Matt Baker’s Ace of the Newsreels in Crown Comics #7, Up for Auction

Posted in: Comics, Heritage Sponsored, Vintage Paper | Tagged: Crown Comics, golden age, Matt Baker

A few months after beginning to work on Fiction House titles at Iger Studio, Matt Baker did his first covers for Crown Comics.

Most of Matt Baker‘s earliest comic book work was for publisher Fiction House via the Iger Studio.  But despite contributing work to about 130 issues from the publisher on titles including Jumbo Comics, Wings Comics, and Fight Comics among others, Baker apparently did no covers for the publisher (according to GCD data).  The publisher did have some stand-out cover artists such as Joe Doolin and Lily Renée when Baker arrived on the scene and Maurice Whitman in the later Fiction House era.  Still, Baker’s absence from Fiction House covers — that have been identified, anyway — is a puzzling mystery given the volume of work he did for the publisher.  Nevertheless, he was doing covers for other publishers within six months of starting with Iger Studio.  According to currently-established credits, his first comic book covers were for the title Crown Comics, which was initially put out by a publisher called Golfing, Inc.  For example, there’s a Crown Comics #7 (Golfing/McCombs Publishing, 1946) CGC VG 4.0 Off-white pages up for auction in the 2024 July 18 The Matt Baker Comics Showcase Auction #40267 at Heritage Auctions.

Like many publishers who quickly got into and out of the comic book publishing business in the 1944-1945 era, Golfing, Inc. was likely induced to enter the field just as it was booming due to their access to paper at a time when newsprint usage was being controlled in the United States by the War Production Board.  In many cases, such publishers entering in from the newspaper, magazine, or other publishing businesses would use a portion of their newsprint allotment on comics instead.  While the actual involvement of these publishers in the comic book field could vary (as we have seen in the case of David Korneman, the man behind the publisher of Atomic Comics), as often as not, they simply lent their name and their paper access to the process and let experienced comic book producers such as Iger Studio do the work.

Golfing Inc. was a publisher operated by brothers Joe and Herb Graffis, who published a handful of important golfing publications over their lifetimes.  Herb Graffis is considered a legend in golfing circles, and the brothers entered into a number of endeavors designed to promote golfing as an activity and a business in the United States.  Golfing, Inc. published Golfing magazine, which was distributed free to any golfer who wanted it, while the separately-organized Golfdom was sent for free to course owners and anyone who participated in golfing as a business.  Herb Graffis was also a sportswriter of note beyond these publications, contributing to the likes of Esquire and the Chicago Sun-Times, but his primary focus throughout his career was the promotion of golf.

This necessarily changed somewhat during the onset of World War II.  The materials needed to manufacture golf balls and clubs and the factories that made them were instead used for wartime manufacturing purposes.  Companies like Titleist retooled themselves to manufacture items like gas masks, for example. Many tournaments curtailed their operations during the 1943-1945 period as well.  Golfing magazine was an advertising-supported operation, and was faced with advertisers who had little to sell or promote during this time.  The magazine suspended operations in mid-1942, but newsprint allotments were based on past usage, and thus Golfing, Inc. likely still had access to paper in early 1945, despite the fact that the War Production Board was cracking down on the practice of diverting newsprint allotments in this way in the comics industry at just this time.  The United States government would end controls over usage of newsprint by revoking the rationing requirements of the War Production Board on December 31, 1945.  While newsprint shortages would linger for years after the war, Golfing, Inc eventually restarted Golfing a short time later, which is likely why Crown Comics was handed off to the unrelated publisher Home Guide Publications / McCombs Publications beginning with issue #7 in 1946.

The publisher that is commonly referred to as as McCombs Publications was owned by Lucile E. McCombs (1890-1936) and her husband William A. McCombs (1884-1954).  Lucile and William appear to have entered the publishing business from unrelated fields around 1942 with Home Guide Publications, mostly a publisher of informational and self-help books.  Their entry into publishing is a bit of a mystery as of this writing, as William McCombs had worked in fields related to electrical equipment before the 1940s.  Prior to its entry into comics, Home Guide Publications had previously leveraged its access to paper in a major way in 1944 when Simon & Shuster was forced to license publication of the paperback edition of its smash hit Bob Hope book I Never Left Home to Home Guide as wartime paper rationing left them unable to keep up with demand for that book while continuing to service the rest of their line.

The early issues of the Crown Comics series include the earliest identified examples of Matt Baker cover art, along with a pair of covers for Atomic Comics. There’s a great example of an early Baker cover with Crown Comics #7 (Golfing/McCombs Publishing, 1946) CGC VG 4.0 Off-white pages up for auction in the 2024 July 18 The Matt Baker Comics Showcase Auction #40267 at Heritage Auctions.

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