Four Color #442

Name: Four Color #442
Brand: Dell
Availability: InStock

Dec 1952 · Dell · 0.10 USD

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“Peter Pan”

★ 1st appearance — Captain Hook★ 1st appearance — Tinker Bell★ 1st appearance — Smee★ 1st appearance — John Darling

About this Issue

Four Color #442 marks the first comic-book appearance of Walt Disney's versions of Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Tinker Bell, Wendy Darling, and the full supporting cast — making it the foundational comic document of one of Disney's most enduring animated properties. The issue arrived on newsstands on November 3, 1952, nearly three months before the animated film's theatrical debut on February 5, 1953, meaning young readers met this incarnation of Neverland in comics before they ever saw it on a movie screen. As the original printing in Dell's long-running Four Color anthology — a series that routinely served as the sole comics vehicle for major licensed properties — this issue anchored an entire ecosystem of Peter Pan comic spinoffs, reprints, and one-shots that stretched across multiple publishers over the following three decades. Its breadth of international reprinting, spanning more than twenty countries, reflects how thoroughly this single 32-page package defined the visual and narrative template for Disney's Peter Pan in the comic medium worldwide.

writer J. M. Barrie · writer Del Connell · artist, inker Al Hubbard · colorist Western Publishing Production Shop · letterer Melvin Millar · cover Bob Grant

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (Good) $16

CGC 9.6 · 1 in census $1,766*

CGC 9.4 · 4 in census $1,130*

CGC 9.2 · 2 in census $725*

CGC 9.0 · 3 in census $503*

CGC 8.5 · 3 in census $351*

CGC 8.0 · 1 in census $276*

Show all 17 grades ▾

CGC 7.5 · 4 in census $221*

CGC 7.0 · 2 in census $184

CGC 6.5 · 2 in census $154*

CGC 6.0 · 3 in census $133*

CGC 5.5 none in existence

CGC 5.0 · 1 in census $107*

CGC 4.5 · 2 in census $91*

CGC 4.0 · 1 in census $79*

CGC 3.5 none in existence

CGC 3.0 · 3 in census $62*

CGC 2.5 · 4 in census $52

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

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

This exact issue on ebay

CGC 8.5 $455 1 listing Raw — GOOD $36 1 listing Raw — FAIR $15 1 listing

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History

The comic was produced ahead of the Disney animated feature's release, carrying a 1952 copyright while the film itself was still in production for its February 1953 premiere. Writer Del Connell and artist Al Hubbard — both veteran Dell/Disney collaborators — handled the adaptation, with the cover attributed to Bob Grant. The indicia credits J. M. Barrie as the originating author and specifically acknowledges the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children in London as licensor, reflecting the unusual intellectual-property arrangement Barrie had established for that institution. Neverpedia notes that the comic streamlines the film's story further, softening several of its more dramatic beats — for instance, Tinker Bell is merely shaken rather than seriously wounded by the bomb explosion — which suited the tone of Dell's child-oriented line.

Trivia · 8 facts

First comic-book appearances of Disney's Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Tinker Bell, Wendy Darling, John Darling, Michael Darling, Nana, Mr. Smee, and Princess Tiger Lily.
Released November 3, 1952 — roughly three months before the Disney animated feature's theatrical premiere on February 5, 1953.
Written by Del Connell and illustrated by Al Hubbard; cover attributed to Bob Grant; 32 pages, published by Dell as part of the long-running Four Color anthology series.
The story adapts Disney's animated film rather than drawing directly from J. M. Barrie's original novel or stage play; the indicia formally credits Barrie and the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, London, as licensor.
Reprinted and translated across more than twenty countries, including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Later reprinted domestically by Gold Key (1963 one-shot) and again by Western/Whitman Publishing (1984 one-shot), making the original Dell printing the root source for all subsequent editions.
The issue's success helped launch an immediate wave of Dell Peter Pan comics, including Four Color #446 (Captain Hook and Peter Pan, December 1952) and the oversized Peter Pan Treasure Chest giant (January 1953).
Classified as a Golden Age comic book; Dell's Four Color series operated as a try-out and tie-in anthology, meaning this issue was a standalone one-shot rather than part of an ongoing Peter Pan title.