List of Golden Age comics publishers

List of Golden Comics publishers. The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought of as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s or early 1950s. During this time, modern comic books were first published and enjoyed a surge of popularity; the archetype of the superhero was created and defined; and many of the most famous superheroes debuted.

Comics "packagers", often operated by notable artists such as Will Eisner and Jack Binder, also formed during this time, to supply cheaply produced material to the burgeoning comics industry.

This list ends in the mid-1950s, when many publishers went out of business due to the scapegoating of comics by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham and Senator Estes Kefauver, and the creation of the self-censoring body the Comics Code Authority in 1954. The debut of the new superhero the Flash in 1956 is generally considered the beginning of the Silver Age of Comic Books.

Of the Golden Age American comic book publishers on this list, only ten continued to publish comic books after 1960, and only three of them are still currently in business:

• American Comics Group (1939–1967)
• Crestwood Publications (1940–1968)
• Gilberton (1941–1971)
• Dell Comics (1929–1974)
• Fawcett Comics (1939–1953, 1958–1980)
• Charlton Comics (1940–1986)
• Harvey Comics (1941–1994)
• National Allied Publications, Inc. (later DC Comics, 1934–present)
• MLJ Comics (later Archie Comics, 1939–present)
• Timely Comics (later Marvel Comics, 1939–present)