Movie Comics #1

History

Movie Comics was published by All-American Publications and distributed under the National Periodicals banner, debuting the same month (April 1939) as All-American Comics #1. The production workflow, as recalled by Jack Adler in a later interview, involved obtaining scripts and photographic stills directly from Hollywood studios, then compositing approximately six images per page — a process that sacrificed narrative sequentiality for visual novelty. Adler, who would eventually become Vice President of Production at DC Comics and a pioneer of the publisher's printing innovations, handled the airbrushed corrections and cover compositing, with Emery Gondor and Sheldon Mayer also contributing art corrections and cover work. The series marketed itself as 'a full movie show for 10 cents,' boasting that its images were rendered in 'natural colors' — a claim dropped from the cover after the third issue — and ran for only six issues before poor sales ended it in late 1939.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Cover date: April 1939; published by All-American Publications / National Periodical Publications (precursor to DC Comics); 68 pages; cover price 10 cents.
• First comic book appearance of Frankenstein's Monster: the issue contains an eight-page fumetti adaptation of Universal Pictures' 'Son of Frankenstein' (1939), starring Boris Karloff as the Monster, Bela Lugosi as Ygor, and Basil Rathbone as Baron Wolf von Frankenstein.
• First comic book appearance of Ygor: the character — a grave-robbing blacksmith with a broken neck who controls the Monster for revenge — debuted in the 'Son of Frankenstein' film (released January 13, 1939) and was adapted into comics here the same year.
• The cover features a colorized photo still from 'Gunga Din' (1939, starring Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.), not from the Frankenstein adaptation.
• In addition to 'Son of Frankenstein,' the issue adapts 'Gunga Din,' 'The Great Man Votes,' 'Fisherman's Wharf,' and the serial 'Scouts to the Rescue,' plus a 'Minute Movies' strip by Ed Wheelan and a 'Movietown' strip by Harry Lampert.
• A supplementary feature titled 'Movie Make-Up: From Man to Monster' detailed how makeup artist Jack Pierce transformed Boris Karloff into the Monster and Bela Lugosi into Ygor — one of the earliest behind-the-scenes makeup tutorials in comics publishing.
• Interior art production credited to Jack Adler and Emery Gondor (airbrushed photo-corrections), with Sheldon Mayer contributing heads on the cover — the same Mayer who served as editor at All-American and later edited the early Justice Society titles.
• The series ran only six issues (April–October 1939) before cancellation due to poor sales; Ed Wheelan's 'Minute Movies' strip migrated to Flash Comics after the series ended.

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Full credits

Key issues in Movie Comics

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