Maple Leaf Publishing

Coordinates: 49°18′N 123°06′W / 49.3°N 123.1°W / 49.3; -123.1

Maple Leaf Publishing was a World War II-era Canadian comic book publisher active during the Golden Age of Comic Books. They were one of four publishers—along with Anglo-American Publishing, Hillborough Studios, and Bell Features—which published "Canadian Whites"—black-and-white comic books with colour covers that proliferated during the war years when American imports were restricted.^[1] Maple Leaf Publishing started publishing comic books in March 1941 and went out of business in late 1946.

In contrast to the larger Anglo-American, which published a large number of comics drawn by Canadians but based on imported American scripts, Maple Leaf focused on home-grown scripts. Maple Leaf's first publication, Better Comics #1, is thus considered to be the first true Canadian comic book.^[2]

Maple Leaf's comics were modeled on the American format, minus the colour interiors. Notable titles other than Better Comics included Big Bang Comics, Lucky Comics and Rocket Comics.^[3]

Titles published

• Better Comics (34 issues, March 1941 - August/September 1946)
• Bing Bang Comics (31 issues, November–December 1941 - May–June 1946)
• Lucky Comics (34 issues, June 1941 - October–November 1946)
• Name-It Comics (1 issue, Nov./Dec. 1941)
• Rocket Comics (32 issues, 1941–1946)

References