The Eastern Color Printing Company was a company that published
comic books
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...
, beginning in 1933. At first, it was only newspaper
comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
reprints, but later on, original material was published. Eastern Color Printing was incorporated in 1928, and soon became successful by printing
color newspaper sections for several
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
and
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
papers. Eastern is most notable for its production of ''
Funnies on Parade
''Funnies on Parade'' is an American publication of 1933 that was a precursor of comic books. The eight-page publication featured reprints of such popular syndicated comic strips as '' The Bungle Family'', '' Joe Palooka'', ''Keeping Up with t ...
'' and ''
Famous Funnies
''Famous Funnies'' is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955. Published by Eastern Color Printing, ''Famous Funnies'' is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following semin ...
'', two publications that gave birth to the American comic book industry.
Eastern published its own comic books until the mid-1950s, and continued to print comic books for other publishers until 1973. Eastern Color Printing struggled financially from the 1970s to 2002, when the business closed, a victim of changing printing technologies.
Company history
Foundation and early years
In March 1924,
William Jamieson Pape, owner of the ''
Waterbury Republican''
newspaper
A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background.
Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
in
Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut on the Naugatuck River, southwest of Hartford and northeast of New York City. Waterbury is the second-largest city in New Haven County, Connecticut. According to the 2020 US Census, in 20 ...
, purchased a
Goss International
Goss may refer to:
Places
* Goss, Georgia, a place in Georgia, United States
* Goss, Mississippi, United States
* Goss, Missouri, United States
* Göss Abbey (Stift Göß), Leoben, Austria
* Goss Moor, Cornwall, United Kingdom
*Goss Stadium a ...
single-width
printing press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...
to use in printing
Sunday color newspaper comics sections. The ''
Knickerbocker Press
G. P. Putnam's Sons is an American book publisher based in New York City, New York. Since 1996, it has been an imprint of the Penguin Group.
History
The company began as Wiley & Putnam with the 1838 partnership between George Palmer Putnam and J ...
'' of
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
, and the ''
Springfield Republican
''The Republican'' is a newspaper based in Springfield, Massachusetts covering news in the Greater Springfield area, as well as national news and pieces from Boston, Worcester, Massachusetts, Worcester and northern Connecticut. It is owned by ...
'' of
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
, approached the ''Republican'' about using the press to print their own color comics supplements. The ''Springfield Union'' soon afterward did as well. Shortly, Pape was selling his color printing services to other newspapers.
A few years later, in August 1928, Pape formed the Eastern Color Printing Company, with himself as vice president and principal executive officer. Replacing the original press with a Goss four-deck press, the company acquired additional presses in 1929 and 1931. During this time period, Eastern, headquartered at 61 Leavenworth Street in Waterbury, established itself in the
pulp magazine
Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...
industry by being one of the few firms to print color covers for the pulps.
From 1928 to 1930, Eastern published 36 issues of a tabloid-format comics periodical, ''
The Funnies
''The Funnies'' was the name of two American publications from Dell Publishing (Dell Comics), the first of these a seminal 1920s precursor of comic books, and the second a standard 1930s comic book.
''The Funnies'' (1929–1930)
In 1929, George ...
'', with original comic pages in color, for
Dell Publishing
Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...
. This title was the first four-color comic newsstand publication. Dell, owned by
George Delacorte, would later be closely associated with other landmark Eastern Color Printing publications.
Around 1929, Eastern became the first major institution to perfect an engraving process that allowed for the addition of color to black-and-white comics, proving a boon to
newspaper syndicate
Print syndication distributes news articles, columns, political cartoons, comic strips and other features to newspapers, magazines and websites. The syndicates offer reprint rights and grant permissions to other parties for republishing content ...
s just beginning to introduce full-page
Sunday comics
The Sunday comics or Sunday strip is the comic strip section carried in most western newspapers, almost always in color. Many newspaper readers called this section the Sunday funnies, the funny papers or simply the funnies.
The first US newspap ...
sections. From 1929 through 1932, Sunday comic pages were printed in both black-and-white and color.
1930s
By 1932, Eastern Color Printing was printing comic sections for a score of newspapers, and by the following year, color for newspapers' Sunday comics section and black-and-white for the daily strips becomes the industry standard.
In 1933, Eastern's 45-year-old sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg reinvented the comic-book format when he saw the increasing popularity of newspaper comic strips and determined comics could be a successful medium for advertising. Sales offices at this time were located in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
(alternately listed at 40 or 50 Church Street in different sources).
In April 1933,
Gulf Oil Company
Gulf Oil was a major global oil company in operation from 1901 to 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger ...
approved Wildenberg's idea and hired artists to create an original, promotional giveaway, ''Gulf Comic Weekly''. Printed by Eastern, the comic measured 10-½" x 15" and was advertised on national
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
. Each of its four pages contained a full-color single-page comic strip. The tabloid proved a hit at Gulf service stations. It was retitled ''Gulf Funny Weekly''. Distribution rose to three million copies a week. The series ran as a tabloid until 1939 before adopting the standard comic-book format of the time; it ran a total 422 issues through May 23, 1941. Eastern also published another four-page tabloid, for
Standard Oil
Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
, titled ''Standard Oil Comics''.
In early 1933, Eastern also began producing small comic
broadsides for the
Ledger Syndicate
The Public Ledger Syndicate (known simply as the Ledger Syndicate) was a syndication company operated by the Philadelphia '' Public Ledger'' that was in business from 1915 to circa 1950 (outlasting the newspaper itself, which ceased publishing in ...
of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, printing Sunday color comics from plates. Wildenberg and his coworkers realized that two such plates would fit on a tabloid-sized page, and later that year, Wildenberg created the first modern-format comic book when idly folding a newspaper into halves and then into quarters and finding that a convenient book size. In Spring 1933, Eastern printed one million copies of the first modern-format comic book, the 32-page ''
Funnies on Parade
''Funnies on Parade'' is an American publication of 1933 that was a precursor of comic books. The eight-page publication featured reprints of such popular syndicated comic strips as '' The Bungle Family'', '' Joe Palooka'', ''Keeping Up with t ...
'', as a way to keep their press running, and as a promotion for
Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
.
[Brown, Mitchell]
"The 100 Greatest Comic Books of the 20th Century: ''Funnies on Parade''"
(Internet archive link)
The names of those associated with the project read as a who's-who of early publishers in what comics historians and fans call the
Platinum Age
The history of American comics began in the 19th century in mass print media, in the era of sensationalist journalism, where newspaper comics served as further entertainment for mass readership.Williams, Paul and James Lyons (eds.), ''The Rise ...
and
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and many well-known char ...
:
Max Gaines
Maxwell Charles Gaines (born Max Ginzberg September 21, 1894 – August 20, 1947) was a pioneering figure in the creation of the modern comic book.
In 1933, Gaines devised the first four-color, saddle-stitched newsprint pamphlet, a precursor t ...
(founder of EC Comics),
Leverett Gleason (publisher of ''Comic House'' and other titles, and creator of the Golden Age
Daredevil), and many other future industry creators are all brought in to work under Wildenberg's supervision.
The ''Funnies on Parade'' promotion proved a success, and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for
Canada Dry
Canada Dry is a brand of soft drinks founded in 1904 and owned since 2008 by the American company Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Dr Pepper Snapple (now Keurig Dr Pepper). For over 100 years, Canada Dry has been known mainly for its ginger ale, though ...
soft drinks
A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink that usually contains water (often carbonated), a sweetener, and a natural and/or artificial flavoring. The sweetener may be a sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, a s ...
,
Kinney Shoes
The G.R. Kinney Company was an American manufacturer and retailer of shoes from until . Its listing on the New York Stock Exchange, symbol KNN, began in March 1923. The shoe concern was started by George Romanta Kinney whose father ran a general ...
,
Wheatena
Wheatena is an American high-fiber, toasted-wheat cereal that originated on Mulberry Street in New York City, New York, , when a small bakery owner began roasting whole wheat, grinding it, and packaging it for sale under this brand name.
Hist ...
cereal
A cereal is any Poaceae, grass cultivated for the edible components of its grain (botanically, a type of fruit called a caryopsis), composed of the endosperm, Cereal germ, germ, and bran. Cereal Grain, grain crops are grown in greater quantit ...
and others, with print runs of from 100,000 to 250,000.
[Goulart, Ron. ''Comic Book Encyclopedia'' (]Harper Entertainment
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Corp ...
, New York, 2004) By late 1933, Eastern was publishing more giveaways: ''
Famous Funnies: a Carnival of Comics'', ''A Century of Comics'', and ''Skippy’s Own Book of Comics''. The latter was the first modern-format comic book about a single character.
; 1934
arly
The Arly () is a 32.1 km long river in the departments of Savoie and Haute-Savoie, France. It is a tributary of the Isère, which it joins at Albertville.
Towns crossed by the river
* Megève
* Praz-sur-Arly
* Flumet
* Saint-Nicolas-la-C ...
Eastern prints ''Shell Globe'', for distribution at 13,000 Shell gas stations. The series features cartoonist
Bud Fisher
Harry Conway "Bud" Fisher (April 3, 1885 – September 7, 1954) was an American cartoonist who created ''Mutt and Jeff'', the first successful daily comic strip in the United States.
Early life
Born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of a merchant, ...
’s popular characters
Mutt and Jeff
''Mutt and Jeff'' was a long-running and widely popular American newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Bud Fisher in 1907 about "two mismatched tinhorns". It is commonly regarded as the first daily comic strip. The concept of a newspape ...
. The characters of ''Shell Globe'' are marketed wildly, through miniature figurines, posters, radio announcements, billboards, play masks, and window stickers.
Interest from advertisers tapers off a bit when advertisers doubt that children would be willing to pay money for comic strip reprints. Eastern Color Printing president George Janosik forms a 50/50 joint venture with Dell publisher
George Delacorte to publish and market a comic book for retail sales. As a test to see if the public would be willing to pay for comic books, ''Famous Funnies: Series One'', distributed locally, is published and sold for 10 cents each and sells out quickly.
[Dooling, Michael C. “Three Generations in the Newspaper Business,” ''Connecticut Explored'', Fall 2010, pp. 22–23.] 40,000 copies of ''Famous Funnies: Series One'' are distributed in chain stores, featuring reprints from the newspaper reprints featured in Eastern’s earlier books. The comic book sells out completely.
; 1934 - May
Eastern employee Harold Moore proposes a monthly comic book series. ''
Famous Funnies
''Famous Funnies'' is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955. Published by Eastern Color Printing, ''Famous Funnies'' is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following semin ...
'' #1 appears with a July cover date. The title loses money at first, and George Delacorte sells his interest back to Eastern. ''Famous Funnies'' #2 marks the start of original material produced specifically for the book, and #3 begins a run of ''
Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily US newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books ...
'' features.
; Mid-1934
''Famous Funnies'' turns a profit beginning with issue #7. It gains popularity quickly, and the title lasts about 20 years. The success of ''Famous Funnies'' soon leads to the title being sold on newsstands alongside slicker magazines, and inspires at least five other competitors to begin publishing their own comic books. Eastern begins to experiment with modifying the newspaper reprints to be more suitable to the comic book format. Lettering, reduced in reproduction to the point of illegibility, is reworked for the size of the comic book page. Adventure strips, reprinted in several weeks’ worth of strips at a time, is trimmed of panels providing a recap of previous events, contributing to a concise and more smoothly flowing version of the story.
; 1935
Eastern executive
Max Gaines
Maxwell Charles Gaines (born Max Ginzberg September 21, 1894 – August 20, 1947) was a pioneering figure in the creation of the modern comic book.
In 1933, Gaines devised the first four-color, saddle-stitched newsprint pamphlet, a precursor t ...
leaves Eastern Color Printing to work for
Dell Comics
Dell Comics was the comic book publishing arm of Dell Publishing, which got its start in pulp magazines. It published comics from 1929 to 1974. At its peak, it was the most prominent and successful American company in the medium.Evanier, Mark"Wh ...
. In 1945, Gaines sells all of his comic book properties to Dell with the exception of two. These two titles (''Picture Stories from the Bible'' and ''Picture Stories from World History'') are launched under a new publishing venture in 1946 under the name of
EC. Although the EC initials stood for both Educational Comics and Entertaining Comics, it has been speculated that the initials were also a tribute to the first comic book company Gaines worked for, Eastern Color
rinting (In 1947, Max Gaines dies in a boating accident, and EC is taken over by his son
William M. Gaines
William Maxwell Gaines (; March 1, 1922 – June 3, 1992), was an American publisher and co-editor of EC Comics. Following a shift in EC's direction in 1950, Gaines presided over what became an artistically influential and historically import ...
, who focused production on crime, horror and science fiction. EC was a primary target for
Fredric Wertham
Fredric Wertham (; born Friedrich Ignatz Wertheimer, March 20, 1895 – November 18, 1981) was a German-American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafargue ...
’s ''
Seduction of the Innocent
''Seduction of the Innocent'' is a book by German-born 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 tak ...
'', and the focus of the senate hearing that followed; the end result was that eventually EC cancelled all of its publications except for ''
Mad''.)
; 1936 - December
Eastern publishes the first issue of ''The
John Hix
''Strange as It Seems'' appeared as a syndicated cartoon feature published from 1928 to 1970, and became a familiar brand to millions around the globe for its comic strips, books, radio shows and film shorts. Created by John Hix, ''Strange as It Se ...
Scrapbook'', reprinting
McClure's syndicated strip ''
Strange as It Seems
''Strange as It Seems'' appeared as a syndicated cartoon feature published from 1928 to 1970, and became a familiar brand to millions around the globe for its comic strips, books, radio shows and film shorts. Created by John Hix, ''Strange as It S ...
'', a ''
Ripley’s Believe It or Not
''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims. Originally a newspaper panel, the ''Believe It or Not'' feat ...
''-style collection of illustrated cartoons describing odd historical facts and scientific phenomena. In 1937, Eastern releases a second volume under the name ''The Second Strange as It Seems Scrapbook''.
; 1937 - July
Having filled up the maximum floor space at their old American press-room at Printers Court, Eastern constructs a separate and new plant on Commercial Street. The new plant includes two new Scott presses.
1940s
In addition to publishing its own comic books, Eastern continues to do printing for the majority of publishers in the comic book industry. An article in the ''
Hartford Courant
The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...
'' dated Feb. 15, 1954 states that “An executive of one of the largest comic book printing firms in the nation, located in Waterbury, Conn. said 65,000,000 issues are printed each month. Of these 65 million issues, more than 40 per cent are printed in Connecticut.” Eastern Color Printing prints comics and advertising for other publishers through the 1960s, including comic books for
Timely (Marvel), EC, and
Big Boy Restaurants
Big Boy Restaurant Group, LLC is an American restaurant chain store, chain headquartered in Warren, Michigan, Warren, Michigan. Frisch's Big Boy Restaurants is a restaurant chain with its headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Big Boy name, desi ...
. Eastern also printed the Sunday funnies for a number of newspapers, including the ''
Waterbury Sunday Republican'', the ''
New Haven Register
The ''New Haven Register'' is a daily newspaper published in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The Register's main office is located at 100 Gando Drive in New Haven. The ''Register'' was established about 1812 and i ...
'', the ''
Hartford Courant
The ''Hartford Courant'' is the largest daily newspaper in the U.S. state of Connecticut, and is considered to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States. A morning newspaper serving most of the state north of New Haven ...
'', and newspapers in Boston, Providence, and Worcester.
; 1940
Eastern introduces its second monthly title, ''Reg’lar Fellers Heroic Comics''. The title is the official publication of Reg’lar Fellers of America, a junior athletic organization dedicated to developing wholesome summer recreation for teens. The title lasts until 1955; it eventually shortens its title to simply ''Heroic Comics'' beginning with issue #16 and changes again with issue #41 to ''New Heroic Comics''.
Properties owned by 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 published by Eastern Color Printing are transferred to
Columbia Comics
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 Whitne ...
, publishers of ''
Big Shot Comics
''Big Shot Comics'' was an American comic book series published by Columbia Comics during period in the 1940s that fans and historians refer to as the Golden Age of comic books. An anthology title, the series included a mix of superheroes, costum ...
'' and other titles. Eastern appears to have retained a close relationship with Columbia, running advertisements for Columbia books in their own comic book titles.
Eastern Color Printing purchases a new Goss press, its sixth one.
; 1941
Eastern publishes ''
Dickie Dare
''Dickie Dare'' was a comic strip syndicated by AP Newsfeatures. Launched July 31, 1933, it was the first comic strip created by Milton Caniff before he began ''Terry and the Pirates''. The strip ended on October 12, 1957.
Publication history
...
'', featuring reprints of the newspaper strip of the same name. ''Dickie Dare'' features artwork by
Bill Everett
William Blake Everett (; May 18, 1917 – February 27, 1973) was an American comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner as well as co-creating Zombie and Daredevil with writer Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. He was alle ...
and
Milt Caniff
Milton Arthur Paul Caniff (; February 28, 1907 – April 3, 1988) was an People of the United States, American cartoonist famous for the ''Terry and the Pirates (comic strip), Terry and the Pirates'' and ''Steve Canyon'' comic strips.
Biography
...
, two influential illustrators of golden age comic books. The series lasts four issues and runs until 1942.
Eastern acquires a seventh press. Finding it necessary to do own cover printing and binding for its successful comic books, Eastern acquires the
Curtiss-Way plant in Meriden. Curtiss-Way was a Meriden printing facility dating back at least as far as 1895, when it was known as the Converse Publishing Company.
; 1941 - April
Inspired by the popular trend of superheroes, ''Famous Funnies'' #81 introduces
Invisible Scarlet O'Neil, one of comics’ earliest super-heroines, authored by Russell Stamm. This issue marks a change in mood for ''Famous Funnies'', as the covers switch from whimsical gags to more serious adventurous fare.
; 1941 - November
With the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the publishing industry participates in national drives to conserve paper. As a conservation measure, syndicates reduce the size of full-page
Sunday comic strips to three-quarters or half the size of the newspaper page. As a result of this size reduction, newspaper strips are no longer suitable for further reduction in the comic book format, and Eastern is forced to commission new work rather than reprint material. ''Famous Funnies'' #88 carries the last sets of reprint material from the full-size newspaper page. Beginning with the following issue, Eastern Color Printing starts to commission new work for their comic book publications. Many features from the original ''Famous Funnies'' format are continued by the same artists. These artists now turned their strips into dual features – one for newspaper syndication with an emphasis on adult appeal, and the other to fit the new comic book page size and an emphasis on juvenile appeal.
; 1942
Eastern, needing to expand again, begins construction of an addition to its Commercial Street plant. The addition is completed and operational in 1946. The paper shortage of WWII forces publishers to drop from its standard 64-page format to a 52-page format, and in some cases a 48-page format. Eastern publishes the humor comic ''Jingle Jangle'', which runs until 1949.
; 1943 - January
Eastern Color Printing alternates publishing ''Reg’lar Fellers Heroic Comics'' and a second edition of ''Heroic Comics'' on alternate months, switching between stories of everyday heroism and true war stories, respectively. The alternating format continues for a year, then ''Reg’lar Fellers...'' is terminated in favor of the more adult-oriented
war comic
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
book.
1950s
![FamousFunniesNo209](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/FamousFunniesNo209.jpg)
Eastern Color Printing prints comic books for Export Newspaper Services, a New York-based company producing Spanish-language reprints of American comic books for distribution in Mexico.
; 1955 - June
Eastern Color Printing clashes with the
Comics Code Authority
The Comics Code Authority (CCA) was formed in 1954 by the Comics Magazine Association of America as an alternative to government regulation. The CCA allowed the comic publishers to self-regulate the content of comic books in the United States. ...
over ''Heroic Comics''. The CCA charges that ''Heroic'' – a war-themed comic book – contributes to juvenile delinquency by promoting violence. Eastern defends the title as an illustrated magazine of military history but makes the decision to suspend publication.
;1955 - July
''Famous Funnies'' ends publication with issue #218. Eastern constructs a new modern plant in Meriden that is not closely identified with comic book production. With the declining comic book market, Eastern begins to phase out publication of its own comic books, offsetting the shrinkage by printing more advertising circulars. Sunday newspaper comic supplements continue to be a standard product for Eastern.
; 1957
Eastern Color Printing, continuously installing and modifying its equipment, acquires its 14th press.
1960s
Eastern adds a 15th press, which is modified in the mid-1960s.
; 1960 - June
Eastern Color Printing sells its Curtiss-Way subsidiary to the New York-based Hughes Corporation, owner of several printing plants throughout Connecticut.
; 1961
After serving about three years at the Curtiss-Way division, Richard J. Pape, William B. Pape’s son, is put in complete charge of Eastern’s mechanical operations.
; 1968
Plans are formulated for a new building. Several new presses are purchased over the next couple of years.
1970s
; 1972
Eastern Color Printing closes its Waterbury plant and moves to Avon. Around the same time, Eastern sells many of its comic book file copies and cover proofs.
; 1973
By this time, Eastern phases out its comic book printing business in favor of printing Sunday comics supplements. Sears-Roebuck remains its largest customer.
1980s
; 1987 - January
Eastern Color Printing recruits CEO Robert Palmer. The following September, management of Eastern passes from the Pape family to Palmer.
; 1987 - February
Eastern suffers the loss of a Goss press valued at over $1 million in a fire at the plant.
; 1989
Eastern suffers a significant setback with the loss of its longtime customer,
Sears Roebuck
Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...
and Company. Sears-Roebuck converts all print advertising to heatset, a process Eastern is not equipped to produce. Within 6 weeks, Eastern loses approximately 40% of its sales.
; 1989–1990
Eastern embarks on a rebuilding program to replace the lost Sears business. The company experiences financial hardships compounded by the recession. After losing more customers to heatset printers, Eastern approaches Rockwell Graphics System (Goss) in 1993 about installation of a heatset press, which is installed the following year.
1990s
; 1999
Eastern incorporates digital technology into its pre-press processes. Eastern stays in business by printing advertising for corporations such as
Circuit City
Circuit City is an American consumer electronics retail company, which was founded in 1949 by Samuel Wurtzel as the Wards Company, operated stores across the United States, and pioneered the electronics superstore format in the 1970s. After m ...
,
Michaels Stores
Michaels Stores, Inc., more commonly known as Michaels, is a privately held chain of 1,252 American and Canadian arts and crafts stores, as of January 2021. It is one of North America's largest providers of arts, crafts, framing, floral and wall ...
, and Media Play.
2000s
; 2002 - June
Eastern Color Printing goes out of business.
Published titles
Source:
Eastern Color: 1933–1956
Grand Comics Database
The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...
* ''The Amazing Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "Buck", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-tim ...
'' (1 issue, 1954)
* '' Big Chief Wahoo'' (7 issues, 1942-1943)
* ''Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily US newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books ...
'' (6 issues, 1940-1943)
* ''Buster Crabbe
Clarence Linden Crabbe II (; February 7, 1908 – April 23, 1983), known professionally as Buster Crabbe, was an American two-time Olympic swimmer and film and television actor. He won the 1932 Olympic gold medal for 400-meter freestyle swimmi ...
'' (12 issues, 1951-1953)
* ''Club 16 Comics'' (4 issues, 1948-1949)
* ''Conquest'' (1 issue, 1955)
* ''Dickie Dare
''Dickie Dare'' was a comic strip syndicated by AP Newsfeatures. Launched July 31, 1933, it was the first comic strip created by Milton Caniff before he began ''Terry and the Pirates''. The strip ended on October 12, 1957.
Publication history
...
'' (4 issues, 1941-1942)
* ''Dover the Bird'' (1 issue, 1955)
* ''Famous Funnies
''Famous Funnies'' is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955. Published by Eastern Color Printing, ''Famous Funnies'' is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following semin ...
- Series One'' (1 issue, 1934)
* ''Famous Funnies
''Famous Funnies'' is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955. Published by Eastern Color Printing, ''Famous Funnies'' is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following semin ...
'' (218 issues, 1934-1955)
* ''Heroic Comics'' (97 issues, 1940-1955. Initially as '' Reg'lar Fellers' Heroic Comics'' and during the final years as ''New Heroic Comics'')
* ''Jingle Jangle Comics
''Jingle Jangle Comics'' was a ten-cent, bimonthly, 42-issue, 68-page (later reduced to 52-page) children's-oriented American comic book magazine published by Eastern Color under the Famous Funnies, Inc. imprint between February 1942 and Decembe ...
'' (42 issues, 1942-1949)
* '' The John Hix Scrapbook'' (2 issues, 1938-1939)
* ''Juke Box Comics'' (6 issues, 1948-1949)
* '' Mickey Finn'' (4 issues, 1942-1944, thereafter continued by Columbia Comics
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 Whitne ...
)
* ''Movie Love'' (22 issues, 1950-1953)
* '' Napoleon and Uncle Elby'' (1 issue, 1942)
* ''Oaky Doaks
''Oaky Doaks'' was an American newspaper comic strip, which ran between June 17, 1935, and December 30, 1961. It was distributed by AP Newsfeatures for more than 25 years, illustrated by veteran magazine cartoonist Ralph Fuller and scripted by AP ...
'' (1 issue, 1942)
* ''Personal Love'' (33 issues, 1950-1955)
* '' Steve Roper'' (5 issues, 1948)
* ''Strictly Private'' (2 issues, 1942)
* ''Sugar Bowl Comics'' (5 issues, 1948-1949)
* ''Tales from the Great Book'' (4 issues, 1955-1956)
Giveaways include
* ''Century of Comics'' (1 issue, 1933)
* ''Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics'' (1 issue, 1933)
* ''Funnies on Parade
''Funnies on Parade'' is an American publication of 1933 that was a precursor of comic books. The eight-page publication featured reprints of such popular syndicated comic strips as '' The Bungle Family'', '' Joe Palooka'', ''Keeping Up with t ...
'' (1 issue, 1933)
* ''Gulf Funny Weekly''/''Gulf Comic Weekly'' (422 issues, 1933-1941)
* ''Skippy’s Own Book of Comics'' (1 issue, 1933)
* ''Standard Oil Comics'' (19 issues, 1933-1934)
* ''Toy World Funnies'' (1 issue, 1933)
Notes
References
Connecticut Historical Society: Heroes, Heartthrobs & Horrors. Celebrating Connecticut's Invention of the Comic Book
{{Comic book publishers in North America
Comic book publishing companies of the United States
Defunct comics and manga publishing companies
Publishing companies established in 1928