Marvel Comics The Timely Years 1939-1949 (eBook)

A Reader's Guide to Marvel Comics in the 40s

Brad C Bishop (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2023 | 1. Auflage
280 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-9769-1 (ISBN)

Infos

Marvel Comics started in 1939 when a magazine publisher named Martin Goodman first published his first comic book titled, of course, Marvel Comics. Over the next decade, Goodman's company, then identified as Timely Comics, would publish over 1200 comic book issues containing not just superhero stories, but funny animals, teen humor, romance and westerns. This book looks at each of those issues (or as many as could be found) and the over 300 characters created and featured in those issues. It looks at how those characters evolved over the years and how the events and culture of the times affected the stories. It is for anyone interested in the origins of superheroes like Captain America or Namor the Sub-Mariner or such characters as Patsy Walker, the Two-Gun Kid, Millie the Model and even Ziggy Pig & Silly Seal!

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The origins of what we call the Marvel Cinematic Universe actually go back to 1939, when Martin Goodman, the owner of a small magazine company, published his first comic book, hoping to follow in the success of the recently created Superman. This first comic book was entitled simply Marvel Comics. It contained several stories featuring superheroes like the Human Torch and Namor the Sub-Mariner, but a western hero called the Masked Ranger and a Tarzan-like jungle hero named Ka-Zar. A year after that first issue, Goodman would publish the first issue featuring a character named Captain America. Goodman's company, under the name of Timely Comics, would go on to publish over 1200 individual comic book issues over the next decade with the help of a young editor named Stan Lee. After the end of World War 2, superheroes would fall out of fashion and Timely would branch out into other genres such as wacky humor, funny animals, teen humor, romance, detective stories and westerns. During the 40s, the writers and artists would create over 300 different characters for the company, some more successful than others. This book takes a look at every issue published (or as many as could be found) and every character created during the 40s. It examines which characters were featured in each issue, how the magazines changed through the decade and how the characters evolved (if at all). It looks at how the events and the culture of the 40s affected the stories and the characters and, sometimes, the comic book industry itself. This book is for those comic book enthusiasts who want to explore the early years of not only the superheroes like Captain America and the Sub-Mariner but also such characters as Patsy Walker, the Two-Gun Kid, Millie the Model and even Ziggy Pig & Silly Seal, who may not be well-known now but, in their time, sold millions of comic books!

Textauszug

 

1942

 

If 1941 was the year that super-heroes took over Timely Comics, then 1942 was the year that humor invaded. Out of 71 issues published in 1942, about a third were mostly humor comics, including the subset I’m going to call funny animals comics. Timely canceled two titles, Daring and Mystic, both super-hero magazines, but introduced six new titles (one of which was a renaming of Daring), one was humor, three were funny animals, one combined humor and heroes, and one reprinted a Sunday newspaper adventure comic strip.

Unfortunately, Simon and Kirby had left at the end of the previous year to pursue work at other companies and Stan Lee also entered the military during this year, so by the end of the year, Vince Fago, who specialized in funny animals, had become the editor-in-chief.

One of the funny animal magazines, Terry-Toons Comics, used licensed characters, characters that already existed in other mediums, in this case, the movies. It was so popular, it soon became Timely’s third monthly magazine. Timely/Marvel would do this many times over the decades, using characters from radio, television, and even toys.

In December of 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and the US entered the war. This not only greatly influenced the content of the stories but fanned the flames of patriotic fever even higher than it was the year before. Unfortunately for the comics, many of the creators, such as Bill Everett and Carl Burgos, entered the military leaving their creations in new hands.

Of course, because of the time it took to put a magazine on the shelves, the effects of Pearl Harbor didn’t become apparent to the readers until February, when many of the covers started carrying ‘Remember Pearl Harbor’ logos. Most of the super-hero covers featured the stars battling Nazis and the new villains, the Japanese, and the creators did not shy away from presenting the Axis as monsters, using not only many stereotypical, exaggerated racial features and speech but also racial slurs, even by the heroes.

The comics still cost ten cents and all were 68 pages, with the only non-Timely advertisements on the inside and outside back cover. In March, a few issues started for the first time branding themselves with a Timely Comics shield on their covers, although this practice ended by August.

 

Marvel Mystery Comics (#29-40)

Marvel Mystery was surprisingly stable throughout the year, with the same seven features appearing in all 12 monthly issues, although it’s hard to imagine the children’s adventures of Jimmy Jupiter would appeal to the same audience as the often gruesome stories of the Angel.

The only aspect that was unstable was the creators. Schomburg still produced the majority of the covers but about half of them were by other artists, and starting in February they all had either the Torch or Subby or both battling either Nazis or the Japanese. By the end of the year, the creators of three of the original features, Torch, Subby and the Angel, had all left, although the replacing artists did their best to emulate the originals.

The first ten issues of the year contained text stories by Mickey Spillane but by the end of the year he had enlisted. And in #32, they announced the winners of the contest announced in #27 for the best letters explaining the readers’ favorite characters.

 

 

HT=Human Torch, Sub=Sub-Mariner, TV=Terry Vance, Vis=Vision, JJ=Jimmy Jupiter, Ang=Angel, Pat=Patriot

 

/Comedy Comics (#9-13)

The reboot of Daring Mystery Comics must not have sold very well because with issue #9 it became Comedy Comics, and, just like its predecessor, its lineup was all over the place throughout the year, with very few features lasting two issues in a row, let alone three. Plus, the editors didn’t seem to know what kind of magazine it was as it evolved from super-hero to humor to funny animals.

Starting with #9, we had six features continuing from Daring #8, four super-hero and two humor, (They probably were created and paid for before the title change was made, and the editors couldn’t just throw them out) and for five of the six, this was their last appearance. There were also three new features, all humor, including the first of Basil Wolverton’s wonderfully bizarre humor features for Timely.

With #10, we got eight brand-new features, four humor features, three heroic and one non-fictional feature about magic tricks, and two humor features that first appeared in Joker #1. But again, for all but one, this was their only or last appearance.

In #11, there were 12 brief features in this issue, all humor, five brand-new and the rest left over from other magazines (or, in the case of Trinket and Wheezy, earlier issues of

this magazine). One of the features was a purely comedic take on the former hero, the Vagabond, from USA Comics.

#12 started the transition to funny animals with nine brand-new features, four of which are funny animals and the rest just plain weird. Most of them will never be seen again, but one, Morty and Buck, would have a somewhat successful run over the next five years.

Issue #13 was where they finally hit a winning formula with six new features, some of which will be among the more long-running humor features of the 40s for Timely, or maybe the editors were just tired of trying to come up with new stuff. One wonders how these decisions were made since they couldn’t possibly have had any chance to get readers’ reactions before the next issue went to press.

 

 

P&R=Lil Professor & Rudy the Robot, BW=Basil Wolverton, CoK=Comedy Kids, CDa=Captain Dash, SSc=Silver Scorpion, CzV=Citizen V, T&T=Tubby & Tack, Tri=Trinket, Fin=Fin, EdO=Educatin Otto, HoP=Hocus Pocus, DaD=Daffy & Duffy, AGr=Archie the Gruesome, 4Mu=Fourth Musketeer, MoM=Monstro the Mighty, ViB=Victory Boys, KiC=Kid Columbus, Whz=Wheezy, CaB=Cannonball Brown, OBS=Otto Bragg & Snippy, Ink=Inky Dinky, MaM=Maisie Martin, Vag=Vagabond, Stu=Stuporman, E/P=Elmer/Percy, SpC=Spy Catcher, CMc=Casey McCann, Sni=Snigger, MHz=Maymee Hazzit, TGD=Ye Good Old Days, SOH=Skip O’Hare, LeL=Lester the Lion, HJi=Hoiman the Jitterbug, CJk=Captain Jack, MBB=Mortimer Monk & Buck Baboon, GtG=Gus the Gnome, MPg=Montague Pigeon, UlJ=Ulysses Jr, Mpy=Morphy, WiW=Widjit Witch, SBa=Super Baby, ToC=Tommy Cat, PeP=Percy Penguin, FSB=Floop & Skilly Boo, WFx=Waldo & Ferdy

 

Mystic Comics (#9-10)]

Mystic Comics only had two issues in 1942 before it was canceled after its rather shaky run. Its lineup had been rather steady through the previous year and it continued this year but its two issues contained the final appearances for all but one (the Destroyer) of its super-heroes. Issue #9 had one new feature, Gary Gaunt, that went nowhere after its one appearance. Issue #10 ended four of its features, threw in the last appearance of Father Time, started two more features that never had second stories and scattered one page humor stories of Inky Dinky (by Sol Brodsky) throughout the magazine. Apparently, there were just too many super-heroes on the newsstands.

 

 

Des=Destroyer, Wit=Witness, Ter=Terror, D&D=Davey & the Demon, BkM=Black Marvel, GaG=Gary Gaunt, BzS=Blazing Skull, Cha=Challenger, Ink=Inky Dinky, WWn=World of Wonder, FaT=Father Time, RSk=Red Skeleton

 

The Human Torch (#6-10)

Even though The Human Torch was published quarterly, there were five issues in 1942 due to the last issue sneaking out the last week of December. The magazine was pretty consistent in that each issue contained two 20- or 18-page Torch and Toro story and a 20-page Subby story and a Schomburg cover, Well, actually, #8 and 10, had a long multi-chaptered crossover story with both Torch and Subby. It was the backup features that changed from issue to issue. There were a lot of one or two page humor stories thrown in between the main features, some brand new, and because the crossover story in #10 was only about 45 pages, they threw in a Jimmy Jupiter story to fill up the space. We are introduced to Swoopy the Fearless in issues 6-9, we have a few Tubby n’ Tack pages, a page of Casey McCann and one of Trinket, a story with a new character, Max the Magician, in #10, and a couple pages of Basil Wolverton wackiness.

 

 

HT=Human Torch, StF=Swoopy the Fearless, Sub=Sub-Mariner, T&T=Tubby & Tack, CMc=Casey McCann, BW=Basil Wolverton, Tri-Trinket, JJ=Jimmy Jupiter, MxM=Max the Magician

 

Captain America Comics (#12-23)

Captain America Comics came out monthly for 12 issues this year and it’s not clear whether anyone noticed that Simon & Kirby were gone since Al Avison kept up his use of Kirby’s style and page set-ups. Each issue contained two or three Cap and Bucky stories but there was a revolving door of backup features throughout the year. Father Time continued for one more issue and Headline Hunter lasted two. In issue #12, we see the new setup for the contents page that will last through the rest of the year. Issue #12 also introduced the oddball, poetic fantasy of the Imp which lasted till #16 and #13 had the first installment of the Secret Stamp which lasted through the year into the next. The Imp was replaced with a series of super-hero backups, including the Fighting Yank, the Fighting Fool, the Sub-Mariner and several stories of the Human Torch.

There were also a variety of short humor features such as the funny animal Polly-Tix, the young boy Elmer, also known as Percy, and the often dialog-free Dippy Diplomat.

In issue #12, the editors announced a contest to finish and color a picture of Cap with cash prizes and the winners were announced in #16. Each issue until #22...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 22.3.2023
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-9769-1 / 1667897691
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-9769-1 / 9781667897691