Editing Four Color

{{short description|1939–1962 anthology comic book series}}
{{about|the comic book series|the topological graph theory|Four color theorem|the four color model|CMYK color model}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox comic book title  <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics-->

| image = Four Color Comics.jpg
| caption = Cover for ''Four Color'' #9 (October 1942), featuring [[Carl Barks]]' first comic, ''[[Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold]]''
| schedule = Various
| ongoing = y
| publisher = [[Dell Comics]]
| date = July–September 1939<ref name=gcd-s1>{{cite web |title=Four Color (1939 series) |url=https://www.comics.org/series/120/ |website=Grand Comics Database |access-date=10 August 2019}}</ref>&nbsp;– April–June 1962<ref name=gcd-s2>{{cite web |title=Four Color (1942 series) |url=https://www.comics.org/series/279/ |website=Grand Comics Database |access-date=10 August 2019}}</ref>
| issues = 1,354
| Superhero =
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| subcat=Dell Comics
| sort=Four Color
}}
'''''Four Color''''', also known as '''''Four Color Comics''''' and '''''Dell Four Color''''', is an American [[Comics anthology|comic book anthology]] series published by [[Dell Comics]] between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the [[CMYK color model|four basic colors]] used when printing comic books ([[cyan]], [[magenta]], [[yellow]] and [[black]] at the time).<ref name=booker>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hnuQBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA6 Booker, M. Keith, ed. ''Comics Through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas.] Greenwood, 2014, p. 6. {{ISBN|978-0-313-39750-9}}.</ref> The first 25 issues (1939–1942) are known as "series 1". In mid-1942, the numbering started over again, and "series 2" began.<ref name=Funnybooks>{{cite book |last1=Barrier |first1=Michael |title=Funnybooks: The Improbable Glories of the Best American Comic Books |date=2014 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0520283909 |chapter=Carl Barks Makes His Break}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Funnybooks/>

More than 1,000 issues were published, usually with multiple titles released every month.<ref name=Becattini>{{cite book |last1=Becattini |first1=Alberto |title=Disney Comics: The Whole Story |date=2016 |publisher=Theme Park Press |isbn=978-1683900177 |chapter=Four-Color Daydreams: The U.S. Disney Comic Books}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Overstreet |first1=R.M. |title=The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide |date=2011 |publisher=Gemstone Publishing |isbn=978-1603601306|edition=41st }}</ref> Comics historian Alberto Becattini cites 1332 issues.<ref name=Becattini/> It currently holds the record for most issues produced of an American comic book title;<ref name=booker /> its nearest rival, [[DC Comics|DC]]'s ''[[Action Comics]]'', reached the [[Action Comics 1000|1,000-issue milestone]] in 2018.<ref name="bcrev">{{cite web |url=https://www.bleedingcool.com/2018/04/19/action-comics-1000-review/ |title=''Action Comics'' #1000 Review: Happy Birthday, Superman |last=Davison |first=Joshua |date=April 19, 2018 |publisher=[[Bleeding Cool]] |access-date=May 29, 2018}}</ref>

''Four Color'' published many of the first licensed [[Disney comics]]; about 20 percent of the ''Four Color'' issues were devoted to Disney characters.<ref name=Becattini/>

==History==
Unlike most comic book series of the day, which were either devoted to one character, or were anthologies with collections of stories starring the cartoon characters of a particular studio, ''Four Color'' instead devoted each individual issue to different characters. One issue might feature a popular cartoon character, while the next might be an adaptation of a popular movie or TV series.<ref name=Becattini/> Thus the phrase "one shot" which was used in the publisher's code in the first interior page of the first story. For example, issue 223 (1949) was denoted DDOS 223 which translates as Donald Duck One-Shot #223. Most ''Four Color'' titles featured licensed properties; relatively few original characters were created for the line. The first ''Four Color'' comic featured [[comic strip]] and [[movie serial]] hero [[Dick Tracy]]; the last (issue number 1,354, series 2, dated April–June 1962) was based upon the TV series ''[[Calvin and the Colonel]]''.<ref name=gcd-s2/>

Comics historian Gary Brown wrote, "In the ''Four Color Series'', you get a good sense of what America was like in the 1950s. Admittedly, it might be a white, middle-class version of the country, but the series hit on every fad, every icon, and every popular piece of culture that America embraced during this time span. Dell comics released anywhere from one to a half dozen ''Four Color'' titles a month, touching on topics such as the Old West, animation characters, newspaper comic strips, radio programs, TV programs, movies, and even pop music. For the most part, the series reflected what entertained America in the 1950s — and not just kids, but adults, as well."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Gary |title=The Four-Color Four Color Index, vol 2 |date=2011 |publisher=G. Brown |page=4}}</ref>

Many of the early ''Four Color'' issues were reprints of newspaper comic strips; the first series included ''[[Dick Tracy]]'', ''[[Little Orphan Annie]]'', ''[[Mickey Mouse (comic strip)|Mickey Mouse]]'', ''[[Donald Duck (comic strip)|Donald Duck]]'' and ''[[Terry and the Pirates (comic strip)|Terry and the Pirates]]'', among others.<ref name=gcd-s1/> The only two issues from the first series that published comic book stories were based on new Walt Disney films. Issue #13 featured an adaptation of ''[[The Reluctant Dragon (1941 film)|The Reluctant Dragon]]'',<ref>{{cite web |title=One-Shots (series 1) #13 |url=https://inducks.org/issue.php?c=us%2FOSI++13 |website=Inducks |access-date=8 August 2019}}</ref> and a ''[[Dumbo]]'' adaptation was the focus of issue #17.<ref>{{cite web |title=One-Shots (Series 1) #17 |url=https://inducks.org/issue.php?c=us%2FOSI++17 |website=Inducks |access-date=8 August 2019}}</ref>

The comic strip reprints continued well into the 1942 second series. Of the first ten issues, eight are strip reprints, including ''[[Little Joe (comic strip)|Little Joe]]'', ''[[Harold Teen]]'', ''[[Alley Oop]]'' and ''[[Flash Gordon]]''. The first two original stories in the second series are issue #5, ''[[Raggedy Ann|Raggedy Ann and Andy]]'', and issue #9, ''[[Donald Duck Finds Pirate Gold]]''. The series continued strip reprints of ''Dick Tracy'' until issue #163 (Sept 1947), ''Little Orphan Annie'' until issue #206 (Dec 1948) and ''Harold Teen'' until issue #209 (Jan 1949).<ref name=gcd-s2/>

But the focus of the series moved to original comic book stories, and soon the primary purpose behind ''Four Color'' was as a try-out showcase for potential new Dell Comics series.<ref name=booker /> For example, [[Tarzan comics|Tarzan]] and [[Little Lulu]] in early 1948 launched their own titles (starting with no. 1) after proving themselves via a number of ''Four Color'' try-out issues. However, during the 1940s, the transition was not always so prompt, as a number of prominent funny animal characters starred in 20–30 issues of ''Four Color'' (these include [[Mickey Mouse (comic book)|Mickey Mouse]], [[Donald Duck (American comic book)|Donald Duck]] and [[Porky Pig]]).<ref name=booker /> Comic book historian [[Michael Barrier (historian)|Michael Barrier]] notes that by the early 1950s, Dell seemed to be giving more emphasis to subscription sales (promoted via premium giveaways as part of the Dell Comics Club), which necessitated stable series instead of one-shots.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Home%20Page/WhatsNewArchivesFeb08.htm#andofcomicbooks |title=MichaelBarrier.com (column): "And of Comic Books" (Feb. 15, 2008), by Michael Barrier |access-date=2010-08-13 |archive-date=2018-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180526002855/http://www.michaelbarrier.com/Home%20Page/WhatsNewArchivesFeb08.htm#andofcomicbooks |url-status=dead }}</ref>

At one point in 1951, some issues of ''Four Color'' were double-numbered, reflecting the issuances for particular characters; thus issues 318 and 328, featuring Donald Duck, carried the notation "nos. 1–2" on the cover underneath the ''Four Color'' series number. Indeed, beginning in the early 1950s, it became more prevalent than previously for ''Four Color'' titles, if they proved popular enough, to become ongoing, independent series. In some cases, the issue numbering of these spin-offs took into account any previous ''Four Color'' issues (albeit sometimes miscounting the one-shots; ''Donald Duck'' started with #26 despite the publication of twenty-nine ''Four Color issues'' with the character preceding it).

Only issues published between c.1940 and 1946 actually carried the title ''Four Color Comics'' on the cover.{{efn|Documenting the extent of the ''Four Color'' series was among the bibliographic tasks undertaken in the early 1960s by emerging comic book fandom. Fans [[Don Thompson (Comics Buyer's Guide)|Donald]] and [[Maggie Thompson]] took the lead in this endeavor and, in 1968, finally issued ''A Listing of Dell Special Series Comic Books (and a Few Others)'' as Bibliographic Supplement no. 1 to their fanzine ''Comic Art''. In its 35 pages, it listed not only individual titles of comic books published in the ''Color/Four Color'' series, but those in these series: ''Black and White, Large Feature, United Feature Single Series, Comics on Parade, McKay Feature Books, Stories by Famous Authors Illustrated'', and ''[[Classics Illustrated]] (Classic Comics)''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Fanzine Library: Comic Art #1 (Spring 1961) |url=http://www.maggiethompson.com/1970/01/fanzine-library-comic-art-1-spring-1961.html |website=Maggiethompson.com |access-date=10 August 2019}}</ref>}}

''Four Color'' ended its run around the same time Dell's partnership with [[Western Publishing]] came to an end. Western subsequently formed a competing company, [[Gold Key Comics]], and took over a number of licenses previously held by Dell. This included numerous titles featured under the ''Four Color'' banner that were then continued as ongoing series under Gold Key; this included most of the Disney and Hanna-Barbera properties.

== Notes ==
{{notelist}}

==Citations==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*{{gcdb series|id=120|title=Four Color (series I)}}
*{{comicbookdb|type=title|id=917|title=''Four Color'' (series I)}}
*{{gcdb series|id=279|title=Four Color (series II)}}
*{{comicbookdb|type=title|id=918|title=''Four Color Comics'' (series II)}}

==External links==
*{{Inducks publication|us|OS}}
*[http://www.comics.org/series/120/covers/?style=default Contents of the issues in the first series]
*[http://www.comics.org/covers.lasso?seriesID=279&skip=0&show=50 Contents of the issues in the second series]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090615100701/http://www.dellfourcolorcomics.com/Comics/DellFourColor/ Chronological listings of all Four-Colors]

[[Category:Dell Comics titles]]
[[Category:Comics magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:1939 comics debuts]]
[[Category:1962 comics endings]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1939]]
[[Category:Magazines disestablished in 1962]]
[[Category:Disney comics titles]]
[[Category:Mickey Mouse]]
[[Category:Donald Duck]]
[[Category:Porky Pig]]