Lev Gleason


Lev Gleason Publications, founded by Leverett Gleason, was the publisher of a number of popular comic books during the 1940s and early 1950s, including Daredevil, Crime Does Not Pay, and Boy Comics.

Gleason was based in New York, and was among the first to produce comic books aimed at an adult audience. He labeled some of his books "illustories" to suggest that they were a new, different form.

Gleason was behind the first and most successful crime comic, Crime Does Not Pay (1942), which spawned dozens of imitators. Gleason's titles (along with those produced by EC Comics) became targets of increasing criticism of the influence of comic books. This pressure led to the formation in 1948 of the Association of Comics Magazine Publishers (ACMP) in an effort to avoid external regulation. Gleason was a founding member. The ACMP was the first step towards the establishment of the Comics Code Authority in 1954.

Gleason went out of business in 1956.


General Informations

Official Name: Lev Gleason
Status: Defunct (December, 1956) 
Founded: 1939
Founder: Leverett Gleason
Country of origin: United States
Headquarters location: New York City
Publication types: Comics Books
Fiction genres: Crime, Romance, Western
Imprints: Comics House Publications

History

Characters/features

There have been a few Lev Gleason characters that have been revived by Dynamite Entertainment under their Project Superpowers title.

Some of the stable of characters that were originally published by Lev Gleason were:

  • Ace Powers
  • Bill Wayne, Texas Terror
  • Black Diamond
  • Blackout
  • Bombshell
  • Young Robin Hood
  • Bronze Tiger
  • Captain Battle
  • Captain Battle Jr.
  • Captain Fearless
  • Crimebuster
  • Cloud Curtis
  • Daredevil (Death-Defying Devil)
  • Dash Dillion
  • Dickie Dean, Boy Inventor
  • Egghead
  • Flag
  • The Ghost
  • Lance Hale and Jackie
  • Hot Rock Flanagan
  • Houdonnit the Great
  • Jack of Spades
  • Kilroy
  • Kelly The Cop
  • Ken Keene
  • Little Wise Guys
  • London
  • Meatball
  • Mercury
  • Mr. MIdnight
  • Nightro
  • Pat Patriot
  • Pioneer, Champion of America
  • Pirate Prince
  • The Planet Patrol
  • Presto Martin
  • Real American #1
  • Red Reeves, Boy Magician
  • Rocky X of the Rocketeers
  • The Saint (the only known comic book appearance of Leslie Charteris character)
  • Scoop Scuttle
  • Secret Agent X-101
  • Silver Streak
  • Swoop Storm
  • Meteor
  • Sky Wolf
  • Sniffer and Jinx
  • Solar Patrol
  • Spirit Man
  • Squeeks
  • 13
  • Times Square
  • Thun-Dohr
  • War Eagle
  • The Wasp
  • Yankee Longago
  • Zonga, the Miracle Man
  • Baron Doom
  • Black Dragon
  • Boar
  • Bolt
  • The Claw
  • Cobra Lady
  • Crow King
  • Deadly Dozen
  • Dr. Dracula
  • The FFF
  • Friar Diablo
  • Frogface
  • Fu Tong
  • The Ghoul
  • The Green Claw
  • The Greys
  • Herr Death
  • He-She
  • Hyena
  • Invisible Men
  • Iron Jaw I
  • Iron Jaw II
  • Iron Moles of Galaxy X
  • KIng Questionmark
  • The Mallet
  • Mummy Master
  • Noman
  • The Professor
  • Prof. Blitznozzle
  • Prof. Skinn
  • Prof. Venom
  • Punch and Judy
  • Rodent
  • Scarlet Skull
  • Serpent
  • Silver Cult
  • Sir Satan
  • Skull Men
  • Spider
  • Striker
  • Wolf Carson
  • The Vacuum
  • The Veiled Lady
  • Wizard
  • Mr. Crime
Many of these characters have separate pages while others do not. Image Comics reimagined Golden Age characters and literally published the next issue as an anthology one shot. in 2009. Image may have owned the rights long enough to publish the characters next exploits before releasing them back into the Public Domain. Silver Streak Comics #24 was published December 2009. The characters story arcs that were continued were Daredevil, Silver Streak, Kelly the Cop, The Claw, and Captain Battle. Kelly the Cop is the only character not owned by Dynamite Entertainment.

Gallery

Disambiguation

Do not confused Lev Gleason with:
  • Al the others Levg... correspondences
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