Fox Feature Syndicate

Fox Feature Syndicate, a.k.a. Fox Comics and Fox Publications, was founded by partners Victor S. Fox (Samuel Victor Joseph Fox) and Robert "Bob" W. Farrell (birth name Izzy Katz) in the late 1930s, prompted to do so by the success of DC Comics. Some comic historians claim Fox had been working as an accountant for National Publications (later DC Comics), and was inspired to start his own company after seeing the sale figures for Superman; other historians cast doubt on Fox having that profession and insider access, instead attributing his interest to seeing the sales figures in a magazine from Independent News, the company that then distributed both National and Timely's comics (much like Diamond distributes comics nowadays). Regardless of the exact details, everyone agrees that it was the success of Superman that gave Fox the impetus to launch his own company. His partner Farrell had been an attorney before deciding to become a comics writer, producing the newspaper strip Scorchy Smith as well as writing for Eisner & Iger, one of a number of companies that in the 1930s and 40s specialized in providing comic stories on demand for publishers who didn't have their own in-house writers and artists. Presumably not coincidentally, the new Fox Feature Syndicate comics were mostly produced by that same studio.

As if the inspiration coming from National's sales figures wasn't enough, Victor Fox decided to open up his new company's offices in the same building as those of National, just on a lower floor. Unsurprisingly, one of the first remits Fox gave Will Eisner of Eisner & Iger was to produce "another Superman" - and not in terms of success and popularity, but in terms of having almost identical powers and story set-up. Eisner claimed later that he had protested this idea, but Fox was paying the bills and that's what he demanded, so Eisner dutifully complied, creating Wonder Man. Unsurprisingly, as soon as the character debuted in Wonder Comics#1 Fox was hit with a copyright-infringement cease and desist claim. Fox fought it but ultimately lost; Eisner would later say that this was in no small part thanks to him testifying truthfully as to the requirements he had been given, though court transcripts eventually came out that seem to dispute this. Regardless, Fox broke ties with Eisner & Iger and started building their own in-house stable of writers and artists. In 1940 Farrell went off to set up his own company, Farrell Publications, which used the services of S.M. Iger Studios (thus renamed as Eisner had split from the studio).

Victor Fox had apparently not learned his lesson, as in 1940 National again hit him with a copyright claim, this time stating that Fox's new character the Moth was ripping off Batman; once again, Fox lost. Despite these set backs, Fox Features went on to produce a number of successful comics and characters through the remainder of the decade, before ultimately filing for bankruptcy in 1950.

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