FightComix

FIGHT COMICS

FROM FICTION HOUSE

For many years the backbone of the Fiction House line was the six titles illustrated in the mid-Forties advertisement at left - Wings Comics, Jumbo Comics, Jungle Comics, Rangers Comics, Planet Comics and Fight Comics. Occasionally the publisher would change these advertisements to become the Big 7 or Big 8 as short-lived new titles like Movie Comics or Toyland Comics were added to the Fiction House catalogue. These publications did not catch on and are largely unknown, except to avid specialists. Consequently, they are not generally popular with collectors today.

MORE: http://terrororstralis.com/sheena/comics/FH-covers1.htm

Not many Golden Age titles provided such a varied cast of characters and genres as did Fiction House's Fight Comics, one of the pulp publisher's famed "Big Six" comic books. Quick – name the other five! Right – Jumbo, Jungle, Planet, Wings and Rangers.

The generically named Fight Comics – obviously taken from the long-running Fiction House pulp Fight Stories – lasted 14 years and 86 issues. Issue #1 (Jan. 1940) ties for the second Fiction House comic book released (Jumbo started in 1938). Fight #86 (Jan. 1954) was among the firm's final 10 issues.

The majority of the characters came from the world of war heroes, spies, soldiers of fortune, vine swingers, prizefighters and a smattering of super heroes. They were almost all interesting. Fight Comics also featured more than half a dozen types of covers. In a sense, anyone who can collect all 86 issues has a microcosm of comics from the early Golden Age to the confusing limbo of the early 1950s.

The first two super heroes, Sabre (Spy Fighter) and Power Man (Rip Regan) ran in Fight #1-16 and #3-14, respectively. The stories were always short and of little consequence. On the other hand, both Super-American (#15-18) and Captain Fight (#16-19) were among the earliest and most colorful patriotic heroes. Both were fun features, running either 13 or 14 pages except for the 9-page Captain Fight story in #19. If you can only get one issue, shoot for either #16, 17 or 18, because they contain both characters. They're great, albeit scarce, examples of the vintage patriotic super hero.

"Senorita Rio" Rita Farrar first appeared in Fight Comics No. 19 in June, 1942. Published by Fiction House she made a lasting impression and her run lasted 53 stories between 1942 and 1951, concluding in Fight Comics No. 71. The legendary artists that drew her adventures included Nick Cardy, Lily Renee, Jack Kamen, and Bob Lubbers. In the Fiction House tales, Rita Farrar was a popular film star of the 1940's who had been recruited by the United States Secret Service because her status allowed her to go places and reach people otherwise untouchable by ordinary covert operatives. Her Latin background was exploited by assigning her to root out fascist insurgents in Mexico, Central, and South America during World War II. Information taken from "The Official Golden Age Hero and Heroine Directory" by Bill Black, ISBN 1-56225-017-5.

MORE: http://www.femforce-femfans.com/profiles/rita.html

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Bob Lubbers is best known for his "good girl art" from both the comic strips and comic books.

Bob was born in 1922, and attended the Art Students League before breaking into the comic book profession at the tender age of 18. His first work was for Centaur, (then known as The Comics Corporation of America) illustrating such features as The Arrow, Reef Kincaid, Red Riley and The Liberty Scouts.

When Centaur folded in 1942, Bob moved over to T. T. Scott's Fiction House line and found a home for the rest of the decade. There he served as Art Director, doing many action features and spectacular covers.

He drew Camilla in Jungle Comics, Señorita Rio in Fight Comics, Captain Wings in Wings, as well as Space Rangers, Rip Carson, Flint Baker, Captain Terry Thunder, and a long stint on Rangers Comics' frontier girl, Firehair.

[Jun 1942] "Senorita Rio" Rita Farrar first appeared in Fight Comics No. 19 in June, 1942.

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[Jun 1944] Tiger Girl was another one of Fiction House's great comics of the Good Girl and Jungle Girl era. Her first appearance was in Fight comics in issue #32 in June of 1944. As far as I know, this is her only comic title outside of a brief stint in Jungle Comics. She was one tough chick, although less ...

From Looking For a Fight - Tiger Girl - art4comics.com

It was undoubtedly Sheena who inspired Fiction House's Tiger Girl, and not Republic Pictures' 12-part serial, The Tiger Woman. The former debuted in Fight Comics #32, dated June, 1944, while the latter was first seen on May 27, 1944 — which, the way comics have traditionally been dated, means it's likely the comic book came out first. The writer who co-created Tiger Girl is unknown, but the artist was Robert Webb, a prolific contributor to Fiction House, who also worked for Fox Feature Syndicate. Other artists who worked on her over the years include Matt Baker (Phantom Lady) and Jack Kamen (EC Comics).

Tiger Girl was a redhead at first, but had become blonde by the time she began her stint on the Fight Comics cover, which she did in #49 (April, 1947). She wrested the position from Señorita Rio, a U.S. government agent who masqueraded as an ordinary actress. She stayed on the cover until her very last appearance in Fight, #81 (July, 1952). The following month, she was transferred to Jungle Comics, where her adventures consisted mostly of reprints. Her last appearance altogether was in Jungle Comics #163 (Summer, 1954).

She didn't have a title of her own at Fiction House, nor was she even subjected to unauthorized reprints by Israel Waldman's IW or Super Comics, as so many Fiction House characters were. She was later appropriated by AC Comics, which did the same with The Avenger, Fighting Yank and many other comic book characters that weren't protected by copyright.

MORE: http://www.toonopedia.com/tigrgrl1.htm

[Jun 1947] First off, it's cover feature TIGER GIRL in a top-flight Matt Baker-drawn story originally published in Fight Comics #50, in June of 1947. Then, it's GALE ALLEN and the GIRL SQUADRON, straight out of Planet Comics, as they battle an evil scientist named Izmet to free the kingdom of Margravia.

From AC Comics Store: America's Greatest Comics 14 - anonwebhost.com