[bchat]

Consider this a continuation of the thread I started here: http://goldenagecomics.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1657.0.html.  Seems kind of silly to keep this going in "Suggestions".  By the way, all dates mentioned here are "cover dates", just to clarify.

To recap:  I'm looking for & gathering more information than what is usually repeated in articles about the companies & people involved in the publication of what's generally considered "Centaur Comics", from the beginning to the very end (I'm up to 1983 but hopefully will get more information someday soon). 



I found "Conflict" on philsp.com, a site that lists fiction magazines (I also ran across it on eBay).  Conflict was published by Centaur Publications from "Summer" 1933 until "September-October" 1934 and ran four issues (at least, that's all I can confirm right now).  It "included fiction by Murray Leinster, Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson, Wallace R. Bamber" and the editor was "Frederick Gardener".

I've always wondered where the name "Fred Gardner" came from when people said things like "Joe Hardie and Fred Gardner bought out Ultem and began Centaur Comics".  Early-on, Hardie was just the publisher, not an owner (based on Statements of Ownership), and I never saw anything that led me to believe that "Gardner" was ever involved with "Centaur Comics".  At best, Gardener was an editor, so the whole "Gardner & Hardie bought-out Ultem" statement becomes, to me, about as accurate as saying "Stan Lee & Jack Kirby owned Marvel Comics".

But enough of that ... back to Centaur Publications.  Besides "Conflict", I haven't run across anything yet that fills the gap for Centaur between 1934 & 1938, when the company began publishing comic books.



"Detective Digest" was published by Harle Publications in January 1937.  On "philsp.com" I found a second issue from August '37, but can't confirm that this was also published by Harle.  At philsp.com, they claim that four issues were published by both Harle & "Ace Magazines", but aside from the January issue, whose cover I'm showing here (underwhelming, isn't it?), I can't say for certain how many issues of this title Harle actually produced beyond the first.

Harle also published at least seven issues of "Now and Then" from September 1937 to April 1938 but I haven't run across any cover images of those yet.



"Yoo Hoo 26" was published in October 1944 by H-K Publications, and this issue featured a cover by Martin Filchock, who has stated several times in different interviews that he continued working for Jospeph Hardie after the comics stopped being produced.  The first 18 issues (at least) were published by Comic Corporation of America from November 1941 until February 1944 (again, that's "at least" since I can't find info on issues 19 & 20).  H-K Publications continued Yoo Hoo until at least issue 40, published in December 1945.



Comic Corporation of America (Amazing-Man Comics, Liberty Scouts & Star and Stripes Comics) continued to exist until at least Fall 1945 with the publication of "What's Cookin'! # 12".  Most of the titles CCA produced would eventually be published under different "publishing names".  Band Leaders Pub Co Inc would continue "Band Leaders" & "Smiles" and Rockley Publications would pick-up "Cheers".  "Pocketful of Pepper" (another digest like Smiles) was treated like a hot potato, with H-K Publications producing the first issue, CCA getting the title for a handful of months, then it returns to H-K.

By the way, the Copyright for "CMO Comics # 2", published by CCA, was filed on December 17, 1942.  I really have no clue to how long it took between the time a Copyright was filed and the book hit the newstands, but it looks like a "1943" cover date could be applied to CMO 2 if people really wanted to add a year to "Centaur Comics' " existence.

[Yoc]

Great read here bchat!
Excellent work.  I look forward to reading more.

[bchat]

Quick Update:  "Harle" is an active Trademark of the Kappa Publishing Group Inc, which is currently based in Pennsylvania, about 20 minutes from where I grew-up (more than that now obviously, since I moved a few years ago).  The Harle logo has appeared on the cover of Kappa's "Good 'n' Easy Crosswords Jumbo" books, which is still being published 13 times a year.

According to an article I found at the St Petersburg Times website, in July 2000, "Harle Publications" was still being used as a publishing name, producing an "Easy Crossword Bargain Pack".  However, Kappa was handling customer service for the packs.  For my own personal amusement, I'm hoping to learn more about the relationship between Kappa & Harle at some point.

[Yoc]

An old topic but I just found it again.
Centaur is part of a small publisher spotlight over on DCM.

BIP covers them in great detail here - http://www.bipcomics.com/showcase/logos/index.php?data=centaur
Great stuff but a bit dry.

Then I found this interesting graphic about the company showing the 'family tree' of them.  Fun what you can find on a search.

http://www.mindmeister.com/123768009/centaur-publications-comics-mar-1938-dec-1940

I can't say how accurate it is but still a fun idea for a graphic.

-Yoc

[jimmm kelly]

This was something I was trying to figure out for my blog last week, when I was doing the 8 Days Louise! for March. Centaur's first comic was THE COMICS MAGAZINE--this had a sub-title as The Funny Pages (on the inside page)--and went on sale March 20 '36.

On sale on or about October 1 '36 [I don't trust that date, I think it was actually in September--but I've taken the on sale dates from Mike's Amazing World and that's what he has--but he usually defaults to the 1st of the closest month when he doesn't have precise data] THE COMICS MAGAZINE becomes officially THE FUNNY PAGES with issue No. 6 (November '36). The GCD has this as being published by the Comics Magazine Company rather than Centaur. So I assume they are both imprints of the same publisher.

This is important, because FUNNY PAGES No. 6 features the Clock. The Clock also appeared in the November '36 cover-dated FUNNY PICTURE STORIES No. 1--which Mike has as coming out on September 18 '36 [updated from his previous listing as coming out approx. on October 1 '36]. This is listed on the GCD as being published by Centaur.

You see the important question here. Did in fact the the Clock first appear in FUNNY PICTURE STORIES No. 1 or in THE FUNNY PAGES No. 6. It's an important point of comic book history--for those who care about these things. I'm thinking it's more than likely that both comics came out at the exact same time, but if that's the case I guess we'd have to ask which Clock story was completed first.