All-American Publications
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All-American Publications is one of three American comic book companies that combined to form the modern-day DC Comics, one of the world's two largest comics publishers. 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.
Publishing history
Max Gaines, future founder of EC Comics, formed All-American Publications in 1938 after successfully seeking funding from Harry Donenfeld1, 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 wrote 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 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 the minority owner of All-American Comics."2
While All-American, at 225 Lafayette Street in Manhattan, had separate office space from DC, then uptown at 480 Lexington Avenue, it used the informal "DC" logo on most of its covers for distribution and marketing reasons. (The DC logo at the time was also used for National's unofficial branding, capitalizing on the success of Batman in Detective Comics.) In 1944, according to Jones, Gaines let Liebowitz buy him out, keeping only Picture Stories from the Bible as the foundation of his own new company, EC. "Liebowitz promptly orchestrated the merger of All-American and Detective Comics into National Comics.... Next he took charge of organizing National Comics, Independent News, and their affiliated firms into a single corporate entity, National Periodical Publications."3
Before that merger, Gaines had 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 4 #16, and the following month's All-American Comics #64 and the hyphenless All Star Comics #24. When Liebowitz later merged his and Donenfeld's companies, the All-American titles first bore the DC logo once again (starting with December 1945's Sensation #48 and Flash Comics #68, continuing with All-American #70, All-Flash #21, Comic Cavalcade #13, Green Lantern #18, Funny Stuff #7, and Mutt & Jeff #20) before finally being fully absorbed by what was now National Periodical.
Creative legacy
During All-American's existence, much cross-promotion took place between the two editorially independent companies, so much so that the first iteration of the Justice Society of America, in All Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940/41), included in its roster the National characters Doctor Fate, Hour-Man (as it was then spelled), the Spectre, and the Sandman — creating comics' first intercompany crossover5 with characters 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 1938 premiere. Like many comics of 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 huge 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 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 adpatations 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 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 the original Atom, created by Bill O'Connor and penciler Ben Flinton, in All-American #19 (Nov. 1940). Wonder Woman was introudced in a nine-page story in All Star Comics #8 (Jan. 1942), the product of psychologist William Moulton Marston (under the pseudonym Charles Moulton) and artist Harry G. Peter.
Bibliography
Titles begun under All-American Publications. Issues after the 1946 merger are National Periodical Publications / DC Comics.
- All-American Comics #1-102 (April 1938 - Oct. 1948) continues as
- :All-American Western #103-126 (Nov. 1948 - June 1952) continues as
- :All-American Men of War #127-128, 2-117 (Sept-Nov. 1952, Jan. 1953 - Oct. 1966)
All-American characters
Superhero/masked crimefighter
- The Atom
- Doctor Mid-Nite
- The Flash
- The Gay Ghost
- Green Lantern
- Hawkman and Hawkgirl
- Hop Harrigan
- Mr. Terrific
- Sargon the Sorcerer
- Johnny Thunder
- Gary Concord, the Ultra-Man
- The Whip (El Castigo)
- Wildcat
- Wonder Woman
Adventurer/war
- The Black Pirate
- Gunner Godbee
- Red, White and Blue (Red Dugan, Whitey Smith, Blooey Blue)
Funny-animal/other humor
- Bulldog Drumhead
- Little Boy Blue
- The Red Tornado
Footnotes
- Note 1: Jones, Gerard, Men of Tomorrow (see under "References" below), p. 147
- Note 2: Ibid., p. 164
- Note 3: Ibid., p. 223
- Note 4: The comic book, unlike the comic strip, spelled its title with an ampersand.
- Note 5: National superstars Batman and Superman would first cross over as "honorary" Justice Society members in All Star Comics #7 (Dec. 1941), making cameo appearances in the three-page introduction and four-page conclusion of the story "$1,000,000 for War Orphans".
References
- Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book, by Gerard Jones (Basic Books, 2004) trade paperback ISBN 9780465036578
- [Sheldon Mayer: Writer, artist, cartoonist, editor and more] (fan site)
- [Don Markstein's Toonpedia: All-American Publications], [DC Comics], and [The Justice Society of America]
- [The Grand Comics Database]
- [History of the Flash] (fan site)
- [Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed #5: "All-Star Comics #3 was an inter-company crossover"]
- [DC Comics Timeline]
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