Fox Feature Syndicate

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Fox Feature Syndicate
company_
slogan =
fate = closed
successor =
foundation =
closed = mid-1950s
location = Massachusetts
industry = Entertainment
key_people = Victor A. Fox
products = comic books
num_employees =
parent =
subsid =

Fox Feature Syndicate [Per the [http://www.lib.msu.edu/comics/rri/frri/foxgary.htm Michigan State University Libraries' Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection] , the company name used "Feature" singular rather than "Features" plural: "Fox Feature Syndicate — American comics publisher or publishers, sometimes informally called 'Fox Comics.' The corporate names 'Fox Feature Syndicate' and 'Fox Publications' both appear, with the latter consistently having an address in the state of Massachusetts".] (also known as Fox Comics and Fox Publications) was a comic book publisher from early in the period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by entrepreneur Victor A. Fox, it produced such titles as "Blue Beetle", "Fantastic Comics" and "Mystery Men Comics". It is not to be confused with [http://www.foxpublications.com/ Fox Publications] , a Colorado publisher of railroad photography books.

Background

Victor A. Fox and business associate Bob Farrell launched Fox Feature Syndicate at 480 Lexington Avenue in New York City in the late 1930s. For content, Fox contracted with comics packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of companies creating comic books on demand for publishers entering the field. Writer-artist Will Eisner, at Victor Fox's request for a hero to mimic the newly created hit Superman, created the superhero Wonder Man for Fox's first publication, "Wonder Comics" #1 (May 1939), signing his work "Willis". Superman owner National Periodical Publications, the company that would evolve into DC Comics, cited copyright infringement and quickly obtained a permanent injunction. Wonder Man did not reappear.

After Eisner testified against Fox at trial, Fox dropped the packager and hired his own stable of comic creators, beginning with a "New York Times" classified ad on Dec. 2, 1939. Joe Simon, a former Eisner & Iger freelancer, became Fox Publications' editor.

As one of the earliest companies in the emerging field, it employed or bought the packaged material of a huge number of Golden Age greats, many at the start of their careers. Lou Fine created the superhero The Flame in "Wonderworld Comics"; Dick Briefer created Rex Dexter of Mars" in the eponymous series. George Tuska did his first comics work here with the features "Zanzibar" ("Mystery Men Comics" #1, Aug. 1939) and "Tom Barry" ("Wonderworld Comics" #4). Fletcher Hanks wrote and drew Stardust the Super Wizard in "Fantastic Comics" in 1939 to 1940. Matt Baker, one of the few African-American comic book artists of the Golden Age, revamped — in more than one sense — the newly acquired Quality Comics character Phantom Lady' in 1947, creating one of the most memorable and controversial examples of superhero "good girl art".

Future comics legend Jack Kirby, brought on staff here after freelancing for Eisner & Iger, wrote and drew the syndicated newspaper comic strip "The Blue Beetle" (starting Jan. 1940), starring a character created by Charles Nicholas Wojtkowski in "Mystery Men Comics" #1 (Aug. 1939). Kirby retained the house name "Charles Nicholas" for the comic strip, which lasted three months. Kirby, additionally, created and did one story each of the Fox features "Wing Turner" ("Mystery Men" #10, May 1940) and "Cosmic Carson" ("Science Comics" #4, same month).

Throughout the 1940s, Fox produced comics in a typically wide variety of genres, but was best known for superheroes and humor. With the post-war decline in superheroes' popularity, Fox, like other publishers, concentrated on horror and crime comics, including some of the most notorious of the latter. Following the establishment of Comics Code Authority in the mid-1950s, Fox went out of business, selling the rights to the Blue Beetle to Charlton Comics.

Victor Fox

Born in England,Fact|date=June 2008 Fox Publications founder Victor A. Fox was a stockbroker for the Allied Capital Corp./Fox Motor and Bank Stocks, Inc./American Common Stocks, Inc.,Fact|date=June 2008 on Park Avenue in New York City when he was indictedFact|date=June 2008 on Nov. 27, 1929 for mail fraud and related illegal "boiler room" activities. It appears unrecorded whether this resulted in a conviction.

Historian Jon Berk has written that Fox went on to become an accountant/bookkeeper at the publishing firm that would become DC Comics, where he was privy to sales figures that convinced him to launch his own comic-book company. [ [http://www.comicartville.com/victorfox.htm Comicartville Library: "The Weird, Wonder(ous) World of Victor Fox's Fantastic Mystery Men", Part I, by Jon Berk] .] Fellow historian Gerard Jones, writing in his book "Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book", was unable to find documentation of this. [Jones, Gerard. "Men Of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book" (2004) ISBN 0-465-03656-2]

Quotes

Jack Kirby: "Victor Fox was a character. He'd look up at the ceiling with a big cigar, this little fellow, very broad, going back and forth with his hands behind his back saying, 'I'm the King of Comics! I'm the King of Comics!' and we would watch him and, of course, smile a little because he was a genuine type". [Jack Kirby interview, "The Comics Journal" #134 (Feb. 1990), reprinted in "The Comics Journal Library, Volume One: Jack Kirby" (2002) ISBN 1-56097-466-4, p. 25]

Joe Simon on Victor Fox : "He was an accountant for DC Comics. He was doing the sales figures and he liked what he saw. So, he moved downstairs and started his own company.... I happened to get a job; I went over to Fox and became editor there, which was just an impossible job, because ... there were no artists, no writers, no editors, no letterers — nothing there. Everything came out of the Eisner and Iger shop. ... He was a very strange character. He had kind of a British accent; he was like 5'2", told us he was a former ballroom dancer. He was very loud, menacing, and really a scary little guy. He used to say, 'I'm the King of the Comics. I'm the King of the Comics. I'm the King of the Comics.' We couldn't stop him". [ [http://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/articles/25simon.html "Jack Kirby Collector" #25 (Aug. 1999)] : "More Than Your Average Joe: Excerpts from Joe Simon's panels at the 1998 Comicon International: San Diego"]

Nicky Wright: "Competing well in the 'most sexy, sadistic, and violent' category, Victor Fox’s "Murder Incorporated" and "Blue Beetle" are noteworthy.... When historians describe sleaze, sex, and violence as Fox’s obsession, they are masters of understatement. His best artists, Jack Kamen and Matt Baker, are much revered and collected for their good girl art. (Of special note is the company’s breasty crime-fighter-in-bedroom-lingerie, Phantom Lady...along with the wild and scantily attired Rulah, Jungle Goddess.)" [ [http://www.crimeboss.com/history02-2.html"Comic Book Marketplace" #65] , "Seducers of the Innocent"]

Boyd Magers: "Never one to overlook a secondary sale, Fox often repackaged four remaindered (unsold) comics into a 25¢ Giant with a new cover, hence "Hoot Gibson's Western Roundup", 132 pages dated 1950. However, since Fox always started their stories on the inside front cover (where other publishers ran an ad), these repackaged comics are always missing the first page of story content. Also, since Fox used remaindered issues, contents will vary from copy to copy of "Hoot Gibson's Western Roundup"." [ [http://www.b-westerns.com/hgibson5.htm The Old Corral: Hoot Gibson] ]

Fox characters

* The Banshee
* Birdman
* The Blackbird
* Black Fury & Kid Fury
* Black Lion
* Blue Beetle (later sold to Charlton Comics, who later sold to DC Comics)
* The Bouncer
* Bronze Man
* Captain V
* Dagar, the Desert Hawk
* The Dart & Ace, the Bat Boy
* Dynamite Thor
* The Eagle & Buddy (Steven Woods, who as an adult takes on the name Blue Eagle)
* Electro (later known as Dynamo)
* The Flame
* The Gorilla with the Human Brain
* Green Mask
* Illuso
* The Jaguar/Jaguar Man
* Jo-Jo, Congo King
* Lunar the Moon Man
* The Lynx
* Marga the Panther Woman
* Miss X
* The Moth/Mothman
* Nightbird
* Phantom Lady (obtained from Quality Comics via Iger Studios)
* The Purple Tigress
* Rani-Bey
* The Rapier
* The Raven
* Rulah, Jungle Goddess
* Samson
* Spider Queen (later appeared in Marvel Comics's "Invaders" series) [ [http://www.marvunapp.com/Appendix/spiderqueen.htm per "The Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe"] : "Created by Elsa Lesau (believed to be a pseudonym for Louis and Arturo Cazeneuve) for Fox Features [sic] Syndicate; adapted for the [Marvel Comics|Marvel [Comics] ] Universe by Roy Thomas, Dave Hoover, and Brian Garvey. Roy Thomas had originally intended [the flashback, World War II supervillian team] Battle-Axis to consist of minor wartime heroes of Timely Comics (predecessor of Marvel), but [editor] Mark Gruenwald nixed that idea, and super-heroes from now-defunct wartime publishers were used instead...."]
* Stardust the Super Wizard
* Tangi
* Tegra, Jungle Empress
* Thor
* The Topper
* Tumbler
* US Jones
* V-Man
* Wonder Man
* The Wraith
* Yarko the Great, Master Magician
* Zago, Jungle Prince

Fox titles

*"Album of Crime", one non-numbered issue (1949)
*"All Famous Crime", one non-numbered issue (1949)
*"All Good Comics", one non-numbered issue (1944); #1 (1946)
*"All Great Comics", one non-numbered issue (1944); one non-numbered issue (1945); #1, 14, 13 [issue numbers for "All Great Comics" are strange but correct in the given order. There were no issues #2-12 and #14 came before #13. See the [http://www.comics.org/series.lasso?SeriesID=464 entry] in the GCD.] (1946; becomes "Dagar, Desert Hawk" with 2nd #14 onward)
*"All Great Jungle Adventures", one non-numbered issue (1949)
*"All Real Confession Magazine", one non-numbered issue (1949)
*"All Top Comics" one non-numbered issue (1944); #1-18 (1945-1949; "My Experience" #19 onward)
*"All Your Comics", one non-numbered issue (1944); #1 (1946)
*"Almanac of Crime", two non-numbered issues (1949)
*"Animal Crackers" #31 (1950; formerly "My Love Secret" [As new periodical titles were subject to an expensive registration fee by the postal service to receive a second class mail permit, Golden Age comic book publishers frequently continued the numbering of old titles on new ones, hence one comic book title "becoming" another with completely unrelated content.]
*"Big Three" #1-7 (1940-1942)
*"Blue Beetle" #1-12, 31-42, 44-69 (1939-1950; #12-30 published by Holyoke Publishing [See the GCD's separate, entries on the [http://www.comics.org/series.lasso?SeriesID=127 Fox] and [http://www.comics.org/series.lasso?SeriesID=310 Holyoke] runs] ; no #43)
*"Book of All-Comics" one non-numbered issue (1945)
*"The Book of Comics" #1 (1945)
*"The Bouncer", non-numbered first issue, #11-14 (1944-1945)
*"Captain Kidd" #24-25 (1949; formerly "Dagar, Desert Hawk")
*"Cody of the Pony Express" #1 (1950)
*"Colossal Features Magazine" #33-34, issue numbering restarts, [ Such renumbering occurred when the post office discovered a new title distributed under old numbering; the publisher was then forced to not only pay the registration fee, but also to list the correct issue number.] #3 (1950; formerly "I Loved")
*"Cosmo Cat" #1-10 (1946-1947; becomes "Sunny, America's Sweetheart" #11 onward)
*"Crimes Incorporated" #12 (1950; formerly "My Past"); issue numbering restarts, "Crime Incorporated" #2-3 (1950-1951)
*"Crimes By Women" #1-15 (1948-1950)
*"Dagar, Desert Hawk" #14-23 (1948-1949; formerly "All Great Comics", 1946 series; "Captain Kidd" #24 onward)
*"Dorothy Lamour, Jungle Princess" #2-3 (1950; formerly "Jungle Lil")
* "The Eagle" #1-4 (July 1941 - Jan. 1942)
*"Famous Crimes" #1-20 (1948-1951)
* "Fantastic Comics" #1-23 (Dec. 1939 - Nov. 1941)
*"Feature Presentations Magazine" #5-6; issue numbering restarts, "Feature Stories Magazine" #3-4 (1950; formerly "Women in Love")
*"The Flame" #1-8 (1940-1942)
*"Free Weekly Comics", three non-numbered issues (1940)
*"Frank Buck", #70-71; issue numbering restarts, #3 (1950; formerly "My True Love")
*"Full Color Comics", one non-numbered issue (1946)
*"General Douglas MacArthur", one non-numbered issue (1951)
*"The Green Mask" #1-17 (1940-1946)
*"Hoot Gibson" #5-6; issue numbering restarts, #3 (1950; formerly "My Love Story")
*"Hoot Gibson's Western Roundup", one non-numbered issue (1950)
*"Hunted" #13; issue numbering restarts, #2 (1950; formerly "My Love Memoirs")
*"I Loved" #28-32 (1949-1950; formerly "Rulah, Jungle Goddess"; "Colossal Features Magazine" #33 onward)
*"Inside Crime" #3; issue numbering restarts, #2 (1950; formerly "My Intimate Affair")
*"Jo-Jo Comics #1-6 (1946-1947; becoms "Jo-Jo, Congo King" #7 onward)
*"Jo-Jo, Congo King" #7-29 (1947-1949; two #7s, no #13; formerly "Jo-Jo Comics"; "My Desire" #30 onward)
*"Journal of Crime", one non-numbered issue (1949)
*"Judy Canova" #23-24; issue numbering restarts, #3 (1950; formerly "My Experience")
*"Jungle Jo", one non-numbered issue, #1-6 (1950)
*"Jungle Lil" #1 (1950; "Dorothy Lamour, Jungle Princess" #2 onward)
*"Junior Comics" #9-16 (1947-1948; formerly "Li'l Pan"; becomes "Western Outlaws" #17 onward)
*"Krazy Life" #1 (1945)
*"Li'l Pan" #6-8 (1946-1947; formerly "Rocket Kelly"; Junior Comics" #9 onward)
*"Life with Snarky Parker" #1 (1950)
*"March of Crime", three non-numbered issues (1948); #7; issue numbering restarts, #2-3 (1950; formerly "My Love Affair")
*"Martin Kane Private Eye" #4; issue numbering restarts, #2 (1950; formerly "My Secret Affair")
*"Meet Corliss Archer" #1-3 (1948; "My Life" #4 onward)
*"Murder Incorporated" #1-15 (1948-1949; "My Private Life" #16 onward); #5; issue numbering restarts, #2-3 (1950; formerly "My Desire")
*"My Confession" #7-10 (1949-1950; formerly "Western True Crime"; "Spectacular Feature Magazine" #11 onward)
*"My Desire" #30-31; issue numbering restarts, #3-4 (1949-1950; formerly "Jo-Jo Congo King"; "Murder Incorporated", 1950 series, #5 onward)
*"My Experience" #19-22 (1949-1950; formerly "All Top Comics"; "Judy Canova" #23 onward)
*"My Great Love" #1-4 (1949-1950; "Will Rogers Western" #5 onward)
*"My Intimate Affair" #1-2 (1950; "Inside Crime" #3 onward)
*"My Life True Stories in Pictures" #4-15 (1948-1950; formerly "Meet Corliss Archer")
*"My Love Affair" #1-6 (1949-1950; "March of Crime", 1950 series, #7 onward)
*"My Love Life" #6-13 (1949-1950; formerly "Zegra, Jungle Empress")
*"My Love Memoirs" #9-12 (1949-1950; "Hunted" #13 onward)
*"My Love Secret" #24-30 (1949-1950; formerly "Phantom Lady"; "Animal Crackers" #31 onward)
*"My Love Story" #1-4 (1949-1950; "Hoot Gibson" #5 onward)
*"My Past Thrilling Confessions" #7-11 (1949-1950; formerly "Western Thrillers"; "Crimes, Inc." #12 onward)
*"My Private Life" #16-17 (1950; formerly "Murder Incorporated", 1948 series; "Pedro" #18 onward)
*"My Secret Affair" #1-3 (1949-1950; "Martin Kane" #4 onward)
*"My Secret Life" #22-27 (1949-1950; formerly "Western Outlaws")
*"My Secret Romance" #1-2 (1950; "A Star Presentation" #3 onward)
*"My Secret Story" #26-29 (1950; formerly "Captain Kidd"; "Sabu, Elephant Boy" #30 onward)
*"My Story" #5-12 (1949-1950; formerly "Zago, Jungle Prince"
*"My True Love: " #65-69 (1949-1950; formerly "Western Killers"; "Frank Buck" #70 onward)
*"Mystery Men Comics" #1-31 (Aug. 1939 - Feb. 1942)
*"Pedro" #18; issue numbering restarts, #2 (1950; formerly "My Private Life")
*"Phantom Lady" #13-23 (1947-1949; formerly "Wotalife Comics"; "My Love Secret" #24 onward)
*"Range Busters" #1 (1950)
*"Real Hit Comics" #1 (1944)
*"Rex Dexter of Mars" #1 (Fall 1940)
*"Ribtickler" #1-9 (1945-1947)
*"Rocket Kelly", one non-numbered issue (1944); #1-5 (1945-1946)
*"Rocket Ship X" #1 (1951)
*"Romantic Thrills", one non-numbered issue (1950)
*"Romeo Tubbs" #26-28 (1950; formerly "My Secret Life")
*"Rulah, Jungle Goddess" #17-27 (1948-1949; formerly "Zoot Comics"; "I Loved" #28 onward)
*"Sabu, Elephant Boy" #30; issue numbering restarts, #2 (1950; formerly "My Secret Story")
*"Samson" #1-6 (Fall 1940 - Sept. 1941)
*"Science Comics" #1-8 (Feb. - Sept. 1940)
*"Secret Love Stories", one non-numbered issue (1949)
*"Spectacular Features Magazine" #11-13 (1950; formerly "My Confession")
*"Spectacular Stories Magazine" #4 (1950)
*"A Star Presentation" #3 (1950; formerly "My Secret Romance"; "Spectactular Stories Magazine" #4 onward)
*"Sunny, America's Sweetheart" #11-14 (1947-1948; formerly "Cosmo Cat")
*"Tegra, Jungle Empress" #1 (1948; "Zega, Jungle Empress" #2 onward)
* "U.S. Jones" #1-2 (Nov. 1941- Jan. 1942)
* "V...- Comics" [The "...-" in "V...- Comics" is Morse code for 'V'] #1-2 (Jan. 1942- March 1942)
*"Variety Comics", two non-numbered issues (1946)
*"Weird Comics" #1-20 (April 1940 - Jan. 1942)
*"Western Killers" #60-64 (1948-1949; "My True Love" #65 onward)
*"Western Outlaws" #17-21 (1948-1949; formerly "Junior Comics"; "My Secret Life" #22 onward)
*"Western Thrillers" #1-6 (1948-1949; "My Past Confessions" #7 onward)
*"Western True Crime" #1-6 (1948-1949)
*"Will Rogers Western" #5; issue numbering restarts, #2 (1950; formerly "My Great Love")
*"Women in Love" #1-4 (1949-1950; "A Feature Presentation" #5 onward)
*"Women Outlaws" #1-8 (1948-1949; "My Love Memories" #9 onward)
*"Wonder Comics" (changed to "Wonderworld Comics", #3-on) #1-33 (May 1939 - Jan. 1942)
*"Wotalife Comics" #3-12 (1946-1947; "Phantom Lady" #13 onward)
*"Zago, Jungle Prince" #1-4 (1948-1949; "My Story" #5 onward)
*"Zegra, Jungle Empress" #2-5 (1948-1949; formerly "Tegra, Jungle Empress"; "My Love Life" #6 onward)
*"Zoot Comics" #1-16 (1946-1948; "Rulah, Jungle Goddess" #17 onward)

Gallery of Fox Feature Syndicate covers

Footnotes

References

* [http://www.comicartville.com/victorfox.htm Comicartville Library: "The Weird, Wonder(ous) World of Victor Fox's Fantastic Mystery Men", Part I] and [http://www.comicartville.com/victorfoxpg2.htm Part II]
* [http://kirbymuseum.org The Jack Kirby Museum & Research Center]
* [http://www.twomorrows.com/kirby/ The Jack Kirby Collector]
* [http://www.chs.org/comics/creators.htm The Connecticut Historical Society: Connecticut Talent]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/art/wildwood/wonderman.html Wildwood Cemetery: The Spirit Database]

External links

* [http://www.toonopedia.com/foxfeatr.htm Fox Feature Syndicate at Don Markstein's Toonopedia]
* [http://www.comicartville.com/foxcovers.htm Comicartville Library:The Fox 1939-1942 Comic Covers]