Jingle Jangle , which runs until 1949. Eastern Color Printing alternates publishing Reg’lar Fellers Heroic Comics and

2907-473: The pulps. From 1928 to 1930, Eastern published 36 issues of a tabloid-format comics periodical, The Funnies , with original comic pages in color, for Dell Publishing . This title was the first four-color comic newsstand publication. Dell, owned by George Delacorte , would later be closely associated with other landmark Eastern Color Printing publications. Around 1929, Eastern became the first major institution to perfect an engraving process that allowed for

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2964-458: The same artists. These artists now turned their strips into dual features – one for newspaper syndication with an emphasis on adult appeal, and the other to fit the new comic book page size and an emphasis on juvenile appeal. After the previous successes, Eastern employee Harold Moore proposed a monthly comic book series. When Dell nonetheless declined to continue, Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies #1 ( cover-dated July 1934), also

3021-461: The same time, Eastern sells many of its comic book file copies and cover proofs. By this time, Eastern phases out its comic book printing business in favor of printing Sunday comics supplements. Sears-Roebuck remains its largest customer. Eastern Color Printing recruits CEO Robert Palmer. The following September, management of Eastern passes from the Pape family to Palmer. Eastern suffers the loss of

3078-529: The superhero features were moved from More Fun into Adventure Comics . More Fun became a humor title that spotlighted the children's fantasy feature "Jimminy and the Magic Book". The series was canceled with issue #127 (Dec 1947). Famous Funnies Famous Funnies is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955 with two precursor one-shots appearing in 1933–1934. Published by Eastern Color Printing , Famous Funnies

3135-460: Was a company that published comic books , beginning in 1933. At first, it was only newspaper comic strip reprints, but later on, original material was published. Eastern Color Printing was incorporated in 1928, and soon became successful by printing color newspaper sections for several New England and New York papers. Eastern is most notable for its production of Funnies on Parade and Famous Funnies , two publications that gave birth to

3192-454: Was a regular feature in issues #2–35. The Pop Momand features Keeping Up with the Joneses and Holly of Hollywood were featured in issues #3–48. For several years Victor E. Pazmiño drew most of the covers for Famous Funnies . Oaky Doaks was featured often on the covers of the title, which also reprinted the strip. In May 1936, Federal Bureau of Investigation director J. Edgar Hoover contacted cartoonist Rex Collier and proposed

3249-492: Was instrumental in the promotion of its Eagle Scout rank. Roy Powers ran as a regular feature in Famous Funnies for ten years. Famous Funnies #62 featured early work by artist Jack Kirby under the pen name Lance Kirby . Inspired by the popular trend of superheroes , Famous Funnies #81 introduced Invisible Scarlet O'Neil , one of comics’ earliest super-heroines, authored by Russell Stamm. This issue marked

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