Fiction House was an American

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

pulp magazines Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

and comic books that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. It was founded by John B. "Jack" Kelly and John W. Glenister.Saunders, David
"JACK BYRNE (1902-1972),"
Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists (2015). Accessed Mar. 14, 2017. By the late 1930s, the publisher was Thurman T. Scott. Its comics division was best known for its

pinup A pin-up model (known as a pin-up girl for a female and less commonly male pin-up for a male) is a model whose mass-produced pictures see widespread appeal as part of popular culture. Pin-up models were variously glamour models, fashion models ...

-style

good girl art Good Girl Art (GGA) is a style of artwork depicting women primarily featured in comic books, comic strips, and pulp magazines. The term was coined by the American Comic Book Company, appearing in its mail order catalogs from the 1930s to the 1970 ...

, as epitomized by the company's most popular character,

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, is a fictional American comic book jungle girl heroine, originally published primarily by Fiction House during the Golden Age of Comic Books. She was the first female comic book character with her own title, with he ...

Leadership and location

The company's original location was 461 Eighth Avenue in New York City. At the end of 1929, a ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' article referred to John B. Kelly as "head" of Fiction House, Inc., and a new location of 271 Madison Avenue. In late 1932, John W. Glenister was president of Fiction House and his son-in-law, Thurman T. Scott, was secretary of the corporation. By the end of the 1930s Scott had risen to the title of publisher. In January 1950, the Manhattan-based company signed a lease for office space at 130 W. 42nd Street.

History

Pulp fiction

Fiction House began in 1921 as a

pulp-magazine Pulp magazines (also referred to as "the pulps") were inexpensive fiction magazines that were published from 1896 to the late 1950s. The term "pulp" derives from the cheap wood pulp paper on which the magazines were printed. In contrast, magazine ...

publisher of primarily aviation,

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, and sports pulps. According to co-founder John W. Glenister: During their first decade the company produced pulp magazines such as ''Action Stories'', ''Air Stories'', ''Lariat Stories'', ''Detective Classics'', ''The Frontier'', ''True Adventures'', ''Wings'', and ''Fight Stories''. Fiction House occasionally acquired other publishers' magazines, such as its 1929 acquisition of ''Frontier Stories'' from Doubleday, Doran & Co. By the 1930s, the company had expanded into detective mysteries. In late 1932, however, in the midst of the Great Depression, Fiction House cancelled 12 of its pulp magazines — ''Aces, Action Novels, Action Stories, Air Stories,

Detective Book Magazine ''Detective Book Magazine'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published by Fiction House in 1930 to 1931 and from 1937 to 1952. Each edition of ''Detective Book Magazine'' contained the complete text of a detective novel. Most editi ...

, Detective Classics, Fight Stories, Frontier Stories, Lariat, Love Romances, North-West Stories'' and ''Wings'' — with the stated goal of eventually reviving them. After a hiatus, '' Action Stories'' resumed publishing through this period (lasting until late 1950). In addition, Fiction House relaunched its pulp magazines in 1934, finding success with a number of detective and romance pulp titles. The cancelled pulps ''Fight Stories'' and ''Detective Book Magazine'' were revived in spring 1936 and in 1937 respectively, with both magazines publishing continuously into the 1950s. Fiction House's first title with

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

interest was '' Jungle Stories'', which was launched in early 1939; it was not primarily a science fiction magazine, but often featured storylines with marginally science fictional themes, such as survivors from

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...

. At the end of 1939 Fiction House decided to add an sf magazine to its line up; it was titled ''

Planet Stories ''Planet Stories'' was an American pulp science fiction magazine, published by Fiction House between 1939 and 1955. It featured interplanetary adventures, both in space and on some other planets, and was initially focused on a young readershi ...

'', and was published by Love Romances, a subsidiary company that Fiction House created to publish the company's romance titles.

Comic books

By the late 1930s, publisher Thurman T. Scott expanded Fiction House into comic books, an emerging medium that began to seem a viable adjunct to the fading pulps. Receptive to a sales call by

Eisner & Iger Eisner & Iger was a comic book "packager" that produced comics on demand for publishers entering the new medium during the late-1930s and 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Many of comic books' most significant c ...

, one of the prominent "packagers" of that time which produced complete comic books on demand for publishers looking to enter the field, Scott published ''

Jumbo Comics ''Jumbo Comics'' was an adventure anthology comic book published by Fiction House from 1938–1953. ''Jumbo Comics'' was Fiction House's first comics title; the publisher had previously specialized in pulp magazines. The lead feature for ''Jumbo C ...

'' #1 (Sept. 1938) under the company's Real Adventures Publishing Company imprint.

appeared in that initial issue, soon becoming the company's star character. Sheena appeared in every issue of ''Jumbo Comics'' (Sept. 1938 – April 1953), as well as in her 18-issue spin-off, ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' (Spring 1942 – Winter 1952), the first comic book to title-star a female character.Sheena, Queen of the Jungle
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia
Archived
from the original November 10, 2011 Other features in ''Jumbo Comics'' #1 included three by future industry legend

Jack Kirby Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gre ...

, representing his first comic-book work following his debut in ''Wild Boy Magazine'':Per Kirby's recollection in interview, ''The Nostalgia Journal'' #30 (Nov. 1976), reprinted in ''The Comics Journal Library, Volume One: Jack Kirby'' (2002) , p. 3 the

feature ''The Diary of Dr. Hayward'' (under the pseudonym "Curt Davis"), the modern-West crimefighter strip ''Wilton of the West'' (as "Fred Sande"), and Part One of the

swashbuckling A swashbuckler is a genre of European adventure literature that focuses on a heroic protagonist stock character who is skilled in swordsmanship, acrobatics, guile and possesses chivalrous ideals. A "swashbuckler" protagonist is heroic, daring, ...

serialization of Alexandre Dumas, père's '' The Count of Monte Cristo'' (as "Jack Curtiss"), each four pages long. ''Jumbo'' proved a hit, and Fiction House would go on to publish ''Jungle Comics''; the

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...

-themed ''

Wings Comics ''Wings Comics'' was an aviation-themed anthology comic book published by Fiction House from 1940–1954. ''Wings Comics'' was one of Fiction House's "Big 6" comics titles (which also included '' Jumbo Comics'', ''Jungle Comics'', ''Planet Comics' ...

''; the

title ''

Planet Comics ''Planet Comics'' was a science fiction comic book title published by Fiction House from January 1940 to Winter 1953. It was the first comic book dedicated wholly to science fiction.Benton, Mike. ''Science Fiction Comics: The Illustrated History'' ...

''; ''Rangers Comics''; and ''Fight Comics'' during the early 1940s — most of these series taking their titles and themes from the Fiction House pulps. Fiction House referred to these titles in its regular house ads as "The Big Six," but the company also published several other titles, among them the

-themed ''Indians'' and ''Firehair'', jungle titles ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' and ''Wambi'', and five issues of Eisner's ''

The Spirit The Spirit is a fictional masked crimefighter created by cartoonist Will Eisner. He first appeared June 2, 1940, as the main feature of a 16-page, tabloid-sized, newsprint comic book insert distributed in the Sunday edition of Register and Trib ...

''. Quickly developing its own staff under editor Joe Cunningham followed by Jack Burden,Cassell, Dewey, with Aaron Sultan and Mike Gartland. ''The Art of George Tuska'' (

TwoMorrows Publishing TwoMorrows Publishing is a publisher of magazines about comic books, founded in 1994 by John and Pam Morrow out of their small advertising agency in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Its products also include books and DVDs. List of magaz ...

, 2005), ; , p. 30 Fiction House employed either in-house or on a freelance basis such artists as

Mort Meskin Morton Meskin (May 30, 1916 – March 29, 1995)Social Security Death Index, SS# 071-16-1099. was an American comic book artist best known for his work in the 1940s Golden Age of Comic Books, well into the late-1950s and 1960s Silver Age. Early ...

Matt Baker Matthew James Baker (born 23 December 1977) is a British television presenter. He co-presented the children's television show ''Blue Peter'' from 1999 until 2006, BBC One's ''Countryfile'' since 2009 and ''The One Show'' from 2011 to 2020, wit ...

(the first prominent

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

artist in comics),

Nick Cardy Nicholas Viscardi (October 20, 1920 – November 3, 2013), known professionally as Nick Cardy and Nick Cardi, was an American comics artist best known for his DC Comics work on Aquaman, the Teen Titans and other major characters. Cardy was induct ...

, George Evans,

Bob Powell Bob Powell (né Stanley Robert Pawlowski; While gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, and gives Stanislav Pavlowsky, Bails and Ware note: "family name corrected by his son, Seth R. Powell July 2006." October 2, 1916

, and the British

Lee Elias Lee Elias (May 21, 1920 – April 8, 1998) was a British-American comics artist. He was best known for his work on the ''Black Cat'' comic book published by Harvey Comics in the 1940s. Biography Emigrating to the United States from Manchester ...

, as well as such rare female comics artists as

Ruth Atkinson Ruth Atkinson Ford, née Ruth Atkinson and a.k.a. R. Atkinson (June 2, 1918 – June 1, 1997), Includes obituary for Ruth Atkinson Ford, giving date of death date as June 1, 1997.Date of death given as May 31, 1997 at that the Lambiek Comiclop ...

Fran Hopper Fran Hopper (July 13, 1922 – November 29, 2017), née Frances R. Deitrick, was an American comic-book artist active during the 1930s–1940s period known as the Golden Age of Comic Books. One of the earliest women in the field, she drew primari ...

Lily Renée Lily Renée Phillips ('' née'' Willheim; May 12, 1921 – August 24, 2022), often credited as L. Renée, Lily Renée, or Reney, was an Austrian-born American artist best known as one of the earliest women in the comic-book industry, beginning i ...

, and

Marcia Snyder Marcia Louise Snyder (sometimes spelled "Snider") was a comic book artist and newspaper cartoonist who worked for the Binder Studio, Timely Comics, Fawcett Comics, and Fiction House during the Golden Age of Comic Books. Biography Snyder was bo ...

. The popularity of Sheena led to numerous other Fiction House "

jungle girls A jungle girl (so-called, but usually adult woman) is an archetype or stock character, often used in popular fiction, of a female adventurer, superhero or even a damsel in distress living in a jungle or rainforest setting. An alternate depiction i ...

":Sergi, Joe
"Tales From the Code: The Near Extinction of Sheena,"
CBLDF website (January 25, 2013). * Ann Mason ('' Jungle Comics'') — the mate of Ka'a'nga, Jungle King; like Sheena, wears a leopard skin dress * Jessie (''Jungle Comics'') — replaces Ann as the mate of Ka'a'nga * Camilla, Wild Girl of the Congo (''Jungle Comics'') — wears a zebra skin dress *

Fantomah Fantomah is an American comics character, best known as one of the earliest comic-book superheroines. Created by Fletcher Hanks, the character first appeared in ''Jungle Comics'' #2 (cover-dated Feb. 1940), published by Fiction House. Hanks is ...

, Mystery Woman of the Jungle (''Jungle Comics'') — one comics' earliest super-powered heroines, created by

Fletcher Hanks Fletcher Hanks, Sr. (December 1, 1889 – January 22, 1976) was an American cartoonist from the Golden Age of Comic Books, who wrote and drew stories detailing the adventures of all-powerful, supernatural heroes and their elaborate punishments of ...

* Princess Taj (''Jungle Comics'') — rides an elephant * Tiger Girl ('' Fight Comics'') * Princess Vishnu (''Fight Comics'') Feminist comics historian

Trina Robbins Trina Robbins (born Trina Perlson; August 17, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American cartoonist. She was an early participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the first female artists in that movement. In the 1980s, Robbins beca ...

, writes that: Despite such pre-feminist pedigree, Fiction House found itself targeted in psychiatrist Dr.

Fredric Wertham Fredric Wertham (; born Friedrich Ignatz Wertheimer, March 20, 1895 – November 18, 1981) was a German-American psychiatrist and author. Wertham had an early reputation as a progressive psychiatrist who treated poor black patients at his Lafarg ...

's book ''

Seduction of the Innocent ''Seduction of the Innocent'' is a book by German-born American psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, published in 1954, that warned that comic books were a negative form of popular literature and a serious cause of juvenile delinquency. The book was tak ...

'' (1954), which in part blamed comic books for an increase in juvenile delinquency. Aside from the ostensible effects of gory horror in comic books, Wertham cast blame on the sexy, pneumatic heroines of Fiction House, Fox Comics and other companies. A subsequent, wide-ranging investigation by the

Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency The United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency was established by the United States Senate in 1953 to investigate the problem of juvenile delinquency. Background The subcommittee was a unit of the United States Senate Judiciary Co ...

, coupled with outcry by parents, a downturn in comics sales, the demise of the pulps, and the rise of television and paperback novels competing for readers and leisure time, Fiction House faced an increasingly difficult business environment, and soon closed shop.

List of Fiction House pulps

List of Fiction House comic books

"The Big Six"

* '' Fight Comics'' (86 issues, Jan. 1940– an.1954) * ''

'' (167 issues, Sept. 1938–Mar. 1953) * '' Jungle Comics'' (163 issues, Jan. 1940–Summer 1954) * ''

'' (73 issues, Jan. 1940–Winter 1953) * '' Rangers of Freedom Comics /

Rangers Comics A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting an ...

'' (69 issues, October 1941–Winter 1953) * ''

'' (124 issues, Sept. 1940–1954)

Other titles (selected)

* ''3-D Circus'' (1 issue, 1953) * ''Cowgirl Romances'' (12 issues, 1950–Winter 1952/1953) * ''The First Christmas'' (1 issue, 1953; 3-D) * ''Ghost Comics'' (11 issues, 1951–1954) * ''Indians'' (17 issues, 1950–1953) * ''Ka'a'nga, Jungle King'' (20 issues, Spring 1949–Summer 1954) * ''Long Bow'' (9 issues, 1951–Winter 1952/1953) * ''Man O' Mars'' (1 issue, 1953) * ''Movie Comics'' (4 issues, Dec. 1946–1947) * ''Pioneer West Romances / Firehair'' (11 issues, Spring 1950–Spring 1952) * ''

'' (18 issues, Spring 1942–Winter 1952/1953) * ''

'' (5 issues, 1952–54) * ''Wambi, Jungle Boy'' (18 issues, Spring 1942–Winter 1952)

References

External links

* *
Good Girl Art
at AC Comics.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiction House Comic book publishing companies of the United States Defunct comics and manga publishing companies Pulp magazine publishing companies of the United States Publishing companies established in 1921 Magazine publishing companies of the United States 1921 establishments in New York City