[7] Golden Age comics creator Sheldon Mayer quipped years later of Wheeler-Nicholson: "Not only the first man to publish comic books but also the first to stiff an artist for his check".[27]. [8] They were married in Koblenz, Germany in 1920. 11–12, Douglas Wheeler-Nicholson interview, pp. In 1937, in debt to printing-plant owner and magazine distributor Harry Donenfeld – who was as well a pulp-magazine publisher and a principal in the magazine distributorship Independent News – Wheeler-Nicholson was compelled to take Donenfeld on as a partner in order to publish Detective Comics #1. Issue #6 (Oct. 1935) brought the comic-book debuts of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the future creators of Superman, who began their careers with the musketeer swashbuckler "Henri Duval" (doing the first two installments before turning it over to others) and, under the pseudonyms "Leger and Reuths", the supernatural-crimefighter adventure Doctor Occult. [2], Actress Dana Wheeler-Nicholson (sometimes credited as Dana Wheeler Nicholson), who has appeared in movies including Fletch and Tombstone,[37] such TV series as Sex and the City, Friday Night Lights and Law & Order: Criminal Intent [38] and the soap opera All My Children,[37] is the daughter of Wheeler-Nicholson's son Douglas. Originally launched as National Allied Publications, the … [26] While all-original material was a risky venture, the book sold well enough that National Allied Publishing continued to fill books "with new strips every month". [10] According to differing sources, he rose to become either "the youngest major in the Army",[7] the youngest in the Cavalry,[11] or, as per the family, one of the youngest in the Cavalry, at age 27,[8] By his own account, he "chased bandits on the Mexican border, fought fevers and played polo in the Philippines, led a battalion of infantry against the Bolsheviki in Siberia, helped straighten out the affairs of the army in France [and] commanded the headquarters cavalry of the American force in the Rhine". DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest American companies in comic books and related media publishing. ... Not only was the size different, so were the strips. Wheeler-Nicholson added a second magazine, New Comics, which premiered with a Dec. 1935 cover date and at close to what would become the standard size of Golden Age comic books, with slightly larger dimensions than today's. [5] By this time she had changed her last name to "Straham", a variant of "Strain", and upon marrying teacher T. J. [8], The Major's public criticism of Army command in an open letter to President Warren G. Harding, and his accusations against senior officers, led to countercharges, hearings, and a lawsuit against West Point Superintendent General Fred W. In need of cash, Wheeler-Nicholson partnered with magazine distributors Harry Donenfeld and Jack Liebowitz and founded Detective Comics, Inc., in 1937. Sladen. 12–13, Douglas Wheeler-Nicholson interview, p. 13, In an interview with Wheeler-Nicholson's son, Douglas, in. There a judge named Abe Mennen, one of Harry's old Tammany buddies, had been appointed interim president of the firm and arranged a quick sale of its assets to Independent News. [12] He additionally ghost wrote six adventure novels about air hero Bill Barnes for Street & Smith Publications. [7] The features included the funny animal comic "Pelion and Ossa" and the college-set "Jigger and Ginger", mixed with such dramatic fare as the Western strip "Jack Woods" and the "yellow peril" adventure "Barry O'Neill", featuring a Fu Manchu-styled villain, Fang Gow. [39], Douglas Wheeler-Nicholson interview, p. 10, Douglas Wheeler-Nicholson interview, p. 11, Douglas Wheeler-Nicholson interview, pp. He produced a comic appropriately titled New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine, so-called because it was larger than the other comics, measuring 10 by 15 inches. The title became New Adventure Comics with issue #12, and finally Adventure Comics with #32. [7], Wheeler-Nicholson spent his boyhood both in Portland and on a horse ranch in Washington state. In 2009, it was briefly revived with its original numbering, ultimately ending again in 2011 with issue #529, prior to DC Comics' New 52 reboot.