''Real Fact Comics'' is a series of educational
American comic books
An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States, on average 32 pages, containing comics. While the form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of '' Action Comics ...
published by three early iterations of
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 ...
: World's Best Comics, Inc., Detective Comics, Inc., and
National Comics Publications
National Comics Publications, Inc. (also known as NCP or simply National) was an American comic book publishing company, and the direct predecessor of modern-day DC Comics.
History
The corporation was originally two companies: National Allied P ...
. The series lasted for 21 issues with
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 ...
s from March/April 1946 to July/August 1949. Like most educational comics besides the Parents' Magazine Institute's flagship series, ''
True Comics'', the series suffered from poor sales.
Publication history
The educational comic genre emerged as a response to criticism of comic books from a Chicago children's book author,
Sterling North
Thomas Sterling North (November 4, 1906 – December 21, 1974) was an American writer. He is best known for the children's novel '' Rascal'', a bestseller in 1963.
Biography
Early life and family
North's maternal grandparents, James Herve ...
. In a May 1940 article for the
Chicago Daily News
The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois.
History
The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...
, North referred to comics as "a poisonous mushroom growth", "sex-horror serials", and "graphic insanity". North's suggestion was to replace comic books with other forms of literature, either classic literature, or works of established children's authors. In somewhat of a rebuke to North, the Parents' Magazine Institute created ''
True Comics'', the first educational comic, in April 1941. The genre became popular with publishers by 1946, but ''Real Fact Comics'' was DC's only effort to enter the field.
Prior to the release of the first issue, DC secured the trademark to ''Real Fact Comics'' through an
ashcan mockup in February 1946 that reused black and white artwork from the cover of ''
Boy Commandos
Boy Commandos is a fictional organization from DC Comics first appearing in ''Detective Comics'' #64 (June 1942) by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. They are a combination of "kid gang" characters, an international cast of young boys fighting Nazis — ...
'' #1. At least ten copies of the ashcan were produced, though none featured any interior pages.
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 ...
and
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 ...
, who would go on to become some of the comics industry's most influential creators, worked on stories in the first two issues of the magazine together, with Kirby returning to draw a story in issue #9. For a time, comics historians believed the third issue contained the first
letter column to appear in a DC comic, but older examples have since been found.
The sixth issue included a fan letter from science fiction writer
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of ''Psycho'', ...
. While not a professional work, it is his earliest known published writing.
In addition to educational material covering historical figures like
Harry Houdini
Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...
and