Where are the Missing Dell Four Color Comics?

The Dell Four Color Comics (Series 2) were published from 1942 through 1962.  Dell Four Color Comics was a “try-out” series where a title was published to determine market acceptance.  Sometimes referred to as “One Shots,” the Dell Four Color Comics became the launch pad for many of Dells most popular titles, including Bugs Bunny, Donald Duck, Lone Ranger, Marge’s Little Lulu, Mickey Mouse, Porky Pig, Uncle Scrooge, and Woody Woodpecker.

Each issue in the Dell Four Color Series was given an unique issue number, beginning at 1 in 1942 and ending at 1354 over 20 years later.  Until 1968, a complete list of the Dell Four Color titles remained elusive.  Don and Maggie Thompson compiled a complete list of the Dell Four Color comics and published it as a supplement to their Comic Art fanzine entitled A Listing of Dell Special Series Comic Books (and a Few Others).[1]  Maggie comments on her blog about the origin and scarcity of this publication: [2]

I don't have extra copies but at some point I hope to post scans of the publication at this site. It wasn't a Comic Art supplement; rather, it was a separate publication. (Note: There was a one-sheet sequel with additions and corrections.)

The information in the fanzine has been incorporated in a couple of other publications. We made it available to Bob Overstreet for his price guide, and I provided it to Pete Bickford for his Comic Base electronic guide. Its information was a simple issue number and title listing; you'll find the information in more detail online at www.comics.org.

During the final years of publication, between August 1961 and the final month of publication (April 1962) the Dell Four Color Comics series had missing issues.  During these final nine months there were 33 issues did not get included as part of the series:

1217	1316	1322	1329	1342	1351
1228	1317	1323	1331	1343	1352
1277	1318	1324	1334	1344	1353
1292	1319	1325	1338	1345
1314	1320	1326	1339	1346
1315	1321	1327	1340	1347

In the December 1996 issue of Comic Book Marketplace, Duane Dimock claimed to have located the missing Dell Four Color Comics.[3]  A copy of these pages can be found here.  During the same time period of the missing Dell Four Color Comics, Dell began using an unusual numbering system on some of its comics.  Dimock explained these in the following figure from his article.

The numbers for these issues are both on the cover and in the indicia.  The number consisted of three parts: XX-YYY-ZZZ, where

XX = number assigned to 1960/1962 issues

YYY = three digit code assigned to each title, and

ZZZ = year date code where the first digit was the year and the following two were the month.

The second and third parts of the number system are consistent with all of the available data, but the first two digits represent the price of the issue not the year, where:

XX = 01, 15¢ Cover Price

XX = 12, 12¢ Cover Price

Reasoning that these unusually numbered issues could fill the gaps for the missing Dell Four Colors, and finding evidence of this occurring in the original art from a large collection that Dimock had purchased, he assigned several of these uniquely numbered issues to the missing Four Colors.  In the following issue of Comic Book Marketplace,[4] Dimock published an updated list of what he considered to be the Missing Dell Four Color Comics.

I have a nearly complete set of Dell Comics and over the past few years I have entered them into a database.  When I catalogued these Dell comics I was certain to record the cover numbers and the indicia numbers separately.  There were many issues that included the three-part numbering system on the cover, but the indicia included a different number (such as #1).  Also, I noted that Dimock had only listed 31 missing Dell Four Color Comics, but there are actually 33.  Using only the comics that included the three-part number in the indicia, I then attempted to fill the gaps in the Dell Four Color Comics with these uniquely three-part numbered comics, just as Dimock had done.  The comics filled the gaps perfectly, with six uniquely numbered comics that fell outside the date range – indicating that these comics might have followed Dell Four Color #1354 if the original numbering system had been retained (which would mean there would have been 1360 Dell Four Color Comics).

My analysis agreed largely with Dimock’s List, with only four exceptions.  Below is the table of the three-part numbered Dell comics and where I think the corresponding Dell Four Color Comic number should be:

Title	Three-Part Number	Date	Cover Price	Dimock’s List	Four Color Candidate
Barbie and Ken	01-053-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1217
Bonanza	01-070-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1228
Bullwinkle Mother Moose Nursery Pomes	01-530-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1277
Cain's Hundred	01-094-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1292
Donald Duck Album	01-204-207	05/62	$ 0.15		1314
Follow The Sun	01-280-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1315
King Leonardo	01-390-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1316
Laramie	01-418-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1317
Leave It To Beaver	01-428-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1318
Lolly and Pepper	01-459-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1319
Man From Wells Fargo	01-495-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1320
Marge's Lulu and Tubby in Japan	01-476-207	05/62	$ 0.15		1321
MC - Prince and the Pauper, The	01-654-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1322
National Velvet	01-556-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1323
Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks	01-631-207	05/62	$ 0.15		1324
Real McCoys	01-689-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1325
Twilight Zone	01-860-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1326
Untouchables	01-879-207	05/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1327
Ben Casey	12-063-207	06/62	$ 0.12	Dimock	1329
Blue Phantom	01-066-208	06/62	$ 0.15		1331
Dazey's Diary	01-174-208	06/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1334
Fury	01-292-208	06/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1338
Rawhide	01-684-208	06/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1339
Beany And Cecil	01-057-209	07/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1340
Brenda Lee's Life Story	01-078-209	07/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1342
Bullwinkle	01-090-209	07/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1343
Drift Marlo	01-232-207	07/62	$ 0.15		1344
Famous Indian Tribes	12-264-209	07/62	$ 0.12	Dimock	1345
Jungle War Stories	01-384-209	07/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1346
King of Diamonds	01-391-209	07/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1347
MC - Magic Sword, The	12-496-209	07/62	$ 0.12		1351
Ponytail	12-641-209	07/62	$ 0.12	Dimock	1352
Twist	01-864-209	07/62	$ 0.15	Dimock	1353
Bonanza	01-070-210	08/62	$ 0.12	Dimock	1355
MC - Three Stooges Meet Hercules, The	01-828-208	08/62	$ 0.15		1356
Mickey Mouse Album	12-518-210	08/62	$ 0.12		1357
National Velvet	12-556-210	08/62	$ 0.12	Dimock	1358
Twilight Zone	12-860-210	08/62	$ 0.12	Dimock	1359
Untouchables	12-879-210	08/62	$ 0.12	Dimock	1360

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[1] http://www.maggiethompson.com/1970/01/fanzine-library-comic-art-1-spring-1961.html

[2] http://www.maggiethompson.com/1970/01/fanzine-library-comic-art-1-spring-1961.html

[3] Dimock, D. (1996).  The Strange Case of The Missing Four Colors!, Comic Book Marketplace, Dec, pp. 57-59.

[4] Dimock, D. (1997).  The case of the missing Four-Colors, Comic Book Marketplace, Jan., pg. 7.