Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson

Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson was born on January 7, 1890, and died September 21, 1965. A former U.S. Army cavalry officer, he turned to writing for pulp magazines before making a lasting mark on a new medium. In 1935, he founded National Allied Publications, the company that would eventually become DC Comics. His key innovation was publishing *New Fun* (later *More Fun Comics*), the first comic book to feature entirely original material rather than reprints of newspaper strips. This broke from the standard practice of the era and established the comic book as a distinct creative form. Wheeler-Nicholson went on to launch *New Comics* (later *New Adventure Comics*) and *Detective Comics*, the latter of which introduced Batman in 1939—though Wheeler-Nicholson had left the company by then. Financial difficulties forced him out of his own business in 1938, but his foundational work shaped the industry. Historian David Hajdu described him as "the link between the pulps and what we know of as comics today." He is credited as a writer on 12 issues, most notably for *More Fun Comics* and *Detective Comics*. Though he did not receive major lifetime awards, his role as a pioneer is widely recognized.