Golden Age Collection 22 22

[BB-Gun]

Probably not something that any croc can do ... but looks impressive on the page.

 

From Champion 17 (scans courtesy of GoldenAgeUK) -

 

I guess that was supposed to be Champ 17. Jungleman art was credited to Stan Zuckerberg. HIs connection to Harvey is not listed in the Who's Who.

 

Thanks for looking it up. Yeah, I meant Champ. Is Champ a continuation of Champion or am I off?

 

If you've downloaded the issue, I liked the Neptuna feature. In fact, I've liked all Neptuna features I've seen from that title. (thumbs u

 

For example, I simply this panel. It has a lyrical quality that puts it in a different zip code compared to the rest of the art in that particular issue. Not only could Bill Everett evoke the undersea with his work but so did this artist.

 

 

 

I especially like the Harvey issues because of the Powell and Schomburg art. But everyone else seemed to take a shot at working for Harvey. I notice work by Palais, Peddy, Kiefer and Art Saaf in some of those issues. Peddy and Zuckerberg did some of the best work in those Champ issues. I am not sure who did the Neptuna art either. Harry Parkhurst was credited with an early story. Is this the same guy that did illos for the pulps. He was pretty good (maybe that's why you like it). Just a thought. Where is JVJ? We could use his help here.

bb

Edited April 19, 2009 by BB-Gun

[BB-Gun]

Didn't Harry do the Black Bat and other pulp illos too?

[Scrooge]

Oh definitely. I was not aware that Parkhurst had done any comic work but from a quick check at the GCD, he did a buttload of it and that's only the ones that have been positively IDed. I see the work in Champ but also quite a bit of work for Fawcett and even some work for Dell, including FC 177 - Roy Rogers, which funnily I own. Now, I'll have to go and open it to check it out.

[Scrooge]

Fairly tired joke already by 1940 in this one-page gag but I thought it would still appeal to Jack. It's also a-typical art for Glanzman -

[Scrooge]

Sorry for the flood but I have never seen a splash split like this before. Generally, when using a double-page spread, the whole double-page is dedicated to the splash. Oh well, nice Cazeneuve work and let's dedicate this page to Bill and "his" Black Cat -

[selegue]

Fairly tired joke already by 1940 in this one-page gag but I thought it would still appeal to Jack. It's also a-typical art for Glanzman -

 

Great lab page -- thanks

 

Jack

[Scrooge]

Yer welcom' gov'nor.

 

I know that people who check this thread like kooky pre-WWII space comic stories. Here's one I don't think we've posted from Speed Comics # 7, introducing Mars Mason of the Inter Planet Mail Service -

[Scrooge]

... and to make himself feel better -

[Bronty]

oh god. kooky to say the least. as in unreadable

[ciorac]

Sorry for the flood but I have never seen a splash split like this before. Generally, when using a double-page spread, the whole double-page is dedicated to the splash. Oh well, nice Cazeneuve work and let's dedicate this page to Bill and "his" Black Cat -

 

 

The interior art on Black Cat is fantastic. Thanks for posting this Scrooge!

[Scrooge]

Sorry for the flood but I have never seen a splash split like this before. Generally, when using a double-page spread, the whole double-page is dedicated to the splash. Oh well, nice Cazeneuve work and let's dedicate this page to Bill and "his" Black Cat -

 

 

The interior art on Black Cat is fantastic. Thanks for posting this Scrooge!

 

De rien. Just the way Cazeneuve handled the flag waving in the wind is something I can look at for minutes on end. Yeah ... call me crazy but go back and check it out.

[jbcomicbox]

I've known for a while that Harry A. Chesler had given some papers to Fairleigh Dickinson University. Now, reading over some information online, I have found this description:

 

"Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Fairleigh Dickinson University's library holds 4,000 pieces of original comics art, with 1,245 volumes of supporting matrial, and some comic books. The late Harry "A" Chesler donated a large portion of the art collection, and for several years worked on the collection at the library a couple of days each week, guiding visitors and answering questions. Chesler ran one of the art studios that created comic book stories on contract for various publishers during the Golden Age of comic books. An exhibition catalog is available for $5.50, and a list of the artists represented in the original art collection is available free. An old but still useful list of the supporting books is available from Comic Art Collection, MSU Libraries, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1048, or on ERIC fiche ED 207 572.

 

The status of some of the information above is in question because this COLLECTION WAS DISCONTINUED AND GIVEN TO THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS in 2001. (5/02)

 

CONTACT: Curator, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540-4731."

 

My question is the following:

 

Does the LoC still own that OA or has it been dispersed through the collecting world? Jon B., do you know the answer to that question?

 

In late 1999, a 'wormhole' (as I dub it) opened to sale of some pieces from the Chesler collection. Some work was put on ebay to get a gauge of the market, followed by some direct sales by JG. "C" pieces were available for a bit, before seeing if B and A pieces (such as dynamic 8) would be available. This material was from the post 1938 Star Comics/Star Ranger and was from the pre-war and war period of Chesler (See my article below).

 

Another OA dealer "strongly reminded" persons at the School, that Chelser bequest was not to include sale. The 'wormhole' closed. What happened after this to the OA and his papers is not known to me. I have always toyed with the idea of doing a book on Chelser with this reference material.

 

Jon

 

 

 

 

 

Harry “A” Chesler, Jr.- Comicbook Entrepreneur

 

The Rise of Original Comicbook Material

 

From 1934 to 1936, the “modern” comicbook was beginning to gain steam and popularity as titles such as Famous Funnies, Tip Top Comics, King Comics, Popular Comics and The Funnies filled the newsstand. These titles reprinted some of the most popular newspaper comic strips of the day. However, in 1935 a new phenomenon appeared in comicbooks. Due to the lack of available reprint material and the costs for the rights to same, some titles were printing “new”, original material. In February 1935 National Periodical/DC produced New Fun and in December 1935 released New Comics.

Covered dated May 1936, Comic Magazine Co. produced Comic Magazine/Funny Pages with material that was originally slated for National Periodicals. This company was owned by National Periodical defectors William Cook (former managing editor) and John Mahon (former business manager). (It is thought that they were “paid” with this art by their cash strapped ex-employer, Major Wheeler-Nicholson. Comic Magazine 1 contains a “Dr. Mystic” story by Siegel and Schuster which is key in the development of Superman. However, that is a story for another day.) They also produced Funny Picture Stories (November 1936), and the short-lived titles of Detective Picture Stories (December 1936). (It beat Detective Comics 1 March 1937 to the stands) and Western Picture Stories (February 1937)(tying with Star Ranger Comics as the first western comic). Comic Magazine Co. published all these books in the period of November 1936 to June 1937. They sold their extant titles, Funny Pages and Funny Picture Stories, to I.W. Ullman and Frank Temerson who published these titles for a short time- September 1937 to January 1938- as Ultem Publishers before the line was taken over by Joe Hardie and Centaur Publications in March 1938.

 

Rounding out original comicbook titles on the stands in 1936, John Henle published four issues of a poorly produced book called Wow What a Magazine. The four issues of this book contain the earliest works of Will Eisner, Sam Iger, Bob “The Batman” Kane, Bernard Bailey (who was to be the artist for “The Spectre” and “The Hourman” and briefly ran a small shop in the 1940s producing titles such as Top Spot Comics and Triple Threat Comics), Briefer (who would go onto receive notoriety for his rendition of “Frankenstein” in Prize Comics), George Brenner (creator of “ The Clock”, the first masked hero in comicbooks), and Louis Ferstadt (who would go on to draw “The Flash”, “Starman” and “Green Lantern” and eventually be the art director for Fox Comics in the late 1940s).

 

Eisner realized early on that there was a future in the production of comicbook features for publishers looking to cash in on the nascent comicbook industry. He, along with a few other individuals, recognized a market for supplying ready-to-be-published material for companies who had neither the skill or expertise in the production of a comicbook.

 

Rather than viewing comicbook production and creation as a stepping stone to the more recognized prestige of newspaper comic strips, Eisner saw the creative and financial potential in this new entertainment medium. Eisner formed with Sam Iger an early “comic shop” that produced material for release in England for titles such as Wags. These features were eventually reproduced to form the basis of Jumbo Comics and the Fiction House line of comics. Eisner also produced material for Fox Publications and Quality Publications under the publishing eye of Everett “Busy” Arnold.

 

Lloyd Jacquet, who had been the editor of New Fun 1, joined Eisner as a comicbook packager. Jacquet formed Funnies, Inc. which was responsible for providing much early material for the super hero line of books for Centaur. The core Funnies, Inc. artists- Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, Paul Gustavson and others- packaged a comicbook including features of the “Sub-Mariner” and “Human Torch” for Martin Goodman in a title known as Marvel/Marvel Mystery Comics. They soon supplied further material for Timely Publications and other comicbook companies that sprung up in the wake of the “super hero” success of “Superman” and “Batman”. Funnies, Inc. produced early material for Novelty Publications titles such as Target Comics and Blue Bolt Comics. Publishers, looking at the growing phenomenon of comicbooks, turned to “comicbook shops” as sources to provide them with ready material to be published.

 

 

 

Enter Harry “A” Chesler, Jr.

 

One of the earliest pioneers of comicbook shops- if not the first comicbook shop- was Harry “A” Chesler, Jr. (The “A” was claimed by Chesler to stand for “Anything”.) His name and handiwork was an ubiquitous presence from the earliest days of comics to the waning years of the golden age in the later 1940s. Publisher, editor or “sweat shop”, Chesler literally left his “imprint” on many titles of this era. (Chesler books starting in 1941 proclaimed on every cover: “Harry ‘A’ Chesler, Jr. World’s Greatest Comics”. Move over Stan Lee!) Chesler aggressively marketed and sought to package comicbook material for his own titles as well as providing art and writing services to the growing cadre of would be comicbook publishers. His stable of writers and artists provided a finished product with assembly line efficiency.

 

Covered dated February 1937, Chesler produced and published Star Comics and Star Ranger Comics. These titles contained all original material. As noted above, the marketplace had few such titles at this time. As indicated below, many creative talents- who were seeking a start in the world of “funny books”- were gobbled up by Chesler to turn out features for these titles and other publishers.

 

Although mostly remembered for the books he published in the early and mid 1940s, the Chesler comicbook titles may be broken down into three periods. In the early period of 1937-1939, he produced “funny books” that focused more on humor strips, adventure and western stories. In the pre-war years he joined the super-hero parade with titles such as Dynamic Comics, Yankee Comics, Scoop Comics and Punch Comics which were short-lived in their first incarnation. The final period was the resurrection of these titles that sported the uniquely macabre covers of Gus Ricca as well as covers drawn by Fran Smith and George Tuska. The Chesler string of comic titles ran out as 1947 drew to a close.

 

The Pre-Superhero Period 1937-1939

 

Although the first published Chesler comicbooks were Star Comics and Star Ranger Comics cover dated February 1937, it was obvious that Chesler had his eye on the publishing market and comics before this. In a little known mock-up magazine that was only submitted for copyright purposes, Chesler produced a magazine called Cheerio with a subtitle of “A Rapid View of Fun that’s New”. (There is that “new” word again.) Dated January 5, 1936, it approximated the size of New Fun. The insides were mainly text (Chesler himself even penned a crime piece) along with single panel gags and blank filler pages.

 

Cherrio could easily be relegated to the pile of esoteria that litters the history of comicbooks. However, the link of this magazine to Star Comics is inescapable. Reproduced as a header figure within Cheerio is a figure (see insert) that became the cover figure for Star Comics 1 as drawn by J.C. Brigham. The tagline for this magazine became the tagline for Star Comics. The full-page comic splash on the back cover of Cheerio was reproduced in Star Comics 1. Also, although it did not appear within, the magazine on the cover references the features of “King Kole’s Court” and “Lucky Coyne” which were early features of Star Comics. As produced, Star Comics contained many one and two page features. One was named “Cheerio Minstrels” which, when viewed in the context of the above, has an obvious link to Chesler’s plans for features.

 

The first six issues of Star Comics and Star Ranger Comics were oversized. Every issue for each title was beautifully rendered. The material within consisting of one or two page gags, adventure or western stories were well drawn and well produced. Talents such as Jack Cole, Charles Biro, Bob Wood, Fred Guardineer, Gill Fox, Fred Schwab, Ken Ernst, Otto and Jack Binder (who was an art editor for Chesler before he set up his own comic art shop), William Allison, Creig Flessel, Paul Gustavson and many others first cut their teeth here before moving onto other shops or in house production for comicbook companies. The artists and writers were, for the most part, extremely young and neophytes to this new industry. The Chesler shop was their first stop on their comicbook career.

 

Star Comics contained the adventure strip “Dan Hastings” as first drawn by Clem Gretter (who had provided material for New Fun) and then drawn by Fred Guardineer. In addition to the above mentioned artists, one could even find work by Rick “Buck Rodgers” Yager. The son of Windsor McCay supplied a strip called “Impy”. The highly stylized animal characters of Ryan were omnipresent in the features of these titles. Ryan’s features and covers (along with many other artists of the Chesler shop) continued even as the publisher imprint changed to Ultem Publications for books cover dated October 1937 and then Centaur Publications for titles covered dated March 1938. (See the Ryan, Wood, Biro and Guardineer covers. Not credited in any published comicbook resource work is the fact that the first cover drawn by Gill Fox was for the first issue of Centaur’s Keen Detective Funnies cover dated July 1938.)

 

Although the subsequent publisher of Star and Star Ranger was listed as Ultem Publishers, the Chesler name prominently remained in the masthead as editor for these two titles. At the same time, Ultem also took over the remaining Cook/Mahon titles of Funny Pages and Funny Picture Stories. (Confusion has been created in the collection of these “pre-Centaur” issues in that the indicia on the covers did not initially reflect the change of publishing control or indicia contained on the interior pages.) These titles also listed Chesler as the editor. The content of these titles, upon resumption of publication by Ultem, clearly took on the look of Chesler produced books not only in name but style and content. This look and content continued for many months even as the publishing and editorial reins changed to Centaur Publications and “Uncle” Joe Hardie for titles dated March 1938.

 

As Centaur entered the science fantasy field with Amazing Mystery Funnies (August 1938) and the superhero field with Amazing Man Comics (September 1939) following the advent of “Superman”, Centaur turned to the Jacquet’s Funnies Inc. shop for its material. (“Amazing Man” has the distinction of being the first “super hero” to debut in his own title.) This shop of artists and the characters they produced for Centaur laid the ground work for the greater fame the artists would gain as the creators of many of the major features for Timely Publications in the fall of 1939.

 

Before leaving this phase of the Chesler production, it is appropriate to observe that Chesler always had ambition to syndicate some of his strips in newspapers. Syndication submissions were made for “Dan Hastings” and other adventure strips. Please compare the Ryan page of Star Comics 9 page 19 with the unfinished original art page reproduced herein. Although the history is not clear, the size presentation obviously is more suitable for newspaper syndication.

Although this phase of Chesler production was to end as Centaur took over, Chesler was soon to return with a new line of comic titles as he jumped onto the superhero band wagon.

 

Pre-War Super Hero Titles 1941-1942

 

Chesler continued to be busy as the 1930s drew to a close. Although not publishing his own books, he did produce and package stories for several publishers including several early titles for MLJ before MLJ took its production in house. Chesler also packaged or contributed material for early issues of Fawcett titles such as Master, Slam Bang and Capt. Marvel Comics and for early issues of Feature Comics before Everett Arnold absorbed the title as part of Quality Publications. Material was even produced for the earliest issues of Timely’s Mystic Comics. Chesler produced a beautifully rendered premium give-away, Cocomalt Big Book of Comics.

Chesler entered the super hero sweepstakes with four of his own titles: Yankee Comics (September 1941), Dynamic Comics (October 1941), Scoop Comics (November 1941) and Punch Comics (December 1941). Never one for understatement, each of his titles proclaimed they were “World’s Greatest Comics”. A new string of artists lead by Charles Sultan and George Tuska contributed material. Material from his earlier pre-hero titles was reproduced. (Reprinting of these earlier filler materials for his current line of titles was a common Chesler practice.) Even cover “concepts” were recycled. (Compare the cover of Scoop 1 with Star Ranger Comics 2 for derivative concept).

 

Sultan, as Chesler’s art director, produced several wonderful covers and interior art which, by drawing style and content, were clearly influenced by master comicbook illustrator Lou Fine. One need to go no farther than the cover of Scoop 2 which is clearly derivative of the cover of Hit Comics 5 which Fine drew. Sultan was not the first or last artist to imitate or be influenced by the incomparable Lou Fine. Imitation or not, Sultan rendered beautifully drawn art for characters such as “Master Key”, “Yankee Doodle”, “Dynamic Man” and “Major Victory”.

Tuska contributed art for the mysterious “Lady Satan”. George Tuska is presently better known for his silver age art for the pantheon of Marvel Comic characters including “Iron Man” and “The Avengers”. Tuska’s association with comics stretches back to the earliest days of the golden age of comics. He not only drew for Chesler, but also did much work for the Eisner shop as it produced material for Fox Publications and Fiction House. His art also graces the early adventures of Capt. Marvel. One only has to view his work on the “Shark Brodie” strip he drew for Fiction House to observe his graceful and fine line work. A true craftsman, Tuska often does not receive his due for the early contributions he made to the medium of comicbook art. A little known fact is that it was he, not Lou Fine, that drew the cover for Mystery Men 6.

Some titles continued characters from the Chesler pre hero period such as “Dan Hastings” and “Lucky Coyne”. However, the headliners were an array of new super hero and adventure characters. The new lead features included:

 

Master Key: Beginning in Scoop Comic 1, Master Key was a “Weird figure of the night, who strikes terror into the hearts of the most hardened criminal. Known to society as suave sophisticated Ray Cardell, this not-so-playful playboy represents the iron fist of justice. All the underworld trembles at his name.” One night, rays blast through a telescope he is using. It has the effect upon his eye that allows him to look through objects. (Compare the modified origin in Punch Comics 13 (April 1945) wherein his power is gained by an explosion caused by a short circuit.) As his character continued in the mid 1940s, his eye could paralyze or burn people or objects. Donning fedora and cape he takes on criminals and fifth columnist galore.

Rocketman and Rocket Girl first appeared in Scoop Comics 1. They were Cal Martin and his fiancé Doris Dalton, young scientists, who use his rocket packs inventions to battle crime and better society. Later in the 1940s he makes a career switch and becomes an attorney and she his secretary. Nonetheless, they zoomed on until the Chesler string ran out in the late 1940s.

 

Yankee Doodle Jones and Dandy: First appearing in Yankee Comics, this pair literally were borne from the “members” of old war veterans. Yankee is injected by an invincibility serum just as fifth columnists come and kill the scientist who has “created” this hero. The scientist’s son, upon seeing his father killed, also injects himself with the serum. The two are literally called upon by Uncle Sam himself to battle the foes of freedom and the U.S.A. The feature reflected the vitality and verve of the early golden age with one liners flying as fast as fists.

 

Lady Satan: Her fiancé and she are victims of a bombing while on a ship. As told in Dynamic Comics 2 (December 1941), the ship sunk and her fiancé died. She takes an oath to be the foe of the evil Germans. Donning a mask and waltzing about in an evening dress, somehow she manages to travel unnoticed through the streets of Nazi occupied France as she fights the German host.

 

Major Victory: First appearing in Dynamic Comics 1, Major Victory was one of many “patriotic” super heroes that sprung up to defend America against foreign forces before the official entry into the war following Pearl Harbor. Near death due to a bomb blast while serving as an Army sentry, he is revived by the ringing of the liberty bell by “Father Patriot”. Reincarnated as Major Victory (I guess he had rank over the host of “Captain” patriot super heroes of the day), the Major takes on the ruthless Baron Von Krumm and his no good Nazi henchmen.

 

Dynamic Man who first appeared in Dynamic Comics 1 took more of a Torch like road to superheroeing (at least initially). Dr. Moore creates an artificial man to combat the evil witchcraft of The Yellow Spot (yes, “The Yellow Spot”). The Spot can travel as a bat. The Spot is killing off or entrancing the minds of American scientists. He goes to the home of Dr. Moore who is creating an artificial man. During the creation process, the Yellow Spot tries to stop Moore. Stabbing Moore, Moore manages to throw the switch giving life to his Dynamic Man. Dynamic Man is able to stop the fiendish plan of the Yellow Spot and release the trapped minds of other scientists. Grabbing the bat form of the Yellow Spot, Dynamic Man proclaims: “The Yellow Spot is rubbed from the world”. Later, he would become an actual human working as high school coach, Bert McQuade.

 

The Echo first appeared in Yankee Comics 1. A gifted ventriloquist he was fortunate to find a invisibility belt (and later a paralyzing ring) without which he would have had a difficult time fighting crime.

 

Notwithstanding the relatively good quality of the art and features, after only a few months, these titles abruptly ceased publication by February /March 1942. Although the hiatus might possibly be as a result of paper shortages brought on by the advent of the war (compare the demise of many Fox Publication titles and Centaur titles by those cover dated February and March 1942), it appears that the answer may be simpler- Chesler and his editor entered the armed forces! Although most Chesler titles did not resume a regular publication schedule until 1944, Dynamic made a two issue resurrection later in 1942 or 1943. The indicia of Dynamic 8 and 9, after listing Chesler as publisher and Phil Sturm as editor states: “(on leave from U.S. Army)”. (Compare a similar statement in the Statement of Ownership appearing in Punch Comics 14 July 1945). It may be that without Chesler rowing, his publishing syndicate stopped dead in the water.

 

Dynamic 8 contained material reprinted from the earlier Chesler titles of Scoop 1 (“Master Key”), Yankee 1 (When reprinted in Dynamic Comics 8, all of the “Yankee Doodle” art work was exactly the same. However, the splash page was slightly redrawn, possibly feature indicating that the original splash was lost), and Star Comics (e.g. the “Li’l Arthur” from issue 5). No new material was within. However, the book sported a uniquely macabre cover by the new art director Gaspano Ricca. The other interim issue-number 9- had a guns ablazin’ cover by the soon to be renowned Mac Raboy.

 

 

Late Superhero Period 1944-1947

 

As noted above, publication of Chesler imprint books abruptly ceased due to the advent of World War II. Many of the most sought after Chesler books are from the period when Chesler imprint comicbook production resumed on a regular basis in mid 1944. Artists for these titles included Gus Ricca, Fran Smith, George Tuska, Otto Eppers, Raphael Astarita, Paul Gattuso, Ruben Moreira and Charles Goodman. The titles resumed with many “gaps” in the numbering. A new title, Red Seal Comics, commenced with number 14.

 

Dynamic had ceased publication with the third issue (February 1942). The numbering for Dynamic resumed with number 8. Punch Comics had ceased with the second issue (February 1942) and resumed with issue 9 in July 1944. Scoop Comics ceased with the third issue (March 1942) and resumed with one single issue in 1945- issue number 8. Yankee Comics concluded with issue 4 – March 1942- and never resumed.

 

Before examining the post superhero production, it is appropriate to propose an explanation for these gaps. Although apparently he and his editor were engaged in service to their country, Chesler actually continued to produce a number of pocket size comicbooks for Remington Morse Co. and William Wise Co. The new art director, Gus Ricca, had a hand in this production. It is not known how widely distributed these issues were. Note that one of these pocketsize titles was Yankee Comics. The numbering of presently known pocketsize issues of Yankee Comics is for issues 4 through 7. It may be reasonable to conclude that this explains the number 8 for the single issue of Scoop Comics (or Dynamic Comics 8). During this time, digest issues appeared for Adventures of Riggin’ Bill (a character traceable to the first issue of Star Comics), Private Bill, Tops in Humor (issue 2 even has Chesler in it with the ever present cigar in his mouth), Mirth of a Nation and You Chirped a Chinful. The audience for these books was service personnel. The idea for these digests may well have come to Chesler as a result of his contact with the armed services. The books had prices of 5 and 10 cents.

 

Accordingly, the gaps in numbering may represent the issues of these digests that were produced in this period. The contents of these books were mainly single page gags of service life with patriotic text fillers. Some of the material was reprinted from the pre-hero period of 1937. The reprinting of old material was fairly common for the books that Chesler produced from 1944 onward.

 

As to the number 14 for the first issue of Red Seal Comics, a reasonable theory is that the numbering continued from Scoop 8 which changed to Snap Comics 9 which changed to Komik Pages 10 which changed to Bullseye Comics 11 which changed to Kayo Comics 12. As to “issue 13”, the only suggestion can be that the single issue of Carnival Comics which continued the reprinting of 1930s material is the “missing link”. Suggestions as to this point are welcomed.

Once resurrected, the contents of Chesler titles took on a more mundane nature. Sure there was the continuation of “super hero” characters such as Dynamic Man, Rocketman and the adventurers Master Key, The Echo and Lady Satan. However, the stories were far more pedestrian and lost that edge of vitality that characterized many of the pre-war stories. Of course, this was a problem that was not unique to Chesler, but also plagued the other publishers as the war wound down and the age of the superhero was in decline.

 

However, the uniquely grotesque and surreal covers of Gus Ricca drive the “collectiblity” of the titles from this period. Skulls, murderous dwarfs, blood dripping from every signpost, the Ricca covers had a dark, macabre edge reeking of malevolence. One wonders whether the kingpin character playing chess on the cover of Dynamic 12 is nothing less that a caricature of Chesler (cigar and all) himself. What the titles lacked in content quality, Chesler made up in risqué and bizarre covers. Whether it is a skirt fluttering up in Kayo Comics or a bare-breasted woman such as depicted in Punch 20, or the bizarre covers of Dynamic 19 and 20 or Punch 19, Chesler apparently would do anything to sell a book. Although a humor cover was interspersed on occasion, there is no question the atmosphere that Chesler pushed to lure the reader to his books.

 

Chesler did add a lead character for Red Seal Comics (October 1945) named the “Black Dwarf. An ex-football player who decided to take on crime, the only quality that qualified him for his “dwarf” name was his diminutive sobriquet of “Shorty Wilson”. He took on criminals no matter the risk. The Black Dwarf “chuckles whenever the odds favor death.” Assisted with his ragtag team of ex-criminals- “Nitro”, “Fly” and “Arsenic” (who “abdicated” her life as former queen of the blackmail rackets to fight with the Black Dwarf), the Dwarf was not hesitant to use violent strong arm tactics against the denizens who littered the underworld of crime. Other crimefighters rounded out the magazine such as “Lucky Coyne” (still going strong since the mention of the feature on the cover in Cherrio), Little Nemo and a western hero known as the “Gay Desperado also were present. By issue 17, Lady Satan joined the title. However, instead of Nazi opponents, she was a wielder of magic fighting foes of a more goulish nature.

 

Chesler also published three issues of a new title, Spotlight Comics (November 1944). This title also headlined the Black Dwarf. The rest of the material, again, was recycled from the earlier Chesler titles of the pre-war period.

 

Fran Smith drew the Black Dwarf and most of the covers for Red Seal. Included as illustrations in this article are two unpublished covers by Smith. The Black Dwarf cover, with the tiger and Arsenic in distress, is wonderfully rendered by Smith. It obviously was intended as a cover for a Red Seal issue. The other unpublished cover of Rocket Man and Rocket Girl again is magnificent drawn but never made it as a cover for Punch Comics which continued their feature. Perhaps it was a bit too much to “swallow” having rocket packs operating under water.

As Chesler tried to resume a regular publishing schedule, he recycled many of his pre-hero and pre-war period stories in each of the resurrected titles. Chesler even reproduced a prior splash page as a cover. The Lady Satan cover for Bullseye Comics 11 is the splash created by Tuska for the Lady Satan story in Dynamic 2. (Although not directly within the Chesler comicbook line note that the splash for the Rocketman story in Scoop 2 (January 1942) became the cover for Zip Jet Comics when the story was reprinted in February 1953. This Rocketman story from Scoop 2 was also reprinted in issue number 10 of the resurrected Punch Comics cover dated September 1944. This issue also reprinted the Master Key story from Scoop 3. Punch 9 reprinted features from Scoop.)

 

Punch 11 contained mainly new material (Rocketman was reprinted from Scoop 3) but the features and art were second rate. Master Key was now strictly battling crime and the new art did not compare with the earlier work of Sultan. The “Major Victory” yarns from Dynamic were recycled and packaged for some minor publishing entities in three issues of Major Victory Comics in 1945/1946.

 

Chesler packaged for Home Guide Publications a single issue of Skyrocket Comics sometime in 1944. The book slapped together a character named the “Ghost Hunter” with another feature called “Dr. Vampire” who “casts a grim shadow across the trail of fiends who thirst for nice warm blood”. The lead feature was about a Skyrocket plane used to demoralize the Japanese.

Finally, a little known fact is that Chesler produced the third issue of Capt. Battle Comics (Winter 1942)(As an aside has anyone seen issue number 4? It probably does not exist. It is not in Keltner’s exhaustive golden age index or depicted in Gerber’s Photo-Journal.). The fifth issue completely reprinted the contents of Capt. Battle Comics 1 as originally produced by Lev Gleason and Chesler’s old employees of Biro and the Binder brothers.

As the 1940s drew to a close, crime feature and horror were in their ascendancy while the first age of superheroes drew to a close. The publishing schedule of Chesler titles grew erratic in 1946. A last gasp of production occurred in mid-1947 when the Chesler imprint finally came to an end.

 

Closing Notes

Clearly the breadth of the Chesler production spanning the earliest years of the birth of the comicbook until the waning years of the golden age of super heroes assures Chesler place in the pantheon of comicbook entrepreneurs and producers. Many stalwarts of the comicbook art form developed and perfected their craft working for Chesler. It was pioneers, such as Chesler, that added not only to the mythos of comicbooks but to their development and growth as a truly American art form.

 

Jon Berk 12/28/01 C. 2009

 

The author would like to acknowledge, in addition to the primary source material, the assistance of reference works by Howard Keltner, Jerry Bails, Ron Goulart and Mike Benton in production of this article.

 

 

 

 

[jbcomicbox]

I've known for a while that Harry A. Chesler had given some papers to Fairleigh Dickinson University. Now, reading over some information online, I have found this description:

 

"Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Fairleigh Dickinson University's library holds 4,000 pieces of original comics art, with 1,245 volumes of supporting matrial, and some comic books. The late Harry "A" Chesler donated a large portion of the art collection, and for several years worked on the collection at the library a couple of days each week, guiding visitors and answering questions. Chesler ran one of the art studios that created comic book stories on contract for various publishers during the Golden Age of comic books. An exhibition catalog is available for $5.50, and a list of the artists represented in the original art collection is available free. An old but still useful list of the supporting books is available from Comic Art Collection, MSU Libraries, East Lansing, Michigan 48824-1048, or on ERIC fiche ED 207 572.

 

The status of some of the information above is in question because this COLLECTION WAS DISCONTINUED AND GIVEN TO THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS in 2001. (5/02)

 

CONTACT: Curator, Prints & Photographs Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540-4731."

 

My question is the following:

 

Does the LoC still own that OA or has it been dispersed through the collecting world? Jon B., do you know the answer to that question?

 

In late 1999, a 'wormhole' (as I dub it) opened to sale of some pieces from the Chesler collection. Some work was put on ebay to get a gauge of the market, followed by some direct sales by JG. "C" pieces were available for a bit, before seeing if B and A pieces (such as Dynamic 8- they did not) would be available. This material was from the post 1938 Star Comics/Star Ranger and was from the pre-war and war period of Chesler (See my article below).

 

Another OA dealer "strongly reminded" persons at the School, that Chelser bequest was not to include sale. The 'wormhole' closed. What happened after this to the OA and his papers is not known to me. I have always toyed with the idea of doing a book on Chelser with this reference material.

 

Jon

 

 

 

 

 

Harry “A” Chesler, Jr.- Comicbook Entrepreneur

 

The Rise of Original Comicbook Material

 

From 1934 to 1936, the “modern” comicbook was beginning to gain steam and popularity as titles such as Famous Funnies, Tip Top Comics, King Comics, Popular Comics and The Funnies filled the newsstand. These titles reprinted some of the most popular newspaper comic strips of the day. However, in 1935 a new phenomenon appeared in comicbooks. Due to the lack of available reprint material and the costs for the rights to same, some titles were printing “new”, original material. In February 1935 National Periodical/DC produced New Fun and in December 1935 released New Comics.

Covered dated May 1936, Comic Magazine Co. produced Comic Magazine/Funny Pages with material that was originally slated for National Periodicals. This company was owned by National Periodical defectors William Cook (former managing editor) and John Mahon (former business manager). (It is thought that they were “paid” with this art by their cash strapped ex-employer, Major Wheeler-Nicholson. Comic Magazine 1 contains a “Dr. Mystic” story by Siegel and Schuster which is key in the development of Superman. However, that is a story for another day.) They also produced Funny Picture Stories (November 1936), and the short-lived titles of Detective Picture Stories (December 1936). (It beat Detective Comics 1 March 1937 to the stands) and Western Picture Stories (February 1937)(tying with Star Ranger Comics as the first western comic). Comic Magazine Co. published all these books in the period of November 1936 to June 1937. They sold their extant titles, Funny Pages and Funny Picture Stories, to I.W. Ullman and Frank Temerson who published these titles for a short time- September 1937 to January 1938- as Ultem Publishers before the line was taken over by Joe Hardie and Centaur Publications in March 1938.

 

Rounding out original comicbook titles on the stands in 1936, John Henle published four issues of a poorly produced book called Wow What a Magazine. The four issues of this book contain the earliest works of Will Eisner, Sam Iger, Bob “The Batman” Kane, Bernard Bailey (who was to be the artist for “The Spectre” and “The Hourman” and briefly ran a small shop in the 1940s producing titles such as Top Spot Comics and Triple Threat Comics), Briefer (who would go onto receive notoriety for his rendition of “Frankenstein” in Prize Comics), George Brenner (creator of “ The Clock”, the first masked hero in comicbooks), and Louis Ferstadt (who would go on to draw “The Flash”, “Starman” and “Green Lantern” and eventually be the art director for Fox Comics in the late 1940s).

 

Eisner realized early on that there was a future in the production of comicbook features for publishers looking to cash in on the nascent comicbook industry. He, along with a few other individuals, recognized a market for supplying ready-to-be-published material for companies who had neither the skill or expertise in the production of a comicbook.

 

Rather than viewing comicbook production and creation as a stepping stone to the more recognized prestige of newspaper comic strips, Eisner saw the creative and financial potential in this new entertainment medium. Eisner formed with Sam Iger an early “comic shop” that produced material for release in England for titles such as Wags. These features were eventually reproduced to form the basis of Jumbo Comics and the Fiction House line of comics. Eisner also produced material for Fox Publications and Quality Publications under the publishing eye of Everett “Busy” Arnold.

 

Lloyd Jacquet, who had been the editor of New Fun 1, joined Eisner as a comicbook packager. Jacquet formed Funnies, Inc. which was responsible for providing much early material for the super hero line of books for Centaur. The core Funnies, Inc. artists- Bill Everett, Carl Burgos, Paul Gustavson and others- packaged a comicbook including features of the “Sub-Mariner” and “Human Torch” for Martin Goodman in a title known as Marvel/Marvel Mystery Comics. They soon supplied further material for Timely Publications and other comicbook companies that sprung up in the wake of the “super hero” success of “Superman” and “Batman”. Funnies, Inc. produced early material for Novelty Publications titles such as Target Comics and Blue Bolt Comics. Publishers, looking at the growing phenomenon of comicbooks, turned to “comicbook shops” as sources to provide them with ready material to be published.

 

 

 

Enter Harry “A” Chesler, Jr.

 

One of the earliest pioneers of comicbook shops- if not the first comicbook shop- was Harry “A” Chesler, Jr. (The “A” was claimed by Chesler to stand for “Anything”.) His name and handiwork was an ubiquitous presence from the earliest days of comics to the waning years of the golden age in the later 1940s. Publisher, editor or “sweat shop”, Chesler literally left his “imprint” on many titles of this era. (Chesler books starting in 1941 proclaimed on every cover: “Harry ‘A’ Chesler, Jr. World’s Greatest Comics”. Move over Stan Lee!) Chesler aggressively marketed and sought to package comicbook material for his own titles as well as providing art and writing services to the growing cadre of would be comicbook publishers. His stable of writers and artists provided a finished product with assembly line efficiency.

 

Covered dated February 1937, Chesler produced and published Star Comics and Star Ranger Comics. These titles contained all original material. As noted above, the marketplace had few such titles at this time. As indicated below, many creative talents- who were seeking a start in the world of “funny books”- were gobbled up by Chesler to turn out features for these titles and other publishers.

 

Although mostly remembered for the books he published in the early and mid 1940s, the Chesler comicbook titles may be broken down into three periods. In the early period of 1937-1939, he produced “funny books” that focused more on humor strips, adventure and western stories. In the pre-war years he joined the super-hero parade with titles such as Dynamic Comics, Yankee Comics, Scoop Comics and Punch Comics which were short-lived in their first incarnation. The final period was the resurrection of these titles that sported the uniquely macabre covers of Gus Ricca as well as covers drawn by Fran Smith and George Tuska. The Chesler string of comic titles ran out as 1947 drew to a close.

 

The Pre-Superhero Period 1937-1939

 

Although the first published Chesler comicbooks were Star Comics and Star Ranger Comics cover dated February 1937, it was obvious that Chesler had his eye on the publishing market and comics before this. In a little known mock-up magazine that was only submitted for copyright purposes, Chesler produced a magazine called Cheerio with a subtitle of “A Rapid View of Fun that’s New”. (There is that “new” word again.) Dated January 5, 1936, it approximated the size of New Fun. The insides were mainly text (Chesler himself even penned a crime piece) along with single panel gags and blank filler pages.

 

Cherrio could easily be relegated to the pile of esoteria that litters the history of comicbooks. However, the link of this magazine to Star Comics is inescapable. Reproduced as a header figure within Cheerio is a figure (see insert) that became the cover figure for Star Comics 1 as drawn by J.C. Brigham. The tagline for this magazine became the tagline for Star Comics. The full-page comic splash on the back cover of Cheerio was reproduced in Star Comics 1. Also, although it did not appear within, the magazine on the cover references the features of “King Kole’s Court” and “Lucky Coyne” which were early features of Star Comics. As produced, Star Comics contained many one and two page features. One was named “Cheerio Minstrels” which, when viewed in the context of the above, has an obvious link to Chesler’s plans for features.

 

The first six issues of Star Comics and Star Ranger Comics were oversized. Every issue for each title was beautifully rendered. The material within consisting of one or two page gags, adventure or western stories were well drawn and well produced. Talents such as Jack Cole, Charles Biro, Bob Wood, Fred Guardineer, Gill Fox, Fred Schwab, Ken Ernst, Otto and Jack Binder (who was an art editor for Chesler before he set up his own comic art shop), William Allison, Creig Flessel, Paul Gustavson and many others first cut their teeth here before moving onto other shops or in house production for comicbook companies. The artists and writers were, for the most part, extremely young and neophytes to this new industry. The Chesler shop was their first stop on their comicbook career.

 

Star Comics contained the adventure strip “Dan Hastings” as first drawn by Clem Gretter (who had provided material for New Fun) and then drawn by Fred Guardineer. In addition to the above mentioned artists, one could even find work by Rick “Buck Rodgers” Yager. The son of Windsor McCay supplied a strip called “Impy”. The highly stylized animal characters of Ryan were omnipresent in the features of these titles. Ryan’s features and covers (along with many other artists of the Chesler shop) continued even as the publisher imprint changed to Ultem Publications for books cover dated October 1937 and then Centaur Publications for titles covered dated March 1938. (See the Ryan, Wood, Biro and Guardineer covers. Not credited in any published comicbook resource work is the fact that the first cover drawn by Gill Fox was for the first issue of Centaur’s Keen Detective Funnies cover dated July 1938.)

 

Although the subsequent publisher of Star and Star Ranger was listed as Ultem Publishers, the Chesler name prominently remained in the masthead as editor for these two titles. At the same time, Ultem also took over the remaining Cook/Mahon titles of Funny Pages and Funny Picture Stories. (Confusion has been created in the collection of these “pre-Centaur” issues in that the indicia on the covers did not initially reflect the change of publishing control or indicia contained on the interior pages.) These titles also listed Chesler as the editor. The content of these titles, upon resumption of publication by Ultem, clearly took on the look of Chesler produced books not only in name but style and content. This look and content continued for many months even as the publishing and editorial reins changed to Centaur Publications and “Uncle” Joe Hardie for titles dated March 1938.

 

As Centaur entered the science fantasy field with Amazing Mystery Funnies (August 1938) and the superhero field with Amazing Man Comics (September 1939) following the advent of “Superman”, Centaur turned to the Jacquet’s Funnies Inc. shop for its material. (“Amazing Man” has the distinction of being the first “super hero” to debut in his own title.) This shop of artists and the characters they produced for Centaur laid the ground work for the greater fame the artists would gain as the creators of many of the major features for Timely Publications in the fall of 1939.

 

Before leaving this phase of the Chesler production, it is appropriate to observe that Chesler always had ambition to syndicate some of his strips in newspapers. Syndication submissions were made for “Dan Hastings” and other adventure strips. Please compare the Ryan page of Star Comics 9 page 19 with the unfinished original art page reproduced herein. Although the history is not clear, the size presentation obviously is more suitable for newspaper syndication.

Although this phase of Chesler production was to end as Centaur took over, Chesler was soon to return with a new line of comic titles as he jumped onto the superhero band wagon.

 

Pre-War Super Hero Titles 1941-1942

 

Chesler continued to be busy as the 1930s drew to a close. Although not publishing his own books, he did produce and package stories for several publishers including several early titles for MLJ before MLJ took its production in house. Chesler also packaged or contributed material for early issues of Fawcett titles such as Master, Slam Bang and Capt. Marvel Comics and for early issues of Feature Comics before Everett Arnold absorbed the title as part of Quality Publications. Material was even produced for the earliest issues of Timely’s Mystic Comics. Chesler produced a beautifully rendered premium give-away, Cocomalt Big Book of Comics.

Chesler entered the super hero sweepstakes with four of his own titles: Yankee Comics (September 1941), Dynamic Comics (October 1941), Scoop Comics (November 1941) and Punch Comics (December 1941). Never one for understatement, each of his titles proclaimed they were “World’s Greatest Comics”. A new string of artists lead by Charles Sultan and George Tuska contributed material. Material from his earlier pre-hero titles was reproduced. (Reprinting of these earlier filler materials for his current line of titles was a common Chesler practice.) Even cover “concepts” were recycled. (Compare the cover of Scoop 1 with Star Ranger Comics 2 for derivative concept).

 

Sultan, as Chesler’s art director, produced several wonderful covers and interior art which, by drawing style and content, were clearly influenced by master comicbook illustrator Lou Fine. One need to go no farther than the cover of Scoop 2 which is clearly derivative of the cover of Hit Comics 5 which Fine drew. Sultan was not the first or last artist to imitate or be influenced by the incomparable Lou Fine. Imitation or not, Sultan rendered beautifully drawn art for characters such as “Master Key”, “Yankee Doodle”, “Dynamic Man” and “Major Victory”.

Tuska contributed art for the mysterious “Lady Satan”. George Tuska is presently better known for his silver age art for the pantheon of Marvel Comic characters including “Iron Man” and “The Avengers”. Tuska’s association with comics stretches back to the earliest days of the golden age of comics. He not only drew for Chesler, but also did much work for the Eisner shop as it produced material for Fox Publications and Fiction House. His art also graces the early adventures of Capt. Marvel. One only has to view his work on the “Shark Brodie” strip he drew for Fiction House to observe his graceful and fine line work. A true craftsman, Tuska often does not receive his due for the early contributions he made to the medium of comicbook art. A little known fact is that it was he, not Lou Fine, that drew the cover for Mystery Men 6.

Some titles continued characters from the Chesler pre hero period such as “Dan Hastings” and “Lucky Coyne”. However, the headliners were an array of new super hero and adventure characters. The new lead features included:

 

Master Key: Beginning in Scoop Comic 1, Master Key was a “Weird figure of the night, who strikes terror into the hearts of the most hardened criminal. Known to society as suave sophisticated Ray Cardell, this not-so-playful playboy represents the iron fist of justice. All the underworld trembles at his name.” One night, rays blast through a telescope he is using. It has the effect upon his eye that allows him to look through objects. (Compare the modified origin in Punch Comics 13 (April 1945) wherein his power is gained by an explosion caused by a short circuit.) As his character continued in the mid 1940s, his eye could paralyze or burn people or objects. Donning fedora and cape he takes on criminals and fifth columnist galore.

Rocketman and Rocket Girl first appeared in Scoop Comics 1. They were Cal Martin and his fiancé Doris Dalton, young scientists, who use his rocket packs inventions to battle crime and better society. Later in the 1940s he makes a career switch and becomes an attorney and she his secretary. Nonetheless, they zoomed on until the Chesler string ran out in the late 1940s.

 

Yankee Doodle Jones and Dandy: First appearing in Yankee Comics, this pair literally were borne from the “members” of old war veterans. Yankee is injected by an invincibility serum just as fifth columnists come and kill the scientist who has “created” this hero. The scientist’s son, upon seeing his father killed, also injects himself with the serum. The two are literally called upon by Uncle Sam himself to battle the foes of freedom and the U.S.A. The feature reflected the vitality and verve of the early golden age with one liners flying as fast as fists.

 

Lady Satan: Her fiancé and she are victims of a bombing while on a ship. As told in Dynamic Comics 2 (December 1941), the ship sunk and her fiancé died. She takes an oath to be the foe of the evil Germans. Donning a mask and waltzing about in an evening dress, somehow she manages to travel unnoticed through the streets of Nazi occupied France as she fights the German host.

 

Major Victory: First appearing in Dynamic Comics 1, Major Victory was one of many “patriotic” super heroes that sprung up to defend America against foreign forces before the official entry into the war following Pearl Harbor. Near death due to a bomb blast while serving as an Army sentry, he is revived by the ringing of the liberty bell by “Father Patriot”. Reincarnated as Major Victory (I guess he had rank over the host of “Captain” patriot super heroes of the day), the Major takes on the ruthless Baron Von Krumm and his no good Nazi henchmen.

 

Dynamic Man who first appeared in Dynamic Comics 1 took more of a Torch like road to superheroeing (at least initially). Dr. Moore creates an artificial man to combat the evil witchcraft of The Yellow Spot (yes, “The Yellow Spot”). The Spot can travel as a bat. The Spot is killing off or entrancing the minds of American scientists. He goes to the home of Dr. Moore who is creating an artificial man. During the creation process, the Yellow Spot tries to stop Moore. Stabbing Moore, Moore manages to throw the switch giving life to his Dynamic Man. Dynamic Man is able to stop the fiendish plan of the Yellow Spot and release the trapped minds of other scientists. Grabbing the bat form of the Yellow Spot, Dynamic Man proclaims: “The Yellow Spot is rubbed from the world”. Later, he would become an actual human working as high school coach, Bert McQuade.

 

The Echo first appeared in Yankee Comics 1. A gifted ventriloquist he was fortunate to find a invisibility belt (and later a paralyzing ring) without which he would have had a difficult time fighting crime.

 

Notwithstanding the relatively good quality of the art and features, after only a few months, these titles abruptly ceased publication by February /March 1942. Although the hiatus might possibly be as a result of paper shortages brought on by the advent of the war (compare the demise of many Fox Publication titles and Centaur titles by those cover dated February and March 1942), it appears that the answer may be simpler- Chesler and his editor entered the armed forces! Although most Chesler titles did not resume a regular publication schedule until 1944, Dynamic made a two issue resurrection later in 1942 or 1943. The indicia of Dynamic 8 and 9, after listing Chesler as publisher and Phil Sturm as editor states: “(on leave from U.S. Army)”. (Compare a similar statement in the Statement of Ownership appearing in Punch Comics 14 July 1945). It may be that without Chesler rowing, his publishing syndicate stopped dead in the water.

 

Dynamic 8 contained material reprinted from the earlier Chesler titles of Scoop 1 (“Master Key”), Yankee 1 (When reprinted in Dynamic Comics 8, all of the “Yankee Doodle” art work was exactly the same. However, the splash page was slightly redrawn, possibly feature indicating that the original splash was lost), and Star Comics (e.g. the “Li’l Arthur” from issue 5). No new material was within. However, the book sported a uniquely macabre cover by the new art director Gaspano Ricca. The other interim issue-number 9- had a guns ablazin’ cover by the soon to be renowned Mac Raboy.

 

 

Late Superhero Period 1944-1947

 

As noted above, publication of Chesler imprint books abruptly ceased due to the advent of World War II. Many of the most sought after Chesler books are from the period when Chesler imprint comicbook production resumed on a regular basis in mid 1944. Artists for these titles included Gus Ricca, Fran Smith, George Tuska, Otto Eppers, Raphael Astarita, Paul Gattuso, Ruben Moreira and Charles Goodman. The titles resumed with many “gaps” in the numbering. A new title, Red Seal Comics, commenced with number 14.

 

Dynamic had ceased publication with the third issue (February 1942). The numbering for Dynamic resumed with number 8. Punch Comics had ceased with the second issue (February 1942) and resumed with issue 9 in July 1944. Scoop Comics ceased with the third issue (March 1942) and resumed with one single issue in 1945- issue number 8. Yankee Comics concluded with issue 4 – March 1942- and never resumed.

 

Before examining the post superhero production, it is appropriate to propose an explanation for these gaps. Although apparently he and his editor were engaged in service to their country, Chesler actually continued to produce a number of pocket size comicbooks for Remington Morse Co. and William Wise Co. The new art director, Gus Ricca, had a hand in this production. It is not known how widely distributed these issues were. Note that one of these pocketsize titles was Yankee Comics. The numbering of presently known pocketsize issues of Yankee Comics is for issues 4 through 7. It may be reasonable to conclude that this explains the number 8 for the single issue of Scoop Comics (or Dynamic Comics 8). During this time, digest issues appeared for Adventures of Riggin’ Bill (a character traceable to the first issue of Star Comics), Private Bill, Tops in Humor (issue 2 even has Chesler in it with the ever present cigar in his mouth), Mirth of a Nation and You Chirped a Chinful. The audience for these books was service personnel. The idea for these digests may well have come to Chesler as a result of his contact with the armed services. The books had prices of 5 and 10 cents.

 

Accordingly, the gaps in numbering may represent the issues of these digests that were produced in this period. The contents of these books were mainly single page gags of service life with patriotic text fillers. Some of the material was reprinted from the pre-hero period of 1937. The reprinting of old material was fairly common for the books that Chesler produced from 1944 onward.

 

As to the number 14 for the first issue of Red Seal Comics, a reasonable theory is that the numbering continued from Scoop 8 which changed to Snap Comics 9 which changed to Komik Pages 10 which changed to Bullseye Comics 11 which changed to Kayo Comics 12. As to “issue 13”, the only suggestion can be that the single issue of Carnival Comics which continued the reprinting of 1930s material is the “missing link”. Suggestions as to this point are welcomed.

Once resurrected, the contents of Chesler titles took on a more mundane nature. Sure there was the continuation of “super hero” characters such as Dynamic Man, Rocketman and the adventurers Master Key, The Echo and Lady Satan. However, the stories were far more pedestrian and lost that edge of vitality that characterized many of the pre-war stories. Of course, this was a problem that was not unique to Chesler, but also plagued the other publishers as the war wound down and the age of the superhero was in decline.

 

However, the uniquely grotesque and surreal covers of Gus Ricca drive the “collectiblity” of the titles from this period. Skulls, murderous dwarfs, blood dripping from every signpost, the Ricca covers had a dark, macabre edge reeking of malevolence. One wonders whether the kingpin character playing chess on the cover of Dynamic 12 is nothing less that a caricature of Chesler (cigar and all) himself. What the titles lacked in content quality, Chesler made up in risqué and bizarre covers. Whether it is a skirt fluttering up in Kayo Comics or a bare-breasted woman such as depicted in Punch 20, or the bizarre covers of Dynamic 19 and 20 or Punch 19, Chesler apparently would do anything to sell a book. Although a humor cover was interspersed on occasion, there is no question the atmosphere that Chesler pushed to lure the reader to his books.

 

Chesler did add a lead character for Red Seal Comics (October 1945) named the “Black Dwarf. An ex-football player who decided to take on crime, the only quality that qualified him for his “dwarf” name was his diminutive sobriquet of “Shorty Wilson”. He took on criminals no matter the risk. The Black Dwarf “chuckles whenever the odds favor death.” Assisted with his ragtag team of ex-criminals- “Nitro”, “Fly” and “Arsenic” (who “abdicated” her life as former queen of the blackmail rackets to fight with the Black Dwarf), the Dwarf was not hesitant to use violent strong arm tactics against the denizens who littered the underworld of crime. Other crimefighters rounded out the magazine such as “Lucky Coyne” (still going strong since the mention of the feature on the cover in Cherrio), Little Nemo and a western hero known as the “Gay Desperado also were present. By issue 17, Lady Satan joined the title. However, instead of Nazi opponents, she was a wielder of magic fighting foes of a more goulish nature.

 

Chesler also published three issues of a new title, Spotlight Comics (November 1944). This title also headlined the Black Dwarf. The rest of the material, again, was recycled from the earlier Chesler titles of the pre-war period.

 

Fran Smith drew the Black Dwarf and most of the covers for Red Seal. Included as illustrations in this article are two unpublished covers by Smith. The Black Dwarf cover, with the tiger and Arsenic in distress, is wonderfully rendered by Smith. It obviously was intended as a cover for a Red Seal issue. The other unpublished cover of Rocket Man and Rocket Girl again is magnificent drawn but never made it as a cover for Punch Comics which continued their feature. Perhaps it was a bit too much to “swallow” having rocket packs operating under water.

As Chesler tried to resume a regular publishing schedule, he recycled many of his pre-hero and pre-war period stories in each of the resurrected titles. Chesler even reproduced a prior splash page as a cover. The Lady Satan cover for Bullseye Comics 11 is the splash created by Tuska for the Lady Satan story in Dynamic 2. (Although not directly within the Chesler comicbook line note that the splash for the Rocketman story in Scoop 2 (January 1942) became the cover for Zip Jet Comics when the story was reprinted in February 1953. This Rocketman story from Scoop 2 was also reprinted in issue number 10 of the resurrected Punch Comics cover dated September 1944. This issue also reprinted the Master Key story from Scoop 3. Punch 9 reprinted features from Scoop.)

 

Punch 11 contained mainly new material (Rocketman was reprinted from Scoop 3) but the features and art were second rate. Master Key was now strictly battling crime and the new art did not compare with the earlier work of Sultan. The “Major Victory” yarns from Dynamic were recycled and packaged for some minor publishing entities in three issues of Major Victory Comics in 1945/1946.

 

Chesler packaged for Home Guide Publications a single issue of Skyrocket Comics sometime in 1944. The book slapped together a character named the “Ghost Hunter” with another feature called “Dr. Vampire” who “casts a grim shadow across the trail of fiends who thirst for nice warm blood”. The lead feature was about a Skyrocket plane used to demoralize the Japanese.

Finally, a little known fact is that Chesler produced the third issue of Capt. Battle Comics (Winter 1942)(As an aside has anyone seen issue number 4? It probably does not exist. It is not in Keltner’s exhaustive golden age index or depicted in Gerber’s Photo-Journal.). The fifth issue completely reprinted the contents of Capt. Battle Comics 1 as originally produced by Lev Gleason and Chesler’s old employees of Biro and the Binder brothers.

As the 1940s drew to a close, crime feature and horror were in their ascendancy while the first age of superheroes drew to a close. The publishing schedule of Chesler titles grew erratic in 1946. A last gasp of production occurred in mid-1947 when the Chesler imprint finally came to an end.

 

Closing Notes

Clearly the breadth of the Chesler production spanning the earliest years of the birth of the comicbook until the waning years of the golden age of super heroes assures Chesler place in the pantheon of comicbook entrepreneurs and producers. Many stalwarts of the comicbook art form developed and perfected their craft working for Chesler. It was pioneers, such as Chesler, that added not only to the mythos of comicbooks but to their development and growth as a truly American art form.

 

Jon Berk 12/28/01 C. 2009

 

The author would like to acknowledge, in addition to the primary source material, the assistance of reference works by Howard Keltner, Jerry Bails, Ron Goulart and Mike Benton in production of this article.

 

 

 

[BB-Gun]

I have a couple of coverless comics with Rocketman stories. Can you identify this issue?

[Scrooge]

In late 1999, a 'wormhole' (as I dub it) opened to sale of some pieces from the Chesler collection. Some work was put on ebay to get a gauge of the market, followed by some direct sales by JG. "C" pieces were available for a bit, before seeing if B and A pieces (such as dynamic 8) would be available. This material was from the post 1938 Star Comics/Star Ranger and was from the pre-war and war period of Chesler (See my article below).

 

Another OA dealer "strongly reminded" persons at the School, that Chelser bequest was not to include sale. The 'wormhole' closed. What happened after this to the OA and his papers is not known to me. I have always toyed with the idea of doing a book on Chelser with this reference material.

 

Jon

 

Thank you for the history run-down on the OA reaching the marketplace.

 

Do you know if Chesler donated any personal papers into the collection or if, as the article seems to mention, the collection aside from the OA is composed of secondary sources on comic books and the history of the medium? It's not quite clear what's included.

[selegue]

 

Not credited in any published comicbook resource work is the fact that the first cover drawn by Gill Fox was for the first issue of Centaur’s Keen Detective Funnies cover dated July 1938.)

 

...

 

Thanks for all the info!

 

This cover credit just came up on the GCD group. What's the source of the credit? Is this comment true, and if so, do you know which story the panel was in?

 

"Cool- further information from deciphering the somewhat cryptic reprint notes- it seems that the cover is actually a panel or panel detail from a story published in an earlier Comics Magazine Co. book (I updated the reprint note to be more clear). We don't have art credits for the source story either, though. Apparently a number of the early Centaur covers are done like this- a cost-saving measure not doubt. The contents were mostly CMC reprints as well, although the story that supplied the cover was not reprinted inside."

 

Thanks,

Jack

 

 

[BangZoom]

I was not aware that Parkhurst had done any comic work but from a quick check at the GCD, he did a buttload of it and that's only the ones that have been positively IDed. I see the work in Champ but also quite a bit of work for Fawcett and even some work for Dell, including FC 177 - Roy Rogers, which funnily I own. Now, I'll have to go and open it to check it out.

 

 

Parkhurst also had a lot of work published in Harry Donenfeld's Spicy Adventure, Spicy Detective, and Spicy Mystery titles.

 

May 1935

 

 

[BangZoom]

...I have never seen a splash split like this before. Generally, when using a double-page spread, the whole double-page is dedicated to the splash.

 

Here is another example of split panels from a Puffer and the Flying Donkey story.

 

Funny Book #3 (March 1943)

[Scrooge]

So, only some companies could do that, right? I mean, the editor had to know that this story would fit at the centerfold of the issue and that requires quite a bit of coordination so that the artist knows his work is not going to be split out. Or at least that the page will be coming out right next to each other.

[Scrooge]

So, this is not lost in the Sale thread I posted it, here's a repost -

 

Because sometimes you need indisputable factual evidence around here, here's from Comic Books and Other Horrors - Prep School for Totalitarian Society? (Scrooge Note: I kid you not) by Norbert Muhlen, in Commentary, 7 (1948), p. 80-87.

 

Read this excerpt to see how little stigma comic book reading held -