''True Comics'' is an educational comic book series published by The Parents' Institute, whose main publication was ''Parents' Magazine''. The series ran for 84 issues, from April 1941 until August 1950, when ''Parents cancelled all of their comic book series. ''True Comics'' was the most successful, or at least longest-running educational comic book series, and spawned several imitators, including

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 ...

' ''

Real Fact Comics ''Real Fact Comics'' is a series of educational American comic books published by three early iterations of DC Comics: World's Best Comics, Inc., Detective Comics, Inc., and National Comics Publications. The series lasted for 21 issues with cover ...

''. The series embraced the motto of "truth is stranger than fiction" and attempted to demonstrate that children would prefer "real fact" stories over fictionalized ones. By its cancellation in 1950, ''Parents''' had rolled at least 4 of its cancelled solo comics series into ''True Comics''.

Publication history

George J. Hecht George Joseph Hecht (November 1, 1895 – April 23, 1980) was the founder and publisher of '' Parents'' magazine and owner of FAO Schwarz. He is often credited with creating the parenting advice industry through his many publications. Life and care ...

, founder and publisher of ''Parents' Magazine'', introduced ''True Comics'' in the aftermath of an attack on comic books by

Sterling North Thomas Sterling North (November 4, 1906 – December 21, 1974) was an American writer. He is best known for the children's novel '' Rascal'', a bestseller in 1963. Biography Early life and family North's maternal grandparents, James Herve ...

, a children's author. In his position as a columnist at the ''Chicago Daily News'', North published an invective against comic books titled "A National Disgrace", where he referred to comic books as "graphic insanity" and "sex-horror serials".Sterling North, "A National Disgrace", ''Chicago Daily News'', May 28, 1940. Charging parents and teachers with "breaking the comic book", North suggested that children be furnished with proper works of literature to dissuade them from reading comic books. Clara Savage Littledale, an editor at ''Parents, introduced the series as part of a March 1941 article titled "What To Do About the 'Comics'?" ''True Comics'', close to North's intentions, was to provide a wholesome substitute of a comic book for children. In the introduction to ''True Comics'' #1, Hecht wrote: ''True Comics'' was also one of, if not the first comic book series to have an editorial board overseeing its content. As historian

Jill Lepore Jill Lepore is an American historian and journalist. She is the David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and a staff writer at ''The New Yorker'', where she has contributed since 2005. She writes about American ...

said in her work ''The Secret History of Wonder Woman'', "...what really set ''True Comics'' apart was that it was overseen by an editorial advisory board of experts: professors, especially historians, educators, and even the public-opinion pollster

George Gallup George Horace Gallup (November 18, 1901 – July 26, 1984) was an American pioneer of survey sampling techniques and inventor of the Gallup poll, a successful statistical method of survey sampling for measuring public opinion. Life and career ...

Reception

Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books and served as the ...

, a contemporary of ''True Comics'' who drew some newspaper-syndicated stories for the comic during World War II referred to the main comic art of ''True Comics'' as "dull and graphically static".

References

{{reflist