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Atlas Comics (1950s)

 
Atlas Comics (1950s)

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Atlas Comics (1950s)



 
 
Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book
Comic book

A comic book is a magazine or book of narrative artwork and dialog and descriptive prose. The style was introduced in 1934. Despite the term, comic books do not necessarily feature humorous subject-matter; in fact, it is often serious and action-oriented....
 publishing
Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information – the activity of making information available for public view....
 company that would evolve into Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics is an American comic book and related media company owned by Marvel Publishing, Inc., a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. Marvel counts among as its List of Marvel Comics characters such well-known properties as Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk , Iron Man, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and many others....
. Magazine
Magazine

for quarterly in Heraldry see Quartering Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of Article , generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscription, or all three....
 and paperback-novel publisher Martin Goodman
Martin Goodman (publisher)

Martin Goodman was an United States publisher of pulp magazines, Mass market paperback, men's adventure magazines, and comic books, launching the company that would become Marvel Comics....
, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate
Corporation

A corporation is a legal entity separate from the persons that form it. It is a legal entity owned by individual stockholders. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole or a corporation aggregate ....
 entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time. Atlas was located on the 14th floor of the Empire State Building
Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Its name is derived from the List of U.S....
.

This company is distinct from the 1970s comic-book company, also founded by Goodman, that is generally known as Atlas/Seaboard Comics
Atlas/Seaboard Comics

Atlas/Seaboard is the term comic-book historians and collectors use to refer to the 1970s line of comics published as Atlas Comics by the United States company Seaboard Periodicals, to differentiate from the 1950s' Atlas Comics , a predecessor of Marvel Comics....
.

s grew out of Timely Comics
Timely Comics

Timely Comics is the 1940s comic book publishing company that would evolve into first Atlas Comics , and then Marvel Comics. During this era, called the Golden Age of comic books, "Timely" was the umbrella name for the comics division of pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude...
, the company Goodman founded in 1939 and whose star characters during the 1930s and '40s Golden Age of comic books
Golden Age of Comic Books

The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s....
 were the Human Torch
Human Torch (Golden Age)

The Human Torch is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics-owned superhero. Created by writer-artist Carl Burgos, he first appearance in Marvel Mystery Comics #1 ...
, the Sub-Mariner
Namor the Sub-Mariner

Namor the Sub-Mariner is a fictional character comic-book character in the Marvel Comics Marvel Universe, and one of the first superheroes, debuting in Spring 1939....
, and Captain America
Captain America

Captain America is a Character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character First appearance in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby....
.






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Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book
Comic book

A comic book is a magazine or book of narrative artwork and dialog and descriptive prose. The style was introduced in 1934. Despite the term, comic books do not necessarily feature humorous subject-matter; in fact, it is often serious and action-oriented....
 publishing
Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information – the activity of making information available for public view....
 company that would evolve into Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics is an American comic book and related media company owned by Marvel Publishing, Inc., a subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. Marvel counts among as its List of Marvel Comics characters such well-known properties as Captain America, the Fantastic Four, the Hulk , Iron Man, Spider-Man, the X-Men, and many others....
. Magazine
Magazine

for quarterly in Heraldry see Quartering Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of Article , generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscription, or all three....
 and paperback-novel publisher Martin Goodman
Martin Goodman (publisher)

Martin Goodman was an United States publisher of pulp magazines, Mass market paperback, men's adventure magazines, and comic books, launching the company that would become Marvel Comics....
, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate
Corporation

A corporation is a legal entity separate from the persons that form it. It is a legal entity owned by individual stockholders. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole or a corporation aggregate ....
 entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time. Atlas was located on the 14th floor of the Empire State Building
Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. Its name is derived from the List of U.S....
.

This company is distinct from the 1970s comic-book company, also founded by Goodman, that is generally known as Atlas/Seaboard Comics
Atlas/Seaboard Comics

Atlas/Seaboard is the term comic-book historians and collectors use to refer to the 1970s line of comics published as Atlas Comics by the United States company Seaboard Periodicals, to differentiate from the 1950s' Atlas Comics , a predecessor of Marvel Comics....
.

After the Golden Age

Youngmen25
Atlas grew out of Timely Comics
Timely Comics

Timely Comics is the 1940s comic book publishing company that would evolve into first Atlas Comics , and then Marvel Comics. During this era, called the Golden Age of comic books, "Timely" was the umbrella name for the comics division of pulp magazine publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude...
, the company Goodman founded in 1939 and whose star characters during the 1930s and '40s Golden Age of comic books
Golden Age of Comic Books

The Golden Age of Comic Books was a period in the history of American comic books, generally thought as lasting from the late 1930s until the late 1940s....
 were the Human Torch
Human Torch (Golden Age)

The Human Torch is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics-owned superhero. Created by writer-artist Carl Burgos, he first appearance in Marvel Mystery Comics #1 ...
, the Sub-Mariner
Namor the Sub-Mariner

Namor the Sub-Mariner is a fictional character comic-book character in the Marvel Comics Marvel Universe, and one of the first superheroes, debuting in Spring 1939....
, and Captain America
Captain America

Captain America is a Character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character First appearance in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby....
. The post-war era, however, found superheroes falling out of fashion. Television
Television

Television is a widely used telecommunication mass-media for transmitting and receiving moving , either monochrome or color, usually accompanied by sound....
 and paperback books now also competed for readers and leisure time.

The line marking the end of the Golden Age is vague, but for Timely, at least, historians point to the cancellation of Captain America Comics at issue #75 (Feb. 1950) — by which time the series had already been Captain America's Weird Tales for two issues, with the finale featuring merely anthological suspense
Suspense

Suspense is a feeling of uncertainty and anxiety about the outcome of certain actions, most often referring to an audience's perceptions in a dramatic work....
 stories and no superheroes. The company's flagship title, Marvel Mystery Comics
Marvel Mystery Comics

Marvel Mystery Comics is an USA comic book series published during the 1930s-1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books....
, starring the Human Torch, had already ended its run (with #92, June 1949), as had Sub-Mariner Comics (with #32, the same month). Goodman's comic-book line dropped superheroes and expanded into a wider variety of genres than even Timely had published, emphasizing horror
Horror fiction

Horror fiction is fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle, or horrify the audience. Historically, the cause of the "horror" experience has often been the intrusion of a supernatural element into everyday human experience....
, Westerns, humor, funny-animal, men's adventure
Men's adventure

Men's adventure is a literary genre of magazines that had its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s. Catering to a male audience, these magazines featured pinup photography and lurid tales of adventure that typically featured wartime feats of daring, exotic travel, or conflict with wild animals....
-drama
Drama

Drama is the specific Mode of fiction Mimesis in performance. The term comes from a Ancient Greek word meaning "Action " , which is derived from "to do" ....
, crime
Crime fiction

Crime fiction is the genre of fiction that deals with crimes, their detection, criminals and their Motive s. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred....
, and war comics
War comics

War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II....
, later adding a helping of jungle
Jungle

Jungle usually refers to a dense forest in a hot climate, such as a tropical rainforest. The word Jungle originates from the Sanskrit word Jangala which means a desert or uncultivated land....
 books, romance
Romance comics

Romance comics in the United States was a genre of American comic books that featured realistic scripts and art about love, domestic strife, and heartache....
 titles, and even espionage
Spy fiction

The genre of spy fiction?sometimes called political thriller or spy thriller or sometimes shortened simply to spy-fi?arose before World War I at about the same time that the first modern intelligence agencies were formed....
, medieval adventure, Bible stories and sports. As did other publishers, Atlas also courted female readers with mostly humorous comics about models
Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who poses or who is displayed for the purpose of art, fashion, or other product s and advertising....
 and career women.

Goodman began using the globe logo of Atlas (see above), the newsstand-distribution company he owned, on comics cover-dated November 1951. This united a line put out by the same publisher, staff and freelancers through 59 shell companies, from Animirth Comics to Zenith Publications.

Atlas would attempt to revive superheroes in Young Men #24-28 (Dec. 1953 - June 1954), with the Human Torch (art by Syd Shores
Syd Shores

Sydney Shores was an United States comic book artist known for his work on Captain America both during the 1940s, in what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books, and during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books....
 and Dick Ayers
Dick Ayers

Dick" Ayers is a comic book artist and cartoonist.Regarding how he got his start in the industry, Ayers recalls, "It was [Superman co-creator] Joe Shuster] who sent me to Vin Sullivan of Magazine Enterprises....
, variously), the Sub-Mariner (drawn and most stories written by Bill Everett
Bill Everett

William Blake "Bill" Everett, also known as William Blake and Everett Blake was a comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner and co-creating Daredevil for Marvel Comics....
), and Captain America
Captain America

Captain America is a Character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character First appearance in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby....
 (writer Stan Lee
Stan Lee

Stan Lee is an United States comic book writer, editor, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.Lee is considered the father of comic books....
, artist John Romita Sr.). Yet they featured the same sort of Communist Red Scare villains as the late-'40s comics, broke no new ground, and looked old-fashioned — particularly in comparison with the clean, uncluttered, streamlined reimagining of super-speedster The Flash two years later in DC Comics
DC Comics

DC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. A subsidiary of Warner Bros....
' Showcase
Showcase (comics)

Showcase has been the title of several anthology series published by DC Comics. The general theme of these series has been to feature new and minor characters as a way to gauge reader interest in them, without the difficulty and risk of featuring "untested" characters in their own ongoing titles....
 #4 (Sept. 1956), which would successfully bring back superheroes and kick off the Silver Age of comics.

Trend-following

Astonishing30
Atlas, rather than similarly innovate, took what it saw as the proven route of following popular trends in TV and movies — Westerns
Western fiction

File:Wild West 1908.jpgWestern fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically between the years of 1860 and 1900 ....
 and war dramas prevailing for a time, drive-in
Drive-in

A drive-in is a facility such as a bank, restaurant, or movie theater where one can literally drive in with an automobile for service. It is usually distinguished from a drive-through....
 movie monsters another time — and even other comic books, particularly the EC horror line. Until the early 1960s, when editor-in-chief and head writer
Writer

A writer is anyone who creates a written work, although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally, as well as those who have written in many different forms....
 Stan Lee
Stan Lee

Stan Lee is an United States comic book writer, editor, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.Lee is considered the father of comic books....
 would help revolutionize comic books with the advent of The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man
Spider-Man

Spider-Man is a fictional character appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character First appearance in Amazing Fantasy #15 , and was created by scripter-editor Stan Lee and artist-plotter Steve Ditko....
, Atlas was content to flood newsstands with profitable, cheaply produced product — often, despite itself, beautifully rendered by talented if low-paid young artists.

The Atlas "bullpen" had at least five staff writers (officially called editors) besides Lee: Hank Chapman
Hank Chapman

Hank Chapman is an United States comic book writer for Marvel Comics' two predecessors, Timely Comics and Atlas Comics , and later for DC Comics, where he specialized in war fiction....
, Paul S. Newman
Paul S. Newman

Paul S. Newman was an United States writer of comic books, comic strips, and books, whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s. Credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most prolific comic-book writer, with more than 4,100 published stories totaling approximately 36,000 pages, he is otherwise best known for scripting the co...
, Don Rico
Don Rico

Donato Francisco Rico II was an United States comic book writer and artist for Marvel Comics' predecessors, Timely Comics and Atlas Comics , and a mass market paperback novelist....
, Carl Wessler
Carl Wessler

Carroll O. "Carl" Wessler was an United States animator of the 1930s and a comic book writer from the 1940s though the 1970s for such companies as DC Comics, EC Comics, Marvel Comics, and Warren Publishing....
, and, in the teen-humor division, future MAD Magazine cartoonist Al Jaffee
Al Jaffee

Al Jaffee is an award winning United States cartoonist. He is best known for his work in Mad , including his trademark feature, the Mad Fold-in, which has appeared in almost every issue since 1964....
. Daniel Keyes
Daniel Keyes

Daniel F. Keyes is an United States author best known for his Hugo award-winning short story and Nebula award-winning novel "Flowers for Algernon"....
, future author of Flowers for Algernon
Flowers for Algernon

Flowers for Algernon is a science fiction short story and subsequent novel written by Daniel Keyes. The short story, written in 1958 and first published in the April 1959 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story in 1960....
, was an associate editor circa 1952. Other writers, generally freelance, included Robert Bernstein.

The artists — some freelance, some on staff — included such veterans as Human Torch creator Carl Burgos
Carl Burgos

Carl Burgos was an United States of America comic book and advertising artist best known for creating the Human Torch in Marvel Mystery Comics #1 , during the period historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books....
 and Sub-Mariner creator Bill Everett
Bill Everett

William Blake "Bill" Everett, also known as William Blake and Everett Blake was a comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner and co-creating Daredevil for Marvel Comics....
. The next generation included the prolific and much-admired Joe Maneely
Joe Maneely

Joseph "Joe" Maneely is an American comic book artist best known for his work at Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics .An exquisite draftsman whose delicate yet solid, fine-line figures made his work both distinctive and well-suited to the medium, Maneely was one of the relative stars of Atlas, along with such soon-to-blossom ta...
, who before his death just prior to Marvel's 1960s breakthrough was the company's leading artist, providing many covers and doing work in all genres, most notably on Westerns and on the medieval adventure The Black Knight
Black Knight (Sir Percy)

Sir Percy of Scandia, also known as the original The Black Knight, is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe. He was a medieval knight created by writer-editing Stan Lee and artist Joe Maneely....
. Others included Russ Heath
Russ Heath

Russell Heath, Jr. is an United States artist best known for his comic book work — particularly his DC Comics war stories for several decades and his 1960s art for Playboy magazine's Little Annie Fanny featurettes — and for his commercial art, two pieces of which, depicting Ancient Rome and Revolutionary War battle scenes...
, Gene Colan
Gene Colan

Eugene "Gene" Colan is an United States Comic book creator.Best known as one of Marvel Comics' most significant artists, whose signature titles include the superhero series, Daredevil , the cult-hit Satire series Howard the Duck, and The Tomb of Dracula, considered one of comics' classic horror fiction series....
, and the fledgling, highly individualistic Steve Ditko
Steve Ditko

Steve Ditko is an United States comic book artist and writer best known as the co-creator of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange....
.

Atlas' most prominent Western titles, many reprinted in the 1970s, were Ringo Kid
Ringo Kid

The Ringo Kid is a fictional Western hero in the Marvel Comics' Marvel Universe, whose comic book series was originally released by the company's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics ....
, with art by Maneely, Fred Kida
Fred Kida

Fred Kida is an United States comic book and comic strip artist best known for the characters Airboy and Valkyrie....
 and John Severin
John Severin

John Severin is an United States comic book artist noted for his distinctive artwork with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat, and for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western fiction comics....
; Doug Wildey
Doug Wildey

Doug Wildey was a cartoonist most famous for his co-creation of the acclaimed animated television series, Jonny Quest for Hanna-Barbera Productions, and a comic book artist....
's The Outlaw Kid
Outlaw Kid

The Outlaw Kid is a fictional Western hero in Marvel Comics' shared universe, the Marvel Universe, whose comic book series was originally released by the company's 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics ....
; Jack Keller
Jack Keller (comics)

Jack R. Keller was an American comic book artist best known for his 1950s and '60s work on the Marvel Comics Western character Kid Colt, and for his later hot rod and racecar series at Charlton Comics....
's Kid Colt, Outlaw
Kid Colt

Kid Colt is the name of two fictional characters in the Marvel Comics' Marvel Universe. The first is a cowboy whose adventures have taken place in numerous Western themed comic book series published by Marvel....
 and the anthology Gunsmoke Western, starring Kid Colt; and The Black Rider
Black Rider (comics)

The Black Rider is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Marvel Universe. He first appeared in All Winners Comics #2 ....
, by Maneely, Syd Shores
Syd Shores

Sydney Shores was an United States comic book artist known for his work on Captain America both during the 1940s, in what fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books, and during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books....
 and others. (The Atlas versions of two prominent '60s Western characters, the Rawhide Kid
Rawhide Kid

The Rawhide Kid is a fictional cowboy in Marvel Comics' shared universe. the Marvel Universe. The Rawhide Kid was a heroic gunfighter of the 19th Century American West, who was unjustly wanted as an outlaw....
 and the Two-Gun Kid
Two-Gun Kid

The Two-Gun Kid is a fictional character, a cowboy gunslinger in the Wild West of Marvel Comics' shared universe, the Marvel Universe....
, were different and historically undistinguished iterations.)

Humor and miscellanea

Sgtbarneybarker1
Atlas also published a plethora of children's and teen humor titles, including Dan DeCarlo
Dan DeCarlo

Daniel S. DeCarlo was an United States cartoonist best known as the artist who developed the look of Archie Comics in the late 1950s and early 1960s, modernizing the characters to their contemporary appearance and establishing the publisher's house style....
's Homer, the Happy Ghost (a la Casper the Friendly Ghost
Casper the Friendly Ghost

Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios Animation of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost, but is quite personable....
) and Homer Hooper (a la Archie Andrews
Archie Andrews

Archie Andrews can refer to one of two fictional characters:*Archie Andrews , U.S. comic book character*Archie Andrews , British ventriloquist's puppet...
). If newspapers had Dennis the Menace, Atlas had the Joe Maneely
Joe Maneely

Joseph "Joe" Maneely is an American comic book artist best known for his work at Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics .An exquisite draftsman whose delicate yet solid, fine-line figures made his work both distinctive and well-suited to the medium, Maneely was one of the relative stars of Atlas, along with such soon-to-blossom ta...
-drawn Melvin the Monster. TV had Sgt. Bilko
The Phil Silvers Show

The Phil Silvers Show was a comedy television series which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959 for a total of 143 episodes . The series starred Phil Silvers as master sergeant Ernest G....
? Atlas had the lovably conniving Sergeant Barney Barker — drawn by John Severin
John Severin

John Severin is an United States comic book artist noted for his distinctive artwork with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat, and for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western fiction comics....
, one of comics' top war artists.

One of the most popular titles was the long-running Millie the Model
Millie the Model

Millie the Model was Marvel Comics' longest-running humor title, first published by the company's 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and continuing through its 1950s forerunner, Atlas Comics , to 1970s Marvel....
, which began as a Timely Comics humor book in 1945 and ran a remarkable 207 issues, well into the Marvel-era 1970s, launching spin-offs along the way. Created or co-created (accounts differ) by artist Ruth Atkinson
Ruth Atkinson

Ruth Atkinson Ford n?e Ruth Atkinson and a.k.a. R. Atkinson was an United States cartoonist and pioneering female comic book artist who helped create the long-running Marvel Comics characters Millie the Model and Patsy Walker....
, it later became the proving ground for cartoonist
Cartoonist

A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. Traditionally much of this work was, and still is, humorous, and is intended primarily for entertainment purposes....
 DeCarlo — the future creator of Josie and the Pussycats
Josie and the Pussycats (comic)

Josie and the Pussycats is a teenage humor comic book about a List of fictional music groups, created by Dan DeCarlo and published by Archie Comics....
, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch

Sabrina the Teenage Witch is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a teenager fictional character named Sabrina Spellman....
 and other Archie Comics
Archie Comics

Archie Comics is an United States of America comic book publisher, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenager Archie Andrews , Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones characters by publisher/editor John L....
 characters, and the artist who established Archie's modern look. DeCarlo wrote and drew Millie for a remarkable 10 years, even while such companion titles as Tillie the Typist, Nellie the Nurse and even his own Sherry the Showgirl fell by the wayside.

The high-school series Patsy Walker, also created or co-created by Atkinson in 1945, ran until 1967 and spun-off three titles. More naturalistic than the slapstick
Slapstick

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated extreme physical violence or activities which exceed the boundaries of common sense, such as a character being hit in the face with a heavy frying pan or running into a brick wall....
y Millie, it featured attractive but sedate art by Al Hartley
Al Hartley

Henry Allan Hartley was an United States comic book writer-artist known for his work on Archie Comics, Atlas Comics , and many Christian comics....
, Al Jaffee
Al Jaffee

Al Jaffee is an award winning United States cartoonist. He is best known for his work in Mad , including his trademark feature, the Mad Fold-in, which has appeared in almost every issue since 1964....
, Morris Weiss
Morris Weiss

Morris Weiss is an American comic book and comic strip artist and sometime writer, active from the 1930s through the mid-'70s. He created the teenager-comedy character "Margie" for Timely Comics, and was the final cartoonist on the once-popular comic strip Mickey Finn ....
 and others. Given the tone and the target audience, Patsy Walker oddly included the legendary Harvey Kurtzman
Harvey Kurtzman

Harvey Kurtzman was a United States of America cartoonist and magazine editor. In 1952, he was the founding editor of the comic book MAD Magazine. Kurtzman was also known for the long-running Little Annie Fanny stories in Playboy , parody the very attitudes that Playboy promoted....
's bizarre "Hey Look!" one-pagers in several early issues. Patsy herself would be integrated into Marvel Universe
Marvel Universe

The Marvel Universe is the universe where the stories published by Marvel Comics take place.The Marvel Universe actually exists within a Multiverse consisting of thousands of separate universes, all of which are the creations of Marvel Comics and all of which are, in a sense, "Marvel universes"....
 continuity years later as the supernatural
Supernatural

The term supernatural or supranatural pertains to an order of existence beyond the scientifically visible universe. Religious miracles are typically supernatural claims, as are Spell and curses, divination, the belief that there is an afterlife for the dead, and innumerable others....
 superheroine Hellcat
Hellcat (comics)

Hellcat is a fictional character published by Marvel Comics. She premiered as the star of a teen Romance comics-comedy series and was later integrated into Marvel superhero franchises such as the Avengers and the Defenders ....
.

No hellcats graced Atlas' funny animal
Funny animal

Funny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animal animals, with anthropomorphism personality traits....
 books, but they did have cartoonist
Cartoonist

A cartoonist is a person who specializes in drawing cartoons. Traditionally much of this work was, and still is, humorous, and is intended primarily for entertainment purposes....
 Ed Winiarski
Ed Winiarski

Ed Winiarski , who sometimes signed his work "Win" or "Winny" ande sometimes used the pseudonym Fran Miller, is an United States comic book writer-artist known for both adventure stories and funny-animal cartooning in the late-1930s and 1940s Golden Age of comic books....
's trouble-prone Buck Duck, Maneely's mentally suspect Dippy Duck, and Howie Post's The Monkey and the Bear, which bore a striking resemblance to DC Comics
DC Comics

DC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. A subsidiary of Warner Bros....
' Fox and the Crow. Buck and others saw life again briefly in the early 1970s, when Marvel published the five-issue reprint title Li'l Pals ("Fun-Filled Animal Antics!").

Notable miscellanea include the espionage title Yellow Claw
Yellow Claw

The Yellow Claw is a fictional character comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics Marvel universe, created by Entertaining Comics great Al Feldstein and artist Joe Maneely in Yellow Claw #1 from Atlas Comics , the 1950s predecessor of Marvel....
, with sumptuous Maneely, Severin, and Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby

Jacob Kurtzberg , better known by the pen name Jack Kirby, was an American comic book artist, writer and editing. Growing up poor in New York City, Kurtzberg entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s....
 art; the Native American
Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the Indigenous peoples of the Americas from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii....
 hero Red Warrior, with art by Tom Gill
Tom Gill (comics)

Tom Gill is an United States comic book artist best known for his more than 20-year run drawing The Lone Ranger....
; the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
Tom Corbett, Space Cadet

Tom Corbett is the main fictional character in a series of Tom Corbett ? Space Cadet stories that were depicted in television, radio, books, comic books, comic strips, coloring books, punch-out books and View-Master reels in the 1950s....
-like Space Squadron, written and drawn by future Marvel production executive Sol Brodsky
Sol Brodsky

Sol Brodsky was an American comic book artist who, as Marvel Comics' Silver Age of comic books production manager, was one of the key architects of the small company's expansion to a major pop culture Conglomerate ....
; and Sports Action, initially with true-life stories about the likes of George Gipp
George Gipp

George "The Gipper" Gipp was a college football player who played for the University of Notre Dame. Gipp was selected by Walter Camp as Notre Dame's first All-American and is Notre Dame's second consensus All-American , after Gus Dorais....
 and Jackie Robinson
Jackie Robinson

Jack Roosevelt "Jackie" Robinson was the first African-American Major League Baseball player of the modern era. Although not the first African-American professional baseball player in United States history, Robinson's 1947 Major League debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers ended approximately 60 years of baseball Racial_segregation#United_States_...
, and later with fictional "Rugged Tales of Danger and Red-Hot Action!"

Layoffs

From 1952 to late 1956, Goodman distributed this torrent of comics to newsstands through his self-owned distributor, Atlas. He then switched to American News Company
American News Company

American News Company was a magazine distribution company which dominated the distribution market in the forties and fifties. In 1957, a speculator became aware that a book-keeping peculiarity in their accounts could allow a large profit from liquidating the company....
, the nation's largest distributor and a virtual monopoly
Monopoly

In economics, a monopoly exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it....
 — which shortly afterward lost a Justice Department
United States Department of Justice

The United States Department of Justice is a United States Cabinet department in the United States government of the United States designed to enforce the law and defend the interests of the United States according to the law and to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans ....
 lawsuit
Lawsuit

In law, a lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in which the party commencing the action, called the plaintiff, seeks a legal remedy or equitable remedy....
 and discontinued its business. As historian and author Gerard Jones
Gerard Jones

Gerard Jones is an award-winning American author and comic book writer....
 explains, the company in 1956

Stan Lee, in a 1988 interview, recalled that Goodman:

For that and other reasons, including a recession in the overall economy, Atlas retrenched in 1957. A fabled story has the publisher discovering a closet-full of unused, but paid-for, art, leading him to have virtually the entire staff fired while he used up the inventory. In the interview noted above, Lee, one of the few able to give a firsthand account, told a seemingly self-contradictory version of the downsizing:

In a 2003 interview, Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott

Joe Sinnott is an American comic book artist. Working primarily as an inker, Sinnott is best-known for his long stint on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, from 1965 to 1981 , initially over the pencils of industry legend Jack Kirby....
, one of the company's top artists for more than 50 years, recalled Lee citing the inventory issue as a primary cause:

Return of Jack Kirby

Amazingadventuresv1no3
Goodman's men's magazines and paperback books were still successful — the comics, except in the early Golden Age, were a relatively small part of the business — and Goodman considered shutting the division down.

The details of his decision not to do so are murky. Jack Kirby, who after his amicable split with creative partner Joe Simon
Joe Simon

Joseph H. Simon is a Jewish-American comic book writer, artist, editing, and publishing. Simon created or co-created many important characters in the 1930s-1940s Golden Age of Comic Books, and who served as the first editor of Timely Comics, the company that would evolve into Marvel Comics....
 a few years earlier was not as busy as he would have liked, recalled in a 1990 interview for The Comics Journal
The Comics Journal

The Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is the largest United States magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books and strips....
 that in late 1958,

The interviewer, Comics Journal publisher Gary Groth
Gary Groth

Gary Groth is an United States comic book editing, publisher, and critic. He is editor in chief of The Comics Journal and a co-founder of Fantagraphics Books....
, later wrote of this interview in general, "Some of Kirby's more extreme statements ... should be taken with a grain of salt...." Lee, specifically asked about the office-closing anecdote, said,

Kirby had previously returned, in late 1956, to freelance on five issues cover-dated Dec. 1956 and Feb. 1957, but did not stay. Now, beginning with the cover and the seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" for Strange Worlds
Strange Worlds

Strange Worlds was the name of two United States, science-fiction anthology comic book series of the 1950s, the first published by Avon Comics, the second by a Marvel Comics predecessor, Atlas Comics ....
 #1 (Dec. 1958), Kirby returned for a 12-year run that would soon help revolutionize comics. Atlas gave Kirby a high-profile market, splashing the maestro's work across countless covers and lead stories, with the singular quality and dynamism of Kirby's art elevating such preexisting comics as Strange Tales
Strange Tales

Strange Tales was the name of several comic book anthology series that have been published by Marvel Comics. It introduced the features "Doctor Strange" and "Nick Fury", and was a showcase for the science fiction/suspense stories of artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and for the groundbreaking work of writer-artist Jim Steranko....
 and the newly launched Amazing Adventures
Amazing Adventures

Amazing Adventures is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics.The earliest Marvel series of that name introduced the company's first superhero of the late-1950s to early-1960s period fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books....
, Strange Worlds, Tales of Suspense
Tales of Suspense

Tales of Suspense is the name of an United States comic book series and two One-shot published by Marvel Comics. The first, which ran from 1959 to 1968, began as a science-fiction anthology that served as a showcase for such artists as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Don Heck, then featured superheroes Captain America and Iron Man during th...
, Tales to Astonish
Tales to Astonish

Tales to Astonish is the name of two United States comic book series and a One-shot published by Marvel Comics.The primary title bearing that name was published from 1959-1968....
 and World of Fantasy
World of Fantasy

World of Fantasy was a science fiction/fantasy comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor company, Atlas Comics ....
 above the other horror/science fiction titles that had proliferated in the wake of the recently defunct master of those comics genres, EC Comics
EC Comics

Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an United States publisher of comic books specializing in crime fiction, horror fiction, satire, war novel and science fiction from the 1940s through the 1950s, until censorship pressures prompted it to concentrate on the seminal humor magazine Mad , which became a major p...
.

A Kirby monster story, usually inked by Dick Ayers
Dick Ayers

Dick" Ayers is a comic book artist and cartoonist.Regarding how he got his start in the industry, Ayers recalls, "It was [Superman co-creator] Joe Shuster] who sent me to Vin Sullivan of Magazine Enterprises....
, would generally open each book, followed by one or two twist-ending thrillers or sci-fi tales drawn by Don Heck
Don Heck

Don Heck was an United States comic book artist best known for co-creating the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, and for his long run penciler the Marvel superhero-team series Avengers during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books....
, Paul Reinman
Paul Reinman

Paul J. Reinman was an United States of America comic book artist best known as one of industry legend's Jack Kirby's frequent inkers during what comics fans and historians call the Silver Age of comic books....
, or Joe Sinnott
Joe Sinnott

Joe Sinnott is an American comic book artist. Working primarily as an inker, Sinnott is best-known for his long stint on Marvel Comics' Fantastic Four, from 1965 to 1981 , initially over the pencils of industry legend Jack Kirby....
, with the whole thing capped by an often-surreal, sometimes self-reflexive Lee-Ditko short.

Pre-superhero Marvel

Goodman had begun moving away from newsstand distributor Kable News by branding his comics with the Atlas globe on issues cover-dated Nov. 1951, even though Kable's "K" logo and North American map symbol remained through the Aug. 1952 issues.

Goodman shut down his self-distributorship on Nov. 1, 1956, and began newsstand distribution through American News Service. The Atlas globe remained, however, through the Oct. 1957 issues, when American News went out of business. Goodman switched to the distributor Independent News, owned by rival DC Comics
DC Comics

DC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. A subsidiary of Warner Bros....
, and dropped the Atlas globe at that time. Goodman would reuse the name Atlas for the next comics company he founded
Atlas/Seaboard Comics

Atlas/Seaboard is the term comic-book historians and collectors use to refer to the 1970s line of comics published as Atlas Comics by the United States company Seaboard Periodicals, to differentiate from the 1950s' Atlas Comics , a predecessor of Marvel Comics....
, in the 1970s.

The final comic to bear the Atlas globe logo was Dippy Duck #1, the company's only release with an October 1957 cover date.

Goodman's switch to the distributor Independent News (see above
Atlas Comics (1950s)

Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
), owned by rival DC Comics
DC Comics

DC Comics is one of the largest and most popular American comic book and related media companies, along with Marvel Comics. A subsidiary of Warner Bros....
, was on constrained terms that allowed only eight titles per month. Fans sometimes refer to these surviving, bi-monthly titles as the "sweet 16". The first of these to bear the new "Ind." label was Patsy Walker #73 — ironically cover-dated, like Dippy Duck #1, October 1957. The best-selling titles were Westerns (with Kid Colt
Kid Colt

Kid Colt is the name of two fictional characters in the Marvel Comics' Marvel Universe. The first is a cowboy whose adventures have taken place in numerous Western themed comic book series published by Marvel....
 starring in two titles) and girl humor (led by the long-running Millie the Model
Millie the Model

Millie the Model was Marvel Comics' longest-running humor title, first published by the company's 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and continuing through its 1950s forerunner, Atlas Comics , to 1970s Marvel....
). The two fantasy titles (Strange Tales
Strange Tales

Strange Tales was the name of several comic book anthology series that have been published by Marvel Comics. It introduced the features "Doctor Strange" and "Nick Fury", and was a showcase for the science fiction/suspense stories of artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and for the groundbreaking work of writer-artist Jim Steranko....
 and World of Fantasy
World of Fantasy

World of Fantasy was a science fiction/fantasy comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor company, Atlas Comics ....
) clung on printing stored inventory material from late 1957 through late 1958.

Although for several months in 1949 and 1950 Timely's titles bore a circular logo labeled "Marvel Comic", the first modern comic book so labeled was the science-fiction anthology Amazing Adventures
Amazing Adventures

Amazing Adventures is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics.The earliest Marvel series of that name introduced the company's first superhero of the late-1950s to early-1960s period fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books....
 #3, which showed the "MC" box on its cover. Cover-dated August 1961, it was published May 9, 1961. However, collectors routinely refer to the companies' comics from the April 1959 cover-dates onward (when they began featuring Jack Kirby artwork on his return to Goodman's company), as pre-superhero Marvel.

Quotes

Stan Goldberg
Stan Goldberg

Stan Goldberg a.k.a. Stan G. is an United States comic book artist best known for his work as a flagship artist of Archie Comics and as a Marvel Comics' 1960s colorist, who helped design the original color schemes of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and other major characters....
 on the Atlas Comics staff: "I was in the Bullpen with a lot of well-known artists who worked up there at that time. We had our Bullpen up there until about 1958 or '59. [sic
SIC

Sic is a Latin word that means "thus" or, in writing, "it was thus in the source material".Sic may also refer to:* Sic, Cluj, a commune in Romania...
; the Bullpen staff was let go in 1957] The guys ... who actually worked nine-to-five and put in a regular day, and not the freelance guys who'd come in a drop off their work ... were almost a hall of fame group of people. There was John Severin
John Severin

John Severin is an United States comic book artist noted for his distinctive artwork with EC Comics, primarily on the war comics Two-Fisted Tales and Frontline Combat, and for Marvel Comics, primarily on its war and Western fiction comics....
. Bill Everett
Bill Everett

William Blake "Bill" Everett, also known as William Blake and Everett Blake was a comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner and co-creating Daredevil for Marvel Comics....
. Carl Burgos
Carl Burgos

Carl Burgos was an United States of America comic book and advertising artist best known for creating the Human Torch in Marvel Mystery Comics #1 , during the period historians and fans call the Golden Age of comic books....
. There was the all-time great Joe Maneely.... We all worked together, all the colorists and correction guys, the letterers and artists. ... We had a great time".

Atlas titles by genre

Information from Atlas Tales and other references. Some titles may be arguably Timely at the earlier end, or Marvel at the later end. Note: In titles numbered from or into the various All Winners Comics, additional clarifying information is supplied. List, in progress, complete through Menace, inclusive.

Crime

  • All-True Crime  #26-52 (Feb. 1948 - Sept. 1952; early issues Timely; continued from Timely's Official True Crime)
  • Amazing Detective Cases  #3-14 (Nov. 1950 - Sept. 1952; continued from n.a.)
  • Caught  #1-5 (Aug. 1956 - April 1957)
  • Crime Can't Win  #41-43, 4-12 (Sept. 1950 - Sept. 1952; continued from Romance
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Cindy Smith)
  • Crime Cases Comics  #24-27, 5-12 (Aug. 1950 - July 1952; continued from Timely's Willie Comics and Li'l Willie Comics)
  • Crime Exposed (2nd series, following Timely's) #1-14 (Dec. 1950 - June 1952)
  • Crime Fighters  #11-13 (Sept. 1954 - Jan. 1955; continued from Timely's Crimefighters)
  • Crime Must Lose!  #4-12 (Oct. 1950 - April 1952; continued from n.a.)
  • Justice  #7-9 (first three issues), then 4-52 (Fall 1947 - March 1955; early issues Timely; continued from Timely title Wacky Duck); continued as
  • Tales of Justice  #53-67 (May 1955 - Sept. 1957)


  • Kent Blake of the Secret Service  #1-4 (May 1951 - July 1953)


Drama

  • Man Comics  #1-10 (Dec. 1949 - Oct. 1951) continued as War
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Man Comics
  • True Adventures  #3 (May 1950; continued from Western
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title True Western); continued as
  • Men's Adventures  #4-8 (Aug. 1950 - June 1951); continued as War
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Men's Adventures

Espionage

  • Spy Cases  #26-19 (Sept. 1950 - Oct. 1953; continued from Timely's superhero title Kid Komics and humor titles Kid Movie Komics, Rusty Comics, Rusty and her Family and The Kellys)


Funny-animal and other children's comics

  • Adventures of Homer Ghost  #1-2 (Jan.-Aug. 1957)
  • Buck Duck  #1-4 (June-Dec. 1953)
  • Cartoon Kids  #1 (no date; 1957)
  • Dippy Duck  #1 (Oct. 1957)
  • Homer, the Happy Ghost  #1-22 (March 1955 - Nov. 1958)
  • Little Lizzie vol. 2, #1-3 (Sept. 1953 - Jan. 1954; previous volume Timely)
  • Marvin Mouse  #1 (Sept. 1957)
  • Melvin the Monster  #1-6 (July 1956 - July 1957) continued as
  • Dexter the Demon  #7 (Sept. 1957)
 Note: These two series not supernatural, but Dennis the Menace-like
  • The Monkey and the Bear  #1-3 (Sept. 1953 - Jan. 1954)
  • Wonder Duck  #1-3 (Sept. 1949 - March 1950) continued as
  • It's a Duck's Life  #4-11 (Nov. 1950 - Feb. 1952)

Heroes

  • Black Knight
    Black Knight (Sir Percy)

    Sir Percy of Scandia, also known as the original The Black Knight, is a fictional character in the Marvel Universe. He was a medieval knight created by writer-editing Stan Lee and artist Joe Maneely....
      #1-5 (May 1955 - April 1956)
  • Captain America
    Captain America

    Captain America is a Character that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character First appearance in Captain America Comics #1 , from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby....
      #76-78 (May-Sept. 1954) continued from Timely's Captain America Comics and Captain America's Weird Tales)
  • The Human Torch
    Human Torch (Golden Age)

    The Human Torch is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics-owned superhero. Created by writer-artist Carl Burgos, he first appearance in Marvel Mystery Comics #1 ...
      #36-38 (April-Aug. 1954) continued from its Timely Comics run, despite its numbering having been taken over
    by the Romance
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Love Tales)
  • Marvel Boy
    Marvel Boy

    Marvel Boy is the name of several fictional character comic book characters in the Marvel Comics Marvel universe, including predecessor companies Timely Comics and Atlas Comics ....
      #1-2 (Dec. 1950 - Feb. 1951) continued as Horror
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Astonishing, in which Marvel Boy stars from #3-6
  • Men's Adventures  #27-28 (May-July 1954; continued from Horror
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Men's Adventures)
  • Sub-Mariner  #33-42 (April 1954 - Oct. 1955) continued from Timely's Sub-Mariner Comics)
  • Young Men  #24-28 (Dec. 1953 - June 1954) continued from Misc.
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Young Men
  • Yellow Claw
    Yellow Claw

    The Yellow Claw is a fictional character comic book supervillain in the Marvel Comics Marvel universe, created by Entertaining Comics great Al Feldstein and artist Joe Maneely in Yellow Claw #1 from Atlas Comics , the 1950s predecessor of Marvel....
      #1-4 (Oct. 1956 - April 1957; FBI agent Jimmy Woo
    Jimmy Woo

    Jimmy Woo is a fictional character, Chinese-American secret agent in the Marvel Comics comic-book Marvel universe. Created by Entertaining Comics great Al Feldstein and artist Joe Maneely, the character first appeared in Yellow Claw #1 from Atlas Comics , the 1950s predecessor of Marvel....
     as hero, versus supervillain
    Supervillain

    A supervillain or supervillainess is a variant of the villain fictional character type, commonly found in comic books, action movies and science fiction in various mediums....
     Yellow Claw)


Humor - satire

  • Crazy  #1-7 (Dec. 1953 - July 1954)
  • Riot
  • Wild


Humor - sitcom

  • The Adventures Of Pinky Lee
    Pinky Lee

    Pinky Lee , born Pincus Leff, was a male burlesque comic and host of the children's television program, The Pinky Lee Show in the early 1950s....
      #1-5 (July-Dec. 1955)
  • Della Vision  #1-3 (April-Aug. 1955)
—————————————————————————————
  • Millie the Model
    Millie the Model

    Millie the Model was Marvel Comics' longest-running humor title, first published by the company's 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and continuing through its 1950s forerunner, Atlas Comics , to 1970s Marvel....
      #1-207 (Winter 1945 - Marvel Comics)
  • A Date with Millie  #1-7 (Oct. 1956 - Aug. 1957)
  • A Date with Millie  Vol. 2, #1-7 (Oct. 1959 - Oct. 1960) continued as
  • Life With Millie  #8-20 (Dec. 1960 - Marvel Comics)


—————————————————————————————
  • Hedy of Hollywood Comics  #36-50 (Feb, 1950 - Sept. 1952; continued from Timely's Young Allies
    Young Allies

    The Young Allies is the name of two superhero teams in the Marvel Universe....
     #1-20, All Winners Comics
    All-Winners Squad

    The All-Winners Squad is a fictional character superhero team in the Marvel Comics Marvel Universe. The company's first such team, it First appearance in All Winners Comics #19 ....
     #21, and Hedy De Vine Comics #22-35)
—————————————————————————————
  • Patsy Walker
    Hellcat (comics)

    Hellcat is a fictional character published by Marvel Comics. She premiered as the star of a teen Romance comics-comedy series and was later integrated into Marvel superhero franchises such as the Avengers and the Defenders ....
      #1-99 (Winter 1945 - Marvel Comics)
  • Patsy and Hedy  #1-73 (Feb. 1952 -Dec. 1960)
  • Patsy and Her Pals  #1-29 (May 1953 - Aug. 1957)
  • A Date with Patsy  #1 (Sept. 1957)
  • Girls' Life (subtitled "Patsy Walker's Own Magazine for Girls") #1-6 (Jan.-Nov. 1954)
  • Hedy Wolfe (subtitled: "Patsy Walker's Rival"; not to be confused with Hedy of Hollywood) #1 (Aug. 1957)
—————————————————————————————
  • Homer Hooper  #1-4 (July - Dec. 1953)
  • Kathy  #1-27 (Oct. 1959 - Marvel Comics)
  • Sergeant Barney Barker  #1-2 (Aug.-Dec. 1957) continued as War
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title G.I. Tales
  • Sherry the Showgirl  #1-3 (July.-Dec. 1956) continued as
  • Showgirls  #4 (Feb. 1957) continued as
  • Sherry the Showgirl  #5-7 (April-Aug. 1957)


  • Showgirls  Vol. 2, #1-2 (July-Aug. 1957)


Horror/fantasy/SF

  • Adventure into Mystery  #1-8 (May 1956 - July 1957)
  • Adventures into Terror  #43-44 (first two issues), then #3-31 (Nov. 1950 - May 1954) orig. numbering continued from Timely's Joker
  • Adventures into Weird Worlds  #1-30 (Jan. 1952 - June 1954)
  • Amazing Adventures
    Amazing Adventures

    Amazing Adventures is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics.The earliest Marvel series of that name introduced the company's first superhero of the late-1950s to early-1960s period fans and historians call the Silver Age of Comic Books....
      #1-6 (June-Nov. 1961) continued as
  • Amazing Adult Fantasy  #7-14 (Dec. 1961 - July 1962) continued as Marvel's Amazing Fantasy
    Amazing Fantasy

    Amazing Fantasy was a comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics. It is best known as the title that introduced the popular character Spider-Man....


  • Amazing Mysteries  #32-35 (May 1949 - Jan. 1950; continued from n.a.; one source lists Timely's Sub-Mariner Comics, which had an issue #32, and which numbering reportedly continued with Best Romance)
  • Astonishing  #3-63 (April 1951 - Aug. 1957; continued from Superhero
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Marvel Boy
    Marvel Boy

    Marvel Boy is the name of several fictional character comic book characters in the Marvel Comics Marvel universe, including predecessor companies Timely Comics and Atlas Comics ....
    )
  • Journey into Mystery
    Journey into Mystery

    Journey into Mystery was an USA comic book series published by Atlas Comics, and later its successor Marvel Comics. It featured horror, monster, and science fiction stories....
      #1-82 (June 1952 - July 1962) series continued as Marvel comic featuring "The Mighty Thor
    Thor (Marvel Comics)

    Thor is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by editor-plotter Stan Lee, scripter Larry Lieber, and penciller Jack Kirby, the character First appearance in Journey into Mystery #83 and is based on the deity of the Thor from Norse mythology....
    "
  • Journey into Unknown Worlds  #36-59 (Sept. 1950 - Aug. 1957; continued from Timely teen-humor series Teen Comics)
  • Marvel Tales
    Marvel Tales

    Marvel Tales is the title of three United States comic-book series published by Marvel Comics, the first of them from the company's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics ....
      #93-159 (Aug. 1949 - Aug. 1957; continued from Timely's superhero title Marvel Mystery Comics
    Marvel Mystery Comics

    Marvel Mystery Comics is an USA comic book series published during the 1930s-1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books....
    )
  • Menace  #1-11 (March 1953 - May 1954)
  • Men's Adventures  #21-26 (May 1953 - March 1954; continued from War
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Men's Adventures) continued as Superhero
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Men's Adventures
  • Mystery Tales
  • Strange Stories of Suspense
  • Strange Tales
    Strange Tales

    Strange Tales was the name of several comic book anthology series that have been published by Marvel Comics. It introduced the features "Doctor Strange" and "Nick Fury", and was a showcase for the science fiction/suspense stories of artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, and for the groundbreaking work of writer-artist Jim Steranko....
  • Strange Tales of the Unusual
  • Strange Worlds
    Strange Worlds

    Strange Worlds was the name of two United States, science-fiction anthology comic book series of the 1950s, the first published by Avon Comics, the second by a Marvel Comics predecessor, Atlas Comics ....
  • Suspense
  • Tales of Suspense
    Tales of Suspense

    Tales of Suspense is the name of an United States comic book series and two One-shot published by Marvel Comics. The first, which ran from 1959 to 1968, began as a science-fiction anthology that served as a showcase for such artists as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Don Heck, then featured superheroes Captain America and Iron Man during th...
  • Tales to Astonish
    Tales to Astonish

    Tales to Astonish is the name of two United States comic book series and a One-shot published by Marvel Comics.The primary title bearing that name was published from 1959-1968....
  • Uncanny Tales
    Uncanny Tales (comics)

    Uncanny Tales was an United States horror comics comic book that had a fifty-six issue run, beginning publication with its cover-dated June 1952 issue and ceasing publication with its cover-dated September 1957 issue....
     #1-56 (June 1952 - Sept. 1957)
  • World of Fantasy
    World of Fantasy

    World of Fantasy was a science fiction/fantasy comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor company, Atlas Comics ....


Jungle

  • Jungle Action
    Jungle Action

    Jungle Action is the name of two separate comic book series published by Marvel Comics and its 1950s precursor, Atlas Comics . The latter-day version is notable for featuring the first series starring the Black Panther , the first major Black superhero....
      #1-6 (Oct. 1954 - Aug. 1955; Vol. 2 published in 1970s)
  • Jungle Tales  #1-7 (Sept. 1954 - Sept. 1955) continued as
  • Jann of the Jungle  #8-17 (Nov. 1955 - June 1957)


  • Lorna, the Jungle Queen  #1-5 (July 1953 - Feb. 1954) continued as
  • Lorna, the Jungle Girl #6-26 (March 1954 - Aug. 1957)

Romance

  • Cindy Smith  #39-40 (May-July 1950; continued from Timely's Cindy Comics) continued as Crime
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Crime Can't Win)
  • Girl Confessions  #13-34 (March 1952 - Aug. 1954; continued from Misc.
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Girl Comics)
  • Love Adventures  #1-12 (Oct. 1949-Aug. 1952; early issues Timely) continued as
  • Actual Confessions  #13-14 (Oct.-Dec. 1952)


  • Love Romances  #6-106 (May 1949 - July 1963; early issues Timely; continued from Timely's Ideal
  • Love Tales  #36-75 (May 1949 - Sept. 1957; early issues Timely; continued from Timely's The Human Torch
    Human Torch (Golden Age)

    The Human Torch is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics-owned superhero. Created by writer-artist Carl Burgos, he first appearance in Marvel Mystery Comics #1 ...
     #1-35; see note at Hero
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
    , above)
  • Lovers  #23-86 (May 1949 - Aug. 1957; early issues Timely; continued from Timely's Blonde Phantom
    Blonde Phantom

    The Blonde Phantom is a fictional masked crimefighter in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editing Stan Lee and artist Syd Shores for Marvel predecessor Timely Comics, she first appearance in All Select Comics #11 , during the 1940s period fans and historians call the Golden Age of Comic Books....
    )
  • Meet Miss Bliss  #1-4 (May 1955 - Nov. 1955) continued as
  • Stories of Romance  #5-13 (March 1956 - Aug. 1957)


  • The Romances of Nurse Helen Grant  #1 (Aug. 1957)


Sports

  • Sports Action  #2-14 (Feb. 1950-Sept. 1952; continued from Timely's Sport Stars)


War

  • 3-D Action  #1 (Jan. 1954)
  • Battle  #1-70 (March 1951 - June 1960)
  • Battle Action  #1-30 (Feb. 1952 - Aug. 1957)
  • Battle Ground (first four issues Battle-Ground)  #1-20 (Sept. 1954 - Sept.1957)
  • Battlefield  #1-11 (April 1952 - May 1953)
  • Battlefront  #1-48 (June 1952 - Aug. 1957)
  • Combat  #1-11 (June 1952 - April 1953)
  • Combat Kelly  #1-44 (Nov. 1951 - Aug. 1957)
  • Commando Adventures  #1-2 (June-Aug. 1957)
  • G.I. Tales  #4-6 (Feb.-July 1957; continued from Humor
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Sergeant Barney Barker)
  • Man Comics  #11-28 (Dec. 1951 - Sept. 1953; continued from Drama
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Man Comics
  • Marines in Action  #1-14 (June 1955 - Sept. 1957)
  • Marines in Battle  #1-25 (Aug. 1954 - Sept. 1958)
  • Men in Action  #1-9 (April-Dec. 1952) continued as
  • Battle Brady  #10-14 (Jan.-June 1953)


  • Men's Adventures  #9-20 (Aug. 1951 - April 1953; continued from Drama
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Men's Adventures) continued as Horror
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Men's Adventures
  • War Combat  #1-5 (March-Nov. 1952) continued as
  • Combat Casey  #6-34 (Jan. 1953 - July 1957)


  • Devil-Dog Dugan  #1-3 (July-Nov. 1956) continued as
  • Tales of the Marines  #4 (Feb. 1957) continued as
  • Marines at War  #5-7 (April-Aug. 1957)

Western

  • 3-D Tales of the West  #1 (Jan. 1954)
  • All Western Winners  #2-4 (Winter 1948 - April 1949; continued from Timely's All Winners Comics vol. 2, #1); continued as
  • Western Winners  #5-7 (June 1949 - Dec. 1949) continued as
  • Black Rider
    Black Rider (comics)

    The Black Rider is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Marvel Universe. He first appeared in All Winners Comics #2 ....
      #8-27 (March 1950 - March 1955) continued as
  • Western Tales of Black Rider  #28-31 (May 1955 - Nov. 1955) continued as
  • Gunsmoke Western  #32-77 (Dec. 1955 - July 1963)


  • Annie Oakley  #1-11 (Spring-Nov. 1948; June 1955 - June 1956)
  • Arizona Kid  #1-6 (March 1951 - Jan. 1952)
  • Arrowhead  #1-4 (April 1954 - Nov. 1954)
  • Best Western  #58-59 (June 1949 - Aug. 1949; continued from n.a.) continued as
  • Western Outlaws & Sheriffs  #60-73 (Dec. 1949 - June 1952)


  • Billy Buckskin Western  #1-3 (Nov. 1955 - March 1956) continued as
  • 2-Gun Western  #4 (May 1956) continued as
  • Two-Gun Western  #5-12 (July 1956 - Sept. 1957)


  • The Black Rider Rides Again!  #1 (Sept. 1957) See also Black Rider, above
  • Frontier Western  #1-10 (Feb. 1956 - August 1957)
  • The Gunhawk  #12-18 (Nov. 1950 - Dec. 1951; continued from successive Timely titles Blaze Carson, Rex Hart, and Whip Wilson)
  • Kid Colt, Hero of the West
    Kid Colt

    Kid Colt is the name of two fictional characters in the Marvel Comics' Marvel Universe. The first is a cowboy whose adventures have taken place in numerous Western themed comic book series published by Marvel....
      #1-2 (Aug.-Oct. 1948) continued as
  • Kid Colt, Outlaw
    Kid Colt

    Kid Colt is the name of two fictional characters in the Marvel Comics' Marvel Universe. The first is a cowboy whose adventures have taken place in numerous Western themed comic book series published by Marvel....
      #3-229 (Dec. 1948 - Marvel Comics)


  • The Kid from Dodge City  #1-2 (July-Sept. 1957)
  • The Kid from Texas  #1-2 (July-Aug. 1957)
  • Matt Slade, Gunfighter  #1-4 (May-Nov. 1956) continued as
  • Kid Slade, Gunfighter  #5-8 (Jan.-July 1957)


  • The Outlaw Kid
    Outlaw Kid

    The Outlaw Kid is a fictional Western hero in Marvel Comics' shared universe, the Marvel Universe, whose comic book series was originally released by the company's 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics ....
      #1-19 (Sept. 1954 - Sept. 1957)
  • Rawhide Kid
    Rawhide Kid

    The Rawhide Kid is a fictional cowboy in Marvel Comics' shared universe. the Marvel Universe. The Rawhide Kid was a heroic gunfighter of the 19th Century American West, who was unjustly wanted as an outlaw....
     #1-16 (March 1955 - Dec. 1961)
  • Red Warrior  #1-6 (Jan.-Dec. 1951)
  • Reno Browne, Hollywood's Greatest Cowgirl  #50-52 (April-Sept. 1950; continued from Timely's Margie) continued as
  • The Apache Kid
    Apache Kid (comics)

    This entry is for the comic-book character. For the unrelated, real-life person, see The Apache Kid . For other usages, see The Apache Kid ....
     #53 (Dec. 1950) continued as
  • Apache Kid
    Apache Kid (comics)

    This entry is for the comic-book character. For the unrelated, real-life person, see The Apache Kid . For other usages, see The Apache Kid ....
     #2-19 (Feb. 1951 - Jan. 1952; Dec. 1954 - April 1956) continued as
  • Western Gunfighters
    Western Gunfighters

    Western Gunfighters is the name of two USA Western fiction omnibus comic book series published by Marvel Comics....
     #20-27 (June 1956 - Aug. 1957)


  • Ringo Kid Western
    Ringo Kid

    The Ringo Kid is a fictional Western hero in the Marvel Comics' Marvel Universe, whose comic book series was originally released by the company's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics ....
     #1-4 (Aug. 1954 - Feb. 1955) continued as
  • Ringo Kid
    Ringo Kid

    The Ringo Kid is a fictional Western hero in the Marvel Comics' Marvel Universe, whose comic book series was originally released by the company's 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics ....
     #5-21 (April 1955 - Sept. 1957)


  • True Western  #1-2 (Dec. 1949 - March 1950) continued as Drama
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title
    True Adventures
  • Western Thrillers  #1-4 (Nov. 1954 - Feb. 1955) continued as
  • Cowboy Action  #5-11 (March 1955 - March 1956) continued as
  • Quick-Trigger Western  #12-19 (May 1956 - Sept. 1957)

Misc.

  • Bible Tales for Young Folk  #1-5 (Aug. 1953 - March 1954)
  • Girl Comics  #1-12 (Oct. 1949 - Jan. 1952) continued as Romance
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Girl Confessions
  • Young Men  #4-23 (June 1950 - Oct. 1953; continued from Timely's Cowboy Romances; note: cover title is Young Men on the Battlefield!  #12-20) continues as Superhero
    Atlas Comics (1950s)

    Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and mass market paperback publisher Martin Goodman , whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporation entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time....
     title Young Men


Note: The romance title Linda Carter, Student Nurse  #1-9 (Sept. 1961 - Jan. 1963), sometimes grouped together with Atlas Comics, chronologically falls within Marvel, and all covers have the "MC" box.

Footnotes


External links