| Ace Comics | |
|---|---|
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | David McKay Publications |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Ongoing series |
| Publication date | 1937-1949 |
Ace Comics was a comic book series published byDavid McKay Publications between 1937 and 1949 — starting just before theGolden Age of Comic Books. The title reprinted syndicated newspaper strips owned byKing Features Syndicate, following the successful formula of a mix of adventure and humor strips introduced by McKay in theirKing Comics title in April 1936; some of the strips were transferred fromKing Comics and continued inAce Comics from issue #1.Ace Comics #11, the first appearance ofThe Phantom, is regarded by many to be a key issue in the history of comics, as it introduced to the comics format one of the first of the costumed heroes, leading to the Golden Age of superheroes in comics.
The first issue ofAce Comics was published in April 1937, and included the adventures of hunterJungle Jim written byFlash Gordon writerAlex Raymond,Chic Young'sBlondie, andGeorge Herriman's surrealKrazy Kat strip, all three characters going on to appear in every issue ofAce Comics. Issue #11 (cover date February 1938) is notable as a key Golden Age comic, as it introduced to a wider audience one of the first costumed heroes ever to be featured in a comic book,Lee Falk'sThe Phantom — pre-datingSuperman (Action Comics #1, cover date June 1938).The Phantomdaily strip, written byLee Falk and drawn byRay Moore, then featured inAce Comics for a 140-issue run, appearing in every issue until the title was cancelled. InitiallyThe Phantom was a four-page story, but from #38 this was increased to eight pages in each issue. Towards the end of the run, theSunday strips were also included. Many of the strips were edited and cropped from the original newspaper stories, and the text was often rewritten also.
As well asJungle Jim andThe Phantom, which ran throughout the series,Hal Foster's knight's tale ofPrince Valiant was also a long-running adventure feature, published in issues 26-134. Other adventure strips that appeared includedZane Grey's Western character Tex Thorne in early issues, the adventures of orphan Tim Tyler inTim Tyler's Luck andCurley Harper at Lakespur [fr] both byBlondie writer/artist Chic Young's brotherLyman Young.Tim Tyler's Luck ran in every issue ofAce Comics, while the Curley Harper strip ended with issue 100, although a single strip just calledCurley Harper appeared in issue #107. Later issues reprinted the Flash Gordon-like space adventures ofBrick Bradford andThe Lone Ranger strip, both transferred from theKing Comics title.
TheBlondie strip also appeared in every issue ofAce Comics, as did classic the humor stripThe Katzenjammer Kids byRudolph Dirks. Other humor strips includedPete the Tramp byClarence D. Russell,Tillie the Toiler byRuss Westover,Billy DeBeck'sBarney Google,Jimmy Hatlo'sThey'll Do It Every Time andPaul Robinson'sEtta Kett were presented throughout the run, although all of these titles missed the odd issue. The stripSeein' Stars which ran in the first 50 issues, was written byArthur Beeman and was based around the Hollywood film industry — cartoon versions of a number of Hollywood stars, includingFred Astaire,Betty Grable andJudy Garland guested.
Drawn in a similar style toWinsor McCay's work, the fantasy stripThe Pussycat Princess (a story originally titledPussycat Princess, A Fairytale For Boys, Girls And Other Children), byGrace Drayton and Ed Anthony, also featured in early issues ofAce Comics run. Drayton was a well-known and important early cartoonist who died only a year after starting this delightful fairytale series. Another classic Golden Age artist whose work appeared in a number of issues wasC.C.Beck (creator ofFawcett'sCaptain Marvel). Six issues ofAce Comics contained single-pageCaptain Tootsie strips - advertisements forTootsie Roll confectionery with a short adventure on the page, with a costume patterned on Captain Marvel's.
As well as syndicated strips, most issues also carried text stories, editorials, and factual pages. Many of the stories, such asWhite Buffalo in issues #35-36, were written byR. G. Montgomery, who wrote short Western tales in magazines in the 1920s and 1930s.Ruth Plumly Thompson, who wrote a number of the books in theOz series afterL. Frank Baum died in 1919, also wrote a considerable number of editorial pages.Ace Comics also featured single-panel cartoons, probably the best known of which,Private Breger Abroad, was drawn by celebrated World War II cartoonistDave Breger. The factual stripRipley's Believe It or Not! was reprinted in early issues ofAce Comics, while other factual pages, such asStamp Spotlight,Sports In Pictures andNews In Pictures, appeared regularly at various times during the run. Two series in 1941-2 covered the early events of World War II at sea —Battle of the Atlantic andBattle for the Seven Seas. These were written and drawn byEdgar Franklin Wittmack, known for his stylized magazine covers in the 1920s and 1930s.
An unusual feature for the day was theYoung Reporters page, which includedreaders' letters and comments. Competitions and prizes were also advertised in early numbers, and puzzle pages were also featured.
Ace Comics was cancelled with issue #151 (October 1949), although as that issue contained an ad for the nextPhantom series, it can be assumed the decision on cancellation was made after #151 left the printer.
Below is a list of the main stripsAce Comics ran throughout the series, with the issues they appeared in. Some long-running series missed the occasional issue, for these the first and last issue of the run is noted. For shorter run titles, the list shows each appearance.
Information available on issues 1-16 and 133-151 appears to be limited at present. As a result, it has not been possible to produce a definitive list. Issues with a ? against them are the earliest or latest possible issue this character's strip appeared in.