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Publisher: Chesler / Dynamic
Years in Operation: 1937 - 1946
Disclose Detail
Country: Flag United States Web Site: Brands: 5 Indicia Publishers: 16 Series: 20 Printings: 76 (75 Issues) Disclose Notes: Harry "A" Chesler (the "A" was not a proper initial- supposedly Chesler claimed it stood for "Anything") was a comic book packager and publisher. He operated a packaging studio more or less continuously from the mid-30s through 1953, and at times also operated as a publisher.

He first published two oversize comics, Star Comics and Star Ranger, as Chesler Publications in 1937. He sold this venture to Ultem Publications, but continued to produce the comics (now normal sized) as well as two additional titles that Ultem had acquired. All of Ultem's comics were entirely put together by Chesler and continued the trade dress of his early books.

After Ultem sold its titles to Centaur, Chesler spent the next several years packaging comics for other publishers and selling them individual stories. One such comic was a 1938 giveaway for Cocomalt, which is included here because it has no other publishing information beyond Chesler's copyright. While some sources list Chesler as publishing or co-owning early Quality Comics issues, this is not correct. At most, he supplied them with a few stories.

In 1941 Chesler returned as a publisher with Dynamic Publications, Inc. From this point on, most of Chesler's comics would be branded with a logo proclaiming them the "World's Greatest Comics". In 1941-1942, this also identified each issue as "A Dynamic Publication". After just over half a year, the U. S. was ramping up its involvement in World War II, and Dynamic ceased publishing, producing a few books through surrogates.

The surrogate activity picks up dramatically in 1944, leading into Chesler's third major wave of publishing. In place of "A Dynamic Publication" these had "Harry "A" Chesler, Jr.". Junior, however, was the son of Chesler the publisher, a point of much confusion for latter-day comics researchers. This period lasted through 1946, after which the ongoing titles were continued in Canada by Superior Publishers through early 1948. Chesler continued to run his art shop, but no longer published his own comics after 1946.

Related Publishers:
Ultem: http://www.comics.org/publisher/7631/
Superior Publishers Limited: http://www.comics.org/publisher/223/
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Indicia Publisher Name Years in Operation Printings (Issues)
FlagAlto Publications Disclose
Note: Probably a surrogate but this is not confirmed.
1945 - 1
FlagChesler Publications Inc. Disclose
Note: Harry "A" Chesler's first comic book publishing company. Bought out by Ultem whose only change was to shrink the size of the comics to the emerging standard size and give Chesler two additional titles to produce. Otherwise, Chesler continues to produce Ultem's books exactly as he had before. See http://www.comics.org/publisher/7631/ for more information on Ultem.
1937 - 12
FlagChicago Nite Life News Inc. Disclose
Note: This publishing company served as a surrogate for numerous other publishers.
1944 - 1
FlagDynamic Publications Disclose
Note: As Chesler resumed two of his ongoing titles, Dynamic Publications returned without the "Inc." it had sported before the war. Whether this is at all significant or just something that got left off at the printer is unknown. It is possible that Dynamic Comics #8 was published as early as 1942, but this has not been confirmed and there is no date anywhere on the issue. All other issues published by this form of the company were published with 1944 dates.
1944 - 8
FlagDynamic Publications Inc. Disclose
Note: Chesler's last pre-War publishing company, and the one most directly related to his post-War activities.
1941 - 1942 12
FlagEducational Publishing Co. Disclose
Note: The minimal indicia in the one known issue by this publisher combined with the supposed date (not actually mentioned in the indicia, and there is no copyright statement) makes it highly likely that this was a surrogate publishing arrangement for Chesler.
1945 - 1
FlagFlying Cadet Publishing Co. Inc. Disclose
Note: Chesler's main post-war ongoing titles were published by this company through early 1946, after which the company was replaced by Harry A. Chesler, Jr. Publications, Inc. Flying Cadet Publishing Co. was founded on 1 September, 1944 and owned by the Chesler family.
1944 - 1946 12
FlagH. Clay Glover Co. 1944 - 1945 2
FlagHarry "A" Chesler Syndicate 1937 - 1937 2 (5)
FlagHarry A. Chesler, Jr. Publications Inc. Disclose
Note: Note that it is A. (period, no quotes) in the indicia and not the familiar "A" (quotes, no period) that appears nearly everywhere else. Chesler's publishing company during the last year of his ongoing titles, which were later picked up by Superior Publishers Limited of Canada.
1946 - 9
FlagHome Guide Publications Disclose
Note: Per Frank Motler in response to Edgar Loftin on the comics-pub list, 2012-09-18, Home Guide Publications is an imprint of McCombs: http://www.comics.org/publisher/2117/ publisher of Crown Comics. Here, it is serving as a surrogate publisher for contents packaged by Harry "A" Chesler.
1944 - 1
FlagIrwin H. Rubin 1944 - 1945 1
FlagMagazine Press Disclose
Note: Used for an undated publication (possibly 1942?) of Captain Battle #3, a continuation of a Lev Gleason (New Friday) title. The exact nature of this publishing arrangement is unknown, but Chesler's syndicate name appears on the front cover.
1942 - 1944 3
FlagOur Army Inc. Disclose
Note: This company appears to have been first a packaging client of Chesler (with Spotlight Comics), and then a surrogate (with Komik Pages). The Spotlight Comics indicia are normal-looking indicia, and include "Art and editorial work created by Harry "A" Chesler, Jr. Features Syndicate, 163 W. 23rd Street, New York 11, N. Y." The Komik Pages indicia is a minimal one without mention of Chesler, but Komik Pages carries Chesler's "World's Greatest Comics" branding on the cover. Spotlight does not carry the WGC branding (but does credit the Features Syndicate on the cover of #3). All indicia he business address for Our Army, Inc. is given as "11th and H Streets, N. W., Washington, D. C." Publication addresses were 420 De Soto Ave., St. Louis, Mo. (which is the printer World Color Press) for Spotlight Comics, and 1 Appleton St. Holyoke, Mass. (Sherman Bowles's Holyoke printing company) for Komik Pages.
1944 - 1945 4
FlagPershing Square Publishing Co. Disclose
Note: While the indicia used by this company is unusually complete for a surrogate, Pershing Square published comics on behalf of other publishers as well.
1945 - 1
FlagService Publishing Co. Disclose
Note: Also in the GCD as its own master publisher (https://www.comics.org/publisher/3512/) with itself as the sole indicia publisher (https://www.comics.org/indicia_publisher/2747/). The sole, single-issue series on that publisher is not indexed, so it is not clear if it is related to Chesler in any way.
1944 - 1946 0 (1)

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