Years in Operation:
1938 - 1942
Detail
Country:
United States
Web Site:
Brands:
1
Indicia Publishers:
5
Series:
36
Printings:
186
Notes:
Centaur consisted of Centaur Publications, Inc. and the Comics Corporation of America. Comics published by both of these publishers were advertised together and referred to as being published by the "Centaur Group" in those ads. Later comics by Comic Corporation of America were also advertised together, including Amazing Man Comics which had also been part of the "Centaur Group." Centaur almost never put any brand identification on their covers, and instead used internal ads to connect their titles.
The primary people behind Centaur by the time it began publishing comics were Joseph Hardie, who had published Centaur's first offering, a pulp magazine, in 1933, and Raymond Kelly, who joined as business manager in 1936. The two would go on to found the Comic Corporation of America together in 1939.
The Comic Corporation of America also began publishing risqué humor titles aimed at military servicemen in late 1941. These were not advertised with the comics listed here, and can be found under the Hardie-Kelly publisher grouping. Also found under Hardie-Kelly are companies such as Harle Publications and H-K Publications, which were started during Centaur's existence but did not publish comics until much later.
Several additional companies have historically been lumped under "Centaur" on the grounds that the titles they published were later purchased and continued by Centaur Publications, Inc. The earliest of these were the Comics Magazine Company, Inc. and Chesler Publications, Inc., both of which sold titles to Ultem Publications, Inc. Many sources include these predecessors as Centaur issues, but the companies are all distinct, with different ownership.
Ultem in turn sold all four of their titles to Centaur Publications, Inc., which is the proper beginning of this group. Centaur used the former Ultem titles to begin their comic book line, and also drew on the back inventory of stories to fill out the early issues of their new titles with reprints.
By many accounts, Centaur's titles suffered from poor distribution and as the U. S. was drawn into World War II they ceased publication. Some of their final issues were projects for the Chicago Mail Order Co. "C-M-O Comics" was published for them, (but not by the Chicago Mail Order Co., contrary to some sources), while Liberty Guards Comics and (probably) Khaki Komics are reprints that also seem to be CMO giveaways, but without any indicia whatsoever. This led to speculation that Chicago Mail Order published them directly, but there is no evidence for that. The giveaway issues may have been published later in 1942 than the last regularly dated newsstand titles.
Other Hardy-Kelly publishers: https://www.comics.org/publisher/10660/
Publishers who published titles that Centaur later bought:
Ultem: http://www.comics.org/publisher/7631/
Chesler: http://www.comics.org/publisher/112/
Comics Magazine Company: http://www.comics.org/publisher/7628/
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