Fox Feature Syndicate (also known as Fox Comics and Fox Publications) was an early comic book publisher in the Golden Age of Comic Books. Founded by entrepreneur Victor S. Fox, it produced such popular titles as Blue Beetle, Fantastic Comics and Mystery Men Comics.
It is unrelated to the company Fox Publications, a Colorado publisher of railroad photography books.
Victor S. Fox and business associate Bob Farrell launched Fox Feature Syndicate at 480 Lexington Avenue in New York City in the late 1930s. For content, Fox contracted with comics packager Eisner & Iger, one of a handful of companies creating comic books on demand for publishers then entering the field. Writer-artist Will Eisner, at Victor Fox's request for a hero similar to the newly published hit Superman, created the superhero Wonder Man for Fox's first publication, Wonder Comics #1 (May 1939), signing his work "Willis". Superman owner National Periodical Publications, the company that would evolve into DC Comics, cited copyright infringement and quickly obtained a permanent injunction. Wonder Man did not reappear.
After Eisner testified against Fox Publications at trial, Victor Fox dropped the packager and hired his own stable of comic creators, beginning with a New York Times classified ad on Dec. 2, 1939. Joe Simon, a former Eisner & Iger freelancer, became Fox Publications' editor.
As one of the earliest companies in the emerging field, it employed or bought the packaged material of a huge number of Golden Age greats, many at the start of their careers. Lou Fine created the superhero The Flame in Wonderworld Comics; Dick Briefer created Rex Dexter of Mars in the eponymous series. George Tuska did his first comics work here with the features "Zanzibar" (Mystery Men Comics #1, Aug. 1939) and "Tom Barry" (Wonderworld Comics #4). Fletcher Hanks created, wrote, and drew Stardust the Super Wizard in Fantastic Comics in 1939 and 1940. Matt Baker, one of the few African-American comic book artists of the Golden Age, revamped — in more than one sense — the newly acquired Quality Comics character Phantom Lady' in 1947, creating one of the most memorable and controversial examples of superhero "good girl art".
Future comics legend Jack Kirby, brought on staff here after freelancing for Eisner & Iger, wrote and drew the syndicated newspaper comic strip The Blue Beetle (starting Jan. 1940), starring a character created by Charles Nicholas Wojtkowski in Mystery Men Comics #1 (Aug. 1939). Kirby retained the house name "Charles Nicholas" for the comic strip, which lasted three months. Kirby, additionally, created and did one story each of the Fox features "Wing Turner" (Mystery Men #10, May 1940) and " Cosmic Carson" (Science Comics #4, same month).
Throughout the 1940s, Fox produced comics in a typically wide variety of genres, but was best known for superheroes and humor. With the post-war decline in superheroes' popularity, Fox, like other publishers, concentrated on horror and crime comics, including some of the most notorious of the latter. Following the establishment of Comics Code Authority in the mid-1950s, Fox went out of business, selling the rights to the Blue Beetle to Charlton Comics.
Born in England, Fox Publications founder Victor S. Fox was a stockbroker for the Allied Capital Corp./Fox Motor and Bank Stocks, Inc./American Common Stocks, Inc., on Park Avenue in New York City when he was [indicted citation needed] on Nov. 27, 1929 for mail fraud and related illegal "boiler room" activities. It appears unrecorded whether this resulted in a conviction.
Historian Jon Berk rumors that Fox went on to become an accountant/bookkeeper at the publishing firm that would become DC Comics, where he was privy to sales figures that convinced him to launch his own comic-book company. Fellow historian Gerard Jones, writing in his book Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters, and the Birth of the Comic Book, was unable to find documentation of this. Other sources say that at the time Action Comics #1 came out he was publishing Astrology magazines and shared a distributor with DC after seeing a sales card receipt for Action #1 he Immediately opened Fox comics in the same building DC was based in on a different floor.
Jack Kirby: "Victor Fox was a character. He'd look up at the ceiling with a big cigar, this little fellow, very broad, going back and forth with his hands behind his back saying, 'I'm the King of Comics! I'm the King of Comics!' and we would watch him and, of course, smile a little because he was a genuine type".
Joe Simon on Victor Fox : "He was an accountant for DC Comics. He was doing the sales figures and he liked what he saw. So, he moved downstairs and started his own company.... I happened to get a job; I went over to Fox and became editor there, which was just an impossible job, because ... there were no artists, no writers, no editors, no letterers — nothing there. Everything came out of the Eisner and Iger shop. ... He was a very strange character. He had kind of a British accent; he was like 5'2", told us he was a former ballroom dancer. He was very loud, menacing, and really a scary little guy. He used to say, 'I'm the King of the Comics. I'm the King of the Comics. I'm the King of the Comics.' We couldn't stop him".
Nicky Wright: "Competing well in the 'most sexy, sadistic, and violent' category, Victor Fox’s Murder Incorporated and Blue Beetle are noteworthy.... When historians describe sleaze, sex, and violence as Fox’s obsession, they are masters of understatement. His best artists, Jack Kamen and Matt Baker, are much revered and collected for their good girl art. (Of special note is the company’s breasty crime-fighter-in-bedroom-lingerie, Phantom Lady...along with the wild and scantily attired Rulah, Jungle Goddess.)"
Boyd Magers: "Never one to overlook a secondary sale, Fox often repackaged four remaindered (unsold) comics into a 25¢ Giant with a new cover, hence Hoot Gibson's Western Roundup, 132 pages dated 1950. However, since Fox always started their stories on the inside front cover (where other publishers ran an ad), these repackaged comics are always missing the first page of story content. Also, since Fox used remaindered issues, contents will vary from copy to copy of Hoot Gibson's Western Roundup."
Dynamite Entertainment has revived a few of the Fox Feature Syndicate characters in their Project Superpowers title
A portion of the stable of characters that were originally published by Fox are:
Ace of Spades
Adam Anteas, Jr.
Agent D-13
Ayesha
The Banshee
The Bat Boy
Beast (Fox version)
Beau Brummel
Betty Boyd
Bird Man (Fox version)
Black Baron (Fox version)
Blackbird (Fox version)
Black Death (Fox version)
Black Flagg
Black Fury and Kid Fury (Fox and Holyoke)
Black Fury II, Black Fury III
Black Lion and Cub
Black Rider
Black Snake
Black Tarantula
Blast Bennett
Blitz (Fox version)
Blue Beetle and Sparky (Fox, Holyoke, Charlton, DC, Dynamite)
The Bouncer
Bronze Man (Fox version)
Bwani
Captain Abbott
Captain Kidd
Captain Savage
Captain V
Captain X-13
Condor (Enemy of the original Blue Beetle)
Cosmic Carson (Created by Jack Kirby)
D-13 (Fox version)
Dagar, the Desert Hawk
Dart and Ace, the Amazing Boy (Fox, Dynamite)
Deathmask
Demon (Fox version)
Diana
Doctor Death (Fox version)
Doctor Drool
Doctor Fung
Doctor Mortal
Doctor Mortinous
Dr. Doom (Fox version)
The Dome (Fox version)
Doxol
Dynamite Thor
Dynamo (Fox version)
Echo (Fox version)
The Eagle and Buddy, the Daredevil Boy (Fox, Dynamite)
Electro ( later Dynamo)
The Flame and Flame Girl (Fox, Dynamite) (Will Eisner creations)
Flip Falcon
Gary Brent
Gimp
Gladiator
Gloat
Golden Knight
Gordon Fife and the Boy King
The Gorilla with the Human Brain
Green Mask and Domino (Fox, Dynamite)
Green Mask II
Halo (Fox, Holyoke)
The Hand (Fox version)
Hooded Master
Hooded Specter of Death
Hooded Terror
Illuso
Izzuki of Amazonland
Jaguar/Jaguar Man
Jo Jo, the Congo King
Jungle Jo
Jungle Lil
K-5
Kalkor
Karno the Chessman
King Cobra
Krooga
Lantida of Atlantis
Lu-Nac
Lunar the Moon Man
The Lynx and Blackie the Mystery Boy
Manx
Marga the Panther Woman
Martha of the Tree Folk
The Mask (Fox version)
Mastermind of Crime
Mea of Mermea
Merciless the Sorceress
Miss Green Mask
Miss X
Mokon, King of the Moon
Moth/Mothman
Moths
Mr. Death
Mystery Man
Nightbird
Navy Jones
Numa
Octopus (Fox version)
Perisphere Payne
Phantom Lady (Fox, Quality, later DC)
Phantom Rider (Fox version)
Phara
Prince Ferdinand Diablo
Professor Fiend
Puppeteer (Fox version)
Purple Tigress
Queen Alice
Queen of Evil
Ragin Doctor
Rani-Boy
The Rapier
The Raven (Fox version)
Red Robbins
Rex Dexter of Mars
Robbing Robot
Rocket Kelly
Rook (Fox version)
Rulah, Jungle Goddess (Fox, Ajax Farell)
Samson and David (Fox, Dynamite)
Saturina
The Scarecrow (Fox version)
Scorpion (Fox version)
Sea-Weed Men
Secret Agent D-13
Serpent Lady
Skull
Sorceress of Zoom
Space Smith
Sphinx
Spider Queen
Stardust, the Super Wizard
Sub Saunders
Sulia of Souless Isle
Sukon, King of the Sun
Super Spy Q-4
Swamp Master
Tanee
Tangi
Tegra, Jungle Empress
Thor (Fox version)
Thinker (Fox version)
The Topper
Tumbler
Typhon
U.S. Jones (Fox, Dynamite)
V-Man and the V-Boys (Fox, Holyoke, Dynamite)
Voodoo Man
Weather Kings
Wing Turner (Created by Jack Kirby)
Winkon, King of the Winds
Wonder Man (Fox version) (Created by Will Eisner)
The Wraith (Fox version)
Yank and Rebel
Yank Wilson
Yarko, the Great
Zago, Jungle Prince
Zanzibar, The Magician
Zegra, Jungle Princess
Zoro, the Wizard
Many of these characters have their own separate page and others do not. Image reimagined Golden Age characters and literally published the next issue as an anthology one shot series in 2008. They published Fantastic Comics #24 on February 13 2008.
The issue republished the continuing story arc of characters Samson, Flip Falcon, Golden Knight, Yank Wilson, Space Smith, Captain KIdd, Professor Fiend, Sub Saunders, and Stardust the Super Wizard.
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