XOW Logo
Publisher: Chesler / Dynamic
Years in Operation: 1937 - 1946
Disclose Detail
Country: Flag United States Web Site: Brands: 5 Indicia Publishers: 15 Series: 21 Printings: 76 Disclose Notes: Harry "A" Chesler (the "A" was not a proper initial- supposedly Chesler claimed it stood for "Anything") was a comic book packager and publisher. He operated a packaging studio more or less continuously from the mid-30s through 1953, and at times also operated as a publisher.

He first published two oversize comics, Star Comics and Star Ranger, as Chesler Publications in 1937. He sold this venture to Ultem Publications, but continued to produce the comics (now normal sized) as well as two additional titles that Ultem had acquired. All of Ultem's comics were entirely put together by Chesler and continued the trade dress of his early books.

After Ultem sold its titles to Centaur, Chesler spent the next several years packaging comics for other publishers and selling them individual stories. One such comic was a 1938 giveaway for Cocomalt, which is included here because it has no other publishing information beyond Chesler's copyright. While some sources list Chesler as publishing or co-owning early Quality Comics issues, this is not correct. At most, he supplied them with a few stories.

In 1941 Chesler returned as a publisher with Dynamic Publications, Inc. From this point on, most of Chesler's comics would be branded with a logo proclaiming them the "World's Greatest Comics". In 1941-1942, this also identified each issue as "A Dynamic Publication". After just over half a year, the U. S. was ramping up its involvement in World War II, and Dynamic ceased publishing, producing a few books through surrogates.

The surrogate activity picks up dramatically in 1944, leading into Chesler's third major wave of publishing. In place of "A Dynamic Publication" these had "Harry "A" Chesler, Jr.". Junior, however, was the son of Chesler the publisher, a point of much confusion for latter-day comics researchers. This period lasted through 1946, after which the ongoing titles were continued in Canada by Superior Publishers through early 1948. Chesler continued to run his art shop, but no longer published his own comics after 1946.

Related Publishers:
Ultem: http://www.comics.org/publisher/7631/
Superior Publishers Limited: http://www.comics.org/publisher/223/
  Does this data need corrections? Become an editor.
Series Name Years in Print Issues (Printings)
Bulls Eye Comics {Comic Books} Disclose
Note: Overstreet Price Guide claims that this series' numbering continued from Komik Pages (1945 series) and continues as Kayo Komics (1945 series), which is incorrect. The dates do not match and the tracking for both series are already known to be linked to other series.
1944 - 1
Captain Battle Comics {Comic Books} Disclose
Note: Aside from the Harry "A" Chesler Jr. Features Syndicate, N.Y. line on the cover, there is little to connect this series to Chesler. See issue notes for more details.
Public Domain
1942 - 1
Carnival Comics {Comic Books} Public Domain 1945 - 1
Cocomalt Big Book of Comics {Comic Books} Disclose
Note: Premium giveaway for Cocomalt. Front cover states: Entire contents © 1938 Harry "A" Chesler, N. Y. with no further publication information or date listed.
1938 - 1
Dynamic Comics {Comic Books} Disclose
Note: Issues #4-7 do not exist. Yankee Comics (Remington Morse, 1943 series) #4-7 are generally assumed to fit between Scoop Comics #3 and #8, but depending on the date of Dynamic Comics #8 (which could be anywhere from 1942 - 1944) could potentially fill this gap instead.
Public Domain
1941 - 1946 16
Hi Yi {Comic Books} 1945 - ? 1
Jest Comics {Comic Books} Disclose
Note: Previously listed as just "Jest", the title confusion no doubt comes from an indicia typographical error- while the indicia for issue #10 does have "Jest Comics", issue #11 begins "Jest No. 11 Comics", obviously an accidental transposition of "Comics" and "No. 11" given the cover title and the indicia titles of all of the other Chesler series of this period.
Public Domain
1944 - 1944 2
Kayo Comics {Comic Books} Public Domain 1945 - 1
Komik Pages {Comic Books} Disclose
Note: Only one issue, #10 on cover but #1 in indicia
1945 - 1
Major Victory Comics {Comic Books} Public Domain 1944 - 1945 3
Punch Comics {Comic Books} Public Domain 1941 - 1946 13
Red Seal Comics {Comic Books} Disclose
Note: Issues 19 to 22 originally indexed here are actually published by Superior.
Public Domain
1945 - 1946 5
Scoop Comics {Comic Books} Public Domain 1941 - 1942 3
Scoop Comics {Comic Books} Disclose
Note: No issues #4-7 published, numbers believed to be occupied by the digest-sized Yankee Comics.
Public Domain
1944 - 1
Skyrocket Comics {Comic Books} 1944 - 1
Snap Comics {Comic Books} Public Domain 1944 - 1
Spotlight Comics {Comic Books} 1944 - 1945 3
Star Comics {Comic Books} Disclose
Note: Title continues to be produced by Chesler under Ultem, but in the standard size. Only these six initial issues are oversize.
Public Domain
1937 - 6
Star Ranger {Comic Books} Disclose
Note: Title continues to be produced by Chesler under Ultem, but in the standard size. Only these six initial issues are oversize. Ties Western Picture Stories as the first Western-themed U. S. comic book.
1937 - 6
Syndicate Features {Comic Books} Disclose
Note: This publication was designed to be sent to newspaper editors promoting comic strips distributed by the Harry "A" Chesler Syndicate.
1937 - 1937 5
Yankee Comics {Comic Books} Public Domain 1941 - 1942 4

Site designed and hosted by XOWTech, Inc..
Any questions or problems with this site should be directed to REMOVE-webmaestro-THESE@xowcomics.com.

XOW, XOWComics.com, XOWTech and XOWTech.com are registered trademarks of XOWTech, Inc.
© XOWTech, Inc., 2010 - 2024. All rights reserved.

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