DCHISTORY-1

11/30/07

	1835-45
This is an attempt to list significant events in the history of DC Comics in as chronological order as possible. Most dates are the cover dates from the comics themselves. It should be recognized that these dates tend to be two months after the actual release date. Other dates come from various published sources and have varying degrees of precision. Everything is relative. No attempt is made to list everything that ever happened. More detailed information is contained in the various works cited in the bibliography. Non-DC comics events listed are included because of their relevance to the history of DC Comics, not to their own companies. An attempt has been made to refer to the company by the appropriate name in each time period. This is not an attempt to explain super-hero continuity. There are other web sites that do that. All opinions given are mine and probably can't be changed. Factual errors will be thankfully corrected. Comments

1835-1945	1956-1959	1966-1969	1976-1979	1986-1989	1996-1999
1946-1955	1960-1965	1970-1975	1980-1985	1990-1995	2000-2005
	Piranha	DC's "other" comics		Vertigo	Paradox

		1835
	Jan	Nathaniel Hawthorne creates America's first superhero, as The Grey Champion appears in New England Magazine.
		1842
	Sep	Wilson and Company reprints Rudolphe Topfler's The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck. Believed to be the first comic book published in America.
		1895
	May	5/8/95 Richard F Outcault's The Yellow Kid brings color comic strips to the pages of the New York World. Reprints of comic strips in book form are issued by many newspapers over the next several decades.
		1901
		Baroness Orczy writes the Scarlet Pimpernel, the story of a hero of the French aristocracy during the Revolution who disguises himself as an English fop. The Pimpernel runs on the London stage for 4 years and is a smash hit, prompting an endless series of sequels.
		1912
	Feb	Edgar Rice Burroughs' Under the Moons of Mars begins in Munsey'sAll-Story Magazine (six issues). It features a man who gains super powers by traveling to another planet.
	Oct	Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes appears in Munsey's All-Story Magazine.
		1913
	May	Frederic Van Rensslaer Dey creates The Night Wind in Munsey's Cavalier. The Night Wind is Bingham Harvard, a vigilante crime fighter pursued by the law, who possesses super strength and invulnerability.
		1914
		Frank L. Packard creates The Grey Seal for Street and Smith's People's Magazine. Jimmie Dale, a wealthy playboy by day, dons a mask and utility belt to commit crime by night. He appeared in movies beginning in 1917.
		1918
	Jan	1/27/18 First Tarzan movie is released.
	Aug	Johnston McCulley's The Curse of Capistrano appears in All Story Weekly. The first adventure of Zorro, mysterious western champion of the oppressed who disguises himself as a Spanish fop is made into a movie starring Douglas Fairbanks in 1921.
		1922
		Frank Armer and Paul Sampliner launch Screenland. It was followed by Artists and Models and other glamor magazines.
	Jan	Embee Distributing pubishes The Comic Monthly, the first soft cover periodical comic book. It features newspaper reprints and cost 10 cents. It was 24 pages long and measured 8 1/2 by 10 inches. It ran for 12 issues.
		1923
		Harry Donenfeld buys his brothers out of the Martin Press and renames it Donny Press. One of his accounts is Armer and Sampliner.
		1925
	Jul	Frank Armer adds Pep to his line featuring "snappy, spicy stories and art".
	Oct	Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson is cashiered from the US Army and takes to writing adventure pulp stories. In October he opens the Wheeler-Nicholson newspaper syndicate and attempts to peddle features and comics to newspapers accross the country, including adaptions of Treasure Island and the Three Musketeers.
		1926
	Apr	Amazing Stories, the first science fiction pulp magazine begins from Hugo Gernsback.
	Jul	Wheeler-Nicholson's syndicate goes bust and he vanishes temporarily, resurfacing as a pulp writer for Adventure and Argosy.
		1927
	May	Frank Armer's Thrills, an adventure pulp magazine debuts and runs for at least five issues.
		1928
	Aug	Buck Rogers debuts in Amazing Stories.
		1929
		Hugo Gernsback publishes Jack Williamson's novel The Girl From Mars, about a scientist who launches his daughter to Earth while Mars is dying. Williamson was a writer with whom Jerry Siegel corresponded and asked for advice.
	Jan	1/7/29- Hal Foster's Tarzan and Dick Calkin's Buck Rogers debut in the comics pages on the same day. The newspaper pages, previously a home for "gag a day" features, soon are bursting with adventure continuities. Dell and Eastern co-publish The Funnies, a weekly tabloid size comic book featuring all new material. It ran for 36 issues.
	May	Frank Armer begins another legitimate pulp, Airplane Stories which lasts 24 issues.
	Aug	Aug 10, 1929- Harry Donenfeld decides to make the jump from printing magazines to publishing them. He and Jack Liebowitz form Irwin Publishing which publishes a long string of semi-successful "art" magazines beginning with Juicy Tales (later Joy Stories) and Hot Tales. Merle Williams Hersey was the editor and "front" for the company.
		1930
		Alfred Knopf publishes a dystopian savage parody of science fiction by fledgling slick magazine writer Philip Wylie called Gladiator. Wylie often claimed that Gladiator was the source of Siegel's Superman inspiration, although Siegel always claimed he'd never read it.
	Feb
	Aug	Michael J Cullen invents the Supermarket in Queens, New York.
		1931
	Apr	Irwin Publishing goes bankrupt, but Donenfeld "sells" his titles to Merwil Publishing, which he also owns.
	Aug	Street and Smith launches The Shadow pulp magazine based loosely on their hit radio program. Walter Gibson writes as Maxwel Grant.
.		1932
	Jan	Julius Schwartz and Mort Weisinger publish the first national science fiction fanzine, Time Traveller, becoming the focal point of the burgeoning young science fiction field.
	May	Donenfeld obtains Pep and Spicy Stories from Frank Armer in exchange for printing debts.
	Sep	Time Traveller is replaced by Science Fiction Digest after eight issues..
	Oct	Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster publish their own fanzine, Science Fiction. Eastern News, the magazine distributor owned by Paul Sampliner and Charles Dreyfus, goes bankrupt, leaving Donenfeld and Armer with no distribution and no money. Then he and Paul Sampliner create a new distribution company, Independent News, financed by Sampliner's mother, Giselle Frank.
	Nov	Jerry Siegel publishes the second issue of Science Fiction. Contrary to rumors circulating to this day it does not contain a review of Phillip Wylie's Gladiator. This was verified by Jerry Weist who went through Forrest Ackerman's complete collection of Siegel's fanzines and found nary a mention of Wylie anywhere.
		1933
	Jan	Jerry Siegel publishes :"The Reign of the Superman" in Science Fiction 3. Following which, he and Joe Shuster develop Superman into a comic strip.
	Feb	Fran Striker's the Lone Ranger begins on WXYZ radio in Detroit. The success of the program spawns the creation of the Mutual Broadcasting System.
	Win	Humor Publishing puts out Detective Ace King, Bob Scully- Two Fisted Hick Detective, and Detective Dan, Secret Operative 48, the first all-new comic books. (91/2x12 tabloid size). They agree to publish Siegel's Superman but suddenly drop the whole line, leaving Siegel and Shuster with a completed issue and no publisher. More details about Jerry and Joe's early efforts.
	Mar	Lester Dent's Doc Savage first appears as a pulp magazine from Street and Smith.
	Apr	Eastern Color printing produces a tabloid size comic newspaper to be distributed free at Gulf Gas Stations. Gulf Comic Weekly.
	Spr	Harry Wildenberg of Eastern Color Printing determines folding the tabloid size used in Gulf Comic Weekly in half produces a useful easy to carry page size on which a full color Sunday funnies page can fit proportionally. Charlie Gaines begins selling these custom comic books to companies like Proctor and Gamble to use as premiums. P&G ordered a million copies of Funnies on Parade!
	Oct	Detective Dan resurfaces as comic strip Dan Dunn.
		1934
	Jan	1/7/34 Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon begins in the Sunday comics pages.
	Win	Charlie Gaines puts $.10 stickers on Famous Funnies a Carnival of Comics (originally a Wheetena promotional comic) and sells them out at New York newstands.
	Spr	Eastern and George Delacourte (Dell) put out Famous Funnies Series One and sell out 40,000 copies in 30 days, but Delacourte pulls out because he can't sell any advertising.

	Apr	Donenfeld and Frank Armer launch Spicy Detective. For more about Donenfeld's other magazines and comics, click DC's "Other" Comics.
	May	H Baker and Jake Geller publish Comic Cuts, a tabloid sized newspaper reprinting material from the British comic paper of the same name. It lasts for nine weekly issues. Distributed by S-M News Co. (McCalls)
	Jul	Eastern launches Famous Funnies as a series by themselves. 200,000 copies are distributed by American News.
	Fal	Gaines moves to McClure and puts out Skippy, a premium for Phillips Dental Magnesia.
	Nov	Sally the Sleuth by Adolphe Barreaux is the first comic strip published in Spicy Detective. Most of Donenfeld's pulps carry a comic strip after this point.

		1935
		Julie Schwartz and Mort Weisinger form the Solar Sales Agency and become the first literary agents in the science fiction magazine world. Although Mort leaves early on, Julie's client list soon includes Alfred Bester, H. P. Lovecraft and Ray Bradbury.
	Feb	Pulp writer Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson starts National Allied Magazines and puts out Fun Comics #1 (New Fun with #2). A 10 X15 black and white collection of mostly original comic strips. Edited by Lloyd Jacquet. Issues 1-6 are tab sized- 10X15. Starting with issue 3, some interior pages are printed in color. All issues are 36 pages except issue 6 which is 44. Issues 1-5 have slick paper covers, but sales are so bad that issue six is reduced to a newsprint cover. . Each feature is one page or less, so there are 20 features in the first issue. including Sandra of the Secret Service, Don Drake on the Planet Saro, and Barry O'Neil. Distributed by McCall's. (S-M) McCalls may have financed Nicholson after the failure of Comic Cuts, reasoning that American material and monthly publication might have a greater chance of success.
	Jun	Kay Kamen (K.K. Publications) releases the first issue of Mickey Mouse Magazine. Runs until September 1940.
	Aug	By New Fun 5 Jacquet has left the company and Wheeler-Nicholson is listed as editor. The magazine is increased to 44 pages, but loses its slick paper covers.
	Oct	New Fun 6 contains Siegel and Shuster's first work: Henri Duvall & Dr. Occult.
	Dec	Nicholson expands, adding New Comics. This book is done in the new, smaller Famous Funnies size (7 1/2 X 10 1/2), which was becoming the standard for all comic books. The early issues (1-5) were 80 pages long, but still sold for $.10 due to the smaller size. All had newsprint covers. Issues 1-4 feature Mr. Weed and J Worthington Blimp by Sheldon Mayer before he leaves because he doesn't get paid. Edited by William Cook and John Mahon; Vin Sullivan Asst ed. Although some stories are up to 4 pages long, the first issue still features 23 separate strips. The introductory page trumpets "adventuring heroes, detectives, aviator daredevils of today and hero supermen of the days to come.
		1936"
	Jan	1/36 Sheldon Mayer goes to work for Charlie Gaines, packaging comic books for the McClure Syndicate.. New Fun becomes More Fun Comics with #7 and acquires a new publisher, More Fun Inc. (actually still Nicholson). 7-8 are still tab sized- but shorter, 10X12 (almost square) 44 pages, paper covers) . New Comics #2- Siegel & Shuster start Federal Men. 1/31/36 Fran Striker's The Green Hornet begins on WXYZ radio in Detroit. A spin-off of the Lone Ranger, the Hornet, accompanied by his chauffer Kato, fought crime in a powerful automobile known as the Black Beauty.
	Feb	More Fun #8 Cook and Mahon have left the company and Wheeler-Nicholson is listed as editor, with Vin Sullivan and Whitney Ellsworth as assistants. Gaines packages Popular Comics for Dell. Sheldon Mayer is his editor. Popular Comics was followed by The Funnies and The Comics. Newspaper reprints included Skippy, Mutt and Jeff, Believe It or Not, Reg'lar Fellers and others. 2/17/36 Lee Falk's the Phantom begins in the newspapers. In the beginning he appears to be an urban crimefighter but the strip quickly refocuses to a mysterious tropical island. The Phantom may be the first character ever to sport the ubiquitous tights and two-tone pants that mystery-men every where would soon don.
	Mar	Big Book of Fun Comics (1st annual-48pgs reprints from New Fun 1-4). Distributed only through F. W. Woolworths.
	Apr	More Fun #9- now 7 1/2 x10 1/2 and 68 pages, still with paper covers. United Features enters the comic book market with Tip-Top Comics, edited by Lev Gleason. David McKay, long a publisher of newspaper reprint collections, enters the periodical market with King Comics.
	May	Former National editors William Cook and John Mahon strike out on their own and publish Comics Magazine containing purloined National strips including Dr. Occult and Spy under new names. Dr Occult becomes Dr Mystic, Bart Regan, Spy becomes Federal Agent.
	Jun
	July	New Comics #6 is 68 pages, now published by Nicholson Publishing Co. Siegel and Shuster's Calling All Cars, later known as Radio Squad, begins a long run More Fun 11. Sheldon Mayer's Scribbly debuts in Popular Comics #6 from Dell.
	Aug	More Fun Comics 12 and New Comics 7 are the first Wheeler-Nicholson publications since New Fun 4 to feature glossy paper covers, now printed by Harry Donenfeld's Donny Press. Jack Schiff, editor at Standard Publications hires Mort Weisinger. Standard is a pulp magazine company which publishes Thrilling Wonder Stories, Captain Future and the Phantom Detective. Weisinger begins targetting those magazines towards a younger audience by putting monsters and giant turtle-men on the covers.
	Nov	More Fun 15-31 published by Nicholson Publishing Company. Sheldon Mayer's Scribbly moves to The Funnies #2 from Dell after three appearances in Popular Comics.
	Dec	New Comics 11 includes ads for Detective Comics #1 cover dated December 1936, The book would be postponed and actually debut 3 months later.
		1937
	Jan	New Comics renamed New Adventure Comics (#12). Siegel and Shuster slip a science fiction story starring a character named Jor-L into their Federal Men feature.
	Feb	Harry A. Chesler begins Star Comics and Star Ranger Funnies. The newsstands are starting to get crowded.
	Mar	Nicholson's new printer, Harry Donenfeld, finances a new title for him. Detective Comics is published by Detective Comics Inc., co-owned by Wheeler-Nicholson and Donenfeld's business manager, Jack Liebowitz, and edited by Nicholson, Vin Sullivan and Whitney Ellsworth. Siegel and Shuster have two features in the book, Slam Bradley and Bart Regan, Spy. They are joined by Speed Saunders and Cosmo, Phantom of Disguise.
	Apr	Independent News, Harry Donenfeld and Paul Sampliner's upstart distribution company, takes over Wheeler-Nicholson's distribution from McCall's (SM), beginning with Detective Comics 2. New Adventure 16 and More Fun Comics 21 follow in June.
	June	New Book Of Comics begins- all reprints
	Oct	Everett "Busy" Arnold, former printer of the Cook-Mahon line, starts his own comics line, the Quality Comics Group with Feature Funnies.
	Dec	Wheeler-Nicholson puts together a black and white "ashcan" proposal for Action Comics, using interiors from Detective Comics #1.
		1938
	Jan	Wheeler-Nicholson puts together a second ashcan, Action Funnies.
	Mar	New Adventure 25 and More Fun 30 and 31 are published by A. I. Menin as bankruptcy trustee. Whitney Ellsworth leaves to pursue new opportunities in Hollywood (like actually getting paid).
	Apr	Detective Comics, Inc. moves from 432 Fourth Avenue to 480 Lexington Avenue, as Wheeler-Nicholson's name disappears from the masthead. Vin Sullivan is now sole editor.
	May	Jack Liebowitz acquires More Fun (32) and New Adventure Comics (26) for Detective Comics, Inc. at a bankruptcy auction. Bob Kane's Rusty and His Pals debuts in New Adventure. His Ginger Snap debuts in More Fun 31. Dell launches its fourth title: Super Comics
	Jun	Sheldon Mayer and Charlie Gaines bring Superman to Vin Sullivan as a new feature for Action Comics. All four titles are now published by Detective Comics Inc. Donenfeld eventually buys out Wheeler-NIcholson's share of the company in return for ten year's royalties on the sales of More Fun.
	Sep	Detective Comics 23's Statement of Ownership, dated Sept 1938 states that Harry Donenfeld is now sole owner of Detective Comics Inc.
	Oct	Jim Chambers' Crimson Avenger becomes the first masked mystery man to appear in Detective Comics.
	Nov	New Adventure Comics renamed Adventure Comics (#32)
		1939
	Jan	Superman newspaper strip begins. First complete origin of Superman showing Jor-El and Lara.

	Apr	Charlie Gaines goes into partnership with Jack Liebowitz to produce new comic book titles. All-American Comics and Movie Comics begin, edited by Sheldon Mayer. All-American is mostly strip reprints, but does feature Mayer's Scribbly and Jon Blummer's Hop Harrigan. Many of the strips were formerly featured in The Funnies and other Dell titles that Gaines and Mayer had produced, including Ben Webster, Reg'lar Fellers, Believe It or Not, Skippy and Mutt and Jeff. Movie Comics features short movie adaptations with photo heads pasted over cartoon bodies. Yuchh! It fails after 6 issues.
		New York World's Fair Comics is published exclusively at the Fair Grounds for $.25. Later issued at newsstands for $.15. The first issue features many of Detective Comics' top character including Superman and the new Sandman.
	May	Bob Kane is asked to create a new super-hero to capitalize on success of Superman. With help of Bill Finger he comes up with Batman who first appears in Detective Comics #27. Fox Comics publishes the only adventure of Wonder Man in Wonder Comics #1. Donenfeld and Liebowitz immediately secure an injunction preventing Fox from using Wonderman again as an infringement on Detective Comics' Superman.
	Jul	Bert Christman's Sandman begins in Adventure 40. The Crimson Avenger's first run ends in Detective 29. The Black Bat appears in Black Book Detective, a pulp magazine published by Standard and edited by Mort Weisinger. Whitney Ellsworth is one of the early ghosts who signs to the name G. Wayman Jones. The Black Bat is a caped and cowled avenger of the night. After fevered negotiations between Ellsworth and Sullivan, the two companies agree not to sue each other.
	Sum	Gaines decides to put out a Mutt and Jeff collection. Purportedly Mutt and Jeff becomes his best selling title.
		Superman one shot album published, reprinting the first four Action stories. It goes back to press twice and sells so well a regular book is scheduled.
	Sept	More Fun Comics 51 Statement of Ownership lists Harry Donenfeld and Paul Sampliner as owners of Detective Comics, Inc, as of September 1939.
	Nov	Superman Sunday strip added. First appearance of the Daily Planet. Bill Finger writes a two page origin of Batman which is pasted on to the beginning of Gardner Fox's story in Detective 33.

		1940
	Jan	1/40-Vin Sullivan leaves Detective Comics in a dispute over royalties for New York World's Fair. Whitney Ellsworth returns and becomes editor. Gaines and Liebowitz replace Movie Comics with Flash Comics (AA). Gardner Fox creates the Flash and Hawkman, John Wentworth creates Johnny Thunder and the Whip. In an experiment, Double Action Comics #2 is released to New York City newsstands only. The book is all black and white reprints from early issues of More Fun Comics. What exactly the publishers were trying to find out is unclear, but no more black and white comics were published. Double Action is the rarest DC comic of all, with only 7 known copies in existence. No copies of a Double Action #1, if there ever was such a book, are known to exist.
	Feb	The Adventures of Superman radio show begins, produced by former Spicy pulp writer Robert Maxwell and Alan Ducovny. First appearance of Perry White. Jerry Siegel's Spectre debuts in More Fun 52, with art by Bernard Baily. Fawcett puts out first Captain Marvel in Whiz 2.
	Mar	Ken Fitch's Hourman begins in Adventure 48 with art by Bernard Baily. c. Whitney Ellsworth hires Murray Boltinoff to be associate editor of Detective Comics. Crimson Avenger returns to the pages of Detective Comics 37, now written and drawn by Jack Lehti.
	Apr	Robin debuts in Detective 38. The addition of a young boy to the strip, allows greater reader identification from the young audience, and propels the strip to new heights of popularity. "A DC Publication" bullet appears for the first time. Luthor first appears in Action 23 and Superman 4. Jimmy Olsen 1st appears on Superman radio show.
	May	Gardner Fox's Dr. Fate begins in More Fun 55, with art by Howard Sherman.
	Jun	Batman starts own title. The Joker and Catwoman are introduced. One story is a pre-Robin leftover from Detective (DC).
	Jul	All-American Comics #16 features the first appearance of Martin Nodell and Bill Finger's Green Lantern. All-Star Comics begins (1st issue co-published by DC and AA, after that just AA). Features two strips each from Adventure, More Fun, Flash and All-American. Based on the success of New York World's Fair.
	Aug
	Sep	Roy the Superboy, a name which must have incensed Superman Inc, first appears in MLJ's Top-Notch #8 Western Printing, in conjunction with Dell, issues the first comic book devoted to the Warner Bros. cartoon properties, Looney Tunes, featuring Porky, Bugs, Daffy and the rest of the gang.
	Oct	The Atom by Bill O'Connor and Ben Flinton.begins in All-American Comics #19. Crimson Avenger finally joins the superhero age when he drops the hat and cloak in favor of the new-fangled long johns. Detective Comics 44. Detective/All-American introduce an Editorial Review board of celebrities and educators who claim to review all of the publishers' comics to make sure they are "clean and wholesome." Mickey Mouse Magazine becomes Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, now distributed by Dell.
	Nov	Ma Hunkle becomes the Red Tornado in Sheldon Mayer's Scribbly strip in All-American 20.
		1941
		Ted Udall becomes assistant editor at All-American Comics.
	Jan	All-Star Comics #3 First app of the Justice Society of America. At the behest of the President, Atom, Dr. Fate, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Hourman, Sandman and the Spectre gather to fight the enemies of America. Johnny Thunder and Red Tornado guest star.
	Feb
	Mar	3/28/41 Adventures of Captain Marvel movie serial from Republic Pictures. Joe Simon and Jack Kirby create Captain America for Martin Goodman's Timely Comics, becoming two of comics early super-stars by plastering their names on every story.
	Apr	World's Best Comics begins (DC) 100 pages for $.15 featuring Superman, Batman, Sandman and many others. On sale Feb 10. Chuck Reizenstein's Dr. Mid-Nite begins in All-American 25 with art by Stan Aschmeir. Jack Burnley's Starman begins in Adventure 61.
	May	John Wentworth's Sargon the Sorceror begins in All-American 26, with art by Howard Purcell. Independent News adds its distributor symbol (the initials IND) to the covers of Action Comics and soon follows with all its comics.
	Jun	Detective Comics, Inc. sends Fawcett a cease and desist letter over Captain Marvel. Whit Ellsworth hires Mort Weisinger to be associate editor of Detective Comics Inc. and puts him in charge of Batman and More Fun. Murray Boltinoff is in charge of Adventure. Ellsworth handles Superman himself.
	Jul	World's Best Comics renamed World's Finest Comics with #2. On sale May 16. All-Flash Comics begins (AA). First AA character to win his own title.
	Sum	Dick Sprang begins drawing Batman stories which are stockpiled in case Bob Kane is drafted. Quality Comics debuts Chuck Cuidera's Blackhawk in Military Comics #1 and Jack Cole's Plastic Man in Police Comics #1.
	Sep	Detective Comics, Inc. files legal action against Fawcett for copyright infringement. Sep 26, 1941 Fleisher Studios Superman cartoons begin. Mort Weisinger's Johnny Quick begins in More Fun 71. Jerry Siegel's Star Spangled Kid is previewed in Action 40.
	Oct	Star Spangled Comics begins (DC) featuring Jerry Siegel's Star Spangled Kid, Tarantula, Captain X and Armstrong of the Army. Two to three Star Spangled Kid stories in the early issues. Weisinger continues his revamp of More Fun Comics, as Doctor Fate changes to a half-helmet and begins to spend more time punching and kicking than casting magic spells in More Fun 72.
	Nov	Green Lantern gets his own title (AA). Bullet changed to "A Superman-DC Publication". Mort Weisinger's Aquaman (art by Paul Norris) and Green Arrow (art by George Papp) begin in More Fun 73. His Vigilante begins in Action Comics 42 with art by Mort Meskin.
	Dec	Jerry Siegel's Percival Popp the Super Cop joins the Spectre in More Fun 74. Sandy the Golden Boy joins Sandman in Adventure 69. New yellow and purple costume with cape by Mort Weisinger and Paul Norris. All-Star Comics #8 features an extra 8 pages to preview Wonder Woman. Starman and Sandman join the JSA. France Herron and Mac Raboy's Captain Marvel Jr debuts in Master Comics 21 from Fawcett.
		1942
		Fawcett's Spy Smasher gets his own movie serial from Republic Pictures. Sol Harrison, formerly of Strauss Photoengraving, become art director of All-American Comics.
	Jan	Leading Comics begins (DC) featuring the 7 Soldiers of Victory, heroes from Action, Adventure, Detective and Star Spangled featured in one story. Sensation Comics begins (AA). Psychologist William Moulton Marston creates Wonder Woman, whose first appearance was actually in All-Star 8. Harry G. Peter draws. Other features include Bill Finger's Wildcat (art by Irwin Hasen) and Little Boy Blue (art by Jon Blummer), and Chuck Reizenstein's Mr. Terrific (art by Hal Sharpe). The Crimson Avenger's aide Wing adopts his own costume in Detective 59.
	Feb	Mort Weisinger's Airwave debuts in Detective 60 with art by Lee Harris.
	Mar	Green Arrow takes over the cover of More Fun.with 77.
	Apr	In a contract disupute with Goodman, Simon and Kirby leave and sign with Detective Comics. They take over Sandman and create Manhunter in Adventure 73. Newsboy Legion begins in Star-Spangled 7. Jerry Siegel's Robotman begins in the same issue, with art by the Shuster shop (Nowak and Cassidy). These are the last new super-hero strips published by DC/All-American in the Golden Age.
	Jun	Simon and Kirby's Boy Commandos begins in Detective 64. Their first cover appearance is on Detective 65, a Kirby/Robinson collaboration.
	Aug	Al Bester and Stan Kaye's Genius Jones, the Answer Man begins in Adventure 77. 8/31 Hop Harrigan, America's Ace of the Airwaves begins on the Blue Network. Runs through 2/6/48.
	Sep	Wonder Woman is awarded her own title in record time (AA).
	Oct	Picture Stories from the Bible (AA) begins. Bible stories illustrated by Don Cameron (not the Superman/ Batman writer). First four issues feature the Old Testament. Bullet says "A DC publication" rather than "A Superman DC publication". The issues are copyrighted by M.C. Gaines, personally, rather than one of the corporations belonging to the All-American group. 10/16/42 Terrytoons releases "The Mouse of Tomorrow", the first Super Mouse cartoon. By his third appearance his name had been changed to Mighty Mouse. Coo Comics from Nedor, cover dated October but released at least two months earlier, also features a character called Super Mouse. Mighty Mouse wouldn't get his own comic until 1946.
	Dec	Boy Commandos graduate to their own title (DC). Comic Cavalcade begins (AA). A 100 page title in the World's Finest format, dedicated to the AA characters and featuring Wonder Woman, Flash and Green Lantern on each cover. Other features vary widely from issue to issue. Otto Binder and Marc Swayze's Mary Marvel first appears in Captain Marvel Adventures 18 from Fawcett.
		1943
		Lassie Come Home is released as an MGM film starring Roddy McDowell and Elizabeth Taylor. Six more movies and a radio show (1946-49) follow.
	Jan	Superman 20 contains an announcement that Mort Weisinger and Murray Boltinoff are now in the military. Jack Schiff, with Bernie Breslauer (another alumnus of the Standard pulps), edits all the Superman/Detective Comics titles for the duration of the war. Jack Schiff's first story appears in Worlds Finest 8 c. Dorothy Roubichek is a story editor at All-American Comics. She leaves for Timely in 1944. She would return to National as a full editor in the late sixties/early seventies under the name Dorothy Woolfolk. Larry Nadle also becomes a story editor at All-American at this time.
	Feb	Hourman ends Adventure 83, replaced by Mike Gibbs, Guerrilla
	Apr	Alfred first appears in Batman 16. The character was created for the movie serial. All books cut to 60 pages due to wartime paper restrictions. With issue All-Star 20, two JSAers lose their solo chapters due to the page cuts. First, Sandman and Dr. Fate axed. Then, Atom and Spectre left out of 21. After that Sandman and Dr. Fate are gone altogether.
	Jun	Adventure becomes bi-monthly with 86. More Fun with 92. Many books cut back to bimonthly or quarterly. All-American becomes 8 times a year. Kryptonite first appears on the Adventures of Superman radio show. The concept is based on an unpublished Superman story by Jerry Siegel. The King dropped from Flash Comics 42 due to page cuts. World's Finest cut to 92 pages with issue 10. Comic Cavalcade cut to 92 pages with issue 3.
	Jul	July 16, 1943 Batman movie serial appears, starring Lewis Wilson as Batman and J. Carrol Naish as Dr Daka. Superman 23 contains the first Superman story not written by Jerry Siegel, who has been drafted. Although Siegel continues to send in scripts throughout the war, most stories are written by other writers, primarily Don Cameron and Bill Finger. Sargon dropped from All-American with 51 due to page cuts.
	Aug	Spy dropped from Detective78 and TNT dropped from Star Spangled 24 due to page cuts.
	Oct	October 25, 1943- Batman daily comic strip begins. Bob Kane contributes almost no art to the comic books after this point, which are primarily handled by Dick Sprang and Jerry Robinson. Al Bester creates the classic "In brightest day, In blackest nIght" oath in Green Lantern #9.
	Nov	Whitney Ellsworth and Henry Boltinoff's Dover and Clover begins in More Fun 94.
	Dec	Picture Stories from the Bible-Complete Old Testament (AA) 50 cents, 232 pages. Reprints all 4 earlier issues.

		1944
	Jan	All Funny Comics begins (DC- but no DC bullet on cover. Tilsam is listed as the publisher. Tilsam formerly published a cheesecake magazine called Real Screen Fun that was apparently shut down by the postal authorities. Possibly this publisher was used because they still had a paper allocation.) Edited by Whitney Ellsworth and Bernie Breslauer. Hayfoot Henry and Buzzy begin. Genius Jones, Dover and Clover, and Penniless Palmer move in from Adventure, More Fun and Star Spangled.
	Feb	Science fiction agent Julie Schwartz interviews with Sheldon Mayer for a job as an editor at All-American (replacing Dorothy Roubichek).
	Apr	World's Finest cut to 84 pages. Comic Cavalcade cut to 84 pages with issue 6. Roy the Superboy makes his final appearance in Shield-Wizard #13.
	May	May 8, 1944 Wonder Woman comic strip begins. Runs until August 1945.
	Jun	Gil Kane takes over Sandman as ghost for Jack Kirby in Adventure 92.
	Jul	Sheldon Mayer's Funny Stuff begins (AA), introducing the Three Mouseketeers, McSnurtle the Turtle, The Terrific Whatsit, Bulldog Drumhead and many others.
	Aug	With issue 99 More Fun drops to 52 pages, as do all the other DC titles. Dr. Fate ends. Other features that get the ax due to the page cut are Manhunter in Adventure 93, Crimson Avenger in Detective 90, Scribbly in All-American 60 (and Atom in 62), Americommando in Action 75, and The Whip in Flash 56.
	Dec	Alvin Schwartz and George Storm's Buzzy begins (DC) from All Funny. A teen age strip ostensibly set in the present, it looks suspiciously like the Jazz Age, but that doesn't stop the book for lasting over 10 years.
		1945
	Jan	Superboy begins in More Fun Comics 101, hidden in the back, with nary so much as a cover mention. The first adventure is written by Jerry Siegel and drawn by Joe Shuster, but the publisher does not include the Siegel and Shuster by-line that graces their other work. Although Don Cameron takes over as writer with the second story, Shuster continues to provide the artwork. When Siegel returns from military service, he files suit against Detective Comics, claiming they used his story without credit or remuneration. (Apparently, Detective originally intended to issue a Superboy comic book, but decided against it and used More Fun as a dumping spot for the completed pages. The feature was an unexpected success. Siegel's original Superboy script featured young Clark Kent doing super-feats sans costume. A last minute art change added 2 pictures of Superboy in costume- the splash and the last panel.)
	Feb	All-American Comics splits away and begins using AA symbol on covers, beginning with All-Flash 17, Sensation 38, Comic Cavalcade 9, Flash 62, Green Lantern 14, Funny Stuff 3, and Mutt and Jeff 16. Superman meets Batman on the radio show for the first time (though they met in All-Star #8). Joe Kubert draws Hawkman for the first time in Flash 62.
	Apr	Starman and Spectre dropped from the JSA in All-Star 24. From now, on only AA heroes appear in the book.
	May	Whitney Ellsworth goes to Hollywood and comes back with the rights to the Columbia cartoons. Real Screen Comics begins (DC), produced by the Sangor Comic Shop. Fox and Crow, DC's longest running and most successful humor strip begins. Bob Kanigher begins at AA, writing Wonder Woman stories for Sensation Comics.
	Jun	Comic Cavalcade cut to 76 pages with issue 11.
	Aug	Leading Comics 15 converts to a funny animal comic. Edited by Bernie Breslauer, it's DC's first in-house animal book. Features Nero Fox (Ed Dunn?), Spylot Bones (Otto Feuer) and King Oscar's Court (Rube Grossman)
	Sep	World's Finest cut to 76 pages with 19.
	Fall	With the end of the war, drafted cartoonists begin returning to look for their old jobs back. Many are not successful. Mort Weisinger and Murray Boltinoff return to editorial positions at DC, but find themselves now working for Jack Schiff. Simon and Kirby sign a new contract with Harvey and do not return to DC, but Kirby continues to produce new art sporadically for the Boy Commandos on a free lance basis.
	Nov	The All-American titles issued this month have blank spaces in the indicia where M. C. Gaines' name is supposed to be. Gaines has sold his half of the company to Detective Comics, Inc sometime prior to September 25, 1945. There was just barely time to scrape his name off the books but not to replace the AA symbol on the cover.
	Dec	The All-American titles once again bear the DC symbol, starting with Sensation 48, and Flash 68. Superman vs. the Atom Man is a spectacular serial running well over a month on the Superman radio show. Atom Man is a kryptonite powered Nazi who battles Superman to a collossal airborne climax, in what some have called the "Greatest Superman story ever, in any medium."
		Bibliography