From the June 2008 CGC eNewsletter. Click here to subscribe.

There are seemingly almost as many ways to collect the massive Dell Four Color series from 1942–62 as there are collectors. If you haven’t looked into Four Colors, you’ve missed out on plenty of good stories, fine art, and collecting fun, especially because most of the slightly more than 1,300 issues are among the least expensive collectible comics of their era in lower grades.

I’ve run into a handful of collectors who actually continue to seek out every issue. (I’ve always wondered how many complete runs exist.) Others tie their wants into certain characters, companies such as Disney, genres, film or television adaptations, and on and on. I can’t think of a better way to collect American pop culture of the mid 20th century than the Four Color series.

I’ve acquired nearly 300 Four Color issues, with perhaps another 200 remaining on my “wish list” — which is what I call my secondary want list for copies I run across at especially affordable prices. I realized a long time ago that I didn’t want to buy all of the Four Colors, but that the remarkable breadth of the series appealed very much to me. So I decided to get all the Four Colors of several characters in order to have complete Dell runs (Uncle Scrooge, Flash Gordon, and Zorro, to name three) and one or two apiece of as many different characters as I could. Nor do I want all the movie and TV issues — just those that appeal to me.

The production values of these comics were consistently the highest in the industry, featuring art by the likes of Carl Barks, Alex Toth, Everett Raymond Kinstler, Walt Kelly, Jesse Marsh, John Buscema, John Stanley, Al McWilliams, Russ Manning, Bob Fuje, Matt Baker, and so many others. If you can find a mint Dell with cover gloss, it can bring back memories of how gorgeous these issues looked on the racks. Great stuff!

The Four Color series also offers a lot of fun for collectors who love obscure one-shots. However, as far as I know, every issue in the series is tied to a character or story that originated in another area of pop culture, including newspaper strips, cartoons, films, TV, radio, and books. If there are any totally Four Color issues with totally original concepts, I’m not aware of them. Even the truly odd Four Color #324, “I Met a Handsome Cowboy” (March 1951), is adapted from Elsa Barker’s pulp story in Ranch Romances, “Clouds over the Chupaderos.”

Beginning with 1948 issues, there are six comics rated a “seven” by the Gerber Photo-Journal (20 to 50 copies exist) along with one “eight” — the Howdy Doody Four Color #761 (January 1957), of which only 10 to 20 copies supposedly exist (no other Howdy Doody issue is scarcer than a “five.”) It’s true I’ve seen only two copies of #761 besides the one I own, but I still have a hard time believing any 1957 Dell could be rated an “eight.” Even so, none have ever been graded by CGC and there’s no question it’s scarce, for some reason. Yet its Overstreet “good” value is $12! I can’t think of a better example of supply and demand for the economic textbooks. Think of all the thousands of early Spider-Man issues you could sell for $12 if you had them! I can’t help asking, if I had 20 copies of Four Color #761 for $12, could I sell them all at a major show? Just wondering

At any rate, the “sevens” are Tom and Jerry #193, Dr Bobbs #212, Tiny Tim #235, Beany and Cecil #570, The Sharkfighters (Movie) #762 and a non-Marvel version of Nellie the Nurse #304 (March 1962). The combined “good” value of all six of these is $68! So if you like collecting obscure stuff, the Four Colors offer a great chance.

In fact, I’ll bet if you asked a hundred Dell enthusiasts — such as I am, with my nearly 2,000 Dells (not even remotely close to being complete!) — to name 15 obscure Four Color character one-shots, as opposed to films, I’ll bet you might get close to 100 different lists. Here’s my list of 15 obscure and/or scarce issues that you hardly ever see: Ozark Ike #180, Hubert at Camp Moonbeam #251, Betty Betz’s Dollface and Her Gang #309, I Met a Handsome Cowboy #324, The Green Hornet #496, Winky Dink #663, Out Our Way #680, Ludwig Bemelman’s Madeleine and Genevieve #796, Cotton Woods All-American Athlete #837, Topper and Neil #859, Curly Kayoe #871, Marge’s Blythe #1072, Jack’s Diary #1091, Short Ribs #1333 and Aggie Mack #1335.

Green Hornet, Curly Kayoe, and Aggie Mack came out of nowhere after being published by other companies well before. Ozark Ike was soon followed by a 15-issue run from Standard Comics. The 11 others appeared nowhere else in comic books, at least under their own names.
How often do you see any of these 15 issues? I left another scarcity out, so let’s make it 16:
Morty Meekle #793. You can doubtless nominate others if you’re a Four Color fan.

Topper and Neil (Nov. 1957) is perhaps the oddest entry, since the network run of the amazingly funny TV show, starring Leo G. Carroll and an incredible St Bernard ghost dog, ended more than a year earlier in 1956, though there were syndicated repeats. But perhaps the most unexpected of all Four Color issues was the one-shot Green Hornet (September 1953), which appeared out of nowhere, four years after the Harvey series ended. Dell didn’t even do costume heroes in the 1950s. The only thing I can figure is that editors somehow thought the immense popularity of the Superman television show would translate to sales of Green Hornet.

There were other oddities, such as Sparkle Plenty #215 (February 1949), with Dick Tracy strip reprints. Dell had to call it that to avoid duplication with its ongoing Dick Tracy series, which started in January 1948 after numerous Four Color appearances.

The Photo-Journal pictured the first 500 Four Color issues (plus all 25issues in the original Four Color series from 1939–41), along with 137 others, for a total of 637 — less than half the run. That’s one reason it’s also fun to locate issues that are not pictured.

During 1956–62, my first seven years in comics reading and collecting, I especially loved the Dell Four Color series because you never knew what would be in the racks. If anything, there was a lot more variety in those years, especially with the coming of all the film and television adaptations. It seemed as if Dell never ran out of ideas and subjects. In addition, if a title ended, such as Howdy Doody, Red Ryder or King of the Royal Mounted, you might see a final issue or two in the Four Color series! Even to a 10-year-old collector in the pre-fanzine era, that was confirmation that the regular series had ended.

This is a guest article. The thoughts and opinions in this piece are those of their author and are not necessarily the thoughts of the Certified Collectibles Group.