All Surprise / All Surprise Comics #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeAll Surprise Comics #1 (Fall 1943) is a foundational artifact of Timely Comics' deliberate push into funny-animal publishing, demonstrating that Marvel's wartime predecessor was simultaneously running two distinct creative operations: its celebrated superhero 'adventure bullpen' and a separate 'animator bullpen' devoted entirely to talking-animal comedy. The series showcased Timely's signature funny-animal stable — Super Rabbit, Ziggy Pig, Silly Seal, and Gandy & Sourpuss — at a moment when wartime paper shortages and shifting newsstand tastes made lighter, humor-oriented comics commercially essential. Launching in the same season as All Select Comics, it illustrates how broadly Timely was diversifying its output in 1943, hedging against the superhero market while also reaching younger readers. As the opening chapter of a twelve-issue run that eventually handed its numbering off to Jeanie Comics, the issue marks the formal institutionalization of Timely's humor line as a sustained publishing program rather than a one-off experiment.
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All Surprise Comics #1 was produced by Timely's 'animator bullpen,' a creative unit operating largely independently of the superhero group and overseen by Vince Fago, a former Fleischer Studios animator who served as Timely's interim editor during Stan Lee's 1942–1945 military service. The bullpen included cartoonist Ernie Hart — creator of Super Rabbit — alongside talents such as David Gantz, Chad Grothkopf, George Klein, and future Mad magazine contributors Dave Berg and Al Jaffee. The issue was released on August 16, 1943, carrying a Fall 1943 cover date and was published under the Timely Comics imprint (the Golden Age predecessor of Marvel Comics). The series ran for twelve issues through Winter 1946–1947, at which point its numbering continued directly into Jeanie Comics with issue #13.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published by Timely Comics (Marvel's Golden Age predecessor); release date August 16, 1943; cover date Fall 1943.
- The series ran 12 issues (Fall 1943 – Winter 1946–1947); its numbering was continued by Jeanie Comics beginning with issue #13.
- The lead story in #1 is 'Gandy and Sourpuss,' a feature tied to the Terry-Toons theatrical cartoon characters Gandy Goose and Sourpuss.
- Super Rabbit — created by Ernie Hart, first appearing in Comedy Comics #14 (March 1943) — was a featured star throughout the series and appears in #1.
- Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal, among the first talking-animal characters created natively for the comic-book medium rather than adapted from film or strips, appear on most covers of the twelve-issue run.
- The issue was produced by Timely's dedicated 'animator bullpen,' a humor-focused creative unit separate from the superhero group, headed by interim editor Vince Fago, a former Fleischer Studios animator.
- The series is classified as a funny-animal anthology (genre confirmed by the Marvel Database); it contains no superhero content, reflecting Timely's dual-track publishing strategy during World War II.
- The series is printed in color on standard Golden Age dimensions with a glossy cover and newsprint interior, saddle-stitched — typical wartime Timely production specifications.
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