''Big Shot Comics'' was an American

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

series published by

Columbia Comics Columbia Comics Corporation was a comic book publisher active in the 1940s whose best-known title was '' Big Shot Comics''. Comics creators who worked for Columbia included Fred Guardineer, on ''Marvelo, the Monarch of Magicians''; and Ogden Whi ...

during the period in the 1940s that fans and historians refer to as the

Golden Age of comic books The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era in the history of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and ma ...

. An anthology title, the series included a mix of superheroes, costumed crimefighters, crusading

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

s, heroic magicians and others, both in original stories and in reprinted

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

comic strips A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

from the McNaught Syndicate, including '' Dixie Dugan'', ''

Joe Palooka ''Joe Palooka'' is an American comic strip about a heavyweight boxing champion, created by cartoonist Ham Fisher. The strip debuted on April 19, 1930 and was carried at its peak by 900 newspapers. It was cancelled in 1984. The strip was adapt ...

'', and the

movie A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

series spin-off ''

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu Police Department, Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan ...

''.

Publication history

''Big Shot'' ran 104 issues, cover-dated May 1940 to August 1949. With issue #30 (Dec. 1942), the title was shortened to simply ''Big Shot''.

Overview

Original characters included The Face, Sparky Watts, Skyman, Brass Knuckles, Marvelo and Spy-Master. Although the character Skyman was intended to be the leader of the title, the character did not have the star power that the publisher hoped for. Sparky Watts, a superhero parody character created by Boody Rogers, started in issue 14, and judging by the number of covers and solo books, had the highest popularity.

References

* Comics magazines published in the United States 1940 comics debuts 1949 comics endings Magazines established in 1940 Magazines disestablished in 1949 Golden Age comics titles {{comics-stub