Four Color #1259

Mar 1962 · Dell · 0.15 USD

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“Samuel Bronston's El Cid”

About this Issue

Four Color #1259 is Dell's official comic-book tie-in to Samuel Bronston's 1961 epic film El Cid, starring Charlton Heston as the legendary 11th-century Castilian knight Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar. It stands as a textbook example of the Dell 'Movie Classic' format: a licensed, single-issue adaptation designed to ride the cultural wave of a major Hollywood release at a time when large-scale historical epics dominated screens and newsstands alike. The issue also sits near the very tail end of the entire Four Color run — one of the most expansive licensed-comics publishing programs in American comics history — making it a late-period artifact of a format that would vanish when Dell's partnership with Western Publishing dissolved shortly after. As a snapshot of how comics and Hollywood intersected in the early 1960s Silver Age, it documents an era when a trip to the movies reliably generated a companion comic on the spinner rack.

"Samuel Bronston's El Cid" in Four Color #1259 (1962) delivers a vivid, action-packed retelling of the legendary warrior’s early trials, drawn with bold detail by Gerald McCann. When Rodrigo Diaz De Bivar, known as El Cid, spares captured Moorish leaders only to face the king’s wrath, he must prove his loyalty through a series of daring feats. With dynamic artwork by McCann, this story captures the clash of honor and duty in a pivotal moment of El Cid’s rise.

artist, inker Gerald McCann

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VG) $11

CGC 9.8 · 1 in census $9,456*

CGC 9.6 none in existence

CGC 9.4 none in existence

CGC 9.2 none in existence

CGC 9.0 · 1 in census $595

CGC 8.5 none in existence

Show all 8 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 none in existence

CGC 7.5 · 1 in census $137*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

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History

The issue was produced under Dell editor D. J. Arneson and published with a March–May 1962 cover date, even though its Library of Congress copyright record places its on-sale date in late December 1961 — timed to the film's theatrical release by Allied Artists. The copyright is held not by Dell but by Samuel Bronston Productions, Inc. (1961), reflecting the producer-centric licensing arrangements common to Bronston's prestige Hollywood operation. The cover logo is lifted directly from the film's theatrical poster, and the interior opens with a story preview assembled from five action stills, underscoring that these Movie Classics were built as much from the studio's publicity apparatus as from any original comics craft. No comic-book writer or artist credit appears to have been recorded in surviving indicia or the Grand Comics Database entry for this issue.

Trivia · 8 facts

Officially titled 'Samuel Bronston's El Cid' in the indicia (listed internally as No. 1251); labeled 'Movie Classic' on the cover — Dell's branding for its film-adaptation one-shots.
Adapts the 1961 Allied Artists epic film directed by Anthony Mann, starring Charlton Heston as Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar ('El Cid') and Sophia Loren as Doña Jimena.
Published with a March–May 1962 cover date; on-sale date per Library of Congress copyright record was December 26, 1961, timed to the film's theatrical run.
Copyright is held by Samuel Bronston Productions, Inc. (1961), not Dell — reflecting the studio's tight control over its prestige properties.
The inside front cover features black-and-white film stills with a partial cast list; the story preview is constructed from five action photographs rather than original sequential art.
A back-matter feature provides factual text about the history of the Moors, giving the issue an educational component typical of Dell's late-period movie tie-ins.
Edited by D. J. Arneson; no writer or interior artist credit is recorded in extant sources (Grand Comics Database lists the credits as unverified).
Falls near the end of the Four Color series (which ran to #1354), during the final months before Dell's split with Western Publishing dissolved the entire line circa 1962.