Timely Comics
Timely Comics is the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics.
Founded in 1939, during the era called the Golden Age of comic books, "Timely" was the umbrella name for the comics division of pulp magazine publisher Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities all producing the same product. The company's first publication in 1939 used Timely Publications, based at his existing company in the McGraw-Hill Building at 330 West 42nd Street in New York City. In 1942, it moved to the 14th floor of the Empire State Building, where it remained until 1951. In 2016, Marvel announced that Timely Comics would be the name of a new imprint of low-priced reprint comics.
Creation
In 1939, with the emerging medium of comic books proving hugely popular, and the first superheroes setting the trend, pulp-magazine publisher Martin Goodman founded Timely Publications, basing it at his existing company in the McGraw-Hill Building at 330 West 42nd Street in New York City. Goodman – whose official titles were editor, managing editor, and business manager, with Abraham Goodman officially listed as publisher – contracted with the newly formed comic-book "packager" Funnies, Inc. to supply material.His first effort, Marvel Comics #1, featured the first appearances of writer-artist Carl Burgos' android superhero, the Human Torch, and Paul Gustavson's costumed detective the Angel. As well, it contained the first published appearance of Bill Everett's anti-hero Namor the Sub-Mariner, created for the unpublished movie-theater giveaway comic Motion Picture Funnies Weekly earlier that year, with the eight-page original story now expanded by four pages.
Also included were Al Anders' Western hero the Masked Raider; the jungle lord Ka-Zar the Great, with Ben Thompson beginning a five-issue adaptation of the story "King of Fang and Claw" by Bob Byrd in Goodman's pulp magazine Ka-Zar #1 ; the non-continuing-character story "Jungle Terror", featuring adventurer Ken Masters, drawn and possibly written by Art Pinajian under the quirky pseudonym "Tohm Dixon" or "Tomm Dixon" ; "Now I'll Tell One", five single-panel, black-and-white gag cartoons by Fred Schwab, on the inside front cover; and a two-page prose story by Ray Gill, "Burning Rubber", about auto racing. A painted cover by veteran science-fiction pulp artist Frank R. Paul featured the Human Torch, looking much different from the interior story.
That initial comic, cover-dated October 1939, quickly sold out 80,000 copies, prompting Goodman to produce a second printing, cover-dated November 1939. The latter is identical except for a black bar over the October date in the inside-front-cover indicia, and the November date added at the end. That sold approximately 800,000 copies. With a hit on his hands, Goodman began assembling an in-house staff, hiring Funnies, Inc. writer-artist Joe Simon as editor. Simon brought along his collaborator, artist Jack Kirby, followed by artist Syd Shores. Goodman then formed Timely Comics, Inc., beginning with comics cover-dated April 1941 or Spring 1941.
There is evidence that "Red Circle Comics" – a name that would be used for an unrelated imprint of Archie Comics in the 1970s and 1980s – may have been a term in use as Goodman prepared to publish his first comic book. Historian Les Daniels, referring to Goodman's pulp-magazine line, describes the name Red Circle as "a halfhearted attempt to establish an identity for what was usually described loosely as 'the Goodman group' when a new logo was adopted: a red disk surrounded by a black ring that bore the phrase 'A Red Circle Magazine.' But it appeared only intermittently, when someone remembered to put it on cover. Historian Jess Nevins, conversely, writes that, "Timely Publications Goodman's group had become known; before this, it was known as 'Red Circle' because of the logo that Goodman had put on his pulp magazines...." The Grand Comics Database identifies 23 issues of Goodman comic books from 1944 to 1959 with Red Circle, Inc. branding, and a single 1948 issue under Red Circle Magazines Corp.
Golden Age of Comic Books
Marvel Comics was rechristened Marvel Mystery Comics with issue #2 ; the magazine would continue under that title through #92 before becoming Marvel Tales through #159. Timely began publishing additional series, beginning with Daring Mystery Comics #1, Mystic Comics #1, Red Raven Comics #1, The Human Torch #2, and Captain America Comics #1. Going on sale in December 1940, a year before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and already showing the hero punching Hitler, that first issue sold nearly one million copies.With the hit characters Human Torch and Sub-Mariner now joined by Simon & Kirby's seminal patriotic hero Captain America, Timely had its "big three" stars of the era fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books. Rival publishers National Comics Publications / All-American Comics, the sister companies that would evolve into DC Comics, likewise had their own "big three": Superman and Batman plus the soon-to-debut Wonder Woman. Timely's other major competitors were Fawcett Publications ; Quality Comics ; and Lev Gleason Publications.
Other Timely characters, many seen both in modern-day retroactive-continuity appearances and in flashbacks, include the Angel, the next-most-popular character in terms of number of appearances; the Destroyer, an early creation of future Marvel chief Stan Lee; super-speedster the Whizzer; the flying and super-strong Miss America; the original Vision, who inspired Marvel writer Roy Thomas in the 1960s to create a Silver Age version of the character; and the Blazing Skull and the Thin Man, two members of the present-day New Invaders.
Just as Captain America had his teenage sidekick Bucky and DC Comics' Batman had Robin, the Human Torch acquired a young partner, Toro, in the first issue of the Torch's own magazine. The Young Allies—one of several "kid gangs" popular in comics at the time—debuted under the rubric the Sentinels of Liberty in a text story in Captain America Comics #4 before making it to the comics pages themselves the following issue, and then eventually into their own title.
Seeing a natural "fire and water" theme, Timely was responsible for comic books' first major crossover, with a two-issue battle between the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner that spanned Marvel Mystery Comics #8–9—telling the story from the two characters' different perspectives.
After the Simon & Kirby team moved to DC late 1941, having produced Captain America Comics through issue #10, Al Avison and Syd Shores became regular pencilers on the title, with one generally inking over the other. Stan Lee, a cousin of Goodman's by marriage who had been serving as an assistant since 1939, at age 16, was promoted to interim editor just shy of his 19th birthday. Showing a knack for the business, Lee stayed on for decades, eventually becoming Marvel Comics' publisher in 1972. Fellow Timely staffer Vincent Fago would substitute during Lee's World War II military service.
The staff at that time, Fago recalled, was, "Mike Sekowsky. Ed Winiarski. Gary Keller was a production assistant and letterer. Ernest Hart and Kin Platt were writers, but they worked freelance; Hart also drew. George Klein, Syd Shores, Vince Alascia, Dave Gantz, and Chris Rule were there, too".
In 1942, Goodman moved his publisher operations to the 14th floor of the Empire State Building, where it remained until 1951.
Funny animals, and people
The superheroes were the products of what Timely referred to as the "adventure" bullpen. The company also developed an "animator" bullpen creating such movie tie-in and original funny animal comics as Terrytoons Comics, Mighty Mouse, All Surprise Comics, Super Rabbit Comics, Funny Frolics, and Funny Tunes, renamed Animated Funny Comic-Tunes. Former Fleischer Studios animator Fago, who joined Timely in 1942, headed this group, which consisted through the years of such writer/artists as Hart, Gantz, Klein, Platt, Rule, Sekowsky, Frank Carin, Bob Deschamps, Chad Grothkopf, Pauline Loth, Jim Mooney, Moss Worthman a.k.a. Moe Worth, and future Mad magazine cartoonists Dave Berg and Al Jaffee.Features from this department include "Dinky" and "Frenchy Rabbit" in Terrytoons Comics; "Floop and Skilly Boo" in Comedy Comics; "Posty the Pelican Postman" in Krazy Komics and other titles; "Krazy Krow" in that character's eponymous comic; "Tubby an' Tack", in various comics; and the most popular of these features, Jaffee's "Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal" and Hart's "Super Rabbit", the cover stars of many different titles. Timely also published one of humor cartoonist Basil Wolverton's best-known features, Powerhouse Pepper. The first issue, cover-dated January 1943, bore no number, and protagonist Pepper looked different from his more familiar visualization as the bullet-headed naif in the striped turtleneck sweater.
Additionally, Timely in 1944 and 1945 initiated a sitcom selection of titles aimed at female readers: Millie the Model, Tessie the Typist and Nellie the Nurse. The company continued to pursue female readers later in the decade with such superheroines as Sun Girl; the Sub-Mariner spin-off Namora; and Venus, the Roman goddess of love, posing as a human reporter. Patsy Walker, Millie the Model, Tessie the Typist and other Timely humor titles also included Harvey Kurtzman's "Hey Look!" one-pagers in several issues.
Future Comic Book Hall of Fame artist Gene Colan, a Marvel mainstay from 1946 on, recalled that, "The atmosphere at Timely was very good, very funny.... a big art room and there were about 20 artists in there, all stacked up. Syd Shores|Syd was in the last row on my side, and there was another row on the other side. Dan DeCarlo was there, several other people – Vince Alascia was an inker; Rudy LaPick sat right behind me," with Mike Sekowsky "in another room".
Yet after the wartime boom years – when superheroes had been new and inspirational, and comics provided cheap entertainment for millions of children, soldiers and others – the post-war era found superheroes falling out of fashion. Television and mass market paperback books now also competed for readers and leisure time. Goodman began turning to a wider variety of genres than ever, emphasizing horror, Westerns, teen humor, crime and war comics, and introducing female heroes to try to attract girls and young women to read comics. In 1946, for instance, the superhero title All Select Comics was changed to Blonde Phantom Comics, and now starred a masked secretary who fought crime in an evening gown. That same year, Kid Komics eliminated its stars and became Kid Movie Comics. All Winners Comics became All Teen Comics in January 1947. Timely eliminated virtually all its staff positions in 1948.
Time after Timely
The precise end-point of the Golden Age of comics is vague, but for Timely, at least, it appears to have ended with the cancellation of Captain America Comics at issue #75 – by which time the series had already been Captain America's Weird Tales for two issues, with the finale featuring merely anthological horror/suspense tales and no superheroes. Sub-Mariner Comics and Human Torch Comics had already ended with #32 and #35 respectively, and the company's flagship title, Marvel Mystery Comics, starring the Angel, ended that same month with #92, becoming the horror anthology Marvel Tales beginning with issue #93. Goodman began using the globe logo of the Atlas News Company, the newsstand-distribution company he owned, on comics cover-dated Nov. 1951.In 2015, Marvel registered the trademark "Timely Comics". The following year, Marvel announced that Timely Comics would be the name of a new imprint of low-priced reprint comics.
Marvel branding
Publisher Martin Goodman's business strategy involved having his various magazines and comic books published by a number of companies all operating out of the same office and with the same staff. One of these shell companies under which Timely Comics was published was named Marvel Comics by at least Marvel Mystery Comics #55. As well, some comics' covers, such as All Surprise Comics #12, were labeled "A Marvel Magazine" many years before Goodman would formally adopt the name in 1961.Timely characters and creators
List of characters making multiple appearances, either in Timely Comics solely or in Timely and subsequent companies Atlas Comics and Marvel Comics.| Character | Debut | Reintroduced | Creators |
| Sub-Mariner | Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 | Fantastic Four #4 | Bill Everett |
| American Ace | Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #4 | Paul J. Lauretta. Writer unknown. |
| Angel | Marvel Comics #1 | The Avengers #97 ; U.S. Agent #3 | Paul Gustavson. Writer unknown. |
| Archie the Gruesome | Comedy Comics #10 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #1 | |
| Black Marvel | Mystic Comics #5 | Slingers #1 | Al Gabriele. Writer unknown but not Stan Lee as often mis-credited. |
| Black Widow | Mystic Comics #4 | Marvels #1 | George Kapitan, Harry Sahle |
| Blazing Skull | Mystic Comics #5 | The Avengers #97 ; Invaders #2 | Bob Davis |
| Blonde Phantom | All Select Comics #11 | The Sensational She-Hulk #4 | Stan Lee, Syd Shores |
| Blue Blade | U.S.A. Comics #5 | The Twelve #1 | Unknown writer and artist. |
| Blue Blaze | Mystic Comics #1 | Harry Douglas, signed "Harry / Douglas", leading to numerous theories of two creators or other pseudonym situations which have proven incorrect. | |
| Bucky Barnes | Captain America Comics #1 | As Winter Soldier: Captain America vol. 5, #1 | Joe Simon, Jack Kirby |
| Blue Diamond | Daring Mystery Comics #7 | Marvel Premiere #29 | Ben Thompson. Unknown writer. |
| Captain America | Captain America Comics #1 | The Avengers #4 | Joe Simon, Jack Kirby |
| Captain Terror | U.S.A. Comics #2 | Captain America #442 | Mike Suchorsky. Unknown writer. |
| Captain Wonder | Kid Komics #1 | The Twelve #1 | Otto Binder, Frank Giacoia |
| Challenger | Daring Mystery Comics #7 | Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 | Charles Nicholas. Unknown writer. |
| Citizen V | Daring Mystery Comics #8 | Thunderbolts −1 | Ben Thompson. Unknown writer. |
| Comet Pierce | Red Raven Comics #1 | Jack Kirby | |
| Davey Drew | Mystic Comics #7 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #3 | Howard James |
| Defender | U.S.A. Comics #1 | Daredevil #66 | Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Penciler uncertain |
| Destroyer | Mystic Comics #6 | Invaders #26 | Stan Lee, Jack Binder |
| Dynamic Man | Mystic Comics #1 | The Twelve #1 | Daniel Peters |
| Electro | Marvel Mystery #4 | The Twelve #1 | Steve Dahlman |
| Falcon | Human Torch Comics #2 | Marvel Knights Spider-Man #9 | Carl Burgos |
| Father Time | Captain America Comics #6 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #2 | Stan Lee |
| Ferret | Marvel Mystery Comics #4 | The Marvels Project #3 | |
| Fiery Mask | Daring Mystery Comics #1 | The Twelve #1 | Joe Simon |
| Fighting Yank | Captain America Comics #17 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #2 | |
| Fin | Daring Mystery Comics #7 | The Avengers #97 ; Invaders #5 | Bill Everett |
| Flash Foster | Daring Mystery Comics #1 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #1 | |
| Flexo the Rubber Man | Mystic Comics #1 | Jack Binder. Unknown writer | |
| Human Torch | Marvel Comics #1 | Fantastic Four Annual #4 | Carl Burgos |
| Hurricane | Captain America Comics #1 | Marvel Universe #7 | Jack Kirby and Joe Simon, Jack Kirby |
| Invisible Man | Mystic Comics #2 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #1 | |
| Jack Frost | U.S.A. Comics #1 | Marvel Premiere #29 | Stan Lee, Charles Nicholas |
| Jap Buster Johnson | U.S.A Comics #6 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #2 | |
| Jimmy Jupiter | Marvel Mystery Comics #28 | Captain America #1 | |
| John Steele | Daring Mystery Comics #1 | The Marvels Project #1 | Larry Antonette |
| Laughing Mask | Daring Mystery Comics #2 | The Twelve #1 | Will Harr, Maurice Gutwirth |
| Major Liberty | U.S.A. Comics #1 | ||
| Marvel Boy | Daring Mystery Comics #6 | Jack Kirby, Joe Simon and Al Avison | |
| Marvel Boy | U.S.A. Comics #7 | Fantastic Four #165 | Bob Oksner |
| Marvex the Super-Robot | Daring Mystery Comics #3 | All Select Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1 | Unknown writer and penciler from the Harry "A" Chesler studio |
| Master Mind Excello | Mystic Comics #2 | The Twelve #1 | |
| Mercury | Red Raven Comics #1 | Marvel Universe #7 | Martin A. Bursten, Jack Kirby |
| Merzah the Mystic | Mystic Comics #4 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #1 | |
| Miss America | Marvel Mystery Comics #49 | Giant-Size Avengers #1 | Otto Binder, Al Gabriele |
| Human Torch Comics #4 ; Marvel Mystery Comics #50 | Captain America: Patriot #1 | ||
| Mister E | Daring Mystery Comics #2 | The Twelve #1 | |
| Monako the Magician | Daring Mystery Comics #1 | The Marvels Project #1 | |
| Moon Man | Mystic Comics #5 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #2 | |
| Namora | Marvel Mystery Comics #82 | Sub-Mariner #33 | Ken Bald, Syd Shores |
| Nellie the Nurse | Stan Lee, | ||
| Patriot | Human Torch Comics #4 | The Avengers #97 ; The Invaders #5 | Ray Gill, Bill Everett or George Mandel |
| Patsy Walker | Miss America Magazine #2 | The Avengers #144 | Stuart Little, Ruth Atkinson |
| Phantom Bullet | Daring Comics #2 | The Marvels Project #2 | |
| Phantom Reporter | Daring Mystery Comics #3 | The Twelve #1 | |
| Red Raven | Red Raven Comics #1 | X-Men #44 | Joe Simon, Louis Cazeneuve |
| Rockman | U.S.A. Comics #1 | The Twelve #1 | |
| Silver Scorpion | Daring Mystery Comics #7 | Invaders #2 | Henry Sahle |
| Slow-Motion Jones | U.S.A. Comics #6 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #1 | - |
| Sun Girl | Sun Girl #1 | Ken Bald | |
| Taxi Taylor | Mystic Comics #2 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #1 | |
| Terror | Mystic Comics #5 | Sensational She-Hulk #15 | Phil Sturm ; Syd Shores. George Klein may have added background pencils, but that would not be a creator role. |
| Thin Man | Mystic Comics #4 | Marvel Premiere #29 | Klaus Nordling |
| Thunderer | Daring Mystery Comics #7 | Marvel Premiere #29 | |
| Toro | Human Torch Comics #2 | Sub-Mariner #14 | Carl Burgos |
| Vagabond | U.S.A. Comics #2 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #3 | |
| Venus | Venus #1 | Sub-Mariner #57 | Ken Bald |
| Vision | Marvel Mystery Comics #13 | The Avengers #97 | Jack Kirby & Joe Simon ; Jack Kirby |
| Whizzer | U.S.A. Comics #1 | Giant-Size Avengers #1 | Al Avison, Al Gabriele. Writer unknown. |
| The Witness | Mystic Comics #6 | The Twelve #1 | Stan Lee |
| Young Allies | Young Allies Comics #1 | Young Allies Comics 70th Anniversary Special | Jack Kirby, Syd Shores |
| Young Avenger | U.S.A. Comics #1 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #1 | |
| Victory Boys | Comedy Comics #10 | All-Winners Squad: Band of Heroes #1 |