Harry "A" Chesler

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name = Harry "A" Chesler Jr.
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field = Publisher, Editor
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Harry Chesler, Jr. was the entrepreneur behind what is often credited as the first comic book "packager" (shop) of the late-1930s to 1940s Golden Age of comic books, supplying complete comics to publishers testing the waters of the emerging medium.

Biography

Most often credited as Harry "A" Chesler — the "A" was an affectation rather than a true initial, and Chesler sometimes quipped that it stood for "anything" — Chesler's studio was located at 28th Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City, and was active between 1935 and 1946.Bails, Jerry G. and Ware, Hames (ed.s), "The Who's Who of American Comic Books": Volume One, p. 31 (Bails, 1973)] His shop employed

Output and roles

Chesler's studio produced comics work for a number of titles including Chesler's own "Star Comics", "Star Ranger", "Dynamic Comics", "Punch Comics" and "Yankee Comics". The studio also " [p] roduced the early issues of "Zip", "Pep", "Top-Notch", "Captain Marvel", "Master"," and titles for Centaur Comics.

Chesler was an editor for Centaur between 1937 and 1938, and a partner with Archer St. John in the latter's St. John Publications in 1953.

Employees

Once dispersed, the employees of the Chesler Shop "went on to form the nuclei of various comics art staffs" for a number of different early comics companies. Chesler alumni include Jack Cole, Jack Binder, Otto Binder, Charles Biro, [ [http://www.crimeboss.com/history02-1.html Nicky Wright "Seducers of the Innocent"] . Accessed August 29, 2008] Mort Meskin, [ [http://terrororstralis.com/sheena/comics/FH-comics.htm Paul Wickham "Fiction House Comics Page 4: Jumbo Comics Comic Artists"] . Accessed August 29, 2008] Creig Flessel (briefly [ [http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/briefings/blog_monthly/2008/07/ "Comics Reporter" - "Creig Flessel, 1912-2008"] . Accessed August 29, 2008] ) and dozens of others. Carmine Infantino remembers that, c. 1940, he was paid by Chesler "for a dollar a day" just to "learn" art from the artists working in the shop. [ [http://www.tcj.com/2_archives/i_infantino.html Excerpt from an interview with Carmine Infantino] by Gary Groth for "The Comics Journal" #191]

Imprints

He later published comics himself through his Harry A. Chesler Feature Syndicate. His other imprints include "Dynamic Publications", "Home Guide Publications", "Magazine Press" (during a partnership with publisher Lev Gleason, as well as his own eponymous syndicate. Comic-book historians sometimes label all such imprints informally "Harry A Chesler Comics."

Harry "A" Chesler II

Chesler's comics enterprise was severely affected by World War II. Both he and his main pre-war editor, Phil Sturm, went on active duty for most of the war, severely curtailing the company's ability to produce comics. Except for a brief period of time in 1942, evidence from his publications' statements of ownership indicate that he was "on leave to the US Army". In his absence, his father, Harry Chesler, Sr., became the credited business manager of the company. However, like his son, he used the appellation 'Harry "A" Chesler', making it problematic today to separate the work of the father from the son.

List of Harry "A" Chesler titles

* "Bulls Eye Comics" #11 (previously "Komik Pages", retitled Kayo Komics"?)
* "Carnival Comics" #1-13 (1945)
*"Cocomalt Book of Comics" one-shot giveaway (1939)
*"Dynamic Comics" #1-24 (1941 – 1948)
*"Feature Funnies" #1-20 (1937 – 1939; subsequently published as "Feature Comics" #21-144 by Quality Comics, 1939 – 1950)
*"Kayo Komics" #12 (1945; previously "Bull's-Eye Comics"?)
*"Komic Pages" #10 (1945; retitled "Bull's-Eye Comics"?)
*"Major Victory Comics" #1-3 (1944 – 1945)
*"Punch Comics" #1-23 (1941 – 1948)
*"Red Seal Comics" #14-22 (1945 – 1947; previously "Carnival Comics")
*"Scoop Comics" #1-3, 8 (no issues #4-7 published; 1941 – 1942, 1945)
*"Skyrocket Comics" #1 (1944)
*"Snap Comics" #9 (no issues #1-8 published; 1944)
*"Spotlight Comics" #1-3 (1944 – 1945)
*"Star Comics"
*"Star Ranger"
*"Yankee Comics" #1-4 (1941 – 1942; fifth issue published as "Danger" #16 by IW/Super)

References

* [http://scoop.diamondgalleries.com/scoop_article.asp?ai=558&si=124 "Harry 'A' Chesler, Jr.: Comic Book Entrepreneur"]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/mn/blaklion/harry.html Harry "A" Chesler superheroes]
* [http://english2.mnsu.edu/larsson/companions%20companion/scoop.html Cover, "Scoop Comics" #2] (shows imprint for "Harry A. Chesler Feature Syndication" and "A Dynamic Publication)
*"The Steranko History of Comics 2" by Jim Steranko, (Supergraphics, 1972), p. 99