1939 in comics explained
See also: List of years in comics. Notable events of 1939 in comics.
Events and publications
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Specials
Specific date unknown
Births
March
- March 27: Jo Teodorescu, Romanian illustrator and comics artist (Aventurile profesului Parbriz), (d. 2014).[10]
April
Deaths
January
June
- June 28: Joz De Swerts, Belgian illustrator, political cartoonist and comics artist (worked for Zonneland), dies at age 49.[15]
July
- July 4: Louis Wain, British painter and illustrator (illustrations starring anthropomorphic cats), dies at age 78.[16]
- July 25: A.E. Hayward, American comics artist (Somebody's Stenog), dies at age 55.[17]
August
- August 14: T.E. Powers, American comics artist (Our Moving Pictures, Mr. Nobody Holme), dies at the age of 69.[18]
September
- September 8: Elie Smalhout, Dutch graphic artist, illustrator and comics artist (made text comics for De Notenkraker), dies at age 49.[19]
- September 23: Frits Van den Berghe, Belgian painter, illustrator and comic artist (Jan Van Plan, Pikkel en Duim, Edmund Bell), dies at age 56. [20]
- September 29: Luc Lafnet, aka Davine, Visnet, O. Lucas, Pol, Luc, Belgian-French comics artist (Bizouk et Pélik, Zizette, assisted on Spirou et Fantasio, Bibor et Tribar), dies at age 40 from pancreatic cancer.[21]
October
- October 10: Benjamin Rabier, French comics artist, illustrator, animator and advertising artist (Gédéon, Tintin-Lutin, designed La Vache Qui Rit), dies at age 74.[22]
- October 12: Llorenç Brunet i Forroll, Spanish caricaturist, painter and comics artist, dies at age 67.[23]
- October 18: Carl Olof Petersen, Swedish illustrator, painter and comics artist, dies at age 59.[24]
November
December
Specific date unknown
- Paul Augros, French illustrator and comics artist, dies at age 58.[27]
- Louis de Lajarrige, French illustrator, painter, comics artist and writer, dies at age 66.[28]
- E. Nicolson, French illustrator and comics artist (Les Aventures du Chien Brownie, Bambochard et Trémolo), dies at an unknown age.[29]
First issues by title
- All-American Comics (April, All-American Publications)
- Amazing Man Comics (September, Centaur Publications) Issues No. 1 through 4 were not published.
- Double Action Comics (December, National Periodical Publications) The first issue was an ashcan copy, published but not distributed or sold.
- Fantastic Comics (December, Fox Feature Syndicate)
- Four Color (Dell Publishing)
- Marvel Comics (October, Timely Comics)
- Movie Comics (April, National Periodical Publications)
- Mutt & Jeff (Summer, All-American Comics)
- Mystery Men Comics (August, Fox Feature Syndicate)
- New York World's Fair (National Periodical Publications)
- Silver Streak Comics (December, Rhoda Publications)
- Smash Comics (August, Quality Comics)
- Star Comics Volume 2 (February, Centaur Publications)
- Star Ranger Funnies Volume 2 (January, Centaur Publications)
- Superman (Summer, National Periodical Publications)
- The Magic Comic (July, D. C. Thomson & Co.)
- Wonder Comics (May, Fox Feature Syndicate)
Renamed titles
Initial appearances by character name
- Batman (Earth-Two) in Detective Comics No. 27 (May), created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, published by National Allied Publications[30]
- Bozo the Iron Man in Smash Comics No. 1 (August), created by George Brenner, published by Quality Comics.
- Commissioner Gordon in Detective Comics No. 27 (May) created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, published by National Allied Publications
- Dan Garret (Blue Beetle) in Mystery Men Comics No. 1 (August), created by Charles Nicholas, published by Fox Feature Syndicate.
- Doctor Death (comics) in Detective Comics No. 29 (July), created by Bob Kane, published by National Periodical Publications
- Doll Girl in Feature Comics No. 27 (December), created by Will Eisner, Published by Quality Comics.
- Doll Man in Feature Comics No. 27 (December), created by Will Eisner, Published by Quality Comics.
- Green Mask (Michael Shelby) in Mystery Men Comics No. 1 (August), created by Walter Frame, Published by Fox Feature Syndicate.
- Human Torch in Marvel Comics No. 1 (October) created by Carl Burgos, published by Timely Comics
- Invisible Hood in Smash Comics No. 1 (August), created by Art Pinajian, published by Quality Comics.
- Joe Chill in Detective Comics No. 33 (November), created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane.
- Monk (comics) in Detective Comics No. 31 (September), created by Gardner Fox and Bob Kane, published by National Periodical Publications
- Namor The Sub-Mariner in Marvel Comics #1 (October) created by Bill Everett, published by Timely Comics
- Samson in Fantastic Comics #1 (December) created by Will Eisner and Alex Blum
- Sandman (Wesley Dodds) in New York World's Fair Comics No. 1, created by Gardner Fox and Bert Christman, published by National Periodical Publications.
- The Flame (Gary Preston) in Wonderworld Comics No. 3 created by Will Eisner and Lou Fine, published by Fox Feature Syndicate.
- Ultra-Humanite in Action Comics No. 13 (June), created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, published by National Periodical Publications.
- Ultra-Man in All-American Comics No. 8 (November), created by Jon L. Blummer, published by National Periodical Publications
Notes and References
- Book: Wallace, Daniel. Dolan. Hannah. 1930s. DC Comics Year By Year A Visual Chronicle. . 2010 . 978-0-7566-6742-9 . 25. Superman's runaway popularity as part of Action Comics earned him his own comic. This was a real breakthrough for the time, as characters introduced in comic books had never before been so successful as to warrant their own titles..
- Web site: Gardner Fox.
- Web site: Will Eisner . May 21, 2020 . lambiek.net.
- Web site: Wonder Women: On and Off Paper . Morales . Alisande . July 17, 2013 . Ali's Alley . Alisande Morales-Caraballo . July 30, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161005182644/http://www.alis-alley.com/wonder-women-on-and-off-paper/ . October 5, 2016 . dead .
- One copy with a color cover has been proven to be a hoax.
- The first mention of Double Action Comics No. 1 is in The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide No. 10 (Robert M. Overstreet, 1980). Additional information regarding Double Action can be found on page A-19 of the market report, which notes that, "four more copies of Double Action turned up and sold for record prices. All of these copies were in excellent condition with white cover and pages. Even a No. 1 was included in the four, the rest being No. 2's." The existence of a Very Good copy has been confirmed by both Robert Overstreet and John K. Snyder III.
- Web site: Arnold Warden.
- Book: Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas [4 volumes]
A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas]
. 9780313397516. Keith Booker. M.. 2014-10-28.
- Web site: Nikola Navojev. lambiek.net. May 21, 2020.
- Web site: R.A. Kosasih. lambiek.net. October 30, 2020.
- Web site: Shinji Mizushima. Lambiek.net. January 27, 2022.
- Web site: Carl Emil Schultze.
- Web site: Victor Bergdahl.
- Bendazzi, p. 45
- Web site: Joz de Swerts.
- Web site: Louis Wain.
- Web site: A. E. Hayward.
- Web site: T. E. Powers.
- Web site: Elie Smalhout.
- Web site: Frits van den Berghe.
- Web site: Luc Lafnet.
- Web site: Benjamin Rabier.
- Web site: Llorenç Brunet i Torroll.
- Web site: Carl Olof Petersen.
- Web site: Walter C. Hoban.
- Web site: Bruno Liljefors.
- Web site: Augros. lambiek.net. May 21, 2020.
- Web site: Louis Lajarrige.
- Web site: E. Nicolson.
- Wallace "1930s" in Dolan, p. 24: "DC's second superstar debuted in the lead story of this issue, written by Bill Finger and drawn by Bob Kane, though the character was missing many of the elements that would make him a legend."
