Richard E. Hughes - Biography - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Richard E. Hughes graduated from New York University in 1930 with a Bachelor of Arts degree as an English major and Economics minor. He married his wife, Annabel, on January 19, 1935. By 1940, Hughes was working in sales at Standard Mirror and Metal Products in New York City, writing catalog copy, and had also begun writing for publisher Ned Pines' Standard Comics. There he and artist Alexander Kostuk created the superhero Doc Strange (no relation to Marvel Comics' much later Doctor Strange) in Thrilling Comics #1 (cover-dated Feb. 1940).

The following year, Hughes was working for the Syndicated Features Corporation. This was "one of the many branches of the Sangor Shop," the colloquial name for businessman Benjamin W. Sangor's studio of writers and artists that, like other such "packagers" of the time, created comics on demand for publishers testing the new medium. Hughes' resume at the time listed him as an editorial assistant; by 1943, he was an editor there.

Through Syndicated Features Corp., Hughes and artist Dave Gabrielson created the superhero the Black Terror in Standard's Exciting Comics #9 (May 1941). Also in 1941, Hughes edited and wrote the tabloid-sized satirical-humor magazine TNT for Sangor's Cinema Comics imprint, and at least edit the small 7 1/2 x 9 1/4-inch promotional comic book Cinema Comics Herald used to promote films including Mr. Bug Goes to Town, Lady for a Night and others through 1943. By the following year Hughes was editing comics for Standard and living with his wife at 120 West 183rd Street in The Bronx, New York City. After Sangor founded his own comic-book company, American Comics Group, in 1943, Hughes edited the line, beginning with the funny-animal series Giggle Comics and Ha Ha Comics, and the teen-humor titles "Cookie" and The Kilroys. He created and scripted stories of the Fighting Yank, Pyroman, the Commando Clubs, and Super Mouse. In addition to his ACG work, Hughes also edited Standard's Real Life Comics, as well as comics for publishers Rural Home, LaSalle, and Leffingwell. For Custom Comics, also called Culver Comics, an ACG division created in 1954, Hughes wrote promotional comics for the likes of police and fire departments, the Brown Shoe company (colloquially known as "Buster Brown Shoes"), Howard Johnson restaurants, the U.S. Air Force, and dozens of other clients.

An October 1, 1952 "Statement of the Ownership, Management, and Circulation" published in ACG's Forbidden Worlds #15 gave the publisher's name as Preferred Publications, Inc., 8 Lord St., Buffalo, New York" and the owners as Preferred Publications and "B. W. Sangor, 7 West 81st Street, New York, N. Y." The editor was listed as Richard E.Hughes, 120 West 183rd St., New York, N. Y." and the business manager as "Frederick H. Iger, 50 Beverly Road, Great Neck, Great Neck, L. I., N. Y." An October 1, 1950 statement published in ACG's Cookie #29 gives identical data, with the exception of the publisher and co-owner being listed as "Michel Publications, Inc. 420 DeSoto Ave., St. Louis 7, Mo..