Dell
- Country:
- United States
- Indicia / Colophon Publishers:
- 9
- Brand Groups:
- 4
- Brand Emblems in Use:
- 38
- Total Number of Series:
- 520
- Total Number of Issues:
- 6773
- Show covers by month:
- using on-sale date or using publication date
- 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, Oscar 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.
Editing
| Series | Year | # Issues | Covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 Pages of Comics | 1937 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| 1000 Jokes | 1939 | 116 issues (1 indexed) | Have 109 (Need 15) |
| 1000 New Jokes | 1934 | 0 issues (0 indexed) | No Covers |
| 12 O'Clock High | 1965 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| 3-D-ell | 1953 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| 77 Sunset Strip | 1962 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| 87th Precinct | 1962 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Abraham Lincoln Life Story | 1958 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Adlai Stevenson | 1966 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| The Adventures of Little Orphan Annie | 1941 | 3 issues (3 indexed) | Gallery |
| The Adventures of M. G. M.'s Lassie | 1949 | 1 issue (0 indexed) | Gallery |
| Adventures of Mighty Mouse | 1959 | 12 issues (12 indexed) | Gallery |
| Air War Stories | 1964 | 8 issues (8 indexed) | Gallery |
| Alice in Wonderland | 1950 | 1 issue (0 indexed) | Gallery |
| Alley Oop | 1962 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| Alvin | 1962 | 28 issues (28 indexed) | Gallery |
| Alvin and His Pals in Merry Christmas with Clyde Crashcup and Leonardo | 1963 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Alvin and His Pals in Merry Christmas with Clyde Crashcup and Leonardo | 1966 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Alvin for President | 1964 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Andy Hardy | 1954 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| Angel | 1954 | 15 issues (15 indexed) | Gallery |
| Animal Comics | 1942 | 30 issues (30 indexed) | Gallery |
| Annie Oakley and Tagg | 1955 | 15 issues (15 indexed) | Gallery |
| Around the Block with Dunc & Loo | 1962 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| Around the Block [with Dunc & Loo] | 1961 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Around the World Under the Sea | 1966 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bachelor Father | 1962 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Backfield in Motion | 1974 | 1 issue (0 indexed) | Add |
| Ballyhoo | 1948 | 6 issues (0 indexed) | Gallery |
| Ballyhoo | 1931 | 86 issues (0 indexed) | Have 87 (Need 11) |
| Barbie and Ken | 1962 | 5 issues (5 indexed) | Gallery |
| Barry M. Goldwater | 1965 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bat Masterson | 1960 | 8 issues (8 indexed) | Have 10 (Need 1) |
| Battle of the Bulge | 1966 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Beach Blanket Bingo | 1965 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Beany and Cecil | 1962 | 5 issues (5 indexed) | Gallery |
| The Beatles | 1964 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Have 2 (Need 1) |
| Beep Beep | 1960 | 11 issues (11 indexed) | Gallery |
| Beetle Bailey | 1956 | 34 issues (34 indexed) | Gallery |
| Beetle Bailey and Sarge | 1958 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Ben Bowie and His Mountain Men | 1956 | 11 issues (11 indexed) | Gallery |
| Ben Casey | 1962 | 10 issues (10 indexed) | Gallery |
| Best Cartoons of the Year | 1968 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Add |
| Beverly Hillbillies | 1963 | 21 issues (21 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bewitched | 1965 | 14 issues (14 indexed) | Gallery |
| The Big Valley | 1966 | 6 issues (6 indexed) | Gallery |
| The Blazing Forest | 1962 | 1 issue (0 indexed) | Gallery |
| The Blue Phantom | 1962 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Boatniks | 1961 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Have 1 (Need 1) |
| Bodé's Cartoon Concert | 1973 | 1 issue (0 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bonanza | 1962 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| Boys Love Girls...More or Less | 1970 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Have 1 (Need 1) |
| Bozo | 1952 | 4 issues (4 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bozo the Clown | 1951 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bozo the Clown | 1962 | 4 issues (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| The Brady Bunch | 1970 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| Brain Boy | 1962 | 5 issues (5 indexed) | Gallery |
| Brenda Lee Life Story | 1962 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Brenda Starr | 1963 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Buck Jones | 1951 | 7 issues (7 indexed) | Gallery |
| Buffalo Bill Jr. | 1958 | 7 issues (7 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bug Movies | 1931 | 1 issue (0 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bugs Bunny | 1952 | 58 issues (58 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bugs Bunny's Christmas Funnies | 1950 | 8 issues (8 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bugs Bunny's Christmas Party | 1955 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bugs Bunny's County Fair | 1957 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bugs Bunny's Halloween Parade | 1953 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bugs Bunny's Trick 'n' Treat Halloween Fun | 1955 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| Bugs Bunny's Vacation Funnies | 1951 | 9 issues (9 indexed) | Have 12 (Need 1) |
| Bullwinkle | 1962 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| The Bullwinkle Mother Moose Nursery Pomes | 1962 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Burke's Law | 1964 | 3 issues (3 indexed) | Gallery |
| Butterfly Comics | 1936 | 4 issues (0 indexed) | Gallery |
| Cadet Gray of West Point | 1958 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Cain's Hundred | 1962 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| Calling Nurse Nellie! | 1961 | 1 issue (0 indexed) | Gallery |
| Calvin and the Colonel | 1962 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Camp Runamuck | 1966 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Car 54, Where Are You? | 1962 | 6 issues (6 indexed) | Gallery |
| Car 54, Where Are You? [2nd Printing] | 1964 | 2 issues (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| The Castilian | 1964 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| The Cat | 1966 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Charlie Chan | 1965 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| Charlie McCarthy | 1949 | 9 issues (9 indexed) | Gallery |
| Cheyenne | 1957 | 22 issues (22 indexed) | Gallery |
| Cheyenne Autumn | 1965 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| The Chief | 1951 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Chip 'n' Dale | 1955 | 27 issues (27 indexed) | Gallery |
| Christmas In Disneyland | 1957 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| A Christmas Treasury | 1954 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Cicero's Cat | 1959 | 2 issues (2 indexed) | Gallery |
| Cimarron Strip | 1968 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| Circus World | 1964 | 1 issue (1 indexed) | Gallery |
| The Cisco Kid | 1951 | 40 issues (40 indexed) | Gallery |
| Clancy the Cop | 1930 | 2 issues (0 indexed) | Gallery |
| Clementina, the Flying Pig | 1950 | 1 issue (0 indexed) | Have 1 (Need 1) |
| Clyde Crashcup | 1963 | 5 issues (5 indexed) | Gallery |
| Colt .45 | 1960 | 6 issues (6 indexed) | Have 10 (Need 2) |
| Combat | 1961 | 40 issues (39 indexed) | Gallery |
| Comic Album | 1958 | 18 issues (18 indexed) | Have 19 (Need 1) |
All portions of the Grand Comics Database™, except where noted otherwise, are
copyrighted by the GCD and are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0). This includes but is not necessarily limited to our database schema and data distribution format.