Crestwood Publications, also known as Feature Publications, was a magazine publisher that also published

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. ...

s from the 1940s through the 1960s. Its title ''Prize Comics'' contained what is considered the first ongoing horror comic-book feature, Dick Briefer's "

Frankenstein ''Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' is an 1818 novel written by English author Mary Shelley. ''Frankenstein'' tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young scientist who creates a sapient creature in an unorthodox scientific exp ...

". Crestwood is best known for its Prize Group imprint, published in the late 1940s to mid-1950s through packagers

Joe Simon Joseph Henry 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 served as the ...

and

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

, who created such historically prominent titles as the horror comic ''Black Magic'', the creator-owned superhero

satire Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

Fighting American Fighting American is a superhero created in 1954 by the writer-artist team of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Published by the Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics, it was, contrary to standard industry practices of the time, creator-owned. ...

'', and the first romance comic title, '' Young Romance''. For much of its history, Crestwood's publishers were Teddy Epstein and Mike Bleier. In the 1940s the company's general manager was Maurice Rosenfeld, and in the 1950s the general manager was M.R. Reese. In the mid-1950s, the company office manager was Nevin Fidler (who later became Simon & Kirby's business manager). In addition to Simon and Kirby, notable Crestwood/Prize contributors included Leonard Starr, Mort Meskin, John Prentice, Joe Maneely,

John Severin John Powers Severin (; December 26, 1921 – February 12, 2012) was an American comics artist noted for his distinctive work with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics '' Two-Fisted Tales'' and '' Frontline Combat''; for Marvel Comics, ...

, Will Elder,

Carmine Infantino Carmine Michael Infantino (; May 24, 1925 – April 4, 2013) was an American comics artist and editor, primarily for DC Comics, during the late 1950s and early 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comic Books. Among his character creations are ...

, Bruno Premiani,

Dick Ayers Richard Bache Ayers (; April 28, 1924 – May 4, 2014) was an American comic book artist and cartoonist best known for his work as one of Jack Kirby's inkers during the late-1950s and 1960s period known as the Silver Age of Comics, including on s ...

, George Klein,

Jack Abel Jack Abel (July 15, 1927 – March 6, 1996)
at the

Ed Winiarski, and Dick Briefer.

History

Origins: ''Prize Comics''

In 1940, Crestwood's Prize Publications, already established as a producer of pulp magazines, jumped onto the superhero bandwagon with the new title ''Prize Comics''. The first issue (March 1940) featured the non-superpowered, costumed crime fighter K the Unknown, whose name was changed to the Black Owl in issue #2 (April 1940). In ''Prize Comics'' #7 (December 1940), writer-artist Dick Briefer introduced the eight-page feature "New Adventures of

", an updated version of 19th-century novelist

Mary Shelley Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (; ; 30 August 1797 – 1 February 1851) was an English novelist who wrote the Gothic novel '' Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus'' (1818), which is considered an early example of science fiction. She also ...

's much-adapted Frankenstein monster. Considered by comics historians including Don Markstein "America's first ongoing comic book series to fall squarely within the

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

genre",Frankenstein (1940)
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia the feature, set in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

circa 1930, starred a guttural, rampaging creature actually dubbed "Frankenstein" (unlike Shelley's nameless original monster).

Simon and Kirby's Prize Group

''Young Romance''

Launched with a

cover date The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unu ...

of September 1947, the Prize Group title '' Young Romance'' signaled its distinction from traditional superhero and genre comics with a cover banner stating the series was "designed for the more adult readers of comics". Told from a

first person First person or first-person may refer to: * First person (ethnic), indigenous peoples, usually used in the plural * First person, a grammatical person * First person, a gender-neutral, marital-neutral term for titles such as first lady and first ...

perspective, underlining its claim to be recounting "true" stories, the title was an instant success, "bec

ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peop ...

Jack and Joe's biggest hit in years" and selling "millions of copies"Ro, p. 46 and a staggering 92% of its print run. Crestwood increased the print run by the third issue to triple the initial numbers, as well as upgraded the title from bimonthly to monthly through issues #13–72 (Sept. 1949 – Aug. 1954). Howell, Richard, "Introduction" to Real Love – The Best of the Simon and Kirby Romance Comics" 1940s–1950s (Eclipse Books, 1988). Miller, J. J., Thompson, Maggie, Bickford, Peter & Frankenhoff, Brent, ''The Comic Buyer's Guide Standard Catalog of Comic Books'', 4th Edition (KP Books, 2005) – "Young Romance", pp. 1599–1601 Within a year and a half, Simon & Kirby were launching companion titles for Crestwood to capitalize on the success of this new genre. The first issue of '' Young Love'' (Feb. 1949) also sold well with "indistinguishable" content from its parent-title. Further spin-off titles ''Young Brides'' (married couples' stories) and ''In Love'' ("book-length" stories) also followed from Crestwood/Prize, and were produced by the Simon & Kirby stable of artists and writers.

''Black Magic''

The long-running horror/suspense title ''

Black Magic Black magic, also known as dark magic, has traditionally referred to the use of supernatural powers or magic for evil and selfish purposes, specifically the seven magical arts prohibited by canon law, as expounded by Johannes Hartlieb in 1 ...

'' debuted in 1950. According to Jack Kirby, the idea for Spider-Man originated with him and Simon, who developed a character called The Silver Spider for ''Black Magic'', who was subsequently not used. Ironically, eventual Spider-Man co-creator

Steve Ditko Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...

drew a six-page story in ''Black Magic'' vol. 4, #3 (Dec. 1953).

Controversy

In 1954, a Crestwood/Prize salesman urged Kirby and Simon to launch their own comics company, Mainline Publications, while the duo continued to produce work for Crestwood under contract. When the duo rearranged and republished artwork from an old Crestwood story in the Mainline title ''In Love'', Crestwood refused to pay Simon and Kirby. After reviewing Crestwood's finances, Simon & Kirby's attorney stated that the company owed them $130,000 over the past seven years. Crestwood paid them $10,000 in addition to their recent delayed payments.

Decline

Crestwood gave up publishing comics in 1963, selling off its remaining

romance comics Romance comics is a comics genre depicting strong and close romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published ...

to publisher

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with their f ...

.Don Markstein's Toonopedia
"Romance Comics".
Accessed May 27, 2008. It continued to publish humor magazines, such as '' Sick'', up until 1968 (when ''Sick'' was acquired by Hewfred Publications).

Comic-book characters

*Airmale *American Eagle *

Atomic Man Atomic-Man is an American fictional superhero created by Charles Voight who appeared in '' Headline Comics'' from issue #16 (Nov/Dec 1945) to #21 (Sept/Oct 1946) which were published by Prize Comics. He is often credited for being the first atomi ...

* Black Owl *Blue Streak *Bulldog Denny *Captain Gallant *Dr. Dekkar, Master of Monsters *Dr. Frost *The Futureman & Jupiter *

Green Lama The Green Lama is a fictional pulp magazine hero of the 1940s, created by American author Kendell Foster Crossen. He is commonly portrayed as a powerful Buddhist Lama, dressing in green robes with a red scarf and using his powerful skill set to ...

(also published in pulp magazines and by Spark Publications) *Junior Rangers *Master Magician *Power Nelson *Ted O'Neil * Yank & Doodle

Titles published

References

Notes

Sources

* *

External links

Crestwood/Prize characters at International Superheroes
{{GoldenAge Defunct comics and manga publishing companies Defunct companies based in New York City American companies established in 1940 American companies disestablished in 1968 Publishing companies established in 1940 Publishing companies disestablished in 1968 1940 establishments in New York (state) 1968 disestablishments in New York (state) Publishing companies based in New York City