Magazine Enterprises was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 company lasting from 1943 to 1958, which published primarily Western

Western comics

Western comics is a comics genre usually depicting the American Old West frontier and typically set during the late nineteenth century...

, humor, crime

Crime comics

Crime comics is a genre of American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the 1940s and 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence and criminal activity. Crime comics began in 1942 with the publication of Crime Does...

, adventure

Adventure

An adventure is defined as an exciting or unusual experience; it may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome. The term is often used to refer to activities with some potential for physical danger, such as skydiving, mountain climbing and or participating in extreme sports...

, and children's

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 comics, with virtually no superheroes. It was founded by Vin Sullivan

Vin Sullivan

Vincent "Vin" Sullivan was a pioneering American comic book editor, artist and publisher.As an editor for National Allied Publications, the future DC Comics, he was responsible for buying Superman from creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and edited that archetypcal superhero in his first...

, an editor at Columbia Comics

Columbia Comics

The Columbia Comics Corporation was formed in 1940 as a partnership between Vin Sullivan and the McNaught Newspaper Syndicate. The idea was to publish comics featuring a mix of McNaught-owned comic strip reprints like Joe Palooka and Charlie Chan as well as original features.The first title...

 and before that the editor at National Allied Publications (the future DC Comics

DC Comics

DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...

) who had bought Superman

Superman

Superman is a fictional comic book superhero appearing in publications by DC Comics, widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born American artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective...

 from creators Jerry Siegel

Jerry Siegel

Jerome "Jerry" Siegel , who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S...

 and Joe Shuster

Joe Shuster

Joseph "Joe" Shuster was a Canadian-born American comic book artist. He was best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with writer Jerry Siegel, first published in Action Comics #1...

, and edited the character's earliest stories.

Magazine Enterprises' notable characters include the jungle goddess Cave Girl, drawn by Bob Powell

Bob Powell (comics)

Bob Powell né Stanislav Robert Pawlowski was an American comic book artist known for his work during the 1930-40s Golden Age of comic books, including on the features "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle" and "Mr. Mystic". He received a belated credit in 1999 for co-writing the debut of the popular...

, and Ghost Rider

Phantom Rider

The Phantom Rider is the name of several fictional characters, Old West heroic gunfighters appearing in comic books in the Marvel Comics universe...

, a horror fiction

Horror fiction

Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...

-themed Western avenger created by writer Ray Krank and artist Dick Ayers

Dick Ayers

Richard "Dick" Ayers is an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four, and as the signature...

 in 1949; after the trademark lapsed, Ayers and others adapted it as Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

' near-identical, horror-free Western character Ghost Rider

Phantom Rider

The Phantom Rider is the name of several fictional characters, Old West heroic gunfighters appearing in comic books in the Marvel Comics universe...

 in 1967.

Publication history

In late 1947, Superman creators Jerry Siegel

Jerry Siegel

Jerome "Jerry" Siegel , who also used pseudonyms including Joe Carter, Jerry Ess, and Herbert S...

 and Joe Shuster

Joe Shuster

Joseph "Joe" Shuster was a Canadian-born American comic book artist. He was best known for co-creating the DC Comics character Superman, with writer Jerry Siegel, first published in Action Comics #1...

 collaborated once again with editor Vin Sullivan, who had discovered their superhero character in the National Allied Publications' submissions file. The duo had decamped to Magazine Enterprises after leaving National Allied (by then called National Comics

National Comics

National Comics may refer to:* National Comics: An early name for the comic book publisher known later as DC Comics.* National Comics : a 1940's comic book series published by Quality Comics....

) and suing to regain the rights to Superman and their later creation, Superboy

Superboy

Superboy is the name of several fictional characters that have been published by DC Comics, most of them youthful incarnations of Superman. These characters have also been the main characters of four ongoing Superboy comic book series published by DC....

. Siegel and Shuster brought most of their studio's artists with them, except for 1950s Superman penciler Wayne Boring

Wayne Boring

Wayne Boring was an American comic book artist best known for his work on Superman from the late 1940s to 1950s. He occasionally used the pseudonym Jack Harmon....

, and created the new character Funnyman

Funnyman (comics)

Funnyman is a fictional comic book character whose adventures were published in 1948 by Magazine Enterprises.-Publication history:After leaving DC Comics and suing that company in a dispute over the rights to Superman, the character's co-creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, rejoined their former...

, a slapstick-comedian hero. Both as a comic book and as a comic strip

Comic strip

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....

, however, the character failed to find an audience.

Among the company's publications were licensed film

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 and TV comics featuring comedian Jimmy Durante

Jimmy Durante

James Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...

; suave actor Dick Powell

Dick Powell

Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, director and studio boss.Despite the same last name he was not related to William Powell, Eleanor Powell or Jane Powell.-Biography:...

; and the CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 television series The Adventures of Robin Hood, starring Richard Greene

Richard Greene

Richard Marius Joseph Greene was a noted English film and television actor. A matinee idol who appeared in more than 40 films, he was perhaps best known for the lead role in the long-running British TV series The Adventures of Robin Hood, which ran for 143 episodes from 1955 to 1960.It has been...

. Additionally, Little Miss Sunbeam Comics starred the blond, pig-tailed mascot of Sunbeam Bread

Sunbeam Bread

Sunbeam Bread is a franchised brand of white bread, rolls, and other baked goods owned by the Quality Bakers of America cooperative. The bread products are produced and distributed by eight regional bakeries located in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Pennsylvania,...

. The company's two superhero characters were the Avenger, created by writer Gardner Fox

Gardner Fox

Gardner Francis Cooper Fox was an American writer best known for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. Comic-book historians estimate that he wrote over 4,000 comics stories....

 and artist Dick Ayers

Dick Ayers

Richard "Dick" Ayers is an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on some of the earliest issues of Marvel Comics' The Fantastic Four, and as the signature...

 in The Avenger #1 (March 1955), with Bob Powell drawing the character's three subsequent issues and all four covers; and the aptly named Strong Man, an unmasked, super-strong hero in a jungle-print circus

Circus

A circus is commonly a travelling company of performers that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and other stunt-oriented artists...

 strongman

Strongman (circus)

The circus strongman is one of many acts found in a modern circus. The strongman demonstrates great strength, power and agility to the audience. The strongman and strongwomen were very popular attractions in the circus in the 19th century....

 outfit. The Avenger was one of the very few traditional, costumed superheroes created during the period before superheroes' revival in what historians and fans call the Silver Age of Comics, beginning 1956.

Since the copyright to Magazine Enterprises' comics do not appear to have been renewed, they fell into the public domain

Public domain

Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...

 in accordance with copyright laws at the time. Beginning in the 1980s, AC Comics

AC Comics

AC Comics is a comic book publishing company started by Bill Black.AC Comics specializes in reprints of Golden Age comics from now-defunct companies whose properties lapsed into public domain and were not reprinted elsewhere...

 has issued reprint titles of Magazine Enterprises material, along with those of other defunct publishers of that era. As well, AC revived the Avenger as a guest star in FemForce

Femforce

Femforce is a comic book published by AC Comics that began publication in 1985, detailing the adventures of the titular team: the "Federal Emergency Missions Force" or "Femforce", some of them original creations, while others originated in the 1940s and 50s, lapsing into public domain by the time...

#19 (1989; no cover date), then creating a new series. Ghost Rider reprints appeared in 1999 with the character renamed the Haunted Horseman.

Titles by genre

Children's

• Clubhouse Rascals
• Ding Dong
• The Pixies
• Koko and Kola
• Little Miss Sunbeam Comics
• Mighty Atom (child superhero, not the anime character
• Mighty Atom and the Pixies
• Muggsy Mouse (1951 and 1954 series)
• Tom-Tom and Itchi the Monk
• Tom-Tom, The Jungle Boy
• Tick Tock Tales
• Vacation Comics

Crime

• Dick Powell a.k.a. Star Parade Presents Dick Powell
• I'm A Cop
• Kerry Drake Detective Cases
• The Killers
• Manhunt
• Mysteries of Scotland Yard
  Scotland Yard
  Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
  
  
• Undercover Girl

Historical adventure

• Robin Hood
  Robin Hood
  Robin Hood was a heroic outlaw in English folklore. A highly skilled archer and swordsman, he is known for "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor", assisted by a group of fellow outlaws known as his "Merry Men". Traditionally, Robin Hood and his men are depicted wearing Lincoln green clothes....
  
  (1955–1957; see also Movie/TV, below)
• Dan'l Boone
  Daniel Boone
  Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
  
  

Humor

• The Brain
• Dogface Dooley
• Dotty Dripple
• Hot Dog
• Jimmy Durante Comics

Misc.

• A-1 Comics

Rotating anthology sometimes used as an alternate title/issue number; for example, Hot Dog #3 was also A-1 Comics #24; Danger is Their Business #11 (the only issue of that title published) was also A-1 Comics #50; Home Run #3 (the only issue of that title published) was also A-1 Comics #89; and Ghost Rider #1-14 was also A-1 Comics #27, 29, 31, 34, 37, 44, 51, 57, 69, 71, 75, 80, 84 & 112.

• Extra Comics

Movie/TV

• The Adventures of Robin Hood (1957; see also Historical Adventure, above)
• Keen Teens
• Movie Thrillers

See also: Dick Powell (Crime), Jimmy Durante Comics (Humor), Tim Holt (Western)

Romance

• Dream Book of Love
• Dream Book of Romance
• Romantic Picture Novellettes

Superhero

• The Avenger
• Funnyman
  Funnyman (comics)
  Funnyman is a fictional comic book character whose adventures were published in 1948 by Magazine Enterprises.-Publication history:After leaving DC Comics and suing that company in a dispute over the rights to Superman, the character's co-creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, rejoined their former...
  
  
• Strong Man

Western

• Badmen of the West! (1953–1954)
• Best of the West (1951–1954)
• Black Phantom (1954)
• Bobby Benson's B-Bar-B Riders (1950–1953)
• Cowboys 'N' Injuns/Cowboys and Indians (1946–1952)
• Durango Kid (1949–1955)
• Ghost Rider (1950–1954)
• Great Western (1953–1954)
• Guns of Fact and Fiction (1948)
• Red Hawk (1953)
• Red Mask (1954–1957)
• Straight Arrow (1950–1956)
• Straight Arrow's Fury (1954)
• Tim Holt
  Tim Holt
  Tim Holt was an American film actor perhaps best known for co-starring in the 1948 film The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.-Early life:...
  
  (1948–1954)
• Trail Colt (1949)
• White Indian (1953–1955)

External links

• Golden Age Comics (UK) Downloads of public-domain comics, as CBR/CBZ files