''Police Comics'' was a

comic book 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 ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...

title published by

Quality Comics Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing company which operated from 1937 to 1956 and was a creative, influential force in what historians and fans call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Notable, long-running titles published by Qualit ...

(under its

imprint Imprint or imprinting may refer to: Entertainment * ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series * "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror'' * ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film ...

"Comic Magazines") from 1941 until 1953. It featured short stories in the superhero, crime and humor genres.

Publication history

The first issue of ''Police Comics'' featured the debuts of

Plastic Man Plastic Man (Patrick "Eel" O'Brian) is a superhero first appearing in ''Police Comics'' #1, originally published by Quality Comics and later acquired by DC Comics. Created by cartoonist Jack Cole, Plastic Man was one of the first superheroes to ...

Phantom Lady Phantom Lady is a fictional superheroine, one of the first such characters to debut in the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books. Originally published by Quality Comics, the character was subsequently published by a series of now-defunct comic book com ...

Human Bomb The Human Bomb is a fictional superhero published by DC Comics. He first appeared in '' Police Comics'' #1 (August 1941), and was created by writer and artist Paul Gustavson. Publication history The Human Bomb was first published by Quality Comic ...

, Firebrand, and Mouthpiece, all of which (except the latter) are characters that continued to be published decades later by

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

after it acquired Quality's properties. Firebrand, the initial lead feature, was soon eclipsed by Jack Cole's popular Plastic Man, who took the cover and the lead from issues #5-102. Other notable characters featured in ''Police Comics'' include Manhunter, who was introduced in ''Police Comics'' #8; #711, who was introduced in ''Police Comics'' #1; and

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner (March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series ''The Spirit'' (1940–1952) was no ...

The Spirit The Spirit is a fictional masked crimefighter created by cartoonist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940, as the main feature of a 16-page, tabloid (paper size), tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book insert distributed in the Sunday editio ...

, in the form of reprints of the character's newspaper comic strips. After the popularity of superhero comics waned, ''Police Comics'' shifted with issue #103 (December 1950) to more naturalistic detective and crime-themed stories. The series ended in October 1953 with issue #127.

Character runs

* ''Plastic Man'' (#1–102) * ''Mouthpiece'' (#1–13) * ''Eagle Evans'' (#1–19) * ''Manhunter'' (#8–101) * ''Chic Carter'' (#1–18) * ''711'' (#1–15) * ''Destiny'' (#16–36) * ''Phantom Lady'' (#1–23) * ''Flatfoot Burns'' (#24–67) * ''Human Bomb'' (#1–58) * ''Firebrand'' (#1–13) * ''The Spirit'' (#11–102) * ''

Candy Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies (Australian English Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language an ...

'' (#37–102) * '' Honeybun'' (#59–88) * ''Ken Shannon'' (#103–#127)

References

External links

''Police Comics'' at the Grand Comics DatabaseRead or download public domain issues of this series at the Digital Comic Museum
Comics magazines published in the United States Quality Comics titles 1941 comics debuts 1953 comics endings Magazines established in 1941 Magazines disestablished in 1953 Golden Age comics titles {{comics-stub