Fiction House was an American

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

pulp magazines 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 ...

and

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 oft ...

that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. It was founded by John B. "Jack" Kelly and John W. Glenister.Saunders, David
"JACK BYRNE (1902-1972),"
Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists (2015). Accessed Mar. 14, 2017. By the late 1930s, the publisher was Thurman T. Scott. Its comics division was best known for its pinup-style good girl art, as epitomized by the company's most popular character,

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, is a fictional American comic book jungle girl heroine, originally published primarily by Fiction House during the Golden Age of Comic Books. She was the first female comic book character with her own title, with her ...

Leadership and location

The company's original location was 461 Eighth Avenue in New York City. At the end of 1929, a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' article referred to John B. Kelly as "head" of Fiction House, Inc., and a new location of 271

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Str ...

. In late 1932, John W. Glenister was president of Fiction House and his son-in-law, Thurman T. Scott, was secretary of the corporation. By the end of the 1930s Scott had risen to the title of publisher. In January 1950, the Manhattan-based company signed a lease for office space at 130 W. 42nd Street.

History

Pulp fiction

Fiction House began in 1921 as a pulp-magazine publisher of primarily aviation,

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, and sports pulps. According to co-founder John W. Glenister: During their first decade the company produced pulp magazines such as ''Action Stories'', ''Air Stories'', ''Lariat Stories'', ''Detective Classics'', ''The Frontier'', ''True Adventures'', ''Wings'', and ''Fight Stories''. Fiction House occasionally acquired other publishers' magazines, such as its 1929 acquisition of ''Frontier Stories'' from Doubleday, Doran & Co. By the 1930s, the company had expanded into detective mysteries. In late 1932, however, in the midst of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, Fiction House cancelled 12 of its pulp magazines — ''Aces, Action Novels,

Action Stories ''Action Stories'' was a multi-genre pulp magazine published between September 1921 and Fall 1950, with a brief hiatus at the end of 1932.Cottrill, Tim. ''Bookery's Guide to Pulps and Related Magazines, 1888-1969''. Bookery Press, Fairborn, OH, 200 ...

, Air Stories, Detective Book Magazine, Detective Classics, Fight Stories, Frontier Stories, Lariat, Love Romances, North-West Stories'' and ''Wings'' — with the stated goal of eventually reviving them. After a hiatus, ''

'' resumed publishing through this period (lasting until late 1950). In addition, Fiction House relaunched its pulp magazines in 1934, finding success with a number of detective and romance pulp titles. The cancelled pulps ''Fight Stories'' and ''Detective Book Magazine'' were revived in spring 1936 and in 1937 respectively, with both magazines publishing continuously into the 1950s. Fiction House's first title with

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

interest was '' Jungle Stories'', which was launched in early 1939; it was not primarily a science fiction magazine, but often featured storylines with marginally science fictional themes, such as survivors from

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...

. At the end of 1939 Fiction House decided to add an sf magazine to its line up; it was titled ''

Planet Stories ''Planet Stories'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published by Fiction House between 1939 and 1955. It featured interplanetary adventures, both in space and on some other planets, and was initially focused on a young readershi ...

'', and was published by Love Romances, a subsidiary company that Fiction House created to publish the company's romance titles.

Comic books

By the late 1930s, publisher Thurman T. Scott expanded Fiction House into

, an emerging medium that began to seem a viable adjunct to the fading pulps. Receptive to a sales call by Eisner & Iger, one of the prominent "packagers" of that time which produced complete comic books on demand for publishers looking to enter the field, Scott published '' Jumbo Comics'' #1 (Sept. 1938) under the company's Real Adventures Publishing Company imprint.

appeared in that initial issue, soon becoming the company's star character. Sheena appeared in every issue of ''Jumbo Comics'' (Sept. 1938 – April 1953), as well as in her 18-issue spin-off, ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' (Spring 1942 – Winter 1952), the first comic book to title-star a female character.Sheena, Queen of the Jungle
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

Archived
from the original November 10, 2011 Other features in ''Jumbo Comics'' #1 included three by future industry legend

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gre ...

, representing his first comic-book work following his debut in ''Wild Boy Magazine'':Per Kirby's recollection in interview, ''The Nostalgia Journal'' #30 (Nov. 1976), reprinted in ''The Comics Journal Library, Volume One: Jack Kirby'' (2002) , p. 3 the

feature ''The Diary of Dr. Hayward'' (under the pseudonym "Curt Davis"), the modern-West crimefighter strip ''Wilton of the West'' (as "Fred Sande"), and Part One of the

swashbuckling A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, guile and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, daring, ...

serialization of

Alexandre Dumas, père Alexandre Dumas (, ; ; born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (), 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas père (where '' '' is French for 'father', to distinguish him from his son Alexandre Dumas fils), was a French writer. ...

's ''

The Count of Monte Cristo ''The Count of Monte Cristo'' (french: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo) is an adventure novel written by French author Alexandre Dumas (''père'') completed in 1844. It is one of the author's more popular works, along with ''The Three Musketeers''. L ...

'' (as "Jack Curtiss"), each four pages long. ''Jumbo'' proved a hit, and Fiction House would go on to publish ''Jungle Comics''; the

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes airplane, fixed-wing and helicopter, rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as aerostat, lighter- ...

-themed '' Wings Comics''; the

title '' Planet Comics''; ''Rangers Comics''; and ''Fight Comics'' during the early 1940s — most of these series taking their titles and themes from the Fiction House pulps. Fiction House referred to these titles in its regular house ads as "The Big Six," but the company also published several other titles, among them the

-themed ''Indians'' and ''Firehair'', jungle titles ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' and ''Wambi'', and five issues of Eisner's '' The Spirit''. Quickly developing its own staff under editor Joe Cunningham followed by Jack Burden,Cassell, Dewey, with Aaron Sultan and Mike Gartland. ''The Art of George Tuska'' (

TwoMorrows Publishing TwoMorrows Publishing is a publisher of magazines about comic books, founded in 1994 by John and Pam Morrow out of their small advertising agency in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Its products also include books and DVDs. List of magaz ...

, 2005), ; , p. 30 Fiction House employed either in-house or on a freelance basis such artists as

Mort Meskin Morton Meskin (May 30, 1916 – March 29, 1995)Social Security Death Index, SS# 071-16-1099. was an American comic book artist best known for his work in the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books, well into the late-1950s and 1960s Silver Age. Early li ...

, Matt Baker (the first prominent

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

artist in comics),

Nick Cardy Nicholas Viscardi (October 20, 1920 – November 3, 2013), known professionally as Nick Cardy and Nick Cardi, was an American comics artist best known for his DC Comics work on Aquaman, the Teen Titans and other major characters. Cardy was indu ...

, George Evans, Bob Powell, and the British Lee Elias, as well as such rare female comics artists as

Ruth Atkinson Ruth Atkinson Ford, née Ruth Atkinson and a.k.a. R. Atkinson (June 2, 1918 – June 1, 1997), Includes obituary for Ruth Atkinson Ford, giving date of death date as June 1, 1997.Date of death given as May 31, 1997 at that the Lambiek Comiclope ...

Fran Hopper Fran Hopper (July 13, 1922 – November 29, 2017), née Frances R. Deitrick, was an American comic-book artist active during the 1930s–1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. One of the earliest women in the field, she drew primaril ...

Lily Renée Lily Renée Phillips (''née'' Willheim; May 12, 1921 – August 24, 2022), often credited as L. Renée, Lily Renée, or Reney, was an Austrian-born American artist best known as one of the earliest women in the comic-book industry, beginning in ...

, and

Marcia Snyder Marcia Louise Snyder (sometimes spelled "Snider") was a comic book artist and newspaper cartoonist who worked for the Binder Studio, Timely Comics, Fawcett Comics, and Fiction House during the Golden Age of Comic Books. Biography Snyder was ...

. The popularity of Sheena led to numerous other Fiction House " jungle girls":Sergi, Joe
"Tales From the Code: The Near Extinction of Sheena,"
CBLDF website (January 25, 2013). * Ann Mason (''

Jungle Comics A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

'') — the mate of Ka'a'nga, Jungle King; like Sheena, wears a leopard skin dress * Jessie (''Jungle Comics'') — replaces Ann as the mate of Ka'a'nga * Camilla, Wild Girl of the Congo (''Jungle Comics'') — wears a zebra skin dress * Fantomah, Mystery Woman of the Jungle (''Jungle Comics'') — one comics' earliest super-powered heroines, created by Fletcher Hanks * Princess Taj (''Jungle Comics'') — rides an elephant * Tiger Girl (''

Fight Comics Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict meant to physically harm or kill the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is sometimes resorted to as a method of self-defense, or ...

'') * Princess Vishnu (''Fight Comics'')

Feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

comics historian Trina Robbins, writes that: Despite such pre-feminist pedigree, Fiction House found itself targeted in

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

Dr.

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 Lafarg ...

's book '' Seduction of the Innocent'' (1954), which in part blamed comic books for an increase in

juvenile delinquency Juvenile delinquency, also known as juvenile offending, is the act of participating in unlawful behavior as a minor or individual younger than the statutory age of majority. In the United States of America, a juvenile delinquent is a perso ...

. Aside from the ostensible effects of gory horror in comic books, Wertham cast blame on the sexy, pneumatic heroines of Fiction House,

Fox Comics Fox Feature Syndicate (also known as Fox Comics, Fox Publications, and Bruns Publications, Inc.) was a comic book publisher from early in the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by entrepreneur Victor S. ...

and other companies. A subsequent, wide-ranging investigation by the

Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency The United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency was established by the United States Senate in 1953 to investigate the problem of juvenile delinquency. Background The subcommittee was a unit of the United States Senate Judiciary Co ...

, coupled with outcry by parents, a downturn in comics sales, the demise of the pulps, and the rise of television and paperback novels competing for readers and leisure time, Fiction House faced an increasingly difficult business environment, and soon closed shop.

List of Fiction House pulps

List of Fiction House comic books

"The Big Six"

* ''

'' (86 issues, Jan. 1940– an.1954) * '' Jumbo Comics'' (167 issues, Sept. 1938–Mar. 1953) * ''

'' (163 issues, Jan. 1940–Summer 1954) * '' Planet Comics'' (73 issues, Jan. 1940–Winter 1953) * '' Rangers of Freedom Comics /

Rangers Comics A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

'' (69 issues, October 1941–Winter 1953) * '' Wings Comics'' (124 issues, Sept. 1940–1954)

Other titles (selected)

* ''3-D Circus'' (1 issue, 1953) * ''Cowgirl Romances'' (12 issues, 1950–Winter 1952/1953) * ''The First Christmas'' (1 issue, 1953; 3-D) * ''Ghost Comics'' (11 issues, 1951–1954) * ''Indians'' (17 issues, 1950–1953) * ''Ka'a'nga, Jungle King'' (20 issues, Spring 1949–Summer 1954) * ''Long Bow'' (9 issues, 1951–Winter 1952/1953) * ''Man O' Mars'' (1 issue, 1953) * ''Movie Comics'' (4 issues, Dec. 1946–1947) * ''Pioneer West Romances / Firehair'' (11 issues, Spring 1950–Spring 1952) * ''

'' (18 issues, Spring 1942–Winter 1952/1953) * '' The Spirit'' (5 issues, 1952–54) * ''Wambi, Jungle Boy'' (18 issues, Spring 1942–Winter 1952)

References

External links

* *
Good Girl Art
at AC Comics.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiction House Comic book publishing companies of the United States Defunct comics and manga publishing companies Pulp magazine publishing companies of the United States Publishing companies established in 1921 Magazine publishing companies of the United States 1921 establishments in New York City