Hans Christian Andersen #1 (1953) is a lavish, 100-page Ziff-Davis one-shot — the official comic-book adaptation of the 1952 Samuel Goldwyn musical film starring Danny Kaye as the famed Danish fairy-tale author. It is not a biography but a fanciful tale: young Hans is sent away from his hometown of Odense because his storytelling distracts the schoolchildren, so he and his apprentice Peter travel to Copenhagen, where he sells his tales, brushes against the world of ballet, and finds heartbreak in love. This framing story is interwoven with vignette retellings of Andersen's beloved fairy tales — The Ugly Duckling, The King's New Clothes, The Little Match Girl, The Nightingale, Thumbelina, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, and The Little Mermaid.

The book is a prime example of the early-1950s Hollywood movie tie-in comic. Based on the screenplay by Moss Hart, it carried a photo cover of Danny Kaye and was assembled by a notable roster of comic artists — Irv Novick (later a major DC Batman and war-comics artist), Bob Stuart, Vic Martin, and Marv Levy — under editor Herbert W. Rogoff. Ziff-Davis specialized in prestige photo-cover one-shots like this, pairing popular films and personalities with full-color, squarebound comic editions.

Today Hans Christian Andersen #1 is sought by collectors of Danny Kaye memorabilia, movie-tie-in comics, and Golden Age fairy-tale adaptations. The photo cover and the Irv Novick connection add to its appeal, and as a widely scanned public-domain artifact it offers an accessible look at how Hollywood whimsy and classic fairy tales converged in the comic books of the early 1950s.