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Publisher: Dell

- Attribution History

Years in Operation: 1929 - 1988

Detail

Country:

United States Web Site: Brands: 30 Indicia Publishers: 9 Series: 527 Printings: 7156 (6782 Issues) Disclose

Notes: Info for Dell in the early years:
Dell Publishing Co. 100 Fifth Avenue, New York NY;
Harry Steeger (editor);
Abril Lamarque (comic art editor);
Edythe Seims (assistant editor);
George T. Delacorte, Jr. (managing editor).
(Information from "The American Comic Book: The Evolutionary Era, 1884-1939" by Denis Gifford.)

Dell was founded in 1921 and first published comics with the original 1929-30 run of "The Funnies", which looked like a newspaper insert but was distributed on newsstands. Eastern Color Printing Company was involved with several of Dell's earliest comic book ventures, although the exact nature of each partnership is not always clear. Later Dell worked closely with Western to produce a line a comics before Dell produced a line of comics wholly on their own for about a decade. The company's comic book division folded in 1973, although Dell continued to publish the occasional book with comics content, including newspaper strip collections. Dell became part of Bantam Doubleday Dell (http://www.comics.org/publisher/5554/) in 1988, ceasing to exist as an independent company.

Dell's first three regular titles -- Popular Comics (February 1936), The Funnies (October 1936), and The Comics (March 1937) -- were packaged and printed by M.C. Gaines at the McClure Syndicate offices. These followed Gaines' early format for Famous Funnies by using newspaper-strip reprints.

Around 1936, Dell started to work with Western (also known as Western Printing and Lithographing Company, a Racine, Wisconsin firm), first using Western's plant in Poughkeepsie, New York as their printer. Dell turned over production duties on Popular Comics and The Funnies to Western in 1939. In 1944 they formalized their arrangement, with Dell financing the comics and Western providing the editorial work and the printing. Western retained complete control over select titles such as Red Ryder and Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, though even those titles carried the Dell emblem after 1948.

(Some of the information for the above from Funnybooks: The Improbable Glories of the Best American Comic Books by Michael Barrier and Mark Evanier's "News from Me" blog [http://www.newsfromme.com/iaq/iaq07/])

******* "© Robert S. Callender" Explained *******

When Western Printing produced comic book content that was not a licensed property, it was copyrighted in the name of Robert S. Callender (or, sometimes, Oskar Lebeck, e.g. Animal Comics, a Lebeck project). Callender was not the writer. He was Western Printing's copyright holder.

Robert S. (Bob) Callender, b. 1913, youngest child of Gene Callender of Racine, Wisconsin society, was an executive at Western Printing. On Oct. 9, 1937 Mr. Callender married Wynnefred Wadewitz, b. 1916, daughter of Edward H. Wadewitz.

Robert S. Callender's father-in-law, Edward H. Wadewitz, had risen by initiative to be the secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Western Printing & Lithographing Company: he was a moving spirit in the development, enlargement and control of that undertaking.

Robert S. Callender (Mr. Wadewitz's son-in-law) was the Managing Editor and Business Manager for Whitman Publishing Co., Poughkeepsie, N.Y., owned by Western Printing and Lithographing Company of Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

******* Helen Meyer Editing Credits on Dell Issues Produced by Western Publishing *******

The indicia of Dell Comics issues produced by Western Publishing, up until mid-1962, often credited Helen Meyer as "editor". This is not an accurate reflection of the situation.

Helen Meyer was not an actual editor on these books. She was Dell's business liaison to Western Publishing, and she worked with Western editor Chase Craig determining which books should be published each year.

Chase Craig edited all or most of the Dell and Gold Key comics issued out of Western's West Coast offices from 1950 thru 1975. Other books were edited out of Western's New York office under a variety of editors.

Chase Craig should be listed as the primary editor of Western's best-known licensed titles (Disney, Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera, Walter Lantz, MGM, etc.) published during the period discussed. Craig's Western editorial credits should stand through 1975. Alice Nielsen Cobb's through 1968. After that, and until Western's end as a comic book publisher in 1984, Del Connell should be the credited editor for all West Coast titles.

Per Donald Dale Milne (July 2024): "...our current use of the Editor field includes ALL corporate, editorial, and production people."

To this end, Helen Meyer and the various Dell executives and corporate personnel (if listed in the indicia) are to be optionally placed in the Editor field with their titles as they appear in the indicia - but, should an indexer choose to do so, the uncredited Western editorial and production staff should be added as well.

Don's suggested example below should be followed as a guide that acknowledges the important contributions of Western Publishing, and in particular Mr. Craig, toward the success and popularity of these titles.

Editing: Helen Meyer (credited) (editor, business manager, vice-president); Alice Nielsen Cobb (managing editor) (actual); Chase Craig (editor) (actual); Tom McKimson (art director); George Delacorte (credited as George T. Delacorte Jr.) (publisher, president). Does this data need corrections? Become an editor.