IN THE BEGINNING...
From 1934 to 1936, the “modern” comicbook was beginning to gain steam and popularity as titles such as Famous Funnies, Tip Top Comics, King Comics, Popular Comics and The Funnies filled the newsstands. These titles reprinted some of the most popular newspaper comic strips of the day.
However, in 1935 a new phenomenon appeared in comicbooks. Due to the lack of available reprint material and the costs for the rights to same, some titles were printing “new”, original material. In February 1935 National Periodical/DC produced New Fun and in December 1935 released New Comics. It was clear that this story telling medium could be quite lucrative. Publishers barraged the marketplace with dozens of characters and themes ranging from jungle tales to sea adventures to detective ventures to western high jinks. Each tried to carve out its own niche. However, even the “new” material seemed repetitive and interchangeable. Publishers were looking for the next feature that could separate millions of children from their dimes. This nascent industry was to be jumpstarted by a character that was unlike any that had appeared before in comicbooks.
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Superman leaped into the comicbook world in Action Comics #1
(June 1938). Taking the world by storm, the potential lucrative nature of
this type of character did not go unnoticed by Victor S. Fox. Fox, at the time,
was the accountant for Detective Comics, Inc. and, “taking stock” of the numbers
generated by this character, decided that there was money to be made with a “costumed”
character. Leaving DC and setting up his own company (in the same building as
DC, no less), he requested that the Eisner-Iger Shop create for him a “superman”.
Wonder
Comics #1 (May 1939)
Eisner
cover for the first Fox comicbook
which
featured the one and only
appearance
of Wonderman.
The result was Wonderman,
who appeared in Wonder Comics #1 (May 1939). Here was another guy
running around in a brightly colored costume with incredible strength and was
able to jump over many a tall building with a single bound.
Detective
Comics, Inc. was not amused. Problem was that this was 1939, and no one else but
Superman had this particular shtick. “Imitation”, it is said, “is
the highest form of flattery.” However, in the
cutthroat competition of funny books, imitation, flattering or not, was viewed
as a monetary threat.
Accordingly, Detective Comics, Inc. moved quickly.
Cover dated May 1939 means that Wonder Comics #1 appeared
in March 1939. DC obtained a preliminary injunction (a legal procedure to order
a stop an act in order to prevent “irreparable harm”) March 16 followed by a permanent
injunction hearing on April 6 which quashed there ever being a second appearance
of Wonderman. As produced, Wonder Comics #2 contained
no Wonderman, but Yarko the Great.
Wonder
Comics #2 (June 1939)
First
of a string of magnificent covers
that
Lou Fine produced for Victor Fox.
The court, in its decision of April 7, 1939 found, comparing Superman and Wonderman, that “there has been unfair use by [Fox] of [DC’s] copyrighted pictures and unfair paraphrase of [DC’s] text accompanying its pictures.” In language, not usually bantered among comicbook enthusiasts, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in upholding the decision, analyzed the issue as follows:
Each publication portrays a man of miraculous strength and speed called “Superman” in Action Comics” and “Wonderman” in the magazine of [Fox]. The attribute and antics of ‘Superman” and “Wonderman” are closely similar. Each at times conceals his strength beneath ordinary clothing but after removing his cloak stand revealed in full panoply in skintight acrobatic costume. The only real difference between them is that Superman wears a blue uniform and Wonderman a red one. Each is termed the champion of the oppressed. Each is shown running toward a full moon off into the night” and each is shown crushing a gun in his powerful hands. “Superman” is pictured as stopping a bullet with his person and “Wonderman” as arresting and throwing back shells. Each is depicted as shot at by three men, yet as wholly impervious to the missiles
that strike him.
“Superman” is shown as leaping over a twenty story building, and “Wonderman” as leaping from building to building. “Superman” and “Wonderman” are each endowed with sufficient strength to rip open a steel door. Each is described as being the strongest man in the world and each as battling against “evil and injustice”.
Action Comics #7 (Dec. 1938)
The lawsuit exhibit copy presented by
DC in its case against Fox.
For more about this case, see
THE TITLES
Although
Wonderman did not again appear, Fox was determined
(as many
other publishers were) to create the next Superman. The
end
of 1939 through 1942 saw a host of Superman pretenders. In
that competitive field, Fox Publications, for a time, was one of the
main
players. Fox, an ex-stockbroker, anointed himself as the “King
of Comics”.
He had Eisner and company produce a number
of titles for
him. Following the Wonderman litigation, without
missing a step, Eisner created Wonderworld Comics #3(July
1939) with its
lead feature The Flame, Mystery Men Comics
#1(August 1939, hitting the stands June 23) with
its lead
characters The Green Mask, The Blue Beetle and Rex
Dexter of Mars, Fantastic Comics #1(December 1939)
with lead feature Samson, Science Comics #1
(January 1940) and Weird Comics #1(April 1940, originally
scheduled for a cover date of March 1940).
Fantastic
Comics #1 (Dec. 1939)
Lou
Fine's smashing cover introducing
Samson.
The
Fox production of pre-war books ran from May 1939 to March 1942:
Wonder/Wonderworld
Comics 1-33 (May 1939- January 1942)
Mystery
Men Comics 1-31 (August 1939- February 1942)
Fantastic
Comics 1-23 (December 1939- November 1941)
Science
Comics 1-8 (February 1940- September 1940)
Blue
Beetle Comics 1-11 (March 1940- February 1942)
Weird
Comics 1-20 (April 1940- January 1942)
The
Green Mask 1-9 (Summer 1940- February 1942)
The
Flame 1-8 (Summer 1940- February 1942)
Big
3 1-8 (Fall 1940- January 1942)
Samson
1-6 (Fall 1940- September 1941)
Rex
Dexter of Mars 1 (Fall 1940)
The
Eagle 1-4 (July 1941- January 1942)
U.S.
Jones 1-2 (November 1941- January 1942)
V….Comics
1-2 ( January 1942- March 1942)
Although many of the features would not endure, it is the covers of these books as rendered from July 1939 to April 1940 that has made these early issues and the company a collecting favorite.
to
view these covers, see 
Under
the direction of Will Eisner, Lou Fine created in this period some of the most
beautifully rendered covers of the Golden Age. Fine was able to bring motion to
the drawn page. His lyrical style was “aped” by artists of the day. (Compare Fine’s
ape on the cover to Wonder 
Comics
#2 with Bob Kane’s ape in Detective Comics #31.) Fine was admired
by the comicbook buying public and fellow artists.
For more
about Lou Fine, see 
The covers to Wonderworld Comics #7 (with the
hallmark Fine “ghoul drool”), Mystery Men Comics #3, Science
Comics #2 and Fantastic Comics #3 are some of the
key classic covers of the entire Golden Age of comics.
Wonderworld #7 (Nov. 1939)
Ghouls and drool by Lou Fine.
It
does not get better than this.
WILL EISNER AND HIS SHOP ARTISTS
Fine
was not the only artist that graced the pages of these early Fox issues. Part
of the Shop in this early period comprised of Klaus Nordling (freelance), Mort
Meskin, Alex Blum (his daughter, Toni Blum and 
eventual
husband, Bill Bossert, carried out much of the writings duties) and Bob Kane.
Bob Powell drew D-13 (after the Eisner Shop left Chuck Cuidera drew
the feature for a time) and Dr. Fung.
Dick Briefer produced
Rex Dexter of Mars – an imaginative rollickingly space adventure
strip. (Briefer and Eisner had worked on the short-lived title of Wow, What
a Magazine! in 1936). Eisner himself drew some early features. Art Peddy
contributed western and adventure features and the ubiquitous Fred Schwab drew
humor strips for the early issues of Mystery Men Comics and other
Fox titles.
Rex
Dexter of Mars #1 (July 1940)
Dick
Briefer drew this cover and the
early
adventures of Rex Dexter, a
highly
imaginative space adventure feature.
Even
Jim Mooney, fresh from Los Angeles, worked briefly for Eisner producing several
stories of The Moth. (Ironically, as Mooney relates, when interviewed
by Whitney Ellsworth in the late 1940s to work on The Batman, Mooney
used his work on The Moth as proof he could draw Batman-
since he had been instructed to use The Batman image as a guide
for drawing The Moth. He got the job, which started a long association
of Mooney with DC.) Mooney did not enjoy his short stay in the Eisner bullpen
because he lacked “freedom”. Interestingly, Eisner had put people on salary in
his shop so he could exert more “control”.
For
more about Will Eisner, see 
George
Tuska contributed Zanzibar starting in Mystery Men Comics
#1 and Tom Barry in Wonderworld Comics #4. This
was Tuska’s first work in comics. Tuska had no prior experience in comics and
had to produce a comic story over night to convince Iger to hire him.
Tuska was part of the Eisner stable and contributed features for Fiction House
such as Shark Brodie. His graceful and clean lines complimented
his story telling powers. He drew the cover for Mystery Men Comics #6
(January 1940) and Weird Comics #1 (April 1940).
Weird
Comics #1 (April 1940)
Long attributed to Lou Fine, this cover
shows off the great drawing skills of
a
young George Tuska.
However,
as the demand grew on the Shop and turnovers persisted, the artists were required
to take work home and the deadlines became more demanding. For payment of five
dollars a page, it simply was not enough. As Tuska relates, he went out to lunch
with the bullpen one day and said he had to “meet someone” and never returned.
(Of interest is that the Zanzibar strip retained Tuska’s name- as
did the Powell and Briefer strips- after he left. All of the strips retained the
“original” artist name- whether real name or pen name.) Several weeks later he
hooked up with Harry Chesler. He was soon joined there by Charlie Sultan who had
quit the Eisner shop shortly after Tuska left for the same reason.
Fantastic Comics
#5 (Dec. 1939) Punch
Comics #1 (Dec. 1941)
The
link of Sultan to the Eisner shop evinces his direct exposure to Lou Fine. Sultan
obviously was heavily influenced by Fine. Compare not only the style of his art
but the “derivative’ concepts of his covers as evidenced by his covers to Punch
Comics #1 and Scoop Comics #2 with Fine’s covers to
Fantastic
Comics #5 and Hit Comics #5.
VICTOR S. FOX-
PUBLISHER
Who
was Victor S. Fox? Hard to say in that very little is recorded about the man.
It appears that Fox, even before his infamous behavior in comics, was a scoundrel.
The report that Fox was an “ex-stockbroker” is an understatement. Fox was indicted
on November 27,1929 for mail fraud and a “boiler room” “sell and switch” stock
scheme- a scheme where good stocks were sold for bad and purchases made of “unissued”
stocks which were not delivered. With this fine resume, somehow he wound up as
an accountant/bookkeeper for Detective Comics, Inc. after which he set up his
own comic business.
To
the extent that any contemporary commented about Fox, no one had anything nice
to say. Fox clearly was interested strictly in making a buck from comics. Copying
others work (hardly novel at the time), paying low rates or not paying at all
appears to be his trademark. Ostentatious, surrounded by a large office, Fox proclaimed
himself to all that would listen that he was “The King of Comics”. Eisner commented
that “Fox was a very, very shifty, fast-footed business man who would create
fictitious names because he was always afraid of being sued.” Joe Simon recounted,
“The man was insane, absolutely insane. He would 
go
off on a speech like, “I’m the King of the Comics, and I’m not playing school
here with chalk on the blackboard, I’ve got millions of dollars tied up in this
business!…The man was mad.” Simon described Fox as a “short, round, nattily
dressed man in his late forties, with a rasping voice that would shrill to frightening
crescendos when he was excited. And he was excited often.” Kirby described
Fox as a “Edward G. Robinson” character. He was the ultimate promoter and
huckster. He ran the business with associate Robert Farrell.
Blue
Beetle #2 (May 1940)
Following the departure of the Eisner Shop,
for
a short period, Joe Simon produced
all
the covers for Fox.
The recollection of Al Feldstein, who was just a kid at the time when he worked briefly for Fox in the late 1940s, paints a remarkably similar (negative) picture of the man:
"I remember doing art work for "The Blue Beetle" (1945-46) when I was at the Jerry Iger Studio. When I first started to "freelance", after leaving Jerry Iger's sweatshop (1946-47), one of the several people who gave me work was Bob Farrell.
In fact, Bob also gave me a place to work...mainly
his terraced apartment overlooking Gramercy Park...because my working at home
had become rather difficult for me... what with a new baby in a 3-room apartment...and
a doting mother-in-law living down the hall. Bob Farrell 
used
to drive a convertible Cadillac, which, I thought, was the Cat's Meow! He was
definitely a wheeler-dealer, and he did have some sort of business association
with Fox.It was Bob Farrell
who introduced me to Victor Fox- in return for a commission" on all moneys paid
to me by the Fox outfit. Farrell was aware that I was re-writing his own scripts
and doing a good job on his own art needs. Bob
somehow knew that Victor Fox was looking for someone to "package" a teenage book
for him, "Archie" being a hot-seller, and so he arranged the introduction
and, in return, the agent fee.
Junior #14
(May 1948)
Feldstein
cover typical of later
Fox comics
that had less to do
with
the title character than
scantily clad
'good girls'.
Victor
was short, round, bald and coarsely gruff, with horn-rimmed glasses and a permanent
cigar clamped between his teeth. He was the personification of the typical exploiting
comic book publisher of his day- grinding out shameless imitations of successful
titles and trends, and treating his artists and editors like dirt.
Actually,
I had very little contact with Victor Fox personally after the initial introduction
by Bob Farrell. I was consequently hired by Fox Features to package first one...then
two...and then a third "teenage" title: "Junior," "Sunny" and "Corliss
Archer"...writing and drawing the first two complete books...and adapting
the original radio scripts and doing the art for the third.
As far as Victor
was concerned, we ran into each other once or twice when I was delivering finished
books...and he grudgingly complimented me on the job I was doing (but not too
much, for fear I might ask for more money!).
Meet
Corliss Archer #1 (March 1948)
Feldstein's
only cover on this title,
contrary to other sources. (per Feldstein)
After a while, I learned from my letterer, Jim Wroten, that Fox was getting himself into financial trouble and that I should make sure that I was fully paid for each book I delivered before I started the next one. Seems Victor was associated (so the rumor had it) with the bent-nose guys in a business venture: the San Juan (Puerto Rico) Race Track... and that there were some monetary problems associated with getting it going.
It was Jim, incidentally, who also recommended that I go see the Business Manager who was the young son of M.C. Gaines. He had just taken over his father's business when the old man was killed in a speed boat crash on Lake Placid where they had a summer home. Jim had heard that they were looking for someone to do a teenage book for them...and he thought it might be a good idea if I put some eggs into another basket.
And, of course, my association with Bill Gaines, which started with that teenage book deal, is history."
TROUBLE IN FOXLAND
However, all was not well in Foxland. Fox had never been happy with Eisner’s performance
at the Wonderman trial and, consequently, “payment issues” arose
as to the work produced thereafter. As stated by Eisner:
Mystery Men Comics #9 (April 1940)
Lou Fine makes “green meanies”
look almost friendly.
Accordingly, Eisner-Iger Ltd. terminated its relationship with Fox. The last Eisner Shop Lou Fine covers were covered dated April 1940. Tracing the lead times involved, the ‘parting of the ways’ would have occurred toward the end of 1939, beginning of 1940. In fact, review of ads from this period confirms this timeframe.
Obviously, without the services of Eisner’s shop, Fox badly needed people to produce his books. In a direct attempted “raid” of the Eisner-Iger personnel, the following appeared in a New York Times ad on December 2, 1939:
These were back-up features for the core Fox titles.
Fox obviously was not shy about trying to raid Eisner’s shop for artists to continue
his features. In fact, Fox rented additional space effective December 29, 1939
presumably to handle the greater staff he would need now that Eisner-Iger Shop
was gone.
According
to Joe Simon, who responded to the Fox ad and immediately became the editor and
cover artist for Fox following the departure of the Eisner Shop, there was no
“Mr. Roberts”. Rather this individual would be whoever the editor d’jour was at
the time (including Simon himself). Additional ads followed. For instance, the
ad of April 7, 1940 read:
Open interviews were advertised
for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between 4-5 p.m. in room 912 480 Lexington Ave.
Fox Feature Syndicate, Inc placed the ads. The ad in May read:
It
was a continuing challenge for Simon to get the books out on time.
JACOB KURTZBERG
AND JOE SIMON
Fox
had a number of artists who had worked through the Eisner Shop that continued
to produce work for him. One was a young artist named Jacob Kurtzberg. Kurtzberg
had worked briefly in the Eisner Shop freelancing a number of features for early
issues of Jumbo Comics in 1938 under a variety of pen names- Diary
of Dr. Hayward by Curt Davis; Wilton of the West by Fred
Sande and The Count of Monte Cristo by Jack Curtiss. Kurtzberg was
to legally change his name in 1942 to “Jack Kirby”. He very much admired the professionalism
of Eisner and Iger and that “they knew what they were doing.” Kirby was
driven to be the best of those engaging in this new industry. He would not accept
being “mediocre”. He viewed himself as being in “show business”. As a “performer”,
he wanted to provide the best entertainment that he could.
Kirby’s first
work for Fox appeared in January 1940 on the syndicated (and short-lived) Blue
Beetle newspaper strip. With the departure of the Eisner Shop, he had
the opportunity to step in and work steadily on some back up stories such as Wing
Turner in Mystery Men #10 (May 1940) and Cosmic Carson
in Science Comics #4 (May 1940).
The
Blue Beetle daily panel
(Jan. 27, 1940)
by
Jack Kirby (Charles Nicholas
was
a Fox 'house' name)
With Fine gone, the May 1940 Fox covers were drawn by newcomer, Joe Simon. Simon
had been doing freelance work for a number of publishers, but his first covers
were for Fox. It was with the May 1940 issues of Science Comics and
Mystery Men Comics for Fox that (although not a collaboration) the
future team of Simon and Kirby first converged- Simon cover and Kirby feature.
Simon supplied two to three months of covers for the core Fox titles before moving
on to other freelance ventures and to the start of his longtime collaboration
with Kirby.
Fantastic
Comics #6 (May 1940)
Joe Simon's
first month as the
primary
Fox cover artist.
Although working as the editor for Fox, Simon did not stop freelancing other jobs.
It was with these free-lancing assignments that he got Kirby involved. As bluntly
stated by Simon, Kirby’s skills were wasted at Fox. Their collaboration grew as
Simon and Kirby produced material for Blue Bolt Comics.
Although it took some urging for Kirby to give up his steady salary at Fox
(earning him $15 a week in a Depression mentality marketplace), after several
successful freelancing projects with Simon, Simon convinced Kirby to leave Fox
and to come with him.
Blue
Bolt #3 (Aug. 1940)
Key
issue that not only features a Joe
Simon cover, but the first Simon
& Kirby collaboration.
They
created little known, but classic cover masterpieces for issues 8 through 10 of
Champion Comics (June-August 1940) for Worth Publishing.
It is from their
meeting at Fox that the collaborative powerhouse of Simon and Kirby started; a
powerhouse that was to create dozens of characters, genres and books. Their greatest
collaboration was the creation of Captain America in late 1940,
which was their very next creation following Blue Bolt. They did
several freelance jobs for other Novelty titles, such as Target Comics as
well as Timely Comics’ Red Raven Comics.
Champion
Comics #8 (June 1940)
Simon
cover of The Champ,
a forerunner of the action-packed
work
that was the hallmark of the S&K team.
Red
Raven #1 (Aug. 1940) Captain
America #7 (Oct. 1941)
Simon and Kirby arrived at Timely with
Red Raven #1 and went on to create their
signature character, Captain America. Their explosive style fit the superhero
genre perfectly and altered the comic book medium forever.
Some
of their early work was to help out ex-fellow Fox bullpen colleague, Alfred Harvey,
who Simon had first hired to work at Fox. Harvey needed help in taking over some
comic titles (Champ Comics, Speed Comics,
Green Hornet Comics) and creating the small new title of Pocket
Comics, featuring The Black Cat) and Spitfire Comics.
(This “small-lived” format quickly ended as more comics were slipped into the
“pockets” of shoplifting kids then dimes into the cash register.). The team of
Simon and Kirby packaged many of these first Harvey titles from mid-1941 for a
year or so.
Speed
Comics #19 (June 1942)
Kirby
cover for one of the S&K shop
produced
Harvey titles.
