Marvel: A History In Covers

[MacNimon]

For all those comic lovers out there, here's a thread dedicated to the history of Marvel Comics. For the purposes of this thread I'm ignoring the 1940s Golden Age era which introduced Captain America, the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch but I'm starting with November 1961, date of the publication of the first 'modern-era' Marvel title, Fantastic Four 1.

I'll hopefully be posting the covers of every Marvel issue published on a month by month basis from that point, and it should be interesting seeing how the comic publishing landscape changed through time from the perspective of one of the major publishing companies.

So to kick us off, here's the 12 comics published by Marvel in November 1961. It's noticable how FF issue 1 is the only superhero title among a variety of western, fantasy and romance titles.

November 1961 releases

Amazing Adventures v1 006
Fantastic Four v1 001
Gunsmoke Western v1 067
Journey Into Mystery v1 074
Kid Colt Outlaw v1 101
Linda Carter, Student Nurse 002
Love Romances v1 096
Millie The Model Comics v1 105
Strange Tales v1 090
Tales Of Suspense v1 023
Tales To Astonish v1 025
Teen-Age Romance 084

[Stuart Wallis]

Linda Carter... How famous in relation to comics would that name become!

So to kick us off, here's the 12 comics published by Marvel in November 1961. It's noticable how FF issue 1 is the only superhero title among a variety of western, fantasy and romance titles.

Noticable, but not too surprising, since this was the end of the period when superhero titles were unfashionable. O tempora o mores.

[Paul Clement]

So many of those, it's hard to believe a company like Marvel produced. It's strange how things progressed to the point that there output was almost solely superhero based comics.

[MacNimon]

As you'll soon see Paul, it's amazing just how much things have changed a year later. It wasn't an immediate change though, when we look at December 1961 nothing much seems to have changed. Only ten titles published this month, the standard fare for the time...the monster titles must have been the poorest selling as they will become the first to feel the knock-on effects of the Fantastic Four's success.

December 1961 titles

Amazing Adult Fantasy v1 007
Journey Into Mystery v1 075
Kathy v1 014
Life With Millie 014
Patsy and Hedy 079
Patsy Walker 098
Rawhide Kid 025
Strange Tales 091
Tales of Suspense 024
Tales to Astonish 026

[Paul Clement]

Of course, the Strange Tales title would eventually lead to the creation of Doctor Strange and also of Nick Fury, so in essence could be classified as part of the Super-Hero range. Although it wasn't envisaged as such initially.

[MacNimon]

Moving on to 1962 now. The 'Marvel Universe' begins to get bigger, almost immediately...

The Fantastic Four are back with their second issue, which introduced us to the alien Skrull race for the first time. The Skrulls, of course, went on to become one of Marvel's most popular recurring villains.

The same month, Tales To Astonish featured a short story about a scientist who managed to shrink himself to the size of an ant. At the time, 'The Man In The Anthill' was only intended as a one-off, but Stan Lee and Jack Kirby later revisited the character of Henry Pym and as Ant-Man, he became one of the original Avengers.

January 1962 titles

Amazing Adult Fantasy v1 008
Fantastic Four v1 002
Gunsmoke Western v1 068
Journey In Mystery v1 076
Kid Colt Outlaw v1 102
Linda Carter Student Nurse v1 003
Love Romances v1 097
Millie the Model v1 106
Strange Tales v1 092
Tales of Suspense v1 025
Tales to Astonish v1 027
Teen-Age Romance v1 085

[Stuart Wallis]

Of course, the Strange Tales title would eventually lead to the creation of Doctor Strange and also of Nick Fury, so in essence could be classified as part of the Super-Hero range. Although it wasn't envisaged as such initially.

And Tales To Astonish became the regular home to Sub-mariner.

[MacNimon]

We'll fast-track through the next few months now. The monthly releases followed the same routine for a few months. With Fantastic Four still on a bi-monthly release schedule at this point, there isn't really much to comment on at the moment. The only thing of note really is the first appearance of costumes in the third issue of the Fantastic Four (March issue), along with the Fantasticar.

I've included all covers of February-April 1962 releases in this post; May 1962 will see the first appearance of one of Marvel's big guns, along with the return of a golden age favourite.

February 1962
Amazing Adult Fantasy v1 009
Journey Into Mystery v1 077
Kathy v1 015
Life With Millie v1 015
Patsy and Hedy v1 080
Patsy Walker v1 099
Rawhide Kid v1 026
Strange Tales v1 093
Tales of Suspense v1 026
Tales to Astonish v1 028



March 1962
Amazing Adult Fantasy v1 010
Fantastic Four v1 003
Gunsmoke Western v1 069
Journey Into Mystery v1 078
Kid Colt Outlaw v1 103
Linda Carter Student Nurse v1 004
Love Romances v1 098
Millie the Model v1 107
Strange Tales v1 094
Tales of Suspense v1 027
Tales to Astonish v1 029
Teen-Age Romance v1 086



April 1962

Amazing Adult Fantasy v1 011
Journey Into Mystery v1 079
Kathy v1 016
Life with Millie v1 016
Patsy and Hedy v1 081
Patsy Walker v1 100
Rawhide Kid v1 027
Strange Tales v1 095
Tales of Suspense v1 028
Tales to Astonish v1 03

[MacNimon]

Looking at that Jan 1962 cover of Amazing Fantasy, I wonder if that's where Mike Tucker and Robert Perry got the idea for the Krill first featured in their 7th Doctor novel, Storm Warning!

[Llordllama]

I bought Amazing Adult Fantasy, only to be very disappointed by the contents. Even with those tenticles.

[MacNimon]

I bought Amazing Adult Fantasy, only to be very disappointed by the contents....

I've got to admit it's not quite my idea of Amazing Adult Fantasy either!!! I can think of plenty more (ahem!) exciting things but it's a bit early in the morning for that so let's just change the subject...

May 1962 saw the first appearance of The Incredible Hulk. In this first issue he appeared coloured grey, but because of printing difficulties getting the colour right he was accidentally coloured green the next issue. The colour green was apparently easier to work with in those days so green he remained...
Teenage Romance became the first casualty of the new superhero trend. It was cancelled to make way for the Hulk title, it's final edition being the March issue, 86.

Also this month saw the return of the 1940s Mavel hero, Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner in the fourth issue of The Fantastic Four. Seen to be suffering from amnesia, he soon became the villain of the piece though after regaining his memory and finding his home apparently destroyed by humans.

May 1962
Amazing Adult Fantasy v1 012
Fantastic Four v1 004
Gunsmoke Western v1 070
Incredible Hulk v1 001 c2cO
Journey into Mystery v1 080
Kid Colt Outlaw v1 104
Linda Carter Student Nurse v1 005
Love Romances v1 099
Millie the Model v1 108
Strange Tales v1 096
Tales of Suspense v1 029
Tales to Astonish v1 031

[Stuart Wallis]

I've got to admit it's not quite my idea of Amazing Adult Fantasy either!!!

Well Let's be honest, the lead character in Linda Carter is in a nurse's uniform...

Moving swiftly along...

[MacNimon]

June 1962

This would be the final superhero-free month of releases...

Amazing Adult Fantasy v1 013
Journey Into Mystery v1 081
Kathy v1 017
Life With Millie v1 017
Patsy And Hedy v1 082
Patsy Walker v1 101
Rawhide Kid v1 028
Strange Tales v1 097
Tales Of Suspense v1 030
Tales To Astonish v1 032

[Llordllama]

I do love the way that Patsy Walker, here a romance/comedy comic character in later life becomes the superhero Hellcat. Does the same happen to Millie the Model? Then again didn't the Rawhide Kid come back as a gay leather-wearing character too?

[MacNimon]

I do love the way that Patsy Walker, here a romance/comedy comic character in later life becomes the superhero Hellcat. Does the same happen to Millie the Model? Then again didn't the Rawhide Kid come back as a gay leather-wearing character too?

I actually thought you were joking until I read this...
http://www.cracked.com/article_18502...haracters.html

I think it was an awful idea to bring back an old, largely forgotten about character from a more innocent time and make the character gay, apparently just for the sake of it. It looks more like one of those spoofs which you used to find in Mad magazine rather than a serious series which it was meant to be. Why rework a character when it would have been better simply to create a new one and do it right?

Surely Marvel couldn't seriously have thought this would have rivalled DC's Jonah Hex?!

[MacNimon]

July 1962 saw the first appearance of Victor Von Doom in Fantastic Four issue 5, in which he built a time machine and trapped our heroes hundreds of years in the past, with the result of the Thing finding that he prefers life as a pirate on the high seas as a better option than returning to the present day. This rather simple tale has long been a favourite of mine, it was one of the earliest I ever read in the early 1970s MWOM reprints.
The green Hulk also appears for the first time this month...

July 1962
Amazing Adult Fantasy v1 014
Fantastic Four v1 005
Gunsmoke Western v1 071
Incredible Hulk v1 002
Journey into Mystery v1 082
Kid Colt Outlaw v1 105
Linda Carter Student Nurse v1 006
Love Romances v1 100
Millie the Model v1 109
Strange Tales v1 098
Tales of Suspense v1 031
Tales to Astonish v1 033

[Stuart Wallis]

Now I come to think of it, Gunsmoke Western sounds rather like a tie-in with (or rip off of!) a certain well-known TV programme...

[MacNimon]

A few people who later went on to become big names themselves (whether it be in the comics world or in the media/broadcasting world) found their names in print on the letters pages.

Several years before he got his first writing job for Marvel, Roy Thomas sneaked onto the letters page for FF issue 5...

[Stuart Wallis]

The Matthew Waterhouse of the comic industry!

[MacNimon]

August 1962

This month saw the first appearance of current flavour of the month (courtesy of Kenneth Branagh & co), Marvel's God Of Thunder, Thor, in issue 83 of Journey Into Mystery, a title which had previously been a monster/suspense anthology title. While the character was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the series was actually scripted by Lee's brother Larry Leiber, based on plots by Lee. So Thor became the first of Marvel's new breed of superhero featuring a creative influence other than the prolific Lee/Kirby team, a trend which was to grow over the coming months...


Journey into Mystery v1 083
Kathy v1 018
Life with Millie v1 018
Patsy and Hedy v1 083
Patsy Walker v1 102
Rawhide Kid v1 029
Strange Tales v1 099
Tales of Suspense v1 032
Tales to Astonish v1 034



A rather important issue of another title, which was on the verge of cancellation, was also released around this time. The cover is dated August, but inside it is dated Sept 1962...so because of the discrepancy in the dates (and the fact that in my image the cover is among the Sept releases!) I'll cover that one next time round....

[MacNimon]

September 1962

This month sees the first appearance of 'The Spiderman' (as he was originally referred to) in what became the final issue of the monster/suspense title Amazing Fantasy. Created by Stan Lee and the resident Amazing Fantasy artist Steve Ditko (unlike the other anthology titles of the era, this didn't feature the work of sesveral artists - Ditko was the sole artist on AF), a special message inside states that the format and the title have changed (apparently teenagers were embarrassed buying something with the word 'Adult' on the cover! - innocent times! ) and that depending on how popular the character of 'The Spiderman' was, there may be longer stories appearing soon - or there could even be a possibility of the title featuring two stories per issue in the future!!!

This month also saw the return of Henry Pym, 'The Man In The Anthill', this time appearing as a full-blown superhero, the Ant-Man, in Tales To Astonish issue 35. As with the Thor strip, this had plot by Stan Lee and art by Jack Kirby, scripting was by Larry Leiber. The 6th issue of the Fantastic Four saw the first super-villain team-up, with the Sub-Mariner and Dr Doom joining forces...


Amazing Fantasy v1 015
Fantastic four v1 006
Gunsmoke Western v1 072
Incredible Hulk v1 003
Journey Into Mystery v1 084
Kid Colt Outlaw v1 106
Linda Carter Student Nurse v1 007
Love Romances v1 101
Millie the Model v1 110
Strange Tales v1 100
Tales of Suspense v1 033
Tales to Astonish v1 035



The cover of Amazing Fantasy used wasn't the original one planned, here's the unused original version...

[Stuart Wallis]

I rather like the unused cover.

[Jonno]

[QUOTE=Kinggoose;259264]I do love the way that Patsy Walker, here a romance/comedy comic character in later life becomes the superhero Hellcat. Does the same happen to Millie the Model? QUOTE]

There is an issue of The Defenders, late 70s or very early 80s, in which Mille the Model appeared and had a little reunion with Patsy. I had no idea at the time who she was (nor that Patsy had her own title all those years ago!).

Fascinating stuff, Kenny, thanks for posting!

[MacNimon]

[QUOTE=Jonno Simmons;261463]

I do love the way that Patsy Walker, here a romance/comedy comic character in later life becomes the superhero Hellcat. Does the same happen to Millie the Model? QUOTE]

There is an issue of The Defenders, late 70s or very early 80s, in which Mille the Model appeared and had a little reunion with Patsy. I had no idea at the time who she was (nor that Patsy had her own title all those years ago!).

Fascinating stuff, Kenny, thanks for posting!

I had no idea that Patsy Walker had her own series all those years ago, aither. It was good however that they thought to bring back such characters...obviously a good in-joke for those in the know!

I haven't abandoned this thread, btw. I'll admit to having found myself a little bit distracted recently by a similar topic which I've been considering...I've been building up a pretty large collection of British Marvel covers from the 70s (and earlier) recently. While I'm familiar with majority of the stories included in the issues included in this thread, it was actually the 1970s UK reprints which really got me into comics. And seeing those old MWOM, Spider-Man Comics Weekly, Avengers, Dracula Lives etc covers from my childhood has given me a real nostalgia kick. And it's been great discovering some great pre-Marvel UK covers from the late 60s (Odhams Power Comics line)

I've still got some gaps to fill in but a pretty comprehensive look at the Marvel UK covers may be on the cards in the near future...