New York’s World’s Fair #1 came out in April of 1939. It was to be sold at the World’s Fair only. It was 100 pages thick with cardboard covers. It cost 25 cents, but didn’t sell because all other comics were 10 cents. By the late summer they would be re-priced to 15 cents. This comic would show a blond Superman and would be the first appearance of a gas mask wearing hero named The Sandman. A 2nd issue came out a year later showing Superman, Batman and Robin together on the cover. From this title sprung Worlds Best Comics (1 issue) then it was renamed Worlds Finest Comics with the 2nd issue. The selling point of these titles would be reading both Superman and Batman in one comic. Within the comic they were in separate stories until issue #71. Due to a reduction of story pages they decided to put them together in the same story. The series would go 323 issues ending in 1986.

Did You Know? - DC Comics hired publicist Allen 'Duke' Ducovny to promote this comic. They named July 3rd, 1940 Superman Day because the admission to the Worlds Fair was dropped to 10 cents. On that day you could see actor Ray Middleton in his Superman costume and watch a live Superman radio serial broadcast. This was also done to promote the New York's Worlds Fair comic that was over the standard 10 cent comic price.

          Feature Comics #21 (June 1939) was the first comic published by a company named Quality Comics. The company was a partnership owned by Everett A. "Busy" Arnold and the Eisner/Iger shop. The company profits were to be split 50/50 between Arnold and Eisner/Iger. The two sides got into a dispute over exactly how much profit there was and Eisner/Iger would sell their half of the company to Arnold. "Busy" Arnold was originally from the printing industry and helped The Comic Magazine Company get it’s start. This comic would continue from Feature Funnies, which was started by Harry "A" Chesler/Centaur and Everett bought the book from them and renamed it. The contents would change from strip reprints to a mix of adventure stories. The main character to come from it would be a superhero named Doll Man. The first story was done by Eisner (under the pen name of William Erwin Maxwell) and artist Lou Fine. Doll Man powers was the ability to shrink to a size of a doll and grow back to normal size again with the use of a secret formula. Quality would also publish a number of other 2nd string heroes in their books. Among the better known heroes would be Uncle Sam, The Ray, Black Condor, The Human Bomb and Phantom Lady. They also published The Blackhawks and Plastic Man, you will learn about those characters later. These characters would be purchased and brought back again by other publishers, most notably DC Comics.

Behind the Scenes - No Credits for You!
          Many publishers, Everett "Busy" Arnold among them, did not allow credits to appear inside the comic books they published. Their fear was that the really good freelancers would gain a fan following which they could use to negotiate higher page rates. Publishers also feared their competitors would make them better offers and they would jump ship. Nonetheless, if you look closely in comics of this period sometimes you will find a freelancer's name cleverly snuck in somewhere in the art where the editor missed it.

Behind the Scenes - Beware the Credits you DO see!
          Some publishers also used phony credits. Will Eisner said publishers sometimes created phony names that would be randomly assigned to various freelancers. The idea being the publisher would both own the creation and the by line for the creation. John Smith could create Hero X and it would be popular. But the publishers would credit Hero X "by Frank Brown" - a name they would own. They could have anybody pretend to be "Frank Brown." That way, the real talent that created the feature wouldn't have any fan following if they decided to leave and join a competitor's company. This was a practice that dime pulp novel publishers used. Since most of the early comic book publishers were also pulp publishers the practice was brought over as well. Many Italian and Jewish creators would end up legally changing their name to the published name often assigned to their work.

          In the summer of 1939 Superman got his own title. This would be a major breakthrough in newsstand comics as he would be the first roaring success of original comic book material. This comic would reprint the entire story from Action Comics #1(with cut out art parts put back in) as well as other Superman stories. It would go into 3 printings, selling roughly 900,000 issues. The 2nd issue would also do 3 print runs totaling 1 million. The success of this comic paved the way for other characters to get their own devoted titles.

          Just to give you a clear idea of how popular Superman was, I've made a chart showing reported circulation figures of comic strip comics vs. Superman in Action Comics. The date for the chart is September, 1939. The highest selling book, Action Comics #16 starred Superman but he was only on the top corner of the cover. With issue #19 Superman was the main character on every cover.

          Fox Features Syndicate would have better luck with another hero, this one was called the Blue Beetle. He first appeared in a back up story of Mystery Men Comics #1 (August, 1939). Originally he had no superpowers or a costume. After tinkering with different ideas, they settled with giving him blue chain mail armor and giving him super strength. His strength came from taking a vitamin formula called 2X. He would also use Beetle type gimmicks within his adventures like a whistle so people could call him for help, a beetle light and car. The Blue Beetle also made wisecracks as he fought his foes. Eventually the character would take over this title and become Fox’s most popular hero. In 1939 Blue Beetle got his own dedicated series, the 2nd original comic book character to do so.

          He was created by Will Eisner and artist Charles Wojkowski who had the pen name Charles Nicholas assigned to his work. Blue Beetle was clearly inspired by Green Hornet, who had a very popular radio show at the time. The character would also get his own comic strip which was drawn by Jack Kirby. Blue Beetle would survive through the years through multiple publishers. At one point Fox had to abandon all his titles due to debts but his printer Holyoke took over and kept the Beetle title going. Fox would get the title back and continue on until 1950. Fox Features Syndicate would also get the character a short lived radio program. The Blue Beetle would be bought by Charlton Comics and redesigned and later bought again by DC Comics and redesigned again. Today he makes appearances in DC Comics books and a new, redesigned version of the character got a solo series in 2006.

Behind the Scenes - "You Dirty So and So!"
          Between 1948 to 1950, Victor Fox became known for paying really low page rates, if he paid freelancers at all. One artist named Pete Morisi had worked for Fox after WWII was over. He had just gotten married and with the economy down he was desperate for work. Despite hearing bad things about Fox he went and worked for him anyway and actually did get paid for the first two jobs he did for him. When the cheques stopped coming, Fox would tell Morisi it was a "bookkeeping problem" or some other excuse.
          After persistent follow-ups a cheque did come for $1,000 but it bounced. Out for blood he marched over to Fox’s office, the secretary said he was in meetings. There were always guys looking for their money and her job was to get rid of them. Pete ignored the secretary, burst through the door and saw Fox standing on the other side of a table. He lunged over the table and grabbed Fox by the throat telling him he was going to tear him apart, calling him a dirty so and so. The other men pulled Morisi away and Fox proceeded to write him a cheque for the money that he owed him. That cheque also bounced. Morisi never got the full $15,000 he was owed. Victor Fox would eventually disappear. One rumor said he fled to Canada.

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