St. John Publications
| Status | defunct 1958 (comics), 1967 (magazines) |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1947 |
| Founder | Archer St. John |
| Country of origin | United States of America |
| Headquarters location | 545 Fifth Avenue, New York City |
| Key people | Matt Baker |
| Publication types | Comic books, Magazines |
| Fiction genres | Romance, humor, funny animal, war, crime, mystery |
| Imprints | comics: Approved Comics, Blue Ribbon, Jubilee Publications magazines: Flying Eagle Publications |
St. John Publications was an American publisher of magazines and comic books. During its short existence (1947–58), St. John's comic books established several industry firsts. Founded by Archer St. John (1904–55), the firm was located in Manhattan at 545 Fifth Avenue. After the St. John comic books came to an end in 1958, the company continued to publish its magazine line into the next decade. Flying Eagle Publications was a magazine affiliate of St. John Publications. Comic book imprints included Approved Comics, Blue Ribbon, and Jubilee Publications.
The younger brother of World War II correspondent and author Robert William St. John (1902–2003), Archer St. John was born c. 1904 in Chicago, Illinois. Their mother Amy, a nurse, and father John, a pharmacist, moved the family to suburban Oak Park in 1910. Following the father's death in 1917 and the mother's eventual remarriage, Archer attended the St. Albans Episcopal Academy boarding school in Sycamore, Illinois. Both brothers became journalists, with Archer founding the Berwyn [Illinois] Tribune in the mid-1920s.
He left that newspaper by 1930. By then, he had become advertising manager of the New York City-based model-train maker Lionel Trains Corporation. Among his duties, he edited the company's hobbyist magazine, Model Builder, debuting January 1937. It included true railroad stories in its editorial mix, eventually adding such illustrated featurettes as "Famous Railroad Sagas".
By the early 1940s, St. John was editor of the 17-issue magazine Flying Cadet (Jan. 1943 – Oct. 1944). Like Model Builder, it too mixed editorial prose with comics-style instructional featurettes. That changed with its final issue, a standard comic book that included fictional adventure ("Buzz Benson" by Maurice Whitman and George Kapitan; the remarkably progressive Lt. Lela Lang, art by Kapitan, about a female bomber pilot) and humor ("Grease Pan Gus") strips. The company—also called Flying Cadet—additionally published American Air Forces #1 (Oct. 1944), as well as some issues of Dynamic Comics and Punch Comics.
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