Introducing the Yaffa Publishing Group and Page Publications

Big Ben Bolt 25: 1964 (Photo-Type, Australia).

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the Yaffa Publishing Group produced a range of mainly reprint comics under "Yaffa" and "Page" imprints or company divisions.¹

David Yaffa founded his company around 1925² with the publication of Newspaper News (later AdNews), an advertising and marketing magazine. The Yaffa Syndicate's earliest comics involvement was the distribution of newspaper strips from King Features Syndicate (such as Flash Gordon, Brick Bradford and Mandrake the Magician). Page Publications, the imprint of most of Yaffa's comics, was established as a separate entity in the 1960s.

Brick Bradford 21: 1963 (Page, Australia).

Yaffa's first actual comics were published in the mid 1960s, with the predictable compilations of its US newspaper strips. The company's publishing output also included Australian comics originally created for other publishers (such as Catman by John Dixon) and reprints of US comics (such as Don Winslow of the Navy).

Many of the 1960s Yaffa comics had original covers and occasional interior art by respected Australian comic artist, Keith Chatto (1924-1992).

Secret Spy Picture Library 1: 1973 (Page, Australia).

By the late 1960s, a large proportion of Yaffa's comic output involved numerous and duplicate reprints of the defunct Horwitz Publications comics. When Newton Comics ceased publication, the Yaffa comics line was revitalised by securing the rights to reprint Marvel in Australia. Through its Page Publications division, Yaffa reprinted Marvel comics from 1976/77 until 1982/83, after which the Federal Publishing Company took over the licence. Yaffa's later comics output also included reprints from Archie, Charlton and Skywald.

Yaffa's format at this time generally involved black and white one-shot issues, as well as numbered series, in magazine and later digest size. Each issue included 60 or more pages, with several stories from consecutive issues of the original comics.

Fantastic Four 1: 1980? (Yaffa, Australia).

Yaffa continues to produce consumer and business magazines,³ and specialising in digital publishing and events—but the company is no longer involved in publishing comics.⁴