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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2016 11:07:08 GMT -5
OK no one did this thread...and I am curious on what others here think about publishers in the Golden Age.
DC & Marvel are still around today but a lot of publishers were gone (for various reasons) by the time the Silver Age started. However several publishers in the Golden Age were important to the history of comics.
For example Fawcett had Capt Marvel who outsold Superman at times. Quality had quality art! & had Plastic Man & the Blackhawks. Lev Gleason had the original Daredevil & Crime Does Not Pay. Of course there were many others...
So the question is...who (besides DC & Marvel) was the most important publisher in the Golden Age & why?
If you vote other please provide details... |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2016 11:10:10 GMT -5
Fawcett. Capt Marvel & the Marvel family was so dominant & still fondly remembered.
I still love Plastic Man but only by Jack Cole. So Cap (& therefore Fawcett) gets my vote.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2016 11:12:10 GMT -5
I say it is both Fawcett and Quality in the same boat and that's I like them both for their own artistic and written value. I don't have a favorite but both of these companies are top notch and that's why I say this - both of them were the gems of the Golden Age of Comics.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 16, 2016 11:14:02 GMT -5
I assume National, All-American, and Atlas are not allowed?
Depending upon your definition of "Golden Age," Dell may need to be considered. It reigned supreme in the late '40s and throughout the 1950s, especially post-Wertham.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 16, 2016 11:22:44 GMT -5
I assume National, All-American, and Atlas are not allowed? Depending upon your definition of "Golden Age," Dell may need to be considered. It reigned supreme in the late '40s and throughout the 1950s, especially post-Wertham. I would keep National, All-American, Timely & Atlas out since they morphed into DC & Marvel.
Dell would definitely be a yes!
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Post by shaxper on Aug 16, 2016 11:29:57 GMT -5
In that case, if the issue is importance, then I can make two arguments:
1. Fawcett -- Captain Marvel was, for a time, the biggest superhero of the Golden Age. The only reason Fawcett isn't still dominating the industry today was because of DC's underhanded legal practices. They managed to run Fawcett out of business for allegedly copying Superman when, in fact, most of Superman's powers as we now know them were manifested by Captain Marvel first. Don't forget the immensely successful movie serial either.
2. Dell -- When comics otherwise would have been in serious decline post-WW II, Dell was the company that kept the medium alive with exciting licensed characters and features, snazzy subscription plans, and a wide variety of genres for people to choose from. Dell was the undisputed king by the 1950s, only losing ground once the Silver Age of superheroes came around.
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Post by tingramretro on Aug 16, 2016 11:42:48 GMT -5
Not being American, I'm going for "other", and "other" in this case means DC Thomson Ltd of Dundee, one of the world's oldest comics publishers, and one that's still around today. Why are they important? Well, DC Thomson were (and are) the publishers of two of the world's most enduring comics, Beano and Dandy, two juvenile humour titles which began in the 1930s, and during World War II, despite the fact that paper was strictly rationed, those two comics kept on being continuously published and their creators used them to boost the morale of a Britain under seige by relentlessly mocking Adolf Hitler and the Nazis; so much so, in fact, that one of their most notable cartoonists, Dudey D. Watkins, actually ended up on a list of "enemies of the third reich" and would probably have been executed if Germany had won the war!
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Post by shaxper on Aug 16, 2016 11:43:29 GMT -5
Not being American, I'm going for "other", and "other" in this case means DC Thomson Ltd of Dundee, one of the world's oldest comics publishers, and one that's still around today. Why are they important? Well, DC Thomson were (and are) the publishers of two of the world's most enduring comics, Beano and Dandy, two juvenile humour titles which began in the 1930s, and during World War II, despite the fact that paper was strictly rationed, those two comics kept on being continuously published and their creators used them to boost the morale of a Britain under seige by relentlessly mocking Adolf Hitler and the Nazis; so much so, in fact, that one of their most notable cartoonists, Dudey D. Watkins, actually ended up on a list of "enemies of the third reich" and would probably have been executed if Germany had won the war! Wow. I knew none of this. |
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Post by tingramretro on Aug 16, 2016 11:51:04 GMT -5
Not being American, I'm going for "other", and "other" in this case means DC Thomson Ltd of Dundee, one of the world's oldest comics publishers, and one that's still around today. Why are they important? Well, DC Thomson were (and are) the publishers of two of the world's most enduring comics, Beano and Dandy, two juvenile humour titles which began in the 1930s, and during World War II, despite the fact that paper was strictly rationed, those two comics kept on being continuously published and their creators used them to boost the morale of a Britain under seige by relentlessly mocking Adolf Hitler and the Nazis; so much so, in fact, that one of their most notable cartoonists, Dudey D. Watkins, actually ended up on a list of "enemies of the third reich" and would probably have been executed if Germany had won the war! Wow. I knew none of this. Distressingly few people do, these days. But these comics did a lot to keep British kids' spirits up at a very frightening time (and more than a few adults, too). Among the more overt attacks on the Axis powers were two now infamous comedy strips, Addy and Hermy-the Nasty Nazis, which basically ridiculed Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering, and Musso the Wop-he's a big-a-da-flop! which did the same to Mussolini. |
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Post by MDG on Aug 16, 2016 12:08:20 GMT -5
I went with "other" meaning Dell. Fawcett was important in showing that lightning could strike twice (no pun intended) and there was room for more than one "top of the heap" superhero, but Dell, with its familiar cartoon and newspaper strip characters and wide distribution was probably the company most responsible for getting comics into American homes.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Aug 16, 2016 12:38:15 GMT -5
I went with "other" meaning Dell. Fawcett was important in showing that lightning could strike twice (no pun intended) and there was room for more than one "top of the heap" superhero, but Dell, with its familiar cartoon and newspaper strip characters and wide distribution was probably the company most responsible for getting comics into American homes. I'm not sure I can say much more than that. Dell Comics were omnipresent in households from their inception through the split with Whitman. Of the comics that my Mom remembered from her youth they were all either Dell or another contender MLJ/Archie. Obviously if it was just based on their super-hero output MLJ wouldn't rate much of a nod. But Archie and his progeny were a huge force in Comics. The other comic my Mom always remember was Katy Keene, the Pin-Up Queen. Archie was a huge presence and a big influence. Depending on how you define the "Golden Age" you can make a very strong case for EC. I would argue that Mad Comic/Magazine had a greater impact on our culture than almost any other comic. |
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Post by tingramretro on Aug 16, 2016 16:52:45 GMT -5
I went with "other" meaning Dell. Fawcett was important in showing that lightning could strike twice (no pun intended) and there was room for more than one "top of the heap" superhero, but Dell, with its familiar cartoon and newspaper strip characters and wide distribution was probably the company most responsible for getting comics into American homes. I'm not sure I can say much more than that. Dell Comics were omnipresent in households from their inception through the split with Whitman. Of the comics that my Mom remembered from her youth they were all either Dell or another contender MLJ/Archie. Obviously if it was just based on their super-hero output MLJ wouldn't rate much of a nod. But Archie and his progeny were a huge force in Comics. The other comic my Mom always remember was Katy Keene, the Pin-Up Queen. Archie was a huge presence and a big influence. Depending on how you define the "Golden Age" you can make a very strong case for EC. I would argue that Mad Comic/Magazine had a greater impact on our culture than almost any other comic. On whose culture? We never saw Dell Comics, either... |
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Post by shaxper on Aug 16, 2016 16:55:30 GMT -5
We never saw Dell Comics, either... Dell didn't have a presence in the UK??? Now that's surprising. |
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Post by Confessor on Aug 16, 2016 17:17:11 GMT -5
I would argue that Mad Comic/Magazine had a greater impact on our culture than almost any other comic. On whose culture? MAD Magazine (the UK version of) had a pretty big impact on my culture as a teen growing up in the England and has definitely effected the way in which I view the world as an adult. However, I'm not sure it much of a mainstream impact over here, which I think is what tingramretro is getting at. In my experience, not many adults really knew what MAD was in the '70s or '80s. The likes of Punch or Private Eye were, and in the case of the latter still are, much more influential satirical publications over here. As for the purpose of this thread, I can't vote because I've read precious few, if any, Fawcett, Quality and Lev Gleason. With a handful of exceptions, I think Golden Age comics suck for the most part. |
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Post by tingramretro on Aug 16, 2016 17:20:27 GMT -5
We never saw Dell Comics, either... Dell didn't have a presence in the UK??? Now that's surprising. Not that I recall. Marvel, DC, Harvey, Charlton, even Gold Key, but I don't recall ever seeing Dell comics anywhere. |
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