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Publisher: Bell Features

- Attribution History

Years in Operation: 1941 - 1953

Detail

Country:

Canada Web Site: Brands: 12 Indicia Publishers: 3 Series: 259 Printings: 1084 (1079 Issues) Disclose

Notes: Company known as Commercial Signs of Canada from 1939-1942, though their first comics weren't published until 1941. Canadian Golden-Age publisher of original material and then of reprints of American comics from various publishers.

Bell's output can be divided into 4 time periods.

The first, and arguably the most important, period is from 1941 to early 1946. During this time Bell produced 100% Canadian comics, known popularly as Canadian Whites (even though a few of the early ones were actually in full colour).

The second period is a very short time in 1946 when Bell was producing comics for the British market. These normally had an original Canadian cover with a reprint of a contemporary U.S. comic inside.

After this was the third period where Bell reprinted U.S. comics with covers from the U.S. comics themselves. Comics from Archie, Marvel, Quality and other U.S. publishers were common. Sometimes the comic being reprinted had the correct cover, sometimes it didn't. This period was from approximately 1948 to 1951.

The fourth period is after 1951. Bell continued to reprint U.S. comics but mostly under different titles and covers from the original U.S. comics. Splash pages were modified to serve as covers or illustrations from one company were combined with logos from another and some of the titles and logos from the Canadian Whites were revived.

Besides a few of the very early Canadian Whites, a few of the British exports and a couple of the earliest U.S. reprints, Bell did not include dates in the comics. The estimated dates are based, primarily, on the earliest possible date based on what is being reprinted. The estimated dates of other issues in the series are also taken into account as well as the existence of date stamps. It is quite possible that some comics were actually published months or even a year or two after our estimated date. Does this data need corrections? Become an editor.

Brands: 1 to 12 of 12 found.

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Sorted by

Brand Name

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Brand Name	Years in Operation	Printings (Issues)
[A bell]1 Note: Just a bell with no words around it. Used on later comics from Bell's first period.	1946 - ?	8
A Darling Magazine0 Note: Used on some covers reprinted from Archie comics.	? - ?	2
A Lovers Magazine0 Note: Used on reprints from some Marvel romance comics.	? - ?	2
An Archie Magazine0 Note: Used on Canadian reprints of Archie comics.	1948 - 1950	25
Archie Series0 Note: Used on cover of several Bell reprints of Archie comics. May actually connect those comics as a series, since numbering of issues seems somewhat scattered.	1949 - 1951	8
Bell Features1	? - ?	13
Colonial Distributors1	1942 - 1943	12
Colonial Distributors Bell Features1 Note: Has the words Colonial Distributors and then Bell Features around a picture of a bell.	1943 - 1945	109
Insist on Bell - A Bell Comic1 Note: Bell in a square in the center with "Insist On" and "A Bell Comic" along the sides and top. Resembles the standard Dell logo from the same time. Year Began and Ended are guesses.	1949 - 1953	3
Marvel Comic0 Note: Start and end dates are approximate. Bell Features reprinted many Marvel comics during this time period and left the original branding on the cover.	1949 - 1951	20
Quality Comic Group0 Note: Used on reprints of Quality Comics.	1949 - 1951	6
This is a Famous Funnies Publication0 Note: Used on Canadian reprints of Eastern Color comics.	? - ?	1

Brands: 1 to 12 of 12 found.

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Some data courtesy of the Grand Comics Database under a Creative Commons Attribution license.