Dell Comics
Encyclopedia
Dell Comics was the comic book
publishing arm of Dell Publishing
, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium. In 1953 Dell claimed to be the world's largest comics publisher, selling 26 million copies each month.
, which was the first comic book to feature original material, but since it was published in the tabloid format as opposed to the standard one, it is normally not recognized as such.
, in which Dell would finance and distribute publications that Western would produce. While this diverged from the regular practice in the medium of one company handling finance and production and outsourcing distribution, it was a highly successful enterprise with titles selling in the millions. Most of the Dell-produced comics done for Western Publishing during this period were under the Whitman Comics banner (later also used by Gold Key Comics
); notable titles included Crackajack Funnies (1938–1942) and Super Comics (1938–1949).
Comic book historian Mark Carlson has stated at its peak in the mid-50s "while Dell’s total number of comic book titles [was] only 15% of those published, it control[ed] nearly a third of the total market. Dell [had] more million-plus sellers than any other company before or since".
, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
, and Walter Lantz Studio
, along with many movie and television properties such as the Lone Ranger, Tarzan
, Howdy Doody
, Yogi Bear
and other Hanna-Barbera
characters.
. Published several times a month, the title (which primarily consisted of standalone issues featuring various licensed properties) saw more than 1,300 issues published in its 23-year history. It often served as a try-out title (much like DC's Showcase)
and thus the launching pad for many long-running series.
(who appeared in a handful of Walter Lantz
cartoons in the late 1930s and in those initial appearances constituted what animation and comics historian Michael Barrier
described as being a "grotesquely stereotypical black boy") was discontinued as one of the featured characters in the Lantz anthology comic book New Funnies; the last appearance of the character was in the August 1947 issue.
. The association had been formed to pre-empt government intervention in the face of mounting public criticism of comic books. Dell vice-president Helen Meyer told Congress
that Dell had opted out of the association because they didn't want their less controversial offerings to serve as "an umbrella for the crime comic publishers". When the Comics Code
was formed in 1954 in reaction to Wertham's
Seduction of the Innocent
, Dell again refused to join and instead began publishing in its comics a "Pledge to Parents" that promised their editorial process "eliminates, rather than regulates, objectional [sic] material" and concluded with the now classic credo "Dell Comics Are Good Comics."
Bart Beaty in his book Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture describes a concerted campaign by Dell against publication of Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent to the extent of recruiting several of the companies that it licensed characters from (including Warner Brother Cartoons, the Lone Ranger Inc. and Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.) to send letters of protest to Wertham's publisher Stanley Rinehart
.
Dell in this period even burnished its image by taking out full-page ads in the Saturday Evening Post in late 1952 and early 1953 that emphasized the wholesomeness of its comics.
from a Warner Brothers cartoon) in what Mark Evanier
has dubbed a coordinated concerted "aggressive subscription push" and offered the option of an illustrated note or card be sent to the recipients of a gift subscription for birthdays or Christmas.
Multi-year subscriptions were also available (in the case of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
, at one point in the 1940s subscriptions for up to five years were offered).
.
While most of the talent who had worked on the Dell line continued at Gold Key, a few creators like John Stanley
stuck with Dell and its new line. Dell also drew new talent to its fold, such as Frank Springer
and Lionel Ziprin
.
Dell Comics continued for another 11 years with licensed television
and motion picture adaptations (including Mission: Impossible
, Ben Casey
, Burke's Law
, Doctor Kildare, Beach Blanket Bingo
) and a few generally poorly received original titles. Among the few long lasting series from this time include the teen-comic Thirteen Going on Eighteen (29 issues, written by John Stanley), Ghost Stories (37 issues, #1 only written by John Stanley), Combat (40 issues), Ponytail (20 issues), Kona Monarch of Monster Isle (20 issues), Toka the Jungle King (10 issues), and Naza Stone Age Warrior (9 issues). Dell additionally attempted to do superhero titles, including Nukla
, Fab 4, Brain Boy
, and a critically ridiculed trio of titles based on the Universal Pictures monsters Frankenstein, Dracula and Werewolf that recast the characters as superheroes.
Dell Comics finally ceased publication in 1973, with a few of its former titles moving to Gold Key Comics
.
and Carl Barks
are the most noted talents associated with the company. Other prolific scripters were Gaylord DuBois
, Paul S. Newman
, Don "Arr" Christensen
, John Stanley
, Bob Gregory
, Robert Schaefer and Eric Freiwald
, Lloyd Turner, Leo Dorfman
, Don Segall , Edward Kean
, Cecil Beard and Carl Fallberg
. Artists who worked on comics published by Dell included Fred Harman
, Alex Toth
, John Carey, Russ Manning
, Jesse Marsh
, Alberto Giolitti
, Paul Murry
, Tony Strobl
, Harvey Eisenberg, Tom Gill
, Ken Hultgren, Dick Moores
, Jack Bradbury
, Gil Turner, Fred Fredericks
, Roger Armstrong, Jack Manning, Kay Wright, Bill Wright, Phil DeLara
, Pete Alvarado
, Dan Spiegle
, Lynn Karp, Ellis Eringer, Paul Norris
, Frank Bolle
, Artie Saaf, Dan Noonan, John Ushler, Sam Glanzman
, Bill Ziegler and John Buscema
. Famed fantasy writer Charles Beaumont
contributed a handful of stories for Dell's funny animal comics early in his career, all done in collaboration with William F. Nolan
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
publishing arm of Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing, an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte, Jr.During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines. Their line of humor magazines included 1000 Jokes, launched in...
, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1973. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium. In 1953 Dell claimed to be the world's largest comics publisher, selling 26 million copies each month.
Origins
Its first title was The FunniesThe Funnies
The Funnies was the name of two American publications from Dell Publishing, the first of these a seminal, 1920s precursor of comic books, and the second a standard 1930s comic book.-The Funnies :In 1929, George T...
, which was the first comic book to feature original material, but since it was published in the tabloid format as opposed to the standard one, it is normally not recognized as such.
Western Publishing
The company formed a partnership in 1938 with Western PublishingWestern Publishing
Western Publishing, also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company was a Racine, Wisconsin firm responsible for publishing the Little Golden Books. Western Publishing also produced children's books and family-related entertainment products as Golden Books Family Entertainment...
, in which Dell would finance and distribute publications that Western would produce. While this diverged from the regular practice in the medium of one company handling finance and production and outsourcing distribution, it was a highly successful enterprise with titles selling in the millions. Most of the Dell-produced comics done for Western Publishing during this period were under the Whitman Comics banner (later also used by Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
); notable titles included Crackajack Funnies (1938–1942) and Super Comics (1938–1949).
Comic book historian Mark Carlson has stated at its peak in the mid-50s "while Dell’s total number of comic book titles [was] only 15% of those published, it control[ed] nearly a third of the total market. Dell [had] more million-plus sellers than any other company before or since".
Licensed material
Dell Comics was best known for its licensed material, most notably the animated characters from Walt Disney Productions, Warner Bros.Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
, and Walter Lantz Studio
Walter Lantz Studio
Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1948 and then 1950 to 1972 and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Studios, now part of the media conglomerate NBC Universal.-History:...
, along with many movie and television properties such as the Lone Ranger, Tarzan
Tarzan (comics)
Tarzan, a fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs, first appeared in the 1912 novel Tarzan of the Apes, and then in 23 sequels. The character proved immensely popular and quickly made the jump to other media, including comics.-Comic strips:...
, Howdy Doody
Howdy Doody
Howdy Doody is an American children's television program that was created and produced by E. Roger Muir and telecast on NBC in the United States from 1947 until 1960. It was a pioneer in children's television programming and set the pattern for many similar shows...
, Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear
Yogi Bear is a fictional bear who appears in animated cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera Productions. He made his debut in 1958 as a supporting character in The Huckleberry Hound Show. Yogi Bear was the first breakout character created by Hanna-Barbera, and was eventually more popular than...
and other Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
characters.
Four Color
From 1939 to 1962, Dell's most notable and prolific title was the anthology Four ColorFour Color
Four Color, also known as Four Color Comics and One Shots, was a long-running American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962...
. Published several times a month, the title (which primarily consisted of standalone issues featuring various licensed properties) saw more than 1,300 issues published in its 23-year history. It often served as a try-out title (much like DC's Showcase)
Showcase (comics)
Showcase has been the title of several comic anthology series published by DC Comics. The general theme of these series has been to feature new and minor characters as a way to gauge reader interest in them, without the difficulty and risk of featuring "untested" characters in their own ongoing...
and thus the launching pad for many long-running series.
Lil' Eightball
Responding to pressure from the African-American community, the character Lil' EightballLil' Eightball
Lil' Eightball is a Walter Lantz character, who made his first appearance in the cartoon "The Stubborn Mule", in 1939. His final appearance was in 1939, in "A Haunting We Will Go"....
(who appeared in a handful of Walter Lantz
Walter Lantz
Walter Benjamin Lantz was an American cartoonist, animator, film producer, and director, best known for founding Walter Lantz Productions and creating Woody Woodpecker.-Early years and start in animation:...
cartoons in the late 1930s and in those initial appearances constituted what animation and comics historian Michael Barrier
Michael Barrier (historian)
Michael Barrier is an American animation historian. Barrier was the founder and editor of Funnyworld, the first magazine exclusively devoted to comics and animation. It began as a contribution to the CAPA-Alpha amateur press association...
described as being a "grotesquely stereotypical black boy") was discontinued as one of the featured characters in the Lantz anthology comic book New Funnies; the last appearance of the character was in the August 1947 issue.
Fredric Wertham
In 1948, Dell refused an invitation of membership in the nascent Association of Comics Magazine PublishersAssociation of Comics Magazine Publishers
The Association of Comics Magazine Publishers was an American industry trade group formed in May 1947 and publicly announced on July 1, 1948, to regulate the content of comic books in the face of public criticism during this time...
. The association had been formed to pre-empt government intervention in the face of mounting public criticism of comic books. Dell vice-president Helen Meyer told Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
that Dell had opted out of the association because they didn't want their less controversial offerings to serve as "an umbrella for the crime comic publishers". When the Comics Code
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority was a body created as part of the Comics Magazine Association of America, as a tool for the comics-publishing industry to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. Member publishers submitted comic books to the CCA, which screened them for adherence to...
was formed in 1954 in reaction to Wertham's
Fredric Wertham
Fredric Wertham was a Jewish German-American psychiatrist and crusading author who protested the purportedly harmful effects of violent imagery in mass media and comic books on the development of children. His best-known book was Seduction of the Innocent , which purported that comic books are...
Seduction of the Innocent
Seduction of the Innocent
Seduction of the Innocent is a book by German-American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, published in 1954, that warned that comic books were a negative form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency. The book was a minor bestseller that created alarm in parents and galvanized...
, Dell again refused to join and instead began publishing in its comics a "Pledge to Parents" that promised their editorial process "eliminates, rather than regulates, objectional [sic] material" and concluded with the now classic credo "Dell Comics Are Good Comics."
Bart Beaty in his book Fredric Wertham and the Critique of Mass Culture describes a concerted campaign by Dell against publication of Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent to the extent of recruiting several of the companies that it licensed characters from (including Warner Brother Cartoons, the Lone Ranger Inc. and Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc.) to send letters of protest to Wertham's publisher Stanley Rinehart
Rinehart & Company
Rinehart & Company, an American publishing company, was the successor to Farrar & Rinehart, Inc. In 1946, following the departure of John C. Farrar, the company was renamed Rinehart & Company. The brothers Stanley M. Rinehart and Frederick R. Rinehart continued to operate the company until its...
.
Dell in this period even burnished its image by taking out full-page ads in the Saturday Evening Post in late 1952 and early 1953 that emphasized the wholesomeness of its comics.
Dell Comics Club and subscription promotions
From mid-1950 to Spring 1959 Dell promoted subscriptions to its non-Disney titles with what it called the Dell Comics Club. Membership was automatic with any one year subscription to such titles and came with a certificate of membership plus a group portrait of the most prominent non-Disney characters published by Dell. Dell also offered various subscription premiums during the 1940s and 1950s (in some cases these were prints of covers or other character artwork and in one instance a celCel
A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was largely replaced by cellulose acetate...
from a Warner Brothers cartoon) in what Mark Evanier
Mark Evanier
Mark Stephen Evanier is an American comic book and television writer, particularly known for his humor work. He is also known for his columns and blogs, and for his work as a historian and biographer of the comics industry, in particular his award-winning Jack Kirby biography, Kirby: King of...
has dubbed a coordinated concerted "aggressive subscription push" and offered the option of an illustrated note or card be sent to the recipients of a gift subscription for birthdays or Christmas.
Multi-year subscriptions were also available (in the case of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories
Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, sometimes abbreviated WDC or WDC&S, is an anthology comic book series that has an assortment of Disney characters, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chip 'n Dale, Lil Bad Wolf, Scamp, Bucky Bug, Grandma Duck, Brer Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and...
, at one point in the 1940s subscriptions for up to five years were offered).
Western partnership ends, Dell declines
The end of Four Color in 1962 coincided with the end of the partnership with Western, which took most of its licensed properties and its original material and created its own imprint, Gold Key ComicsGold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
.
While most of the talent who had worked on the Dell line continued at Gold Key, a few creators like John Stanley
John Stanley (comics)
John Stanley was a comic book creator, best known for writing Little Lulu from 1945 to 1959. While mostly known for scripting, Stanley also was an accomplished artist who drew many of his stories, including the earliest Little Lulu issues. His specialty was humorous stories, both with licensed...
stuck with Dell and its new line. Dell also drew new talent to its fold, such as Frank Springer
Frank Springer
Frank Springer was an American comic book and comic strip artist best known for Marvel Comics' Dazzler and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D....
and Lionel Ziprin
Lionel Ziprin
Lionel Ziprin was a poet who lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. He was also a grandson of the renowned Orthodox rabbi Nuftali Zvi Margolies Abulafia, who recorded a 15-LP set of Jewish liturgical music in a neighborhood yeshiva during the 1950s with noted ethnomusicologist Harry...
.
Dell Comics continued for another 11 years with licensed television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and motion picture adaptations (including Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
, Ben Casey
Ben Casey
Ben Casey is an American medical drama series which ran on ABC from 1961 to 1966. The show was known for its opening titles, which consisted of a hand drawing the symbols "♂, ♀, *, †, ∞" on a chalkboard, as cast member Sam Jaffe intoned, "Man, woman, birth, death, infinity." Neurosurgeon Joseph...
, Burke's Law
Burke's Law
Burke's Law is a detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud...
, Doctor Kildare, Beach Blanket Bingo
Beach Blanket Bingo
Beach Blanket Bingo is an American International Pictures beach party film, released in 1965 and was directed by William Asher. It is the fifth film in the beach party film series...
) and a few generally poorly received original titles. Among the few long lasting series from this time include the teen-comic Thirteen Going on Eighteen (29 issues, written by John Stanley), Ghost Stories (37 issues, #1 only written by John Stanley), Combat (40 issues), Ponytail (20 issues), Kona Monarch of Monster Isle (20 issues), Toka the Jungle King (10 issues), and Naza Stone Age Warrior (9 issues). Dell additionally attempted to do superhero titles, including Nukla
Nukla
Nukla is a fictional superhero published by Dell Comics in the mid 1960s. He was created by writer Joe Gill and artist Sal Trapani . The character made his debut in Nukla #1 .-Fictional character background:Nukla was really Matthew Gibbs, a handsome blond CIA spy and pilot...
, Fab 4, Brain Boy
Brain Boy
Brain Boy was a short-lived superhero comic published by Dell Comics in the early 1960s.Brain Boy was Matt Price. When his mother was still pregnant with him, a car accident with an electrical tower killed his father and gave him mental powers. These power would include telepathy, levitation, and...
, and a critically ridiculed trio of titles based on the Universal Pictures monsters Frankenstein, Dracula and Werewolf that recast the characters as superheroes.
Dell Comics finally ceased publication in 1973, with a few of its former titles moving to Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics
Gold Key Comics was an imprint of Western Publishing created for comic books distributed to newsstands. Also known as Whitman Comics, Gold Key operated from 1962 to 1984.-History:...
.
Creators associated with Dell Comics
Writer/artists Walt KellyWalt Kelly
Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr. , or Walt Kelly, was an American animator and cartoonist, best known for the comic strip, Pogo. He began his animation career in 1936 at Walt Disney Studios, contributing to Pinocchio and Fantasia. Kelly resigned in 1941 at the age of 28 to work at Post-Hall Syndicate,...
and Carl Barks
Carl Barks
Carl Barks was an American Disney Studio illustrator and comic book creator, who invented Duckburg and many of its inhabitants, such as Scrooge McDuck , Gladstone Gander , the Beagle Boys , The Junior Woodchucks , Gyro Gearloose , Cornelius Coot , Flintheart Glomgold , John D...
are the most noted talents associated with the company. Other prolific scripters were Gaylord DuBois
Gaylord DuBois
Gaylord McIlvaine Du Bois , or DuBois In his lifetime he wrote well over 3000 comic book stories and comic strips as well as Big Little Books and juvenile adventure...
, Paul S. Newman
Paul S. Newman
Paul S. Newman was an American writer of comic books, comic strips, and books, whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s...
, Don "Arr" Christensen
Don R. Christensen
Donald Ragnvald Christensen was an American animator, cartoonist, illustrator, writer and inventor. He was sometimes credited as "Don Arr"....
, John Stanley
John Stanley (comics)
John Stanley was a comic book creator, best known for writing Little Lulu from 1945 to 1959. While mostly known for scripting, Stanley also was an accomplished artist who drew many of his stories, including the earliest Little Lulu issues. His specialty was humorous stories, both with licensed...
, Bob Gregory
Bob Gregory
Robert P. Gregory was an American comics artist and writer best known for writing and/or drawing hundreds of Gold Key comics starring the Walt Disney Pictures character Donald Duck.-Biography:...
, Robert Schaefer and Eric Freiwald
Eric Freiwald
Eric Freiwald was an American TV writer scripting the daytime television serial, The Young and the Restless.-Life and career:...
, Lloyd Turner, Leo Dorfman
Leo Dorfman
Leo Dorfman was a writer of comic books throughout the Silver Age; although the majority of his work was for DC Comics, he also wrote for Dell Comics.Dorfman grew up on New York's Lower East Side...
, Don Segall , Edward Kean
Edward Kean
Edward George Kean was an American television pioneer and writer who helped create The Howdy Doody Show and wrote over 2,000 episodes of the program.-Early years:...
, Cecil Beard and Carl Fallberg
Carl Fallberg
Carl Robert Fallberg was a cartoonist and artist who created animated feature films and T.V. cartoons for Disney Studios, Hanna-Barbera, and Warner Brothers...
. Artists who worked on comics published by Dell included Fred Harman
Fred Harman
Fred Harman was an American artist, best known for his popular Red Ryder comic strip, which he drew for 25 years, reaching 40 million readers through 750 newspapers. Harman sometimes used the pseudonym Ted Horn....
, Alex Toth
Alex Toth
Alexander Toth was an American professional cartoonist active from the 1940s through the 1980s. Toth's work began in the American comic book industry, but is known for his animation designs for Hanna-Barbera throughout the 1960s and 1970s. His work included Super Friends, Space Ghost, The...
, John Carey, Russ Manning
Russ Manning
Russell Manning was an American comic book artist who created the series Magnus, Robot Fighter and illustrated such newspaper comic strips as Tarzan and Star Wars...
, Jesse Marsh
Jesse Marsh
Jesse Marsh was a comic book and animation artist. His main claim to fame is his work on the early Tarzan and related books for Western Publishing that saw print through Dell Comics and later Gold Key Comics. He was the first artist to produce original Tarzan comic books. Up to that time, all...
, Alberto Giolitti
Alberto Giolitti
Alberto Giolitti was an Italian-American comic book artist.He was born in Rome, where his family held one of the most famous café, Giolitti, where he also worked for a while. He debuted as artist for Il Vittorioso in the late 1940s...
, Paul Murry
Paul Murry
Paul Murry was an American cartoonist and comics artist. He is best known for his Disney comics, which appeared in Dell Comics and Gold Key Comics from 1946 to 1984....
, Tony Strobl
Tony Strobl
Anthony Joseph Strobl was an American comics artist and animator. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and attended Cleveland School of Art from 1933–37, with Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who actually got some help from Strobl creating Superman...
, Harvey Eisenberg, Tom Gill
Tom Gill (comics)
Thomas P. Gill is an American comic book artist best known for his nearly 11-year run drawing The Lone Ranger.-Early life and career:...
, Ken Hultgren, Dick Moores
Dick Moores
Richard Arnold Moores was an American cartoonist whose best known work was the comic strip Gasoline Alley, which he worked on for nearly three decades.-Early Life:...
, Jack Bradbury
Jack Bradbury
Jack Bradbury was an American animator and comic book artist.Bradbury began working for Disney at age 20 and was responsible for key scenes in movies like Bambi, Fantasia, and Pinocchio...
, Gil Turner, Fred Fredericks
Fred Fredericks
Fred Fredericks is an American cartoonist, who has drawn the Mandrake the Magician comic strip for over 40 years, taking over for the late Phil Davis...
, Roger Armstrong, Jack Manning, Kay Wright, Bill Wright, Phil DeLara
Phil DeLara
Phil DeLara was a Warner Bros. animator and Disney comics, MGM and Hanna-Barbera artist.As an animator, he worked on Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck and later on Speedy Gonzales, The Tasmanian Devil, among others....
, Pete Alvarado
Pete Alvarado
Peter J. Alvarado, Jr. was an American animation and comic book artist. Alvarado's animation career spanned almost 60 years. He was also a prolific contributor to Western Publishing's line of comic books.-Animation:...
, Dan Spiegle
Dan Spiegle
Dan Spiegle is an American comic book and cartoon artist and illustrator . He has had a long career in drawing comics based on movie and television characters, and has worked for companies including Dell Comics, DC Comics and Marvel Comics.-Life and career:In his second year of high school,...
, Lynn Karp, Ellis Eringer, Paul Norris
Paul Norris
Paul Leroy Norris was an American comic book artist best known as co-creator of the DC Comics superhero Aquaman, and for a 35-year run as artist of the newspaper comic strip Brick Bradford.-Early life and career:...
, Frank Bolle
Frank Bolle
Frank Bolle is an American comic strip artist, comic book artist and illustrator.-Career:-Children's books:...
, Artie Saaf, Dan Noonan, John Ushler, Sam Glanzman
Sam Glanzman
Sam J. Glanzman is an American comic-book artist, best known for his Charlton Comics series Hercules, about the mythological Greek demigod; his biographical war stories about his service aboard the U.S.S...
, Bill Ziegler and John Buscema
John Buscema
John Buscema, born Giovanni Natale Buscema , was an American comic-book artist and one of the mainstays of Marvel Comics during its 1960s and 1970s ascendancy into an industry leader and its subsequent expansion to a major pop culture conglomerate...
. Famed fantasy writer Charles Beaumont
Charles Beaumont
Charles Beaumont was a prolific American author of speculative fiction, including short stories in the horror and science fiction subgenres. He is remembered as a writer of classic Twilight Zone episodes, such as "The Howling Man", "Miniature", and "Printer's Devil", but also penned the...
contributed a handful of stories for Dell's funny animal comics early in his career, all done in collaboration with William F. Nolan
William F. Nolan
William Francis Nolan is an American author, who wrote stories in the science fiction, fantasy and horror genres. He is best known for coauthoring the novel Logan's Run, with George Clayton Johnson. He co-wrote the screenplay for the 1976 horror film Burnt Offerings which starred Karen Black and...
Examples of titles
- Animal Comics (1942–Dec. 1947/Jan. 1948)
- Beach Blanket Bingo (1965)
- Ben Casey (1962–1964)
- Brain BoyBrain BoyBrain Boy was a short-lived superhero comic published by Dell Comics in the early 1960s.Brain Boy was Matt Price. When his mother was still pregnant with him, a car accident with an electrical tower killed his father and gave him mental powers. These power would include telepathy, levitation, and...
(1962–1963) - Burke's LawBurke's LawBurke's Law is a detective series that ran on ABC from 1963 to 1965 and was revived on CBS in the 1990s. The show starred Gene Barry as Amos Burke, millionaire captain of Los Angeles police homicide division, who was chauffeured around to solve crimes in his Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud...
- Campus Clowns
- Combat (40 issues)
- Deadwood Gulch
- Dr. KildareDr. KildareDr. James Kildare is a fictional character, the primary character in a series of American theatrical films in the late 1930s and early 1940s, an early 1950s radio series, a 1960s television series of the same name and a comic book based on the TV show, and a short-lived 1970s television series...
(1962–1965) - Dracula (1966–1967)
- Superheroes (1967, starred the "Fab 4")
- Four ColorFour ColorFour Color, also known as Four Color Comics and One Shots, was a long-running American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962...
(1939–1962) - Frankenstein (1966–1967)
- The FunniesThe FunniesThe Funnies was the name of two American publications from Dell Publishing, the first of these a seminal, 1920s precursor of comic books, and the second a standard 1930s comic book.-The Funnies :In 1929, George T...
(36 issues, 1929–1930) - Ghost Stories (37 issues, #1 only written by John Stanley)
- Jungle War StoriesJungle War StoriesJungle War Stories was a Dell Comics American comic book first published in 1962. It was the first American war comic to cover the Vietnam War...
(11 issues 1962-1966) retitled Guerilla War in 1965 (issues 12–14 March 1966) - Kona, Monarch of Monster IsleKona, Monarch of Monster IsleKona, Monarch of Monster Isle is a fictional American comic book character who was featured in his own self titled series, published by Dell Comics in the 1960s....
(20 issues, 1962–1964) - Mission: ImpossibleMission: ImpossibleMission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
(5 issues) - Naza Stone Age Warrior (9 issues)
- New Funnies
- NuklaNuklaNukla is a fictional superhero published by Dell Comics in the mid 1960s. He was created by writer Joe Gill and artist Sal Trapani . The character made his debut in Nukla #1 .-Fictional character background:Nukla was really Matthew Gibbs, a handsome blond CIA spy and pilot...
(4 issues, 1965–1966) - Possum Holler
- Thirteen Going on Eighteen (29 issues, written by John Stanley)
- Ponytail (20 issues)
- Rock-Age Roy
- Sancho and the Don
- Tales of the Green BeretTales of the Green BeretTales of the Green Beret is a comic strip created by Robin Moore and Joe Kubert. It began as a daily strip, running for 72 numbered strips starting 20 September 1965. The following year it returned daily and Sunday, beginning 4 April, with scripts by Howard Liss...
(5 issues 1967-1969) - Toka the Jungle King (10 issues)
- Werewolf (1966–1967)
External links
- Dell Comics section at International Catalogue of Superheroes
- Toonopedia entry for Dell Comics
- Scott Shaw on Tales From The Tomb #1 and Ghost Stories #1
- obituary for Robert Schaefer
- obituary for Roger Armstrong
- scans of script by Chase Craig for Porky Pig story in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies #88 (February 1949)
- The Last Li'l Eight Ball story from New Funnies #128 (August 1947)
- Chronological listings of all Four-Colors