All-American Comics
{{Short description|American anthology comic book series}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox comic book title|
|image = All American Comics 61.jpg
|caption = Solomon Grundy's first appearance in All-American Comics #61 (Oct. 1944), art by Paul Reinman.
|schedule = Monthly:
#1–49, #71–102
Eight times a year:
#50–66
Bi-monthly:
#67–70
|format =
|ongoing = y
|publisher = All-American Publications
|date = April 1939 – October 1948
|issues = 102
|main_char_team =
|writers = Alfred Bester, Bill Finger, Sheldon Mayer, Bill O'Connor
|artists = Ben Flinton, Sheldon Mayer, Martin Nodell, Paul Reinman
|pencillers =
|inkers =
|letterers =
|colorists =
|editors = {{collapsible list|All-American Comics:
Max Gaines (#1–41)
Sheldon Mayer (#42–80)
Julius Schwartz (#81–102)
All-American Western:
Julius Schwartz (#103–126)}}
|creative_team_month =
|creative_team_year =
|creators =
|subcat = All-American Publications
|sort = All-American Comics
}}
All-American Comics is a comics anthology and the flagship title of comic book publisher All-American Publications, one of the forerunners of DC Comics. It ran for 102 issues from 1939 to 1948. Characters created for the title, including Green Lantern, the Atom, the Red Tornado, Doctor Mid-Nite, and Sargon the Sorcerer, later became mainstays of the DC Comics line.
Publication history
All-American Comics published 102 issues from April 1939 to October 1948.{{gcdb series|id= 112|title= All-American Comics}} The series was an anthology which included a mixture of new material and reprints of newspaper strips.{{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Kurt |last2=Thomas |first2=Roy |title=American Comic Book Chronicles: 1940-1944 |date=2019 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |isbn=978-1605490892 |page=26}} Sheldon Mayer's Scribbly was introduced in the first issue as was Hop Harrigan.{{cite book|last=Wallace|first= Daniel|last2=Dolan|first2=Hannah|chapter= 1930s|title = DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|year=2010|location= London, United Kingdom|isbn= 978-0-7566-6742-9|page= 24|quote = Edited by Sheldon Mayer, the title contained newspaper reprints and puzzle pages alongside original material such as Mayer's own 'Scribbly'... The features 'Hop Harrigan' and 'Red, White, and Blue' also debuted in this issue.}}{{cite web|url= http://www.toonopedia.com/harrigan.htm|title= Hop Harrigan|first= Don|last= Markstein|date= 2005|website= Don Markstein's Toonopedia|archive-url= https://archive.today/20240527172616/https://www.webcitation.org/6f3wXPT8I?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/harrigan.htm|archive-date= 2024-05-27|url-status= live|quote= Hop was introduced in All-American's first release, appropriately titled All-American Comics #1, which was dated April 1939.}}
The Golden Age Green Lantern was introduced by artist/creator Martin Nodell in issue #16 (July 1940).Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 32: "Alan Scott underwent an unexpected career change into the costumed hero Green Lantern in a story by creator Martin Nodell (using the pseudonym 'Mart Dellon') and writer Bill Finger". He continued in the title until #102 (Oct 1948).{{cite book |last1=Benton |first1=Mike |title=Superhero Comics of the Golden Age: The Illustrated History |date=1992 |publisher=Taylor Publishing Company |location=Dallas |isbn=0-87833-808-X |url=https://archive.org/details/superherocomicso0000bent/page/146 |access-date=1 April 2020 |page=147}}
The Golden Age Atom debuted in #19 (October 1940)Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 33: "Writer Bill O'Connor and artist Ben Flinton revealed the Atom in a short, six-page story, though the non-superpowered character soon went on to bigger things".{{cite web|url= http://toonopedia.com/atom1.htm|title= The Atom|first= Don|last= Markstein|date= 2008|website= Don Markstein's Toonopedia|archive-url= https://archive.today/20240528064758/https://www.webcitation.org/6uFKRVHzy?url=http://toonopedia.com/atom1.htm|archive-date= 2024-05-28|url-status= live|quote= The Atom debuted in DC's All-American Comics #19 (November 1940).}} and Mayer created the original Red Tornado in #20 (November 1940).Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 33: "The Red Tornado was the first outright super hero parody at DC, and she was also one of the company's first prominent female characters".{{cite web|url= http://toonopedia.com/tornado1.htm|title= The Red Tornado|first= Don|last= Markstein|date= 2009|website= Don Markstein's Toonopedia|archive-url= https://archive.today/20240528010503/https://www.webcitation.org/6nNOVf01v?url=http://toonopedia.com/tornado1.htm|archive-date= 2024-05-28|url-status= live|df= mdy-all}}
Doctor Mid-Nite first appeared in #25 (April 1941),Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 37: "April's All-American Comics #25 saw the costumed hero Doctor Mid-Nite make his first appearance".{{cite web|url= http://toonopedia.com/mid-nite.htm|title= Dr. Mid-Nite|first= Don|last= Markstein|date= 2008|website=Don Markstein's Toonopedia|archive-url= https://archive.today/20240527193800/https://www.webcitation.org/6gWiAayEt?url=http://toonopedia.com/mid-nite.htm|archive-date= 2024-05-27|url-status= live|df= mdy-all}} while Howard Purcell and John Wentworth introduced Sargon the Sorcerer in the following month's issue.{{cite web|url= http://www.toonopedia.com/sargon.htm|title= Sargon the Sorcerer|first= Don|last= Markstein|date= 2008|website= Don Markstein's Toonopedia|archive-url= https://archive.today/20240525134844/https://www.webcitation.org/62hciRMST?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/sargon.htm|archive-date= 2024-05-25|url-status= live|df=mdy-all}}
Alfred Bester and Paul Reinman created the monstrous supervillain Solomon Grundy in #61 (October 1944).Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 47: "Green Lantern faced a monstrous foe in All-American Comics #61. Solomon Grundy was a zombielike strongman...His origin, recounted in a story by writer Alfred Bester and artist Paul Reinman, involved the corpse of a murdered man".
Other features included "Toonerville Folks",{{cite web|url= http://www.toonopedia.com/toonrvil.htm|title= Toonerville Folks|first= Don|last= Markstein|date= 2007|website= Don Markstein's Toonopedia|archive-url= https://archive.today/20240528064837/https://www.webcitation.org/6uFMpTe02?url=http://www.toonopedia.com/toonrvil.htm|archive-date= 2024-05-28|url-status= live|quote= Unlike most strips published through the 1930s and '40s, Toonerville never made it into Big Little Books or comic books (except some reprints in the back pages of early issues of DC's All-American Comics).}} "Mutt and Jeff",{{cite web|url= http://www.toonopedia.com/muttjeff.htm|title= Mutt and Jeff|first= Don|last= Markstein|date= 2006|website= Don Markstein's Toonopedia|archive-url= http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091016111254/http://www.toonopedia.com/muttjeff.htm|archive-date= 2009-10-16|url-status= live|quote= [Mutt and Jeff] found a lasting berth in DC's All-American Comics, where, starting in the first issue, they were among several newspaper comics scattered among the non-reprinted features|access-date= 2017-10-16}} and "Ripley's Believe It or Not!".
All-American Publications and all its titles were purchased by National Periodicals (DC Comics) in 1946. Responding to the demand for Western comics, All-American Comics changed title and format with #103 (November 1948) to All-American Western. The retitled series had Johnny Thunder as the lead feature.Wallace "1940s" in Dolan, p. 59: "All-American Comics became All-American Western with this issue [#103], and Johnny Thunder leaped out from a backdrop of comic pages on the cover to announce the radical transition".{{gcdb series|id= 532|title= All-American Western}} It changed title and format again to All-American Men of War as of #127 (August–September 1952).{{gcdb series|id= 864|title= All-American Men of War}}
A May 1999 one-shot issue by writer Ron Marz and artist Eduardo Barreto was a part of the "Justice Society Returns" storyline.{{gcdb series|id= 7092|title= All-American Comics one-shot}}
Features
- Scribbly the Boy Cartoonist: issues #1-59
- Green Lantern: issues #16-102
- The Atom: #20-46, 48-61, 70-72
- Dr. Mid-Nite: #25-102
- Sargon the Sorcerer: #26-50, 60
References
{{reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{comicbookdb|type=title|id=130|title=All-American Comics}}
- [http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/series.php?seriesid=50 All-American Comics] and [http://www.mikesamazingworld.com/mikes/features/comic.php?comicid=2031 All-American Comics one-shot] at Mike's Amazing World of Comics
{{Green Lantern|state=collapsed}}
{{DC Western Characters}}
Category:All-American Publications titles
Category:Comics magazines published in the United States
Category:Defunct American comics
Category:Golden Age comics titles