Centaur Publications

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Centaur Publications (1938–1942) was one of the earliest American comic book publishers.

Centaur developed primarily from the Comics Magazine Company, Inc. In 1936, comic-book entrepreneur Everett M. "Busy" Arnold gave financial or other, unspecified help to that New York City-based firm, founded by John Mahon and Bill Cook, former employees of Major Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson's National Allied Publications (the primary forerunner of DC Comics). The duo published the premiere issue of The Comics Magazine (May 1936)¹, using inventory content from National Allied's submissions. (One collector/historian suggests this was in lieu of pay [1].)

Among its original features was Dr. Mystic the Occult Detective (not to be confused with Mr. Mystic of newspapers' "The Spirit Section"). This two page feature was by future Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and were part of their Dr. Occult continuity, with the name changed for trademark consideration. This was the beginning of a serial that introduced the villain, Koth, and the Seven, that continued into DC's More Fun Comics #14-17 (issues also designated as vol. 2 #2-5).

The company's flagship title, the eponymous Comics Magazine, premiered with a May 1936 cover date. That comic-book series featured the first masked hero in American comics, writer-artist George Brenner's the Clock, in the November 1936 issue.

Another entrepreneur, the quirkily named Harry "A" Chesler, published Star Comics, the first issue of which debuted with a February 1937 cover date. Star Comics was soon bought out by Ultem Publications. In September 1937, the Comics Magazine Co. merged with that company, using Ultem as its brand. Financial difficulties forced Ultem to sell some of its properties, including the Clock, to "Busy" Arnold's Quality Comics.

By January 1938, Utem was bought out by Joe Hardie and Fred Gardner, who used this base to create Centaur Comics, which began publishing in March 1938. Centaur ceased publication four years later, primarily due to poor distribution, but in that period had created several colorful characters, including Bill Everett's Amazing Man.

In 1992, Malibu Comics revived several Centaur heroes — which by that time lapsed into public domain — as the superhero team The Protectors. Included were Airman, Amazing Man, Aura, Arc, Arrow, Ferret, Man of War, and Mighty Man. Several of these characters had short-lived titles of their own.

AC Comics reprinted a number of stories featuring Centaur characters in their anthologies.

Contents 1 Characters 2 Titles 3 Footnotes 4 References

[edit] Characters

• Airman
• Amazing Man
• The Arrow
• Black Panther
• Blue Fire
• Blue Lady
• The Clock (character sold to Quality Comics)
• Dash Dartwell
• Dr. Hypno
• Dr. Mystic
• Dr. Synthe
• The Electric Ray
• The Eye Sees
• Fantom of the Fair/Fantoman
• The Fire Man
• Iron Skull
• King of Darkness
• Liberty Guards
• Man O'War
• Marksman
• Masked Marvel
• Meteor Martin
• Mighty Man
• Minimidget
• Nightshade
• The Rainbow
• The Sentinel
• The Shark
• Skyrocket Steele
• Speed Centaur
• Super-Ann
• TNT Todd
• Vapo-man
• The Voice

[edit] Titles

• Amazing Adventuer Funnies (2 issues)
• Amazing Man Comics (22 issues)
• Amazing Mystery Funnies (24 issues) published between 1938 and 1940.
• The Arrow (3 issues)
• C-M-O Comics (2 issues)
• Comic Pages (3 issues)
• The Comics Magazine (5 issues)
• Cowboy Comics (2 issues)
• Detective Eye (2 issues)
• Detective Picture Stories (5 issues)
• Fantoman (3 issues)
• Funny Pages (37 issues)
• Funny Picture Stories (21 issues)
• Keen Detective Funnies (24 issues)
• Liberty Scouts Comics (2 issues)
• Man of War Comics (2 issues)
• Masked Marvel (3 issues)
• Star Comics (23 issues)
• Star Ranger (12 issues)
• Star Ranger Funnies (6 issues)
• Star and Stripes Comics (5 issues)
• Super Spy (2 issues)
• Uncle Joe's Funnies (1 issue)
• Western Picture Stories (4 issues)
• Wham Comics (2 issues)

[edit] Footnotes

• Note 1: Some references contend that its feature "Captain Bill of the Rangers" was comics' first Western, but more than a year earlier, Fun Comics #1

[edit] References

• Centaur Publications Page
• Centaur Character List
• Protectors site
• The Grand Comic Book Database
• Steranko, Jim, The Steranko History of Comics 2 (Supergraphics, 1972), pp. 91-109 (offline)