# Feature Comics
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{{Short description|Comic book anthology series published by Quality Comics}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox comic book title
|image = Feature Comics 77.jpg
|caption = ''Feature Comics'' #77 (April 1944), featuring [Doll Man](/source/Doll_Man).
|schedule = Monthly
|ongoing = y
|publisher = [Quality Comics](/source/Quality_Comics) by [Everett M. "Busy" Arnold](/source/Everett_M._%22Busy%22_Arnold)
|startmo = October
|startyr = 1937
|endmo = May
|endyr = 1950
|issues = 144
|Superhero = y
|Humor = y
|multigenre = y
|main_char_team = Comic strip reprints ([Joe Palooka](/source/Joe_Palooka)
[Mickey Finn](/source/Mickey_Finn_(comics))
[Dixie Dugan](/source/Dixie_Dugan)
[Bungle Family](/source/Bungle_Family)
[Jane Arden](/source/Jane_Arden_(comics)))
Features superheroes ([The Clock](/source/Clock_(character)), [Doll Man](/source/Doll_Man), [Spider Widow](/source/Spider_Widow))
|writers =
|artists = [Rube Goldberg](/source/Rube_Goldberg)
|pencillers =
|inkers =
|letterers =
|colorists =
|editors = Ed Cronin
|creative_team_month =
|creative_team_year =
|creators =
|subcat = Quality Comics
|sort = Feature Comics
}}
'''''Feature Comics''''', originally '''''Feature Funnies''''', was an [American comic book](/source/American_comic_book) [anthology](/source/anthology) series published by [Quality Comics](/source/Quality_Comics) from 1939 until 1950, that featured short stories in the humor genre and later the [superhero](/source/superhero) genre.[{{cite book |last1=Koolman |first1=Mike |last2=Amash |first2=Jim |title=The Quality Companion |date=2011 |publisher=TwoMorrows Publishing |isbn=978-1605490373 |pages=216–217}}]
thumb|right|The first issue of ''Feature Funnies''.
==Publication history==
The series started out as a reprint collection of newspaper comic strips that was published by [Harry "A" Chesler](/source/Harry_%22A%22_Chesler) between 1937 and 1939, for twenty issues entitled ''Feature Funnies''. It featured cannily mixed color reprints of popular [newspaper comic strip](/source/newspaper_comic_strip)s like ''[Joe Palooka](/source/Joe_Palooka)'', ''[Mickey Finn](/source/Mickey_Finn_(comics))'' and ''[Dixie Dugan](/source/Dixie_Dugan)'' with a smattering of new features.
Publisher [Everett M. "Busy" Arnold](/source/Everett_M._%22Busy%22_Arnold), deducing that [Depression-era](/source/Great_Depression) audiences wanted established quality and familiar [comic strips](/source/comic_strips) for their hard-earned dimes, formed the suitably titled '''Comic Favorites, Inc.''' in collaboration with three newspaper [syndicate](/source/syndicate)s: the [McNaught Syndicate](/source/McNaught_Syndicate), the [Frank J. Markey Syndicate](/source/Frank_J._Markey_Syndicate) and Iowa's [Register and Tribune Syndicate](/source/Register_and_Tribune_Syndicate) (Comic Favorites later became an imprint of Arnold's [Quality Comics](/source/Quality_Comics), established in 1939).
Hiring [cartoonist](/source/cartoonist) [Rube Goldberg](/source/Rube_Goldberg) and Goldberg's assistant, Johnny Devlin,[Jay, Alex. [https://strippersguide.blogspot.com/2018/06/ink-slinger-profiles-by-alex-jay-johnny.html "Ink-Slinger Profiles by Alex Jay: Johnny Devlin,"] ''Stripper's Guide'' (June 11, 2018).] Arnold in mid-1937 began publishing ''Feature Funnies'' from his office as at 389 [Lexington Avenue](/source/Lexington_Avenue) in [Manhattan](/source/Manhattan). Goldberg drew many of the covers.
The new material came from [comics packagers](/source/comics_packagers), small studios that sprang up to produce comics on demand for publishers looking to enter the emerging comic-book field. Arnold initially bought from the quirkily named [Harry "A" Chesler](/source/Harry_%22A%22_Chesler) shop but later relied solely on [Eisner & Iger](/source/Eisner_%26_Iger), headed by [Will Eisner](/source/Will_Eisner) and [Jerry Iger](/source/Jerry_Iger). Arnold recalled in the early 1970s: "I believe the first feature I purchased from Eisner & Iger was 'Espionage' in 1938 for ''Feature Comics'' (then ''Feature Funnies'')".[[Steranko, Jim](/source/Jim_Steranko), ''[The Steranko History of Comics](/source/The_Steranko_History_of_Comics) 2'' (Supergraphics, 1972), p. 92]
Other newspaper comic strip characters in ''Feature Funnies'' included the constantly bickering [Bungle Family](/source/Bungle_Family) and girl reporter [Jane Arden](/source/Jane_Arden_(comics)). ''Feature Comics'' then continued the numbering with issue #21, and ran until #144.
== Recurring features ==
* '''[Doll Man](/source/Doll_Man)''': a shrinking superhero written and created by [Will Eisner](/source/Will_Eisner) (under the [pen name](/source/pen_name) "William Erwin Maxwell") debuted in #27 and was the lead feature through #139.
* '''[The Clock](/source/Clock_(character))''': [George Brenner](/source/George_Brenner)'s masked crime-fighter was featured was carried over from ''Feature Funnies'', running in every issue of ''Feature Comics'' from #21–31 (Apr. 1940), when he moved over to the new Quality Comics title ''[Crack Comics](/source/Crack_Comics)''.
* '''[Jane Arden](/source/Jane_Arden_(comics))''': Reprints of the popular newspaper strip featuring a spunky gal reporter were carried over from ''Feature Funnies'', running in every issue of ''Feature Comics'' from #21–31 (Apr. 1940), when the strip also moved over to ''Crack Comics''.
* '''[Spider Widow](/source/Spider_Widow)''': a female crime-fighter dressed as a stereotypical [Hallowe'en](/source/Hallowe'en) witch, with a green-faced old crone mask, a floppy black hat, and a long black dress. [Frank Borth](/source/Frank_Borth)'s strip ran from issue #57 (June 1942) to #72 (June 1943).
* '''Stunt Man Stetson''': a story about an amateur detective in [Hollywood](/source/Hollywood%2C_Los_Angeles) was the lead from #140 until #144.
== References ==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
{{refbegin}}
* {{gcdb series|id=95|title=''Feature Funnies''}}
* {{gcdb series|id=122|title=''Feature Comics''}}
* {{comicbookdb|type=title|id=26314|title=''Feature Comics''}}
{{refend}}
Category:Quality Comics titles
Category:Comics magazines published in the United States
Category:1939 comics debuts
Category:1950 comics endings
Category:Superhero comics
Category:Humor comics
Category:Golden Age comics titles
---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Feature Comics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_Comics) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feature_Comics?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.