Well here's my introduction to Colossus Comics #1
Although comic books have been around since 1934, it wasn't until 1939 - due to the phenomenal success of Superman and the title he appeared in, Action Comics - that publishers really began to see that there could be money made publishing comic books and creating superheroes for them. And between 1939-1941, many publishers began to publish comic books in the hopes of having a character becoming the next Superman or at least having a best selling title to grab a share of what was rapidly becoming a lucrative field. With hundreds of thousands of young readers plunking down their Mercury Dimes for the latest issues, there was money to be made and everyone wanted a piece of the pie.
Pulp publisher Fiction House was the first to jump on the comics bandwagon with Jumbo Comics in late 1938 and eventually followed up with Jungle Comics, Planet Comics, Fight Comics, and Wings Comics (all titles based on their popular pulps) around early 1940. The heads of Columbia Publications (Maurice Coyne, Louis Silberkleit, and John Goldwater) launched four anthology titles; Blue Ribbon Comics, Top-Notch Comics, Pep Comics, and Zip Comics under the MLJ Magazines banner; within months of each other. Martin Goodman - under the Timely Publications banner - would launch Marvel Comics(eventually retitled Marvel Mystery Comics) which introduced the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner to the comics world. and such established publishers as Fawcett, Better Publications, Street and Smith, and Curtis Publications (through their Novelty Press imprint) soon followed.
And those who were established in comics weren't idle either. Industry leader DC simply added superheroes to their existing anthology titles. Thus, the Crimson Avenger (in #20) and the Batman (in #27) were introduced in the pages of Detective Comics; the Sandman (in #40) and the Hour-Man (in #48) began in Adventure Comics; the Spectre (in #52) and Doctor Fate (in#55) started in More Fun Comics; All-American Comics, a title DC launched in 1939, introduced the Green Lantern (in #16) and the Atom (in #19) the next year; and DC would launch Flash Comics with the Flash and Hawkman in the very first issue as well. Superman and Batman would get their own books and such titles as All-Star Comics, World's Finest Comics, Star-Spangled Comics, and Sensation Comics would come later. Comic Magazines, Inc. a/k/a Quality would launch the Doll Man in issue #27 of Feature Comics, and launched Smash Comics, Crack Comics, National Comics, and Hit Comics within months of each other. And Centaur Publications and Dell Publications would follow suit by adding superheroes to their existing titles.
What does this have to do with Colossus Comics #1? I'll get to that! I'm establishing a timeline here.
One of those publishers that hoped to jump on the comic magazine bandwagon was Sun Publications of Chicago, Illinois. Sun Publications was a pulp publisher established in 1912 by Arthur J. Gontier, Sr. (1864-1942) who earlier publications included the pulp 10-Story Book which helped launch the career of author Louis L'Amour. But it was the magazine's interiors - which featured pin-up girls and some nudes - that got Gontier's company in Dutch with the law. On May 7, 1938, the offices of Sun Publishing was raided by members of the Chicago Police Department and Arthur Gontier and his son Robert were arrested for possession and distribution of obscene literature. To keep out of trouble with the law, Gontier, Sr. decided to launch a magazine of historical fiction entitled Golden Fleece in late 1938. And in 1939 Sun Publications tried to get in on the ground floor of the emerging comic magazine boom by launching a humor title called Sun Fun Komiks which went over like a lead balloon and died after one issue. Undaunted, the Gontiers tried again to launch a comic book. The result is the title you are about to read.
Chicago, Illinois was one of the last places one would expect to find a comic book publisher (many comic publishers were New York based), but it was a hotbed for creativity during that time. As home to one of America's leading newspaper syndicates (The Chicago Tribune/New York News Syndicate, the distributor of more than quite a few significant newspaper strips) and - after New York - a national force in radio broacasting, you could expect to see a lot of creative talent that could help create a comic book. Taking advantage of that talent pool, the Gontiers set out to create a comic magazine that they hoped would be lucrative.
From this talent pool came writer Guy Murchie, Jr. - who wrote the article "How to Boomerang"- a reporter, photographer, and staff artist for the Chicago Tribune who went on to write such books as Song of the Sky, and Music of the Spheres (which he also illustrated) among others. Norman Modell - the writer of "Tulpa of Tsang" - was a noted radio writer in Chicago .And Berris Kregman, Mark Reisberg, and Lincoln Maher had some writing credits in the field.
Artwise, the Gontiers were able to get some experienced talent. Artist Jay Jackson - who drew the "Blond Garth" feature - was noted for drawing the Speed Jackson feature in the pages of such black owned newspapers as the Chicago Defender. Gene Rowls ("Mory Marine") earlier worked on a short lived strip called Algy in 1936. Artist Bernie Wiest - who drew "Colossus AD 2640" and "Lum Sims" - went on to a career as an army illustrator and an animator. And the other artists had some credentials working in cartooning for various Chicago publications during the period.
Strip-wise, Colossus Comics comes off as a typical anthology comic circa 1940. It featured a typical array of strips that covered the gamut of comic characters of the period. Berris Kregman and Lewis Segron's "Lucky Lucifer, Flyer of Fortune" was very much a typical aviation feature. Norman Modell and Lionel March "Tulpa of Tsang" was an interesting magic based hero. Jay Jackson's "Blonde Garth" was a white god of the jungle in the Tarzan mold made more significant by the fact that is was drawn by a black artist. Bernie Wiest's "Lum Sims" was a takeoff on Al Capp's Lil' Abner. "Mory Marine", "The Educational Adventures of Panda Lin", and "Ruggey" rounded out the book.
(SPOILER ALERT!) The most interesting feature was Bernie Wiest's "Colossus AD 2640", a character who had the potential to become an anti-hero in the mold of the Sub-Mariner. After he gets injected with a serum that causes him to grow to extreme gigantic height, Richard Zenith becomes a power mad giant who wants to take over Earth. Although he fights off an alien invasion, he is still viewed as a menace to Earth. (END SPOILER!).
Although the stories and artwork seem crude by today's standards, one has to remember these a group of people who were just glad to get work and found themselves unintentionally on the ground floor of the birth of an art form.
There were plans to introduce a new character called Icharion in the next issue, but there wouldn't be a next issue as Colossus Comics died after that one issue cover dated March, 1940. And Sun Publications practically died with it. A victim of the high mortality rate of early comic books and the cut-throat competition for the Mercury Dimes of the average young comic book reader. And Colossus Comics #1 entered the dustbin of history.
That is until the advent of the internet and people willing to scan such rare comics to help preserve them for later historians to be able to read this rare book. As a result, we readers can now read this rare book and judge it for ourselves . But it's best to read it with the mindset of someone who just bought a copy of this book in early 1940.
So here -rescued from the dustbin of history - is Colossus Comics #1.
Mr. Kelly "Kelso" Izaj of Pittsburgh, Pa.
7/18/2015
