Four Color

This article is about the comic book series. For the topological graph theory, see Four color theorem. For the four color model, see CMYK color model.
Four Color
Cover for Four Color #9 (October 1942), featuring Carl Barks' first comic, Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold
Publication information
PublisherDell Comics
ScheduleVarious
FormatOngoing series
Publication dateJuly–September 1939[1] – April–June 1962[2]
No. of issues1,354

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).[3] The first 25 issues (1939–1942) are known as "series 1". In mid-1942, the numbering started over again, and "series 2" began.[4] 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.[4]

More than 1,000 issues were published, usually with multiple titles released every month.[5] An exact accounting of the actual number of unique issues produced is difficult because occasional issue numbers were skipped and a number of reprint issues were also included. Nonetheless, the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide lists well over 1,000 individual issues, ending with #1354.[6] Comics historian Alberto Becattini cites 1332 issues.[5] It currently holds the record for most issues produced of an American comic book title;[3] its nearest rival, DC's Action Comics, reached the 1,000-issue milestone in 2018.[7]

Four Color published many of the first licensed Disney comics; about 20 percent of the Four Color issues were devoted to Disney characters.[5]

  1. ^ "Four Color (1939 series)". Grand Comics Database. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  2. ^ "Four Color (1942 series)". Grand Comics Database. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b Booker, M. Keith, ed. Comics Through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas. Greenwood, 2014, p. 6. ISBN 978-0-313-39750-9.
  4. ^ a b Barrier, Michael (2014). "Carl Barks Makes His Break". Funnybooks: The Improbable Glories of the Best American Comic Books. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0520283909.
  5. ^ a b c Becattini, Alberto (2016). "Four-Color Daydreams: The U.S. Disney Comic Books". Disney Comics: The Whole Story. Theme Park Press. ISBN 978-1683900177.
  6. ^ Overstreet, R.M. (2011). The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide (41st ed.). Gemstone Publishing. ISBN 978-1603601306.
  7. ^ Davison, Joshua (April 19, 2018). "Action Comics #1000 Review: Happy Birthday, Superman". Bleeding Cool. Retrieved May 29, 2018.