Columbia Comics Corporation was a comic book publisher active in the 1940s whose best-known title was '' Big Shot Comics''. Comics creators who worked for Columbia included Fred Guardineer, on ''Marvelo, the Monarch of Magicians''; and Ogden Whitney and Gardner Fox on Skyman.

History

Columbia Comics was formed in

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *January ...

as a partnership between artist/editor Vin Sullivan, the

McNaught Syndicate The McNaught Syndicate was an American newspaper syndicate founded in 1922. It was established by Virgil Venice McNitt (who gave it his name) and Charles V. McAdam. Its best known contents were the columns by Will Rogers and O. O. McIntyre, the ' ...

, and the Frank Jay Markey Syndicate to publish comic books featuring reprints of such McNaught and Markey

comic strips A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics ter ...

as ''

Joe Palooka ''Joe Palooka'' was an American comic strip about a heavyweight boxing champion, created by cartoonist Ham Fisher. The strip debuted on April 19, 1930 and was carried at its peak by 900 newspapers. It was cancelled in 1984. The strip was adapt ...

'', '' Charlie Chan'', and ''Sparky Watts'', as well as original features. Other properties published by Eastern Color Printing are also transferred to Columbia Comics. Eastern appears to have subsequently retained a close relationship with Columbia, running advertisements for Columbia books in their own comic book titles. Columbia Comics' first published title was the anthology title '' Big Shot Comics'', the premiere of which introduced Skyman and

The Face The face is a part of the body, the front of the head. Face may also refer to: Film * ''The Magician'' (1958 film) or ''The Face'' * ''The Face'' (1996 film), an American television film * ''Face'' (1997 film), a British crime drama by Antoni ...

. ''Big Shot Comics'' would run for 104 issues until

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2022. * January 2 – Luis ...

, when Columbia went out of business. Other titles published by Columbia included spinoff series from ''Big Shot Comics'' featuring ''Skyman'' (four issues) and ''The Face''. Charles V. McAdam, president of the McNaught Syndicate, was also publisher of Columbia Comics."Who's Who Among Leading U.S. Syndicate Executives," ''Editor & Publisher'' (September 7, 1946)
Archived at ''Stripper's Guide''.
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Titles

*'' Big Shot Comics'' (104 issues, 1940–1949) * ''

Dixie Dugan ''Dixie Dugan'' is best known as a long-running syndicated newspaper comic strip published from October 21, 1929 to October 8, 1966. The title character was originally modeled after 1920s film actress Louise Brooks and early stories followed Dix ...

'' (13 issues, July 1942–1949) — McNaught Syndicate strip *''

'' (2 issues, 1941–1942) * ''

'' (4 issues, 1942–1944) — McNaught Syndicate strip * ''Ken Stuart'' (1 issue, 1948) — Markey Syndicate strip by Frank Borth * '' Mickey Finn'' (12 issues, ebruary1944–1949) — McNaught Syndicate strip *'' Skyman'' (4 issues, 1941, 1942, 1947, and 1948) * ''Sparky Watts'' (10 issues, 1942–1949) — Markey Syndicate strip by

Boody Rogers Gordon G. Rogers (September 8, 1904, Hobart, Oklahoma – February 6, 1996), better known as Boody Rogers, was an American comic strip and comic book cartoonist who created the superhero parody ''Sparky Watts''. Born in Hobart, Oklahoma, Rogers a ...

*''Tony Trent'' (2 issues, 1948)

References

External links

* Comic book publishing companies of the United States Defunct comics and manga publishing companies {{comics-company-stub