Leading Comics #23
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeLeading Comics #23 (February–March 1947) marks the debut of Peter Porkchops, the anthropomorphic pig created by Otto Feuer who would become one of DC's most enduring Golden Age funny-animal stars. The issue simultaneously documents a pivotal editorial pivot: DC Comics, recognizing the post-war decline of superheroes, was actively reshaping its line toward humor and other genres, and Leading Comics was the first DC title to complete that transformation — dropping capes entirely starting with issue #15. Within issue #23 specifically, Peter Porkchops displaced the previous cover-featured character Nero Fox and claimed the title's top billing, a position he would hold for the rest of the series' run. Peter's significance extends beyond the Golden Age: decades later, Roy Thomas and Scott Shaw revived him as Pig-Iron, a superpowered member of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew, making this issue the root of a character who bridged DC's Golden Age funny-animal tradition with the 1980s superhero era.
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Leading Comics launched in Winter 1941–42 as a Seven Soldiers of Victory team-up title, but by Summer 1945 DC had already pivoted the book to talking-animal humor strips beginning with issue #15, making it the publisher's earliest title to abandon its superhero format entirely. The Nero Fox feature headlined that transition through issue #22, before editor Whitney Ellsworth's office introduced Otto Feuer's new creation, Peter Porkchops, as the lead feature with issue #23. Feuer, who penciled and inked the Peter Porkchops strips himself throughout the character's run, had previously contributed to other DC funny-animal features including 'The Dodo and the Frog' and 'Nip 'n' Chip.' The issue also introduced Wolfie (Peter's perennial wolf antagonist) and other supporting characters including Puss and Pooch, as well as Doodles Duck, the latter created by cartoonist Howie Post.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Peter Porkchops, an anthropomorphic pig created by writer/artist Otto Feuer, cover-dated February–March 1947.
- First appearance of Wolfie (also known as A. Wolf), Peter Porkchops' recurring wolf antagonist whose schemes to eat Peter drive the strip's central comedy.
- First appearance of Doodles Duck, a wind-up toy duck character created by Howie Post, who also debuted alongside Peter Porkchops in this issue.
- First appearances of Puss and Pooch, additional funny-animal characters introduced as supporting features in the same issue.
- Peter Porkchops became the permanent cover-feature of Leading Comics starting with this issue and held that position for the remainder of the series' run, which eventually continued under the retitled Leading Screen Comics.
- The character went on to headline his own self-titled solo series, Peter Porkchops, which ran for 62 issues between 1949 and 1960.
- Peter Porkchops is the only member of the 1982 Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew — where he appeared as the super-strong, steel-bodied hero Pig-Iron — who originated in the Golden Age, connecting this 1947 debut directly to DC's Bronze Age funny-animal revival.
- The issue was published during DC's deliberate genre shift away from superheroes; Leading Comics had been the first DC title to drop its superhero content when it switched to funny animals with issue #15 in Summer 1945.
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