Senior Advisory Editors

Editorial advisory boards were an early attempt to stave off the disreputable reputation off comics. The best known of these was Fawcett's which included Admiral Byrd and Elanor B. Roosevelt (the daughter-in-law of Teddy, not the wife of Franklin), but True Comics also managed some notable names including George Gallup. 

The hidden side of DC

Most aficinados know that even in the Golden Age, what we now think of as DC was actually two sister companies, National (Superman, Batman) and All American (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash) and that many of the other Golden and Silver Age characters we associate with DC were published by other companies including Quality (Blackhawk, Plastic Man), Fawcett (Captain Marvel) and Charlton (Captain Atom, Blue Beetle).

Less well known are the companies that DC partnered with and or operated, for lack of a better word, covertly. The folks at DC Comics Artists have handy section listing the examples. Here are some examples.

Many of the titles had a harder edge than those that carried the DC logo.

Noted artist Alvin Hollingsworth was a regular on Beware.

The title was also notable for crediting artists and writers. And yes, that's the same Harry Harrison who created the science fiction hero the Stainless Steel Rat.

This one was penciled by the great pulp cover artist H. J. Ward.

The Stanhill line specialized in good girl art and may have been intended for PX sales.

Early Western horror from Doug Wildey

Gunsmoke 16

"How to make the heart grow fonder with LOVE LETTERS

It was 1943 and millions of young men were coming of age a long way from home. Letter writing was a valuable skill and a literate GI could make pretty good money scribbling sweet nothings to be recopied by barrack mates.

From Prize 35