Tower Publications was an American publisher based in

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 ...

that operated from 1958 to 1982. Originally known for their Midwood Books line of

erotic Eroticism () is a quality that causes sexual feelings, as well as a philosophical contemplation concerning the aesthetics of sexual desire, sensuality, and romantic love. That quality may be found in any form of artwork, including painting, sculp ...

men's fiction, it also published

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

under its Tower Books line and published

comic books 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 ...

in the late 1960s under its Tower Comics imprint. In the early 1970s, Tower acquired paperback publisher Belmont Books, forming the Belmont Tower line.

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc. (often referred to simply as Archie Comics) is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the village of Pelham, New York. The company's many titles feature the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Jug ...

' cofounder Louis Silberkleit was a silent partner in Tower's ownership; longtime Archie editor

Harry Shorten Harry Shorten (1914–1991) was an American writer, editor, and book publisher best known for the Comic strip syndication, syndicated gag cartoon ''There Oughta Be a Law!'', as well as his work with Archie Comics, and his long association with Arch ...

was a major figure with Tower in all its iterations.Feldman, Michael
"The Secret Origin of Tower Comics,"
in ''The Thunder Agents Companion'' by Jon B. Cooke (TwoMorrows Publishing, 2005), p. 85.Shorten entry
''Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928-1999''. Accessed Feb. 25, 2017.

History

Tower Publications was formed on June 2, 1958.
Best Business NY. Accessed March 3, 2017. The company's first publications were cheap paperbacks in Midwood Books's numbered erotic Midwood line, aimed at male readers. (Many of the titles were branded as Midwood-Tower Publications.) The covers of many Midwood Books featured works by prolific illustrators of the era, including Paul Rader; authors published by Midwood (mostly using pseudonyms) included Lawrence Block, Donald Westlake,

Robert Silverberg Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is a prolific American science fiction author and editor. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo Award, Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a SFWA Grand ...

, and Richard E. Geis. From 1965 to 1969, Tower ran a comic book division, Tower Comics, which was mostly run by cartoonists

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as ''Weird Science (comic), Weird Science'', ''Weird Fantasy'', an ...

and

Samm Schwartz Samm Schwartz (October 15, 1920 – November 13, 1997)Social Security Death Index, for SS# 073-14-0718. was an American comic artist best known for his work in MLJ and Archie Comics, specifically on the character Jughead Jones. Biography Schw ...

. Tower is most well known for Wood's own '' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents''; besides Wood and Schwartz, notable creators associated with Tower included Dan Adkins,

Gil Kane Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz , ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character. Kane co-created the modern-day vers ...

Reed Crandall Reed Leonard Crandall (February 22, 1917 – September 13, 1982) Reed Crandall
at ...

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 ac ...

Richard Bassford Richard Bassford (born 1936) is an American illustrator who has worked in both advertising and comic books. Born in Manhattan, Bassford lived from age three in the Queens neighborhoods of Maspeth, Corona and Whitestone until his marriage in ...

, Len Brown,

Steve Skeates Stephen Skeates (; January 29, 1943 – March 30, 2023) was an American comic book creator known for his work on such titles as ''Aquaman'', ''Hawk and Dove'', ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'', and ''Plop!'' He also wrote under the pseudonyms Chester P. ...

Larry Ivie Larry Ivie (1936–2014) was an American comics artist, writer, and Comic book collecting, collector who was active in comics fandom in the middle part of the 20th century, described by comics historian Bill Schelly as "the closest thing to an aut ...

, Bill Pearson,

Russ Jones Russ Jones (born July 16, 1942 in Ontario) is a Canadians, Canadian novelist, illustrator, and magazine editor, active in the publishing and entertainment industries over a half-century, best known as the creator of the magazine ''Creepy (magazin ...

, and

Roger Brand Roger Brand (January 5, 1943 – November 23, 1985) was an People of the United States, American cartoonist who created stories for both mainstream and Underground comix, underground comic books. His work showed a fascination with Horror comics, h ...

. Tower Comics went defunct in 1969. Tower Publications' Tower Books line published

and

from 1965 to 1982. Writer

Gardner Fox Gardner Francis Cooper Fox (May 20, 1911 – December 24, 1986) was an American writer known best for creating numerous comic book characters for DC Comics. He is estimated to have written more than 4,000 comics stories, including 1,500 for DC ...

produced between thirteen and twenty-five "Lady from L.U.S.T." (League of Undercover Spies and Terrorists) novels for Tower (and later Belmont Tower) between 1968 and 1975 using the name "Rod Gray". In 1971, Tower acquired the assets of Belmont Books, merging the two companies to form Belmont Tower. (Belmont had been founded by all three Archie Comic Publications founders: Silberkleit, John L. Goldwater, and Maurice Coyne.)Hyfler, Richard
"Books For Bus Terminals: Whatever Happened to Belmont Productions?"
''Forbes.com'' (SEP 15, 2010). Although the new line continued to publish fiction, Belmont Tower published many notable nonfiction books from 1971 to 1980. Authors who published with Belmont Tower included Paulette Cooper, Ovid Demaris,

(writing as Rod Gray), Firth Haring Fabend, Hans Holzer, T. V. Olsen, and

Harry Turtledove Harry Norman Turtledove (born June 14, 1949) is an American author who is best known for his work in the genres of alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and mystery fiction. He is a student of history and completed his ...

. Tower ceased publishing in 1982; the company officially went out of business in January 2012, long after it had ceased operations.

Selected titles published

Midwood Books (1958–1968)

Tower Comics (1965–1969)

* ''Fight the Enemy'' (3 issues, Aug. 1966–Mar. 1967) —

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

title * '' T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' (20 issues, Nov. 1965–Nov. 1969) — and spin-off titles: ** ''Dynamo'' (4 issues, Aug. 1966–June 1967) ** ''NoMan'' (2 issues, Nov. 1966–Mar. 1967) * ''Undersea Agent'' (6 issues, Jan. 1966–Mar. 1967) — minimal ties with ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' * ''Tippy Teen'' (27 issues, Nov. 1965–Oct. 1969) — teen comics; includes the unnumbered ''Tippy Teen Special Collector's Edition'' (Nov. 1969); and spin-off titles: ** ''Teen-in'' (4 issues, Summer 1968–Fall 1969) ** ''Tippy's Friends Go-go and Animal / Tippy's Friend Go-Go'' (15 issues, Aug. 1966–Oct. 1969)

Paperback collections (published by Tower Books)

* ''Dynamo, Man of High Camp'' (Tower Book 42-660) 1966 — reprints ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' #1 * ''NoMan, the Invisible THUNDER Agent'' (Tower Book 42-672) 1966 — reprints NoMan stories from ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' #2-5 * ''Menthor, the T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agent with the Super Helmet'' (Tower Book 42-674) 1966 — reprints Menthor stories from ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' #2-5 * ''The Terrific Trio'' (Tower Book 42-687) 1966 — reprints stories ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'' #2, 3, 6

Tower Books (1965–1982)

* Rod Gray (

). ''The Lady from L.U.S.T.'' series: ** ''The Lady From L.U.S.T.'' ka 'Lust, Be A Lady Tonight'(Tower Book 43-804) (1967) ** ''Lay Me Odds'' (Tower Book 43-860) (1967) ** ''The 69 Pleasures'' (Tower Book 43-912) (1967) ** ''Five Beds To Mecca'' (Tower Book 43-944) (1968) ** ''The Hot Mahatma'' (Tower Book 44-989) (1968) ** ''To Russia With L.U.S.T.'' (Tower Book 44-126) (1968) ** ''Kiss My Assassin'' (Tower Book 44-160) (1968) ** ''South of the Bordello'' (Tower Book 44-171) (1968) ** ''The Poisoned Pussy'' (Tower Book 45-212) (1968) ** ''The Big Snatch'' (Tower Book 45-276) (1970) ** ''Lady In Heat'' (Tower Book 45-299) (1970)

Belmont-Tower (1971–1980)

* Cooper, Paulette. '' The Scandal of Scientology'' (1971) * Curzon, Sam. ''

Legs Diamond Jack "Legs" Diamond (possibly born John Thomas Diamond, though disputed; July 10, 1897 – December 18, 1931), also known as John Nolan and Gentleman Jack, was an Irish Americans, Irish-American gangster in Philadelphia and New York City during ...

'' (1973) * Demaris, Ovid. ''The Lucky Luciano Story'' (The Godfather series) (1974) * Fabend, Firth Haring. ''Three Women'' (1972) * Gray, Rod (

). ''The Lady from L.U.S.T.'' series: ** ''Laid in the Future'' (1970) ** ''Blow My Mind'' (1971) ** ''Turned On to Lust'' (1971) ** ''Skin Game Dame'' (1972) ** ''Go For Broke'' (1975) ** ''Have a Snort!'' (1975) ** ''Target for Tonight'' (1975) ** ''The Maracaibo Affair'' (1975) ** ''Voodoo Kill'' (1975) ** ''The Lady Killer'' (1975) ** ''Kill Her With Love'' (1975) * Hanna, David. ''Harvest of Horror: Mass Murder in Houston'' (1975) * Holzer, Hans. '' Murder in Amityville'' (1979) * Olsen, T. V. ''Starbuck's Brand'' (1974) * Peterson, Harold. ''The Last of the Mountain Men'' (1975) — re-issue of book originally published by

Charles Scribner's Sons Charles Scribner's Sons, or simply Scribner's or Scribner, is an American publisher based in New York City that has published several notable American authors, including Henry James, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Kurt Vonnegut, Marjori ...

* Shorten, Harry. '' There Oughta be a Law'' (1976) *

John Jakes John William Jakes (March 31, 1932 – March 11, 2023) was an American writer, best known for historical and speculative fiction. His American Civil War trilogy, '' North and South'', has sold millions of copies worldwide. He was also the author ...

: ** '' Brak the Barbarian'' (Apr. 1981) — re-issue of 1968 book originally published by

Avon Books Avon Publications is a leading publisher of romance fiction. At Avon's initial stages, it was an American paperback book and comic book publisher. The shift in content occurred in the early 1970s with multiple Avon romance titles reaching and ma ...

** '' Brak vs. the Mark of the Demons'' (1981) — re-issue of 1969 book originally published by

Paperback Library Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Kinney National Company acquired the New York City-based Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publis ...

** ''Brak vs. the Sorceress'' (1981) — re-issue of 1969 book originally published as '' Witch of the Four Winds'' by Paperback Library *

Sam Moskowitz Sam Moskowitz (June 30, 1920 – April 15, 1997) was an American writer, critic, and historian of science fiction. Biography As a child, Moskowitz greatly enjoyed reading science fiction pulp magazines. As a teenager, he organized a branch of ...

and

Roger Elwood Roger Elwood (January 13, 1943 – February 2, 2007) was an American science fiction author and editor, who edited a large number of anthologies and collections for a variety of publishers during the early to mid-1970s. Biography Born and ...

, editors. '' The Time Curve'' (1968) — anthology of science fiction short stories * Greg Tobin: ''Season of Power'' (co-authored with Sam Tanenhaus) (1981)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tower Publications) Defunct book publishing companies of the United States Defunct comics and manga publishing companies Book publishing companies based in New York (state) Publishing companies based in New York City Publishing companies established in 1958 1958 establishments in New York City Publishing companies disestablished in 1982 1982 disestablishments in New York (state)