SUPERIOR PUBLISHING LTD. Location: 2382 Dundas Street, Toronto.
As determined by the date on Star Studded Comics, Superior Publishing entered the market in 1946, probably to take advantage of the phase out of the War Exchange Conservation Act. This phase out was devastating for companies producing original material. Both Educational Projects and Maple Leaf Publications left the market in the final months of 1945. Bell Features after attempting to replace its features with U.S. material ceased operations in 1945/1946. Anglo-American survived till the beginning of 1947. Superior Publishing published periodicals in close association with U.S. companies notably the short-lived Cambridge House followed by the various companies and studios under Harry “A” Chesler which in addition to publishing their own periodicals, supplied individual cartoon features and complete periodicals to other publishers.
There appears to have been a connection between Superior Publishing and F.E. Howard Publications. The two episodes, “Zor The Mighty” and “The Space Nomads” in an F.E. Howard publication later appeared as full comic books under the Superior imprint. It could have been that Superior inherited them from F. E. Howard, but it is more likely both companies tapped into the same U.S. companies. As pointed out in entries LETKEMAN Edward and F.E. HOWARD, Letkeman was probably only the illustrator rather than creator of “Zor” in its first appearance and had only minimal involvement in the second.
What was the relationship between Superior and the U.S. companies. The evidence is overwhelming that the creative work was all done in the U.S. Were the U.S, company cartoon plates sent to Canada to be printed here? It seems unlikely the U.S. companies would let them out of their possession. Furthermore, while colour printing was well established in the U.S. it seems it was just in its infancy in Canada. According to Ed Furness Anglo-American only began colour printing its periodicals in 1945 because Globe and Mail who printed them acquired its first colour printing press. It is most likely the entire process was completed in the U.S. as a custom job for Superior and the final product then shipped to the company.
However, there is one known exception. Bill Thomas who worked for Bell Features and later Superior Comics, had this to say about the latter;
“Superior Publishing was, perhaps the only publisher operating in Toronto after the decline of the Bell Features [actually Anglo-American survived longer] – but they seemed to publish only under American story titles. One of these was allotted to me [note the concept comes from the U.S.] and was called ‘Punch and Cutey’. I wrote both the story and drew the strips for a few months until this operation also folded. I did not see any of the printed material and was never sure whether these books were distributed in Canada or only in the U.S.”
The strip a short, humor-based feature, often just one page or a few pages long appeared in Punch Comics issues 10, 11, 12, 15, 18 and 22 (Canadian edition) under Superior Comics 1947. Punch Comics issues 1-19 December 1941 to December 1946. was originally under the Chesler/Dynamic Publishing imprint. Apparently only issue 22 appeared under the Superior imprint. It appears then that Thomas’ stories appeared principally in U.S. editions.
Superior Publications achieved a certain amount of notoriety when two of its titles Journey Into Fear 15 and Strange Mysteries 10 were cited in the book Seduction of the Innocents by Fredric Wertham published in 1954. Shortly after the Comics Code was established by the industry and many titles disappeared. September 1954 saw the last issue of Journey Into Fear. The last issues of Strange Mysteries and Mysteries Weird & Strange appeared in January 1955.
Superior ceased operations circa1956.
\The following list of periodicals published under Superior imprint comes principally from Canuck Comics.
Star Studded Comics, no number, Single issue published by Cambridge House 1945 and Superior Comics 1946.
Space Nomads, 1-1 (March 1946) also published by Century Publishing another Toronto based company which apparently was associated with Superior but focused on the British market.
Zor The Mighty Comics, 1-2 (1946) Issue 1 published by both Superior and Century, issue 2 by Superior alone. Issue 2 was reprinted as Red Seal Comics 19.
Red Seal Comics, 14-30 (June 1947-1948) Name replaced Carnival Comics and/or Spotlight Comics. Issues 14-18 were published by Harry “A” Chesler/Dynamic. Superior began publishing it with issue 19 which was principally a reprint of Zor the Mighty Comics.
Aggie Mack, 2-8 (1948 – August 1949) issue 1 published under Four Star Comics (Farrell Publishing)
Brenda Starr, 3-12 (1948-1949) issues 1-2 published under Four Star Comics,
Bruce Gentry, 22-28 (1949) issue 1 published under Four Star Comics.
Ellery Queen, 1-4 (May – November 1949). Originally appeared in Crackajack Funnies (Whitman Publishing)
My Secret, 1-3/Our Secret 4-8 (1949-1950).
Strange Mysteries, 1-21 (September 1951-January 1955).
Secret Romances, 1-27 (April 1951-July 1955.
Super Funnies,1-2/Super Western Funnies 3-4 (December 1953-September 1954).
Mysteries Weird & Strange, 1-11 (May 1953-January 1955).
Journey Into Fear,1-21 (May 1951-September 1954).
Love & Marriage,1-16 (March 1952-September 1954.
United States Fighting Air Force, 1-29 (September 1952-October 1956).
My Secret Marriage, 1-24, (May 1953-July 1956).
G.I. War Brides, 1-8, (1954-1955).
SOURCE:
Article book:
Canuck Comics, Ed., John Bell. Matrix Books, 1986: 89, 52, 54, 55, 61, 63, 66, 67, 68, 70, 72, 74, 76, 77, 80, 82.
Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, 44th edition, Robert M. Overstreet. Gemstone Publishing July 2014: 874, 942.
Article periodical:
Now and Then Times,1-1, Summer 172: “World of Canadian Whites”: Writ., Bill Thomas: 22.
The Northern Guard, 2, 2011: “Spotlight on Red Rogue”: 24.
Internet:
https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?TID=366271. Accessed 21 October 2025.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_%22A%22_Chesler. Accessed 21 October 2025.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Studded_Comics#:~:text=Star%20Studded. Accessed 21 October 2025.
https://www.google.com/search?q=punch+%26+cutey+a+comic+book&sca._Accessed 21 October 2025.
https://heykidscomics.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Golden_Age_of_Comics_publishers. Accessed 21 October 2025.