Fawcett always had a unique approach to marketing

Fawcett presented themselves as part of the popular mainstream, comics from the people who brought you Mechanix Illustrated and other fine magazines.

Even as early as the mid-Forties, Fawcett was heading off charges of comics' corrupting influence with its "Editorial Advisory Board."

More Wolverton for your weekend

Fawcett's Ibis came complete with its own parody, Mystic Moot and his Magic Snoot. Here's a sample from issue number 5.

A MAD in-joke?

This came out shortly after the debut of Mad. That and the font and the style leave me pretty sure that this cover (which does not match the tone of the rest of the story that follows) is an in-joke directed at some friends at EC.

Wit, humor and filosophy

Captain Billy's Whiz Bang started a publishing powerhouse that would include Family Circle, Gold Medal Paperbacks and, of course, Whiz Comics.

It even merited a line in the Music Man as one of the bad influences Harold Hill warns the residents of River City about.

Golden Age recursion

Unlike most comics companies (which generally came from the pulp side), Fawcett was the publisher of major magazines like Mechanix Illustrated and Family Circle (as well as racier titles like True Confessions). It's not surprising that Fawcett's comics were a bit like MGM movies -- well crafted and entertaining with good production values if sometimes a bit stiff. You won't find many of the flashes of (often dark) genius that you saw from artists like Eisner, Cole, Simon&Kirby*, Briefer, Ayers, Meskin, even Shuster. What you will find are stories that are beautifully drawn (particularly those by Mac Raboy), charming, clever and often gently and subtly medium-pushing.


From 1947:


From 1951:

Though Simon and Kirby did a brief stint on Whiz Comics.