BrandWikiReturn

National Comics Publications

National Comics Publications (NCP; later known as National Periodical Publications Inc. or simply National) was an American comic book publishing company. It was the direct predecessor of modern-day DC Comics.

History

The corporation was originally two companies: National Allied Publications Inc. (also known as National Allied Newspaper Syndicate Inc.[3] and later Nicholson Publishing Co., Inc.[4]) which was founded by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in 1934[5][6][7] to publish New Fun,[8] the first American comic book with all-original material rather than comic strip reprints, and Detective Comics Inc.,[6] which was founded on December 31, 1936[9] by Wheeler-Nicholson with Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz to publish Detective Comics.[10] Wheeler-Nicholson fell into deep debt to Donenfeld and Liebowitz, and in 1938, Donenfeld and Liebowitz petitioned Wheeler-Nicholson's National Allied into bankruptcy and seized it, and as a result, Liebowitz took over and folded National Allied into Detective Comics.[11][12][13]

Max Gaines' All-American Publications and Detective Comics Inc. merged to become National Comics Publications Inc.[14] on September 30, 1946.[15][12][16] National Comics was renamed "National Periodical Publications Inc." in 1961.[12][17][18]

Despite the official names "National Comics" and "National Periodical Publications", the company began branding itself as "Superman-DC" in the early 1940s.[19]

In 1967, National Periodical Publications was purchased by Kinney National Services.[20] In 1977, the company changed its name to DC Comics.[21]

See also

Further reading

  • Charles Wooley (1986). Wooley's History of the Comic Book, 1899-1936: The Origin of the Superhero. Lake Buena Vista [self-published].

References

  1. Lawrence Van Gelder. A Comics Magazine Defies Code Ban on Drug Stories The New York Times, February 4, 1971, retrieved September 18, 2018^
  2. Gerard Jones. Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book Basic Books, 2004^
  3. M. Keith Booker. Comics Through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas Greenwood Press, 2014^
  4. Mark Fertig. Take That, Adolf!: The Fighting Comic Books of the Second World War Fantagraphics Books, 2017^
  5. Marx, Barry, Cavalieri, Joey and Hill, Thomas (w), Petruccio, Steven (a), Marx, Barry (ed). "Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson: DC Founded" Fifty Who Made DC Great: 5 (1985), DC Comics^
  6. Ron Goulart. Ron Goulart's Great History of Comics Books Contemporary Press, 1986^
  7. Mike Benton. The Comic Book in America: An Illustrated History Taylor Publishing, 1989^
  8. The company debuted in 1935 with the tabloid-sized New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine #1 with a cover date of February 1935; New Fun #1 (Feb. 1935) at the Grand Comics Database. The entry notes that while the logo appears to be simply Fun, the indicia reads, "New FUN is published monthly at 49 West 45th Street, New York, N.Y., by National Allied Publications, Inc.; Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, President ... Inquiries concerning advertising should be addressed to the Advertising Manager, New FUN,...."^
  9. Twitter.com^
  10. Daniel Wallace, Hannah Dolan. DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle Dorling Kindersley, 2010^
  11. Roy Thomas. All-Star Companion: An Historical and Speculative Overview of the Justice Society of America TwoMorrows Publishing, 2000^
  12. Alan Cowsill. DC Comics Year by Year: Updated Edition Dorling Kindersley, 2014^
  13. Todd Klein. The DC Comics Offices 1930s-1950s Part 1 Todd's Blog, 2013-07-08, retrieved 2024-07-01^
  14. E. Nelson Bridwell. Batman: From the 30s to the 70s Spring Books, 1972^
  15. Young April 12, 1948 Findings of Facts Scribd, retrieved 11 December 2016^
  16. Gerard Jones. Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book Basic Books, 2004^
  17. Peter Bart. Advertising: Superman Faces New Hurdles; Publishers of Comic Books Showing a Decline Television Termed Chief Reason for Revenue Drop The New York Times, September 23, 1962, retrieved September 11, 2018^
  18. Maggie Thompson, Michael Dean, Brent Frankenhoff, Joyce Greenholdt, John Jackson Miller. Comics Buyer's Guide 1996 Annual Krause Publications, 1995^
  19. Michael Eury. Captain Action: The Original Super-Hero Action Figure TwoMorrows Publishing, December 2002, retrieved January 20, 2019^
  20. DC Comics Don Markstein's Toonopedia, November 17, 2011, retrieved August 10, 2012^
  21. DC Comics, Inc.: Private Company Information Bloomberg, retrieved 2016-08-06^