I've been going thru a list of comics publishers at Wikipedia, and out of curiosity I decided to do a little reading on DC Comics (since they had so much to say about them there).
Something that's always seemed a bit confusing to me was the corporate buy-out in the late 60's. This sort of behavior has gotten way out of control in the last couple decades, but in DC's case seems like long-term business-as-usual. After all, early-on, 2 separate publishers merged, then bought out AA. Does it seem strange to someone that you had 2 related companies, National Comics and National Periodical Publications, yet for ages they were always known as "DC"?
Turns out the PARENT company that bought out DC in the late 60's was KENNEY NATIONAL SERVICES, INC. Let me quote from Wikipdeia...
"Kinney National Services, Inc. was formed in 1966 when the Kinney Parking Company and the National Cleaning Company merged. The new company was headed by Steve Ross.[1]
Kinney National expanded in 1967 by acquiring National Periodical Publications (more commonly, but not yet officially called DC Comics), Hollywood talent agency Ashley-Famous, and then Panavision. Also that same year, Warner Bros.-Seven Arts purchased Atlantic Records. Ted Ashley (from Ashley-Famous) suggested to Ross that he buy out the cash-strapped film company Warner Bros.-Seven Arts.[2] When the acquisition of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts was completed in 1969, Ashley-Famous was sold because of anti-trust laws prohibiting a company from owning both a production studio and a talent agency. Ted Ashley was put in charge of the movie studio. Beginning with the unexpected success of the concert documentary Woodstock (1970), the company started scoring box office hits again, reestablishing Warner Bros. as a major studio. In 1970, Kinney National bought Jac Holzman's Elektra Records and Nonesuch Records.
Due to a financial scandal over its parking operations, Kinney National spun off its non-entertainment assets in 1971 (as National Kinney Corporation) and changed its own name to Warner Communications Inc. with Steve Ross as the company's sole CEO, president and chairman. Directors included Charles A. Agemian, the CEO of Garden State National Bank."
So get this-- DC was bought out by a company whose specialty was PARKING LOTS-- and CLEANING SERVICES. Uh huh. I checked further...
"Kinney Parking Company was a New Jersey parking lot company owned by Manny Kimmel, Sigmund Dornbusch and mob figure Abner Zwillman. Prior to its public listing in 1960, it merged with a funeral home company, Riverside, and then expanded into car-rentals, office cleaning firms and construction companies."
Never mind the 30's & 40's-- in 1967, DC was bought out by a MOB-OWNED COMPANY!!!!
Replies
That's interesting, Henry.
One of the early publishing entities was Detective Comics, Inc., which was used to publish the first issues of both Detective Comics and Action Comics.
According to the DC Comics Artists website, here and here, the Donenfeld family was also involved with Trojan and ACG.
I guess the thing I found a bit surprising was, most of the stories I'd heard over the years about comics' mob ties related to things in the 30's and 40's. But this was 1967.
It also made me wonder if DC being bought out in '67 may have inspired Martin Goodman to sell HIS family-owned business the following year. "Hey-- I want a piece of THAT action!"
All this corporate buying-out is leading the destruction of civilization. (That and a lot of other things...)
That sounds dubious. Kirby's Edge was evil; he tried to have Kent murdered in his first issue. Lois Lane #118 established that this Edge was a clone of the original. This allowed DC to resolve the Edge/Inter-Gang storyline (in Jimmy Olsen #152) while retaining Edge as a character. The story was initially foreshadowed in Superman #241, which appeared in the month between the two Goody Rickles issues (they were separated by a reprint issue.) From what I can tell Kirby largely stopped using Edge after the Rickles story. That might be because he'd been told DC had other plans for him.
Edge made at least one more attempt to murder Jimmy & The Newsboy Legion when he sent them to Scotland. It' was rather maddening that Clark & Jimmy were never able to nail the evil Edge for everything he did. It made THEM look ridiculous and incompetent. When I think about it, this trend was amplified a hundred-fold Post-CRISIS with the "new" Lex Luthor.
Strange to see that the mighty Warner Bros had such prosaic beginnings in the modern form. I suppose 'Warner Bros presents' has a better ring to it than 'Kinney Parking Co presents'
Of all corporations, parking companies must be the lowest. A licence to print money and your customers usually have no r6eal choice in whether to use your services or not. I can see why gangsters would want some of that action.
Starting in 1995, I began going to a lot of "bar shows" in Philadelphia. But after about 2-3 years, I discovered that EVERY free parking space within half a mile of the Delaware River had been ELIMINATED, in an effort to FORCE drivers to pay for parking lotys or garages-- or, pay more for tickets. I figured it was the city joining forces with the "parking authority" to extort more money from people.
The last time I went to a bar show, I was able to take the train and walk 6 blocks.
...At least during Vietnam , George , sneaking heroin in in the coffins - or veins - of war dead ???????????
I recently worked for a cemetery for 2 years. Our biggest customer, a local funeral parlor, the owner's wife repeatedly struck me as having come up from a "street gang" mentality, totally at odds with that kind of business. She was incessantly rude, pushy, bossy, obnoxious, obscene and threatening to anyone who rubbed her the wrong way. When I learned her husband had learned all he knew from the late owner of the #2 funeral parlor in the area, it hit me... "Hey, do you mean to tell me it's PERSONAL?" (The 2 companies have a heated, HATEFUL rivalry... mainly, the #1 place showing hatred and contempt for the #2 place. The other thought that crossed my mind was, "It's okay to start your own company to create your own success, but REVENGE should not be part of your motivation.")