Saber Publishing Company

Saber Publishing Company, better known as Saber Comics, was an American publishing company formed in late 1892 by lawyers Richard Gaines, Joe Lambert and Michael ‘Skeeter’ Goldman. They formed it on a bet, and named after a Turkish saber(kilij) recently acquired by Gaines at the 1889 Paris World's Fair. The men were very savvy, and the company became successful. Goldman spend a considerable amount of his free time with his cousin, Gordon Bennett, who was a well-known Philadelphia artist. Together, the two conceived of a ’mascot’ character to represent the company on advertisements. It was a small man in green wielding a very tall sign with the name ‘Saber Publishing’. There was a saber hanging from his belt.

Sometime in late 1893, the green ‘Saber Man’ character became quite popular, helping to increase the companies business. Goldman and Bennett decided to develop a comic strip based on him; it debuted in an early 1894 edition of the Boston Daily and ran a monthly strip until 1902, after which it was changed to a pulp magazine format. The stories were expanded, and it soon earned a large fan base. It wasn’t until the outbreak of the First World War, however, that ‘Saber Man’ developed the traits of a superhero. When America entered the war, so did Saber Man. Popular illustrations of the day -propaganda of course- included him strangling the Kaiser, and one particularly controversial one with his saber impaling the Kaiser, and the French hanging wreaths on the protruding end of the blade. After the war, his popularity soared.

Although Saber Publishing did publish other material, it was the iconic Saber Man that carried the torch. Between 1924-1936, Gaines, Lambert and Goldman all died; close friend Gary Moss became president of the company, with Bennett becoming lead designer of Saber Man. When WW2 erupted, the superhero joined the propaganda machine. He battled Hitler and the Nazis, Hirohito and the Japanese, Mussolini and the Fascists. An extensive story arc taking place deep in China near the end of the war became one of the most popular in the series’ history. It was also Bennett’s last bit; he retired in May of 1946. With the wars’ end came the infamous decline of interest in superheroes. Saber Publishing tried to keep Saber Man alive, but were suffering following severe paper shortages, and few workers. In 1956, the company went under. Many of it's staff would soon find work at Odyssey Comics.