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WAR COMICS
Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began including stories of wartime adventures in the multi-genre omnibus titles then popular as a format. Even prior to the U.S. involvement in World War II, comic books such as Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941) depicted superheroes fighting Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. In the post-war era, comic books devoted solely to war stories began appearing, and gained popularity through the 1950s. Several anthologies by various publishers began to appear, such as Frontline Combat by EC. The most prolific publisher of war comics was Charlton Comics who produced a wide variety of titles beginning in the 1950s, such as Battlefield Action, though the mainstream publishers such as DC also began to produce war titles, which gained in popularity in the United States and Canada even during the Vietnam War. The titles tended to concentrate on US military depictions, generally in World War II, the Korean War or the Vietnam War.
In the 1960s, several recurring characters began to appear in mainstream comic lines, including Sgt. Rock and The Haunted Tank in the DC line. These recurring characters began as regular "guests" of anthology titles such as Our Army at War and later graduated to their own titles. Marvel Comics also produced war titles, notably Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos. Warren Publishing published a black-and-white comics magazine Blazing Combat devoted to authentically drawn and researched combat stories with a self-professed anti-war slant.
MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_comics
E.C. COMICS
Frontline Combat was a bi-monthly, anthology war comic edited by Harvey Kurtzman and published by EC Comics. The first issue was cover dated July/August, 1951. Over a three-year span, the title ran for 15 issues, ending with the January, 1954 issue. Publication was discontinued following a decline in sales attributed to the end of the Korean War.
The title was a companion comic to Kurtzman's Two-Fisted Tales, and stories Kurtzman wrote for both books often displayed an anti-war attitude.
Artists who contributed included Kurtzman and EC regulars such as John Severin, Jack Davis, Wally Wood, George Evans and Will Elder. Non-EC regulars that contributed to the comic included Alex Toth, Ric Estrada, Joe Kubert, and Russ Heath. Kurtzman wrote the majority of the comic's stories with Jerry De Fuccio contributing one page text stories and the occasional regular story as well. The last couple of issues of the title included writing contributions from artists Davis, Wood and Evans. [1]
MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontline_Combat
Two-Fisted Tales was a bi-monthly, anthology war comic published by EC Comics in the early 1950s. The title originated in November 1950 when Harvey Kurtzman suggested to William Gaines that they publish an adventure comic. Kurtzman became the editor of Two-Fisted Tales, and with the advent of the Korean War soon narrowed the focus to war stories. The book often took an anti-war stance. The title hit newsstands with its November/December 1950 issue, and ceased publication February 1955, producing a total of 24 issues. Years after its demise, the title was reprinted in its entirety and was adapted to television.
MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-Fisted_Tales
D.C. COMICS
Sgt. Frank Rock (later General F. Rock) is a fictional infantry non-commissioned officer in an eponymous comic book published by DC Comics. He first appeared in GI Combat #68 (January 1959), and was created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert.
MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Rock_(comics)
Our Army at War is a war comic book published by DC starting in August 1952 and ended in February 1977.
It ran for over 400 issues, with tag lines such as "Explosive Battle Action." One of the protagonists featured in the book was Sgt. Rock, who later also served as main title for the covers. Many of the issues were approved by the Comics Code Authority, as common during the "bronze age" of comic books.
MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Army_at_War
FAWCETT PUBLISHING
Fawcett Comics, a subsidiary of Fawcett Publications, was one of several successful comics publishers during the Golden Age of Comic Books in the 1940s. Its most popular character was Captain Marvel (not to be confused with Marvel Comics' character of the same name), the alter ego of boy radio reporter Billy Batson, who transformed into the hero whenever he spoke the magic word "SHAZAM!".
Other characters published by Fawcett include Captain Video, Hopalong Cassidy, Ibis the Invincible, Bulletman and Bulletgirl, Spy Smasher, Captain Midnight, Phantom Eagle, Mister Scarlet and Pinky, Minute-Man, Commando Yank, and Golden Arrow.
Aside from the better known superhero books, Fawcett also published a short-lived line of horror comics during the early 50s, a string of titles which included This Magazine Is Haunted, Beware! Terror Tales, Worlds of Fear, Strange Suspense Stories, and Unknown World. Other genres included Teenaged Humor (Otis and Babs), Funny Animal (Hoppy the Marvel Bunny), Romance (Sweethearts), War (Soldier Comics) and Western (Lash larue, Six Gun Heroes). Fawcett also produced comics based on contemporary movie stars (Tom Mix, Rocky Hale) and matinee serials (Nyoka the Jungle Girl). The entire line was dropped in 1953, when Fawcett closed down their comics publishing wing.
MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fawcett_Comics
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A FARRELL PUBLICATION
Ajax-Farrell Publications 1952-1958
MORE: http://www.atlastales.com/sI/4509
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MARVEL/ATLAS:
Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and paperback-novel publisher Martin Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time. Atlas was located on the 14th floor of the Empire State Building.
This company is distinct from the 1970s comic-book company, also founded by Goodman, that is generally known as Atlas/Seaboard Comics.
Atlas grew out of Timely Comics, the company Goodman founded in 1939 and whose star characters during the 1930s and '40s Golden Age of comic books were the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and Captain America. The post-war era, however, found superheroes falling out of fashion. Television and paperback books now also competed for readers and leisure time.
The line marking the end of the Golden Age is vague, but for Timely, at least, historians point to the cancellation of Captain America Comics at issue #75 (Feb. 1950) — by which time the series had already been Captain America's Weird Tales for two issues, with the finale featuring merely anthological suspense stories and no superheroes. The company's flagship title, Marvel Mystery Comics, starring the Human Torch, had already ended its run (with #92, June 1949), as had Sub-Mariner Comics (with #32, the same month). Goodman's comic-book line dropped superheroes and expanded into a wider variety of genres than even Timely had published, emphasizing horror, Westerns, humor, funny-animal, men's adventure-drama, crime, and war comics, later adding a helping of jungle books, romance titles, and even espionage, medieval adventure, Bible stories and sports. As did other publishers, Atlas also courted female readers with mostly humorous comics about models and career women.
MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Comics_(1950s)
CHARLTON COMICS
https://www.mycomicshop.com/comicbooks/item?IID=6677291
Charlton Comics was an American comic book publishing company that existed from 1946 to 1986, having begun under a different name in 1944. It was based in Derby, Connecticut.
A division of Charlton Publications, which published magazines (most notably song-lyric magazines), puzzle books and, briefly, books (under the Monarch and Gold Star imprints), and had its own distribution company (Capital Distribution), Charlton Comics published a wide variety of genres including crime, science fiction, Western, horror, war, and romance comics, as well as funny animal, and superhero series. The company was known for its low-budget practices, often using unpublished material acquired from defunct companies and paying comics creators among the lowest rates in the industry. Charlton Comics were also the last of the American comics to raise their price from ten cents to 12 cents in mid 1962.
http://www.newkadia.com/?Battlefield_Action_Comic-Books=508
It was also unique among comic book companies in that it controlled all areas of its company, from editorial to printing to distribution, rather than partnering with any outside entities as most other publishers did, and that it did so all under one roof, at its headquarters in Derby.
The company was formed by John Santangelo, Sr and Ed Levy in 1940 as T.W.O. Charles Company, named after the two publishers’ sons, both named Charles, and became Charlton Publications in 1945. The name Charlton Comics first appeared on Marvels of Science #1 (March 1946).
MORE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlton_Comics
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