View source for Fiction House

{{Short description|American publisher of magazines and comics}}
{{Infobox publisher
|name             = Fiction House
|image            = FictionHouse house ad.jpg
|caption          = House ad for "The Big 6 of the Comics!" advises, "Look for the Bull's-Eye..... Fiction House Magazines".
|type             = 
|genre            = Aviation, detective, jungle, sports, Western, science fiction
|fate             = 
|predecessor      = 
|successor        = 
|founded          = 1921
|founders         = John B. Kelly and John W. Glenister
|defunct          = 1955
|location_country = 
|headquarters    = [[New York City]]
|area_served     = 
|keypeople       = Thurman T. Scott
|publications    = [[Comic book]]s<br />[[Pulp magazines]]
|production       = 
|services         = 
| distribution = [[American News Company]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Man Who Vowed to Kill the Kill-Joys: Fiction House's John W. Glenister|date=16 Sep 2022|first=Mark|last=Seifert|work=[[Bleeding Cool]]|url=https://bleedingcool.com/comics/man-who-vowed-to-kill-the-kill-joys-fiction-houses-john-w-glenister/}}</ref>
|revenue          = 
|operating_income = 
|net_income       = 
|aum              = 
|assets           = 
|equity           = 
|owner            = 
|num_employees    = 
|parent           = 
|divisions        = 
| imprints = Real Adventures Publishing Company<br />Love Romances Publishing
|subsid           = 
|homepage         = 
|footnotes        = 
|intl             = 
}}
'''Fiction House''' was an American [[publisher]] of [[pulp magazines]] and [[comic books]] that existed from the 1920s to the 1950s. It was founded by John B. "Jack" Kelly and John W. Glenister.<ref name=Saunders>Saunders, David. [https://www.pulpartists.com/Byrne.html "JACK BYRNE (1902-1972),"] Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists (2015). Accessed Mar. 14, 2017.</ref> By the late 1930s, the publisher was Thurman T. Scott. Its comics division was best known for its [[pinup]]-style [[good girl art]], as epitomized by the company's most popular character, [[Sheena, Queen of the Jungle]].

== Leadership and location ==
The company's original location was 461 [[Eighth Avenue (Manhattan)|Eighth Avenue]] in New York City.<ref name=Saunders /> At the end of 1929, a ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' article referred to John B. Kelly as "head" of Fiction House, Inc., and a new location of 271 [[Madison Avenue]].<ref>{{cite news | url =http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/12/12/92024869.html?pageNumber=27 | title = Air Tales Stolen, 'War Ace' Is Held | work = The New York Times| date= December 12, 1929 | page=27|access-date= February 4, 2015}}</ref>

In late 1932, John W. Glenister was president of Fiction House and his son-in-law, Thurman T. Scott, was secretary of the corporation.<ref name=NYTimes1932>{{cite news|title=12 'Pulp' Magazines Stop Publication| url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/12/28/105940087.html?pageNumber=19| work = The New York Times| date= December 28, 1932 | page=19|access-date= February 4, 2015| quote=...in the eleven-year history of Fiction House.}}</ref> By the end of the 1930s Scott had risen to the title of publisher.<ref name=chs />

In January 1950, the Manhattan-based company signed a lease for office space at 130 W. 42nd Street.<ref>{{cite news | url = http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1950/01/24/86999611.html?pageNumber=54 | title=Added Space Taken by General Foods| work = The New York Times| date= January 24, 1950 | page=45|access-date= February 4, 2015| quote=...Fiction House Inc., Universal Buying Service, in 130 W 42d St...}}</ref>

==History==
===Pulp fiction===
Fiction House began in 1921<ref name=NYTimes1932 /> as a [[pulp-magazine]] publisher of primarily aviation, [[Western fiction|Western]], and sports pulps.<ref name=johnson /> According to co-founder John W. Glenister:
{{blockquote|In association with J. B. Kelly, I put out our first fiction magazine devoted to adventure stories. That was in 1921. Within four years the magazine sold 150,000 copies an issue and we began four other outdoor magazines and several others."<ref>Saunders, David. [https://www.pulpartists.com/Kelly.html "John B. Kelly (1886–1932),"] ''Field Guide to Wild American Pulp Artists'' (2015).</ref>}}

During its first decade, Fiction House produced pulp magazines such as ''Action Stories'', ''Air Stories'', ''Lariat Stories'', ''Detective Classics'', ''The Frontier'', ''True Adventures'', ''Wings'', and ''Fight Stories''. Fiction House occasionally acquired other publishers' magazines, such as its 1929 acquisition of ''Frontier Stories'' from [[Doubleday (publisher)#History|Doubleday, Doran & Co.]]<ref>{{cite news| url = http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/03/25/95893801.html?pageNumber=12 | title= Frontier Stories Magazine Sold | work = [[The New York Times]]| date= March 25, 1929|page =12| access-date= February 4, 2015}}</ref>

By the 1930s, the company had expanded into detective mysteries.<ref name=johnson>{{cite news|url=http://lifeloom.com/II1GingerJohnson.htm|first=Virginia E.|last=Johnson|title=''Detective Book Magazine''|work=Web Mystery Magazine|volume=2|number=1|date=Summer 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717005639/http://lifeloom.com/II1GingerJohnson.htm|archive-date=July 17, 2011|url-status=dead|access-date=December 24, 2005}}</ref> In late 1932, however, in the midst of the [[Great Depression]], Fiction House canceled 12 of its pulp magazines &mdash; ''Aces, Action Novels, [[Action Stories]], Air Stories, [[Detective Book Magazine]], Detective Classics, Fight Stories, Frontier Stories, Lariat, Love Romances, North-West Stories'' and ''Wings'' &mdash; with the stated goal of eventually reviving them.

After a hiatus, ''[[Action Stories]]'' resumed publishing through this period (lasting until late 1950). In addition, Fiction House relaunched its pulp magazines in 1934, finding success with a number of detective and romance pulp titles. The canceled pulps ''Fight Stories'' and ''Detective Book Magazine'' were revived in the spring 1936 and in 1937 respectively, with both magazines publishing continuously into the 1950s. Fiction House's first title with [[science fiction]] interest was ''[[Jungle Stories (magazine)|Jungle Stories]]'', which was launched in early 1939; it was not primarily a science fiction magazine, but often featured storylines with marginally science fictional themes, such as survivors from [[Atlantis]]. At the end of 1939 Fiction House decided to add an SF magazine to its lineup; it was titled ''[[Planet Stories]]'', and was published by '''Love Romances''', a subsidiary company that Fiction House created to publish the company's romance titles.

===Comic books===
[[File:JumboComics1.jpg|thumb|''Jumbo Comics'' #1 (Sept 1938). Cover artist(s) unknown.]]
By the late 1930s, publisher Thurman T. Scott expanded Fiction House into [[comic books]], an emerging medium that began to seem a viable adjunct to the fading pulps. Receptive to a sales call by [[Eisner & Iger]], one of the prominent "[[Comics packaging|packagers]]" of that time which produced complete comic books on demand for publishers looking to enter the field, Scott published ''[[Jumbo Comics]]'' #1 (Sept. 1938)<ref name=chs>{{cite web|url=http://www.chs.org/comics/fictionhouse.htm | title=Fiction House: History and Influences|first=Andrew |last=Goldstein|publisher=[[Connecticut Historical Society]]|date=n.d.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080908090243/http://www.chs.org/comics/fictionhouse.htm | archive-date=September 8, 2008}}</ref> under the company's '''Real Adventures Publishing Company''' imprint.<ref>[https://www.comics.org/indicia_publisher/288/ Real Adventures Publishing Co., Inc.], Grand Comics Database. Accessed Mar. 10, 2017.</ref>

[[Sheena, Queen of the Jungle]] appeared in that initial issue, soon becoming the company's star character. Sheena appeared in every issue of ''Jumbo Comics'' (Sept. 1938 – April 1953), as well as in her 18-issue spin-off, ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' (Spring 1942 – Winter 1952), the first comic book to title-star a female character.<ref name=toon>[http://www.toonopedia.com/sheena.htm Sheena, Queen of the Jungle] at [[Don Markstein's Toonopedia]]. [https://archive.today/20120913212733/http://www.toonopedia.com/sheena.htm Archived] from the original November 10, 2011</ref> Other features in ''Jumbo Comics'' #1 included three by future industry legend [[Jack Kirby]], representing his first comic-book work following his debut in ''Wild Boy Magazine'':<ref>Per Kirby's recollection in interview, ''The Nostalgia Journal'' #30 (Nov. 1976), reprinted in ''The Comics Journal Library, Volume One: Jack Kirby'' (2002) {{ISBN|1-56097-466-4}}, p. 3</ref> the [[science fiction]] feature ''The Diary of Dr. Hayward'' (under the pseudonym "Curt Davis"), the modern-West crimefighter strip ''Wilton of the West'' (as "Fred Sande"), and Part One of the [[swashbuckling]] serialization of [[Alexandre Dumas, père]]'s ''[[The Count of Monte Cristo]]'' (as "Jack Curtiss"), <!--Curtiss with 2 Ss OK--> each four pages long.

''Jumbo'' proved a hit, and Fiction House would go on to publish ''Jungle Comics''; the [[aviation]]-themed ''[[Wings Comics]]''; the [[science fiction]] title ''[[Planet Comics]]''; ''Rangers Comics''; and ''Fight Comics'' during the early 1940s — most of these series taking their titles and themes from the Fiction House pulps. Fiction House referred to these titles in its regular house ads as "The Big Six," but the company also published several other titles, among them the [[American Old West|Western]]-themed ''Indians'' and ''Firehair'', jungle titles ''Sheena, Queen of the Jungle'' and ''Wambi'', and five issues of Eisner's ''[[Spirit (comics character)|The Spirit]]''.<ref name=gcd>{{gcdb publisher|id=70|title=Fiction House}}</ref>

Quickly developing its own staff under editor Joe Cunningham followed by Jack Burden,<ref name=casp30>Cassell, Dewey, with Aaron Sultan and Mike Gartland. ''The Art of George Tuska'' ([[TwoMorrows Publishing]], 2005), {{ISBN|1-893905-40-3}}; {{ISBN|978-1-893905-40-5}}, p. 30</ref> Fiction House employed either in-house or on a freelance basis such artists as [[Mort Meskin]], [[Matt Baker (artist)|Matt Baker]] (the first prominent [[African-American]] artist in comics), [[Nick Cardy]], [[George Evans (cartoonist)|George Evans]], [[Bob Powell (comics)|Bob Powell]], and the British [[Lee Elias]], as well as such rare female comics artists as [[Ruth Atkinson]], [[Fran Hopper]], [[Lily Renée]], and [[Marcia Snyder]].

The popularity of [[Sheena, Queen of the Jungle|Sheena]] led to numerous other Fiction House "[[jungle girls]]":<ref name=Sergi>Sergi, Joe. [https://cbldf.org/2013/01/tales-from-the-code-the-near-extinction-of-sheena/ "Tales From the Code: The Near Extinction of Sheena,"] CBLDF website (January 25, 2013).</ref>
* Ann Mason (''[[Jungle Comics]]'') — the mate of Ka'a'nga, Jungle King; like Sheena, wears a leopard skin dress
* Jessie (''Jungle Comics'') — replaces Ann as the mate of Ka'a'nga
* Camilla, Wild Girl of the Congo (''Jungle Comics'') — wears a zebra skin dress
* [[Fantomah]], Mystery Woman of the Jungle (''Jungle Comics'') — one comics' earliest super-powered heroines, created by [[Fletcher Hanks]]
* Princess Taj (''Jungle Comics'') — rides an elephant
* Tiger Girl (''[[Fight Comics]]'')
* Princess Vishnu (''Fight Comics'')

[[Feminism|Feminist]] comics historian [[Trina Robbins]], writes that:
{{blockquote|...most of [Fiction House's] pulp-style action stories either starred or featured strong, beautiful, competent heroines. They were war nurses, aviatrixes, girl detectives, counterspies, and animal skin-clad jungle queens, and they were in command. Guns blazing, daggers unsheathed, sword in hand, they leaped across the pages, ready to take on any villain. And they did not need rescuing.<ref>{{cite book|author-link=Trina Robbins|first=Trina|last=Robbins|title=The Great Women Superheroes| publisher=[[Kitchen Sink Press]]|year= 1996|isbn= 0-87816-481-2|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=kHNlAAAAMAAJ&q=%22pulp-style+action+stories%22 86]}}</ref>}}

Despite such pre-feminist pedigree, Fiction House found itself targeted in [[psychiatrist]] Dr. [[Fredric Wertham]]'s book ''[[Seduction of the Innocent]]'' (1954), which in part blamed comic books for an increase in [[juvenile delinquency]]. Aside from the ostensible effects of gory [[horror fiction|horror]] in comic books, Wertham cast blame on the sexy, pneumatic heroines of Fiction House, [[Fox Feature Syndicate|Fox Comics]] and other companies. A subsequent, wide-ranging investigation by the [[Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency]], coupled with outcry by parents, a downturn in comics sales, the demise of the pulps, and the rise of television and [[mass market paperback|paperback novels]] competing for readers and leisure time, Fiction House faced an increasingly difficult business environment, and soon closed shop.

==List of Fiction House pulps==

{{more citations needed|list in the section below|date=February 2015}}
{{multiple image
   | direction = vertical
   | width     = 100
   | footer_align = center
   | footer    = <small>Fiction House pulp titles.</small>
   | image1    = FightStories pulp v2n4.jpg
   | image2    = DetectiveBook pulp v5n10.jpg
   | image3    = Planet stories 1944spr.jpg
   | image5    = Two complete science adventure books 1952sum n6.jpg
   | image6    = Planet stories 1947fal.jpg 
}}
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* ''Aces''<!--(estimated 100 issues, December 1928 - Spring 1939)--><ref name=NYTimes1932 /> 
* ''Action Novels''<ref name=NYTimes1932 /> 
* ''[[Action Stories]]'' (225 issues, September 1921 - Fall 1950)<ref name=NYTimes1932 /> 
* ''Air Stories''<!--(estimated 50 issues, August 1927 - Winter 1939)--><ref name=NYTimes1932 /> 
* ''[[Detective Book Magazine]]'' (65 issues, Apr. 1930–Sept. 1931; 1937–Winter 1952/1953)<ref name=NYTimes1932 /> 
* ''All Adventure Action Novels''
* ''All-American Football Magazine''
* ''Baseball Stories''<!--(estimated 50 issues, Spring 1938 - Spring 1954)-->
* ''Basketball Stories''<!-- (one known issue, Winter 1937)-->
* ''Black Aces''<!-- (7 issues, January 1932 - July 1932)-->
* ''Bull's-Eye Detective''
* ''Bull's-Eye Sports''<!-- (estimated 8 issues, Winter 1938 - Fall 1939)-->
* ''Bull's-Eye Western Stories''
* ''Civil War Stories''<!-- (one known issue, Spring 1940)-->
* ''Detective Classics''<!--(22 issues, November 1929 - September 1931)--><ref name=NYTimes1932 /> 
* ''[[Fight Stories]]'' (47 issues, June 1928 – May 1932; 59 issues, Spring 1936 - Spring 1952)<ref name=NYTimes1932 /> 
* ''Football Action''
* ''Football Stories''<!--(estimated 35 issues, Fall 1937 - Fall 1953)-->
* ''Frontier Stories''<ref name=NYTimes1932 /> 
* ''George Bruce's Aces'' (Glen-Kel)
* ''George Bruce's Air Novels''
* ''Illustrated Football Annual''<!--(24 non-fiction issues, 1930 - 1953)-->
* ''Jungle Stories''<!-- (59 issues)-->
* ''Lariat''<ref name=NYTimes1932 /> 
*''Love Romances''<ref name=NYTimes1932 /> 
* ''North-West Romances''
* ''North-West Stories''<ref name=NYTimes1932 /> 
* ''[[Planet Stories]]'' (71 issues, Dec. 1939 - June 1955)<ref name=Clareson>Thomas D. Clareson, "Planet Stories", in Tymn & Ashley, ''Science Fiction, Fantasy and Weird Fiction Magazines'', pp.&nbsp;476&ndash;481.</ref><ref name=NYTimes1932 /> 
* ''Soldier Stories''
* ''[[Tops in Science Fiction]]'' (2 issues, Spring–Fall 1953) — vehicle to reprint stories from ''Planet Stories''
* ''True Adventures''
* ''Two Complete Detective Books'' (Real Adventure)
* ''[[Two Complete Science-Adventure Books]]'' (11 issues, 1950–1954)
* ''Two Western Books'' 	 	
* ''Two Western Romances''
* ''Wings'' (133 issues [11+ volumes], Jan. 1928–Spring 1953)
}}

==List of Fiction House comic books ==
{{multiple image
   | direction = vertical
   | width     = 100
   | footer_align = center
   | footer    = <small>Typical cover art from Fiction House.</small>
   | image1    = WingsComics69.jpg
   | image2    = Sheena, Queen of the Jungle 18.jpg
   | image3    = Planet Comics 53.jpg  
}}

=== "The Big Six" ===

* ''[[Fight Comics]]'' (86 issues, Jan. 1940–[Jan.] 1954)
* ''[[Jumbo Comics]]'' (167 issues, Sept. 1938–Mar. 1953)
* ''[[Jungle Comics]]'' (163 issues, Jan. 1940–Summer 1954)
* ''[[Planet Comics]]'' (73 issues, Jan. 1940–Winter 1953)
* '' Rangers of Freedom Comics / [[Rangers Comics]]'' (69 issues, October 1941–Winter 1953)
* ''[[Wings Comics]]'' (124 issues, Sept. 1940–1954)

=== Other titles (selected) ===
* ''3-D Circus'' (1 issue, 1953)
* ''Cowgirl Romances'' (12 issues, 1950–Winter 1952/1953)
* ''The First Christmas'' (1 issue, 1953; 3-D)
* ''Ghost Comics'' (11 issues, 1951–1954)
* ''Indians'' (17 issues, 1950–1953)
* ''Ka'a'nga, Jungle King'' (20 issues, Spring 1949–Summer 1954)
* ''Long Bow'' (9 issues, 1951–Winter 1952/1953)
* ''Man O' Mars'' (1 issue, 1953)
* ''Movie Comics'' (4 issues, Dec. 1946–1947)
* ''Pioneer West Romances / Firehair'' (11 issues, Spring 1950–Spring 1952)
* ''[[Sheena, Queen of the Jungle]]'' (18 issues, Spring 1942–Winter 1952/1953)
* ''[[Spirit (comics character)|The Spirit]]'' (5 issues, 1952–54)
* ''Wambi, Jungle Boy'' (18 issues, Spring 1942–Winter 1952)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* ''Comic Book Marketplace'' vol. 2, #57 (March 1998): "Fiction House Pulps!" by Christian K. Berger, pp.&nbsp;34–37, 44
* ''Comic Book Marketplace'' vol. 2 2, #60 (June 1998): "Fiction House Sci-Fi" (cover gallery) pp.&nbsp;40–43
* ''Comic Book Marketplace'' vol. 2, #72 Oct. 1999): Letter from Bill Black on Australian versions of Fiction House comics, pp.&nbsp;8–9
* ''Fiction House: A Golden Age Index'' compiled by Henry Steele (San Francisco, A. Dellinges, 1978)
* ''Fiction House: A Golden Age Index of Planet Comics'' (San Francisco: A. Dellinges, 1978)
* ''Ron Goulart's Comics History Magazine'' #4 (Summer 1997): "The History of Good Girl Art", Part 2, pp.&nbsp;3–5
*{{cite thesis|degree=MA|last=Scott|first=Kevin Michael|title=Images of women in the popular culture publications of Fiction House, 1941–1952|publisher=Iowa State University|year=1991|url=http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/8/|access-date=February 14, 2013}}
* ''Fiction House: From Pulps To Panels, From Jungles To Space'' by Mitch Maglio, Yoe Books (2017)

==External links==
* {{commons category inline|Fiction House}}
* {{gcdb publisher|id=70|title=Fiction House}}
* {{comicbookdb|type=publisher|id=152|title=Fiction House}}
* [http://www.accomics.com/category/goldenage/good-girl-art/ Good Girl Art] at AC Comics.com
* [http://www.philsp.com/index.html Galactic Central]

{{Comic book publishers in North America navbox}}
{{GoldenAge}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiction House}}
[[Category:Comic book publishing companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Defunct comics and manga publishing companies]]
[[Category:Pulp magazine publishing companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Publishing companies established in 1921]]
[[Category:Magazine publishing companies of the United States]]
[[Category:1921 establishments in New York City]]