Old-fashioned Comics: December 2024

Sunday, 1 December 2024

Four Color v1 002-025 (1939-1942, Dell Comics). Missing #001, Dick Tracy [Courtesy of Jens Terje]

Four Color, also known as Four Color Comics and Dell Four Color, is an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic books (cyan, magenta, yellow and black at the time). The first 25 issues (1939–1942) are known as "series 1". In mid-1942, the numbering started over again, and "series 2" began. After the first hundred issues of the second series, Dell stopped putting the "Four Color Comics" designation on the books, but they continued the numbering system for twenty years.

Publication Dates:

[September 1939] - 1942

Number of Issues Published:

25 (#1 - Dick Tracy - #25 - Popeye)

Color: color

Dimensions: standard Golden Age U.S.

Paper Stock:: glossy cover; newsprint interior

Binding:: saddle-stitched

Publishing Format: was ongoing series

Publication Type: magazine

Tracking:

Numbering continues in Four Color (Dell, 1942 series)

Notes:

- Dell usually published multiple issues of this series per month, with different features in each issue.

- As a series, it was held together mostly by its numbering--only the issues #19-25 carried the continuing title "Four Color"; preceding and successive issues changed titles every issue to match their contents. By convention, the entire series is referred to as "Four Color".

- For unknown reasons Dell restarted the numbering on the series in 1942, leading fans to refer to the "first series" and "second series" or "Series I" (this series) and "Series II" (see Four Color (Dell, 1942 series)).

https://www.comics.org/series/120/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Color

https://old-fashionedcomics.blogspot.com/p/four-color-dell-1942-series-published.html