Maple Leaf Publishing was a
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
-era
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
comic book
A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. ...
publisher active during the
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era 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 many well-known cha ...
. They were one of four publishers—along with
Anglo-American Publishing
Anglo-American Publishing was a Canadian comic book publisher during the World War II era. While they published a number of Canadian creations, they also printed Canadian reworkings of scripts bought from American publisher Fawcett Comics.
His ...
,
Hillborough Studios, and
Bell Features—which published "
Canadian Whites
Canadian Whites were World War II-era comic books published in Canada that featured colour covers with black-and-white interiors. Notable characters include Nelvana of the Northern Lights, Johnny Canuck, Brok Windsor, and Canada Jack. The period ...
"—
black-and-white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
comic books with colour covers that proliferated during the war years when American imports were restricted.
Maple Leaf Publishing started publishing comic books in March 1941 and went out of business in late 1946.
In contrast to the larger
Anglo-American
Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...
, which published many comics drawn by
Canadians
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
but based on imported American scripts, Maple Leaf focused on home-grown scripts. Maple Leaf's first publication, ''Better Comics'' #1, is thus considered to be the first true
Canadian comic book.
Maple Leaf's comics were modeled on the American format, minus the colour interiors. Notable titles other than ''Better Comics'' included ''Big Bang Comics'', ''Lucky Comics'' and ''Rocket Comics''.
Titles published
* ''Better Comics'' (34 issues, March 1941 - August/September 1946)
* ''Bing Bang Comics'' (31 issues, November–December 1941 - May–June 1946)
* ''Lucky Comics'' (34 issues, June 1941 - October–November 1946)
* ''Name-It Comics'' (1 issue, Nov./Dec. 1941)
* ''Rocket Comics'' (32 issues, 1941–1946)
See also
References
Sources consulted
*
Notes
Comic book publishing companies of Canada
Defunct publishing companies of Canada
Golden Age of Comic Books
Publishing companies established in 1941
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