The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic books (cyan, magenta, yellow and black at the time).

[4] After the first hundred issues of the second series, Dell stopped putting the "Four Color Comics" designation on the books, but they continued the numbering system for twenty years.

Admittedly, it might be a white, middle-class version of the country, but the series hit on every fad, every icon, and every popular piece of culture that America embraced during this time span.

"[8] Many of the early Four Color issues were reprints of newspaper comic strips; the first series included Dick Tracy, Little Orphan Annie, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Terry and the Pirates, among others.

Of the first ten issues, eight are strip reprints, including Little Joe, Harold Teen, Alley Oop and Flash Gordon.

However, during the 1940s, the transition was not always so prompt, as a number of prominent funny animal characters starred in 20–30 issues of Four Color (these include Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Porky Pig).

Indeed, beginning in the early 1950s, it became more prevalent than previously for Four Color titles, if they proved popular enough, to become ongoing, independent series.

Western subsequently formed a competing company, Gold Key Comics, and took over a number of licenses previously held by Dell.