Sol Cohen (December 16, 1910 – July 28, 1988) was an American publisher who worked mostly in the

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 unive ...

field. Cohen started his long association with

Avon Publications Avon Publications is one of the leading publishers of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles rea ...

in 1947, working as an editor for their comics division from 1947–1956. During this same period, from 1947–1949, Cohen was the circulation director and business manager of

EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-195 ...

. Also during this period, Cohen became associated with Golden Age comics financier

Harry Donenfeld Harry Donenfeld (; October 17, 1893 – February 1, 1965) was an American publisher who is known primarily for being the owner of National Allied Publications, which distributed ''Detective Comics'' and ''Action Comics'', the originator publicatio ...

;Cohen entry
Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999. in 1949 the two men helped found the publisher

Youthful Magazines Youthful (also known as Youthful Magazines) was an American comic book publisher that operated from 1949 to 1954. The company was owned by attorney Bill Friedman and his wife Sophie. Adrian Lopez (1906–2004) had the title of publisher of the co ...

. Cohen edited Avon magazines, including '' Avon Science Fiction & Fantasy Reader'', through most of the 1950s, eventually became an

Avon Books Avon Publications is one of the leading publishers of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reach ...

vice-president. When Cohen's stock gains from that job enabled him to retire in the early 1960s, he decided to continue working in publishing, and joined

Robert Guinn Robert Henry Guinn (January 19, 1822 – January 18, 1887) was a Texas politician. Guinn was a Democrat and served District 11, representing Cherokee County, Texas, in the Texas State Senate during the Fifth Texas Legislature, Sixth Texas Legisla ...

at ''

Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...

''. Cohen left ''Galaxy'' in 1965, and bought ''

Amazing Stories ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances i ...

'' and ''

Fantastic The fantastic (french: le fantastique) is a subgenre of literary works characterized by the ambiguous presentation of seemingly supernatural forces. Bulgarian-French structuralist literary critic Tzvetan Todorov originated the concept, characte ...

'' from

Ziff-Davis Ziff Davis, Inc. is an American digital media and internet company. First founded in 1927 by William Bernard Ziff Sr. and Bernard George Davis, the company primarily owns technology-oriented media websites, online shopping-related services, and ...

, forming a new publishing company, Ultimate Publishing, to do so.Ashley, ''Transformations'', p. 263. Cohen's tenure as publisher of ''Amazing Stories'' and ''

'' was filled with conflicts with his editors, contributors, and the

Science Fiction Writers of America The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, doing business as Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association, commonly known as SFWA ( or ) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization of professional science fiction and fantasy writers. While ...

.Ashley, ''Transformations'', pp. 263–267. In 1977, Cohen sold his half of the business to his partner, Arthur Bernhard, and moved to

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

. He died in July 1988.Ashley, ''Gateways'', pp. 348–355.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Sol American magazine publishers (people) 1988 deaths 1910 births Comic book editors