The on sale date of December 15, 1944 is from the publication date as reported to the U.S. Copyright Office in the Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 2, Periodicals, New Series, Volume 40, January-December 1945, Numbers 1-4. Class B periodical. Copyright registration #B 661407.
Cover or indicia date not on or in the comic, only the 1944 copyright date. Cover date of February 1945 was also reported to the U.S. Copyright Office in the same Catalog of Copyright Entries.