Eastern Color Printing
A few years later, in August 1928, Pape formed the Eastern Color Printing Company, with himself as vice president and principal executive officer.
Dell, owned by George Delacorte, would later be closely associated with other landmark Eastern Color Printing publications.
In Spring 1933, Eastern printed one million copies of the first modern-format comic book, the 32-page Funnies on Parade, as a way to keep their press running, and as a promotion for Procter & Gamble.
The Funnies on Parade promotion proved a success, and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for Canada Dry soft drinks, Kinney Shoes, Wheatena cereal and others, with print runs of from 100,000 to 250,000.
The characters of Shell Globe are marketed wildly, through miniature figurines, posters, radio announcements, billboards, play masks, and window stickers.
As a test to see if the public would be willing to pay for comic books, Famous Funnies: Series One, distributed locally, is published and sold for 10 cents each and sells out quickly.
Famous Funnies #2 marks the start of original material produced specifically for the book, and #3 begins a run of Buck Rogers features.
The success of Famous Funnies soon leads to the title being sold on newsstands alongside slicker magazines, and inspires at least five other competitors[who?]
Eastern begins to experiment with modifying the newspaper reprints to be more suitable to the comic book format.
Lettering, reduced in reproduction to the point of illegibility, is reworked for the size of the comic book page.
Eastern publishes the first issue of The John Hix Scrapbook, reprinting McClure's syndicated strip Strange as It Seems, a Ripley's Believe It or Not!-style collection of illustrated cartoons describing odd historical facts and scientific phenomena.
Having filled up the maximum floor space at their old American press-room at Printers Court, Eastern constructs a separate and new plant on Commercial Street.
The title is the official publication of Reg’lar Fellers of America, a junior athletic organization dedicated to developing wholesome summer recreation for teens.
Dickie Dare features artwork by Bill Everett and Milt Caniff, two influential illustrators of golden age comic books.
Finding it necessary to do own cover printing and binding for its successful comic books, Eastern acquires the Curtiss-Way plant in Meriden.
Inspired by the popular trend of superheroes, Famous Funnies #81 introduces Invisible Scarlet O'Neil, one of comics’ earliest super-heroines, authored by Russell Stamm.
This issue marks a change in mood for Famous Funnies, as the covers switch from whimsical gags to more serious adventurous fare.
With the outbreak of World War II, the publishing industry participates in national drives to conserve paper.
Beginning with the following issue, Eastern Color Printing starts to commission new work for their comic book publications.
The alternating format continues for a year, then Reg’lar Fellers... is terminated in favor of the more adult-oriented war comic book.
The CCA charges that Heroic – a war-themed comic book – contributes to juvenile delinquency by promoting violence.
Eastern defends the title as an illustrated magazine of military history but makes the decision to suspend publication.
Eastern constructs a new modern plant in Meriden that is not closely identified with comic book production.
Eastern suffers a significant setback with the loss of its longtime customer, Sears Roebuck and Company.
Eastern stays in business by printing advertising for corporations such as Circuit City, Michaels Stores, and Media Play.
