You all know Todd Klein as an award-winning letterer but he's also quite the comic historian. He's recently compiled a great historical record of the early days of DC Comics which covers not only what happened but where it happened. I could summarize it but it'll be better for you if you just go read it. Here's a link to Part One. Here's a link to Part Two. Here's a link to Part Three. Here's a link to Part Four. And here's a link to Part Five.
I learned a number of things in it, not the least of which was the role a man named Sheldon Stark played in the early days of DC Comics. I knew Sheldon Stark. He was a writer at the Ruby-Spears animation studio when I worked there and we collaborated on an ABC Weekend Special. Nice, clever man. I lunched with him a few times and for some reason, it never occurred to me to ask him if he by any chance had been the Cartoon Editor of the first comic book published in America featuring new material. Wish I had.