Hillman Periodicals, Inc., was an American

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

and

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 ...

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, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...

company founded in 1938 by Alex L. Hillman, a former

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...

publisher. It is best known for its true confession and

true crime True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including detailing the actions of people associated with and affected by the crime, and investigating the perpetrator's Motive (law), motives. True crime works often ...

magazines; for the long-running general-interest magazine ''

Pageant Pageant(s) or The Pageant(s) may refer to: Events * Procession or ceremony in elaborate costume * Beauty pageant, or beauty contest * List of pageants of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints * Medieval pageant, a narrative medieval pro ...

''; and for comic books including ''Air Fighters Comics'' and its successor ''Airboy Comics'', which launched the popular characters

Airboy Airboy is a fictional Golden Age of comic books, Golden Age aviator hero of an American comic book series initially published by Hillman Periodicals during the World War II, before ending his initial run in 1953. The hero was the costumed identi ...

and The Heap.

Company history

Founding

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Hillman competed with

Bernarr Macfadden Bernarr Macfadden (born Bernard Adolphus McFadden, August 16, 1868 – October 12, 1955) was an American proponent of physical culture, a combination of bodybuilding with nutritional and health theories. He founded the long-running magazine pu ...

and

Fawcett Publications Fawcett Publications was an American publishing company founded in 1919 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, by Wilford Hamilton "Captain Billy" Fawcett (1885–1940). It kicked off with the publication of the bawdy humor magazine ''Captain Billy's Whiz ...

by publishing comics, true confessions magazines (''Real Story'', ''Real Confessions'', ''Real Romances'') and crime magazines (''Crime Detective'', ''Real Detective'', ''Crime Confessions''). In 1948 Hillman began publishing paperback books. There were several series of abridged mystery and western novels published in the larger 'digest' size. The long-running Hillman paperbacks first appeared in 1948 and lasted until 1961.

''Pageant'' and Airboy

In 1944, Hillman launched a

digest-sized Digest size is a magazine size, smaller than a conventional or "journal size" magazine, but larger than a standard paperback book, approximately . It is also a and format, similar to the size of a DVD case. These sizes evolved from the printing ...

, general-interest, "slick" (glossy paper) magazine, ''

'', with an initial print run of 500,000 copies. To obtain the paper during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

wartime rationing, Hillman ended his detective magazines and comics, which together brought in a $250,000 annual profit. He returned to comics in 1946, resuming some titles from the earlier series. Like most comic book publishers during the period fans and historians called 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 ...

, Hillman's titles included costumed

superheroes 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 ...

. As trends in the comic book market changed, the focus shifted more to

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, crime novel, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives or fiction that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professiona ...

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

stories, making Hillman one of the earliest

crime comics Crime comics is a genre of American comic book, American comic books and format of crime fiction. The genre was originally popular in the late 1940s and early 1950s and is marked by a moralistic editorial tone and graphic depictions of violence a ...

publishers (''Crime Detective Comics'', ''Real Clue Crime Stories''), and

Westerns The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...

(''Dead-Eye Western Comics'' and ''Western Fighters''). During this time, Hillman often utilized the talents of

Captain America Captain America is a superhero created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby who appears in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in '' Captain America Comics'' #1, published on December 20, 1940, by Timely C ...

creators

Joe Simon Joseph Henry Simon (born Hymie Simon; October 11, 1913 – December 14, 2011) was an American comic book writer, artist, editor, and publisher. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s–1940s Golden Age of Comic Books ...

and

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

. Hillman's most notable character, however, continuing in new stories by another publisher,

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book store, comic book specialty stor ...

, in the 1980s, was the

Charles Biro Charles Biro (; May 12, 1911 – March 4, 1972) was an American comic book creator and cartoonist. He created the comic book characters Airboy and Steel Sterling, and worked on ''Daredevil (Golden Age), Daredevil Comics'' and ''Crime Does Not Pa ...

, Dick Wood and Al Camy-created

aviator An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators because they a ...

-adventurer

in ''Air Fighters Comics'' and its successor, ''Airboy Comics''.

Later years

Hillman ceased publishing comic books in 1953, while continuing to launch such new magazines as ''Homeland'', and '' People Today'', while also distributing ''

The Freeman ''The Freeman'' (formerly published as ''The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty'' or ''Ideas on Liberty'') was an American libertarian magazine, formerly published by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE). It was founded in 1950 by John Chambe ...

'', a journal of

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

opinion. Amid a 1953 battle for control of directors and editors, publisher Hillman announced his resignation as the ''Freeman'' treasurer because "it has been almost impossible for the past six months to run the magazine". The following year, Hillman said he was thinking about launching a "

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

Republican" morning newspaper in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, but nothing came of it. Hillman periodicals also had a publication named ''Flight'', edited by Norton Wood. (Wood had previously served as managing editor of a highly classified monthly report on air weapons prepared by

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...

under contract with the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its origins to 1 ...

. Wood had been a member of the editorial staff of ''This Week Magazine'' and of the U.S. Camera Publishing Co.) ''Flight'' contained stories of the tremendous revolution going on in the skies - the transition within a decade from air travel as men had understood it for two generations to an entire new era of flight at supersonic speeds and fantastic altitudes, of strange new shapes in aircraft design, of combat planes without pilots, and rocket voyages into outer space. ''Flight'' chronicled the revolution in the skies with lines of defense of the "

H-Bomb A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...

" with futuristic drawings by Matt Greene artistically depicting a U.S. coastal city under coordinated attack by Russian bombers and submarines, and giant "inner tube" satellite space stations with depictions proposed by

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( ; ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German–American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and '' Allgemeine SS'', the leading figure in the development of ...

orbits in space flight. Hillman sold ''Pageant'' to

Macfadden Communications Group Macfadden Communications Group is a publisher of business magazines. It has a historical link with a company started in 1898 by Bernarr Macfadden that was one of the largest magazine publishers of the twentieth century. History Macfadden Publ ...

in April 1961, and the magazine continued until 1977.

Alex L. Hillman

Publisher Alex L. Hillman was a noted art collector who initially developed an interest in the field when he was a book publisher, commissioning artists to illustrate new editions of

classic literature A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

. He was married to Rita Hillman. He began his collection with such American painters as

Raphael Soyer Raphael Zalman Soyer (December 25, 1899 – November 4, 1987) was a Russian-born American painter, draftsman, and printmaker. Soyer was referred to as an American scene painter. He is identified as a Social Realist because of his interest in ...

and

Preston Dickinson William Preston Dickinson (September 9, 1889 – November 25, 1930) was an American modern artist, best known for his paintings of industrial subjects in the Precisionist style. Biography William Preston Dickinson was born on September 9, 18 ...

, and expanded it to include

impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

and other painters. He eventually established the Alex Hillman Family Foundation, a private foundation in

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 ...

, to oversee the collection.

Comic book titles published

Source:Hillman
at the

Grand Comics Database The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information use ...

. *''

Air Fighters Comics Airboy is a fictional Golden Age aviator hero of an American comic book series initially published by Hillman Periodicals during the World War II, before ending his initial run in 1953. The hero was the costumed identity of crack pilot Davy Nel ...

'' (1941 series) *'' Airboy Comics'' (1945 series - continues from ''Air Fighters'') *''All Sports Comics'' (1948 series continues from ''Real Sports'') *''All-Time Sports Comics'' (1949 series continues from ''All Sports'') *''Clue Comics'' (1943 series) *''Crime Detective Comics'' (1948 series) *''Crime Must Stop'' (1952 series) *''Dead-Eye Western Comics'' (1948 series) *''Frogman Comics'' (1952 series

*''Hot Rod and Speedway Comics'' (1952 series) *''Joe College Comics'' (1949 series) *''Miracle Comics'' (1940 series) *''Monster Crime Comics'' (1952 series) *''Mr. Anthony's Love Clinic'' (1949 series) *'' My Date Comics'' (1947 series) *''Pirates Comics'' (1950 series) *'' Punch and Judy Comics'' (1944 series) *'' Real Clue Crime Stories'' (1947 series continues from ''Clue Comics'') *''Real Sports Comics'' (1948 series) *''Rocket Comics'' (1940 series) *''Romantic Confessions'' (1949 series) *''Top Secret'' (1952 series) *''Victory Comics'' (1941 series) *''Western Fighters'' (1948 series)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Defunct comics and manga publishing companies Magazine publishing companies of the United States Publishing companies established in 1938