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    Fox Comics (US)

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    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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