 | |
| Parent company | Pines Publications |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1936 |
| Defunct | 1956 |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | New York City |
| Publication types | Comic books |
| Fiction genres | Superhero |
| Imprints | Better Publications Nedor Publishing Pines Comics |
Standard Comics was acomic bookimprint ofAmerican publisherNed Pines, who also publishedpulp magazines (under avariety of company names that he also used for the comics) andpaperback books (under thePopular Library name). Standard[1] in turn was the parent company of two comic-book lines:Better Publications[2] andNedor Publishing[3] (/ˈniːdɔːr/[4]). Collectors and historians sometimes refer to them collectively as "Standard/Better/Nedor".[5][6]
In business from 1939 to 1956, Standard was a prolific publisher during theGolden Age of comic books. Its best-known character, initially published under the Better imprint, is theBlack Terror. In June 1949, the Better and Nedor imprints were consolidated as the Standard Comics line, with a "Standard Comics" flag-like cover logo. The titles previously had no publisher logo. In 1956, Standard ended, and only three titles continued, published byPines Comics. This last venture also incorporated several titles from the defunctSt. John Publications. Most titles went to other publishers after the company folded in 1959.
Beginning in the 1980s, Standard/Better/Nedor characters have been revived by other publishers. Publisher Bill Black used many of them in his 1980s imprintAmericomics (later shortened toAC Comics). Many of the female heroes are members of the AC Comicssuperhero teamFemforce.[7] In the 2000s, Standard/Better/Nedor characters have appeared in writerAlan Moore's comic book seriesTom Strong and its spin-offTerra Obscura.Marvel Comics used the names American Eagle, Grim Reaper, and Wonder Man for its own, different characters.
The eight-issuecomic bookminiseriesProject Superpowers #0–7 (Jan.–Oct. 2008), published byDynamite Entertainment,[8] resurrected a number of Golden Age superheroes, including those originally published byFox Feature Syndicate,Crestwood Publications, and Standard/Better/Nedor, many of which are assumed to be in the public domain but may not be.[9]
