All-American Comics


All-American Comics was a comics anthology and the flagship title of comic book publisher All-American Publications, one of the forerunners of DC Comics. It ran for 102 issues from 1939 to 1948. Characters created for the title, including Green Lantern, the Atom, the Red Tornado, Doctor Mid-Nite, and Sargon the Sorcerer, later became mainstays of the DC Comics line.

Publication history

All-American Comics published 102 issues from April 1939 to October 1948. The series was an anthology which included a mixture of new material and reprints of newspaper strips. Sheldon Mayer's Scribbly was introduced in the first issue as was Hop Harrigan.
The Golden Age Green Lantern was introduced by artist/creator Martin Nodell in issue #16. He continued in the title until #102.
The Golden Age Atom debuted in #19 and Mayer created the original Red Tornado in #20.
Doctor Mid-Nite first appeared in #25, while Howard Purcell and John Wentworth introduced Sargon the Sorcerer in the following month's issue.
Alfred Bester and Paul Reinman created the monstrous supervillain Solomon Grundy in #61.
Other features included "Toonerville Folks", "Mutt and Jeff", and "Ripley's Believe It or Not!".
All-American Publications and all its titles were purchased by National Periodicals in 1946. Responding to the demand for Western comics, All-American Comics changed title and format with #103 to All-American Western. The retitled series had Johnny Thunder as the lead feature. It changed title and format again to All-American Men of War as of #127.
A May 1999 one-shot issue by writer Ron Marz and artist Eduardo Barreto was a part of the "Justice Society Returns" storyline.

Features