l's sister company. All-American was a separate company from National, with its own offices and its own staff, but its magazines bore the DC imprint and National characters appeared in All-American comic books and vice versa. Accompanying Gaines from the McClure Syndicate was Sheldon Mayer, who became the editor of the new line.
The first comic book published by All-American Comics Inc. was All-American Comics, in April 1939. Not only was it the first comic book published by the new company, but it was also the first reprint anthology book to bear the DC imprint. The first issue featured reprints of Skippy (star of the first comic book dedicated to a single character) and Mutt and Jeff newspaper strips. Eventually All-American Comics would use original material, including a superhero comic strip called Green Lantern. Also in April 1939 All-American Comics Inc. published Movie Comics. Movie Comics had a unique format. Motion picture stills were tinted and presented in comic strip fashion. Unfortunately Movie Comics did not prove to be popular and it was cancelled within a year.
While All-American Comics Inc. was just getting started, National was seeking to repeat the success of Superman with more superheroes. Their first attempt, a character called The Crimson Avenger who appeared in Detective Comics, had proven less than successful; however, their second attempt, a character called Batman who also appeared in Detective Comics, proved to be a smash hit. Clearly superheroes meant good business for comic book companies, so M. C. Gaines decided that All-American Comics Inc. would publish its own superhero magazine. Gaines looked to writer Gardner Fox to provide material for the new book. Among the artists who worked on it were Harry Lampert and Stan Asch. The end result was Flash Comics #1, January 1940, arguably one of the most important comic books of the Golden Age of comics. Flash Comics featured what were to become some of All-American's most popular characters: The Flash, Hawkman, and Johnny Thunder. With the success of Flash Comics, more superheroes were to follow at All-American Comics Inc.
All-American Comics would receive its own resident superhero with issue 16, July 1940. Like The Flash and Hawkman before him, Green Lantern became one of All-American's most popular characters. With issue 19, October 1940, another superhero was added to All-American Comics, The Atom. In the summer of 1940 All-Star Comics was launched. All-Star Comics was meant to promote characters from both the National and All-American lines. The first issue featured The Flash and Hawkman from the All-American line and Hourman, The Sandman, and The Spectre from the National line. From a magazine which featured several different heroes from several different titles, it was a small step to a comic strip that would feature several different heroes side by side as part of a group--the Justice Society of America. The Justice Society of America was originally meant to showcase those characters from All-American and National who did not have titles of their own. For that reason the Justice Society of America included two characters from All-American's Flash Comics (The Flash and Hawkman), two characters form All-American's All-American Comics (Green Lantern and The Atom), two characters from National's More Fun Comics (Dr. Fate and The Spectre), and two characters from National's Adventure Comics (Hourman and Sandman). The Justice Society of America made their debut in All-Star Comics #3, winter 1940-1941. Sheldon Mayer is most often credited with having conceived the Justice Society of America, although many believe that it may have been at M. C. Gaines' suggestion. Regardless, with The Justice Society of America as its central feature, All-Star Comics became what may have been the second best selling title for either Natinonal or All-American.
All-American continued to expand their superhero line following the success of the Justice Society of America. With issue 25, April 1941, All-American Comics received another superhero, Dr. Mid-Nite. The Flash