''Feature Comics'', originally ''Feature Funnies'', was an

American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical literature originating in the United States, commonly between 24 and 64 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publ ...

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

series published by

Quality Comics Quality Comics was an American comic book publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, ...

from 1939 until 1950, that featured short stories in the humor genre and later the

superhero A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

genre.

Publication history

The series started out as a reprint collection of newspaper comic strips that was published by

Harry "A" Chesler Harry Chesler (January 12, 1897, or January 12, 1898 (sources differ)Harry Chesler
at ...

between 1937 and 1939, for twenty issues entitled ''Feature Funnies''. It featured cannily mixed color reprints of popular

newspaper comic strip 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 ...

s like ''

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 ...

'', '' Mickey Finn'' and ''

Dixie Dugan ''Dixie Dugan'' is best known as a long-running syndicated newspaper comic strip published from October 21, 1929 to October 8, 1966. The title character was originally modeled after 1920s film actress Louise Brooks and early stories followed Dix ...

'' with a smattering of new features. Publisher Everett M. "Busy" Arnold, deducing that

Depression-era The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

audiences wanted established quality and familiar

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 ...

for their hard-earned dimes, formed the suitably titled Comic Favorites, Inc. in collaboration with three newspaper

syndicate A syndicate is a self-organizing group of individuals, companies, corporations or entities formed to transact some specific business, to pursue or promote a shared interest. Etymology The word ''syndicate'' comes from the French word ''syndic ...

s: the

McNaught Syndicate The McNaught Syndicate was an American newspaper syndicate founded in 1922. It was established by Virgil Venice McNitt (who gave it his name) and Charles V. McAdam. Its best known contents were the columns by Will Rogers and O. O. McIntyre, the ...

, the Frank J. Markey Syndicate and Iowa's

Register and Tribune Syndicate The Register and Tribune Syndicate was a Print syndication, syndication service based in Des Moines, Iowa, that operated from 1922 to 1986, when it was acquired by King Features to become the Cowles Syndicate affiliate. At its peak, the Register a ...

(Comic Favorites later became an imprint of Arnold's

, established in 1939). Hiring

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

Rube Goldberg Reuben Garrett Lucius Goldberg (July 4, 1883 – December 7, 1970), better known as Rube Goldberg (), was an American cartoonist, sculptor, author, engineer, and inventor. Goldberg is best known for his popular cartoons depicting complicated ...

and Goldberg's assistant, Johnny Devlin,Jay, Alex
"Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Johnny Devlin,"
''Stripper's Guide'' (June 11, 2018). Arnold in mid-1937 began publishing ''Feature Funnies'' from his office as at 389

Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street (Manhattan), 131st Street to Gra ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. Goldberg drew many of the covers. The new material came from

comics packagers Comics packaging is a publishing activity in which a publishing company outsources the myriad tasks involved in putting together a comic book — writing, illustrating, editing, and even printing — to an outside service called a packager. Once th ...

, small studios that sprang up to produce comics on demand for publishers looking to enter the emerging comic-book field. Arnold initially bought from the quirkily named

Harry "A" Chesler Harry Chesler (January 12, 1897, or January 12, 1898 (sources differ)Harry Chesler
at ...

shop but later relied solely on

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, a period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by Will Eisner and Jerry Ige ...

, headed by

Will Eisner William Erwin Eisner ( ; March 6, 1917 – January 3, 2005) was an American cartoonist, writer, and entrepreneur. He was one of the earliest cartoonists to work in the American comic book industry, and his series '' The Spirit'' (1940–1952) wa ...

and

Jerry Iger Samuel Maxwell "Jerry" Iger (; August 22, 1903 – September 5, 1990) was an American cartoonist and art-studio entrepreneur. With business partner Will Eisner, he co-founded Eisner & Iger, a comic book packager that produced comics on demand ...

. Arnold recalled in the early 1970s: "I believe the first feature I purchased from Eisner & Iger was 'Espionage' in 1938 for ''Feature Comics'' (then ''Feature Funnies'')". Steranko, Jim, ''

The Steranko History of Comics ''The Steranko History of Comics'' is a multi-volume history of American comic books written by cartoonist and Comics studies, comics historian Jim Steranko. Originally planned as a six-volume series, only two volumes were ever produced, which ...

2'' (Supergraphics, 1972), p. 92 Other newspaper comic strip characters in ''Feature Funnies'' included the constantly bickering Bungle Family and girl reporter Jane Arden. ''Feature Comics'' then continued the numbering with issue #21, and ran until #144.

Recurring features

* Doll Man: a shrinking superhero written and created by

(under the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

"William Erwin Maxwell") debuted in #27 and was the lead feature through #139. * The Clock:

George Brenner George E. Brenner (1913–1952) was an American cartoonist in the mid 20th-century. He created comics such as '' The Clock'', ''Bozo the Iron Man'', and ''711''. Brenner was first employed by the Comics Magazine Company before moving to Everett ...

's masked crime-fighter was featured was carried over from ''Feature Funnies'', running in every issue of ''Feature Comics'' from #21–31 (Apr. 1940), when he moved over to the new Quality Comics title ''

Crack Comics ''Crack Comics'' is an anthology comic book series published by Quality Comics during the Golden Age of Comic Books. It featured such characters as The Clock, Black Condor, Captain Triumph, Alias the Spider, Madame Fatal, Jane Arden, Molly the ...

''. * Jane Arden: Reprints of the popular newspaper strip featuring a spunky gal reporter were carried over from ''Feature Funnies'', running in every issue of ''Feature Comics'' from #21–31 (Apr. 1940), when the strip also moved over to ''Crack Comics''. *

Spider Widow Spider Widow is a fictional superhero character that was published by Quality Comics during the Golden Age of Comic Books. The character was created by writer and artist Frank Borth, and debuted in '' Feature Comics'' #57, which bore a cover dat ...

: a female crime-fighter dressed as a stereotypical

Hallowe'en Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve), is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day. It is at the begi ...

witch, with a green-faced old crone mask, a floppy black hat, and a long black dress.

Frank Borth Frank M. Borth III (April 1, 1918 – August 9, 2009) was an American comic book artist. Biography Borth was born and raised in Cleveland, eventually graduating in 1940 from the Cleveland School of Art, where he majored in illustration."New Sea ...

's strip ran from issue #57 (June 1942) to #72 (June 1943). * Stunt Man Stetson: a story about an amateur detective in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

was the lead from #140 until #144.

References

External links

* * * {{refend Quality Comics titles Comics magazines published in the United States 1939 comics debuts 1950 comics endings Superhero comics Humor comics Golden Age comics titles