I have found one of the most
concise histories of Dell comics written in Don Markstein’s Toonopedia[1]
Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines,
was a pioneer in comic books. Its first release, The Funnies, went on sale no
later than 1929 — making it possibly the first periodical in America to
specialize in comics, not reprinted from newspaper strips. The reason this
weekly isn't listed in most guides as the first comic book is probably because
it was published as a tabloid, rather than the size of a modern comic book. The
Funnies lasted 36 issues, ending with its Oct. 16, 1930 release.
Dell gained a more permanent foothold in comics in
February, 1936, when it launched Popular Comics in what had by then become the
standard comic book format — a monthly anthology, a little larger than a modern
comic book, containing reprints of newspaper comic strips. This one
concentrated on those distributed by The Chicago Tribune Syndicate — Dick
Tracy, The Gumps, Gasoline Alley, Harold Teen, and several others. Later that
year, Dell added a revived series of The Funnies, this time using newspaper
strip reprints instead of original material, and in 1937 started another strip
reprint series, titled simply The Comics. All three were packaged by M.C.
Gaines, who went on to become one of the founders of DC Comics and, later, the
founder of EC.
In 1938, Dell entered an agreement with Western Printing
and Lithographing Co., which held rights to do original material using various
popular characters from other media. Dell contracted to do comic book versions
of those characters. This partnership would last almost a quarter of a century,
and by the late 1940s, it made Dell the largest comic book publisher in
America.
By the early 1940s, most comics publishers had jumped on
the superhero bandwagon — but Dell found its niche in licensed properties, many
of them aimed at younger readers. In 1940, it launched Walt Disney's Comics
& Stories, featuring the popular Walt Disney characters. In 1941, Looney
Tunes & Merrie Melodies Comics started, showcasing the Warner Bros. cartoon
characters. In 1942, The Funnies became New Funnies, and started featuring the
characters of Walter Lantz. The same year saw the debut of Our Gang Comics, with
the MGM cartoon characters. Many of the popular newspaper strips had Dell
Comics versions, as did quite a few radio and, later, TV shows.
Dell did so well with its licensed funny animals, that in
1941 it launched an anthology of its own. Animal Comics, where Walt Kelly's
Pogo got its start, was the first comic book to specialize in that genre, using
characters that had all been created especially for comic books.
Four Color Comics was a special kind of anthology. Each
issue highlighted a single character, such as Donald Duck or Popeye. Toward the
late 1940s, many of the characters that had been featured in Four Color were
moved out into their own regularly published series, making Four Color comics'
first tryout title, anticipating DC's Showcase and The Brave & the Bold by
more than a decade. Four Color Comics was published very frequently — an
average of about twice a week during the 1950s — and racked up over 1,300
issues, more than any other American comic book before or since, by the time it
ended, in 1962.
In 1962, the partnership with Western Printing came to an
end. Western started its own comic book line, Gold Key Comics, to handle its
licensed properties — which constituted the vast majority of the comics Dell
had been publishing. Western even took a few original series with it, such as
Turok, Son of Stone. Within a couple of years, Dell had regrouped, and was
publishing a mixture of original titles, such as Melvin Monster and Jungle War
Stories, and TV/movie adaptations, such as Bewitched and The Incredible Mr.
Limpet.
But in the 1960s, as in the '40s, the name of the game in
comics was superheroes. Without the mighty support of Disney, Warner and the
other licensing blockbusters, Dell couldn't make it by bucking the trend again.
Their attempts to start superheroes of their own, such as Nukla and a trio of
titles purporting to superheroize old movie monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein and
Werewolf), ranged from weak to laughable.
Dell struggled for the
rest of the decade and part of the next, but in 1973, finally gave up and
ceased publishing comic books. Those just old enough to remember their last few
years tend to think of Dell as a minor purveyor of low-quality marginalia. But
there was a time when Dell set standards that most comics publishers couldn't hope
to reach.
I believe the most in depth
history of Dell comics can be found as Chapter 6 of Crawford’s Encyclopedia of Comic Books.[2] Some highlights from this chapter include the
following excerpts.
Dell produced the most
diversified line of comic books ever undertaken by a single publisher. The list included original super hero
features, reprints of newspaper comics strips, illustrated adaptations of movies
and literary classics, special comic book adaptations of animated films and
cartoon shorts, and various radio and (later) telivions programs. In fact, Dell published comic books in almost
every subject category except for crime.
The Dell line became famous for its association with Walt Disney
Studies, out of which emerged Walt Disney Comics, Mickey Mouse Comics and Donald
Duck Comics, In 1953, Dell Publishing produced an all-time
record high of more than 2-1/2 Billion comic books between January and March
1953. This accounted for one-third of
the combined total of all comic books during that three-month period. [pg. 167]
In 1955, the Thomas
Alva Edison Foundation was established for the purpose of granting awards and
honors for pulbications and movies of literary excellence for children. Among the five comic books selected as
winners were three Dell Titles: Dell 4-Color Comics No. 755, “The Littlest
Snowman,” also reprinted as Dell 4-Color Comics No. 864; Dell 4-Color Comics
No. 716, “Man in Space (Walt Disney), also reprinted as Dell 4-Color Comics No.
954; and Dell Giant Comics No. 1, “A Treasury of Dogs.” The “Man in Space” issue was also adapted to
Dell 4-Color Comics No. 1149, “I Aim At The Stars – The Wernher von Braun
Story.” (The other two awards were
granted to Gliberton Company.) [pg. 167]
A complete listing of the titles
published by Dell is provided here
as spreadsheet. This spreadsheet
includes the number of titles published each year from 1929 through 1973.
[2] Crawford,
H. (1978). Crawford’s Encyclopedia of Comic Books, Jonathan David Publishers,
Middle Village NY, pp. 167-204.
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