Tower Publications


Tower Publications was an American publisher based in New York City that operated from 1958 to c. 1981. Originally known for their Midwood Books line of erotic men's fiction, it also published science fiction and fantasy under its Tower Books line and published comic books in the late 1960s under its Tower Comics imprint. In the early 1970s, Tower acquired paperback publisher Belmont Books, forming the Belmont Tower line. Archie Comics' cofounder Louis Silberkleit was a silent partner in Tower's ownership; longtime Archie editor Harry Shorten was a major figure with Tower in all its iterations.

History

Tower Publications was formed on June 2, 1958. The company's first publications were cheap paperbacks in Midwood Books's numbered erotic Midwood line, aimed at male readers. The covers of many Midwood Books featured works by prolific illustrators of the era, including Paul Rader; authors published by Midwood included Lawrence Block, Donald Westlake, Robert Silverberg, and Richard E. Geis.
From 1965 to 1969, Tower ran a comic book division, Tower Comics, which was mostly run by cartoonists Wally Wood and Samm Schwartz. Tower is most well known for Wood's own T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents; besides Wood and Schwartz, notable creators associated with Tower included Dan Adkins, Gil Kane, Reed Crandall, Steve Ditko, Richard Bassford, Len Brown, Steve Skeates, Larry Ivie, Bill Pearson, Russ Jones, and Roger Brand. Tower Comics went defunct in 1969.
Tower Publications' Tower Books line published science fiction and fantasy from 1968 to c. 1981. Writer Gardner Fox produced between thirteen and twenty-five "Lady from L.U.S.T." novels for Tower between 1968 and 1975 using the name "Rod Gray".
In 1971, Tower acquired the assets of Belmont Books, merging the two companies to form Belmont Tower. Although the new line continued to publish fiction, Belmont Tower published many notable nonfiction books from 1971 to 1980. Authors who published with Belmont Tower included Paulette Cooper, Ovid Demaris, Gardner Fox, Firth Haring Fabend, Hans Holzer, T. V. Olsen, and Harry Turtledove.
Tower ceased publishing in 1981; the company officially went out of business in January 2012, long after it had ceased operations.

Selected titles published

Midwood Books (1958–1968)

Tower Comics (1965–1969)