Posted By Dan Greenfield on Jan 1, 2024 | 4 comments

A special NEW YEAR’s look into comics’ deep past…

By PETER BOSCH

Walk into any comics shop today and you will discover hundreds of titles ready for you to buy. As all regular readers of 13th Dimension know, however, we favor the number 13 here. Well, according to Mike’s Amazing World website, January of 1937 was the very first time there were 13 different comic book titles released on the newsstand in one month (though they have front cover dates of February or March).

Here are those 13, in alphabetical order. (Please note: The cover to More Fun Comics #18 is from a less-enlightened time and features deeply offensive racial depictions. While completely ugly, we are running it in the context of that period.)

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Detective Picture Stories #3, Centaur. New material.

Cover art by Jim Wilcox

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Famous Funnies #31, Eastern Color. Newspaper strip reprints and new material.

Cover possibly by Victor Pazmiño

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The Funnies #5, Dell. More newspaper strip reprints, plus new material. Includes Scribbly pages by Sheldon Mayer.

Cover artist unidentified. Interior page written and drawn by Sheldon Mayer.

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Funny Pages #8, Centaur. The issue carried adventure and humor stories. In addition, it featured the crime-fighting exploits of comics’ first original masked hero, “The Clock.”

Cover art by Martin Filchcock

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Funny Picture Stories #4, Centaur. Similar to the above. Another story of the Clock, plus there are two adventure stories by Will Eisner.

Cover art by Robert Thompson. Interior page written and drawn by Will Eisner.

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King Comics #11, David McKay Publications. Newspaper strip reprints.

Cover art by Joe Musial

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More Fun Comics #18, DC. Includes “Dr. Occult” and “Radio Squad” stories by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

Cover art by Vin Sullivan. Interior page written by Joe Siegel and drawn by Joe Shuster.

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New Adventure Comics #13, DC. Contains a “Federal Men” story by Siegel and Shuster.

Cover by Whitney Ellsworth. Interior page written by Joe Siegel and drawn by Joe Shuster.

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Popular Comics #14, Dell. Newspaper strip reprints and new material.

Cover artist unidentified

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Star Comics #1, Chesler. Adventure and humor comics.

Cover art by W.C. Brigham

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Star Ranger #1, Chesler. Includes two short comic stories by Fred Guardineer and two by Craig Flessel.

Cover art by W.M. Allison. Interior page drawn by Fred Guardineer; unknown writer.

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Tip Top Comics #10, United Features. Newspaper comic strip reprints.

Cover artist unidentified (likely not Al Capp)

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Western Picture Stories #1, Centaur. Includes an Eisner Western story.

Cover art by W.M. Allison. Interior page written and drawn by Will Eisner.

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MORE

— Dig the FIRST 13 BATMAN NEWSPAPER STRIPS: An 80th Anniversary Celebration. Click here.

— 13 Fabulous FLASH GORDON STRIPS: An ALEX RAYMOND Birthday Celebration. Click here.

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13th Dimension contributor-at-large PETER BOSCH’s first book, American TV Comic Books: 1940s-1980s – From the Small Screen to the Printed Page, was published by TwoMorrows. He is currently at work on a sequel, about movie comics. Peter has written articles and conducted celebrity interviews for various magazines and newspapers. He lives in Hollywood.