Marvel Comics The Timely Years 1939-1949: A Reader's Guide to Marvel Comics in the 40s

By Brad C Bishop

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

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9781667897691

Book preview

MARVEL COMICS

The Timely Years

1939-1949

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

Brad C Bishop

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

ISBN: 9781667897691

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Technical Stuff

Acknowledgments

The Magazines

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

The Features

1939

1940

1941

1942

1943

1944

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

Magazine Index/Year of First Publication

Character Index/Date of First Appearance

INTRODUCTION

This project began during the COVID pandemic while I was spending a lot of my waking hours alone in my condo sitting at my computer. Now, several years before that time, I had discovered a couple websites that made older comic books dating back to what we now call the Golden Age of Comics available to read and I had spent much of my free time reading the early exploits of some Marvel heroes.

I had grown up in the 60s and 70s reading comic books, particularly Marvel comics. The first comic book I remember buying was Fantastic Four #126 when I was 11 years old, and even though I read books from many different comic companies throughout my teens, my favorites were always from Marvel.

Fortunately, in the 70s, a big part of Marvel’s output was reprint magazines and I found myself drawn to practically any story from the 60s I could find, particularly those starring my favorite heroes like the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, the Avengers and especially the original X-Men. I bought every trade paperback (like The Origins of Marvel Comics and Son of Origins of Marvel Comics) that showcased early stories from the Marvel Age and soon had a pretty good idea of what had taken place in the Marvel Universe during the decade before I first discovered it.

I kept reading Marvel through my early adult years but somewhere in the mid-90’s I found the current books just didn’t bring me the joy that older comics had brought me, and I stopped keeping up with new comics and I actually sold my entire collection to pay for car repairs.

In the 2000’s, Marvel started putting out their Essential paperbacks, inexpensive black-and-white volumes reprinting complete runs of pretty much every superhero magazine from the 60s and I found that rediscovering these restored the joy of reading comic books for me.

And then, as the internet expanded, I discovered I could find online copies of even earlier comics going all the way back to Marvel Comics #1 in 1939. I soon found myself engrossed in the stories of not just heroes I was familiar with like Captain America and the Sub-Mariner but those whom I had never heard of like the Angel (not the X-Man), the Young Allies, the Destroyer, the (unfortunately named) Whizzer and Miss America.

I started looking into the many magazines published by Marvel (then called Timely) during the 40s and found that if I had only read the Human Torch stories in the Human Torch magazine, I would miss about half of the Human Torch stories published. So with all the spare time I had during the COVID lockdown of 2020, I started researching online to find where all the Human Torch stories of the 40s had first appeared and how I should read them chronologically (because that’s the way my brain works). And of course this led to me doing the same for the Sub-Mariner and Captain America and, being a completist, I started compiling lists for every single character that appeared in a Timely magazine, even ones that only had one or two stories. But because I enjoyed the project so much I kept going with the other non-superhero characters like Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal, Patsy Walker, and the Two-Gun Kid. And all that work led to what you are reading now.

I realize that this book is not for everybody and that it contains a lot more information than most comic book readers would be interested in. But when I got through reading every single Timely comic book (that I could find) published in 1939 and the 1940s, and keeping track of which characters appeared in each issue, and what order they appeared on the newsstand, I thought maybe there are others like me who would enjoy and be fascinated by the detailed minutiae of the early history of Marvel Comics. Maybe there are some people that would actually want to read all of the stories of the Defender, Super Rabbit, Millie the Model or Kid Colt Outlaw.

I also realize that there is a lot of material published by Timely that is really not that good and some of it is downright boring. But I can honestly say that most of what they put out was fun to read (although I do not recommend reading four or five issues one right after another in one sitting, as I often did).

Readers must also realize that these comics were a product of their time, a time that in many ways was very different than ours. Modern readers may not (and very often, should not) appreciate the portrayal of and attitudes toward minority races and women in some of the stories. If you feel that this will prevent you from enjoying these stories you may want to forego reading them.

I did not write this book because I believe all of the comics described are classics and should be read by everyone. I wrote this book because I enjoyed the comics, I enjoyed the process, I found I didn’t want to stop, and, like I said, I am an unabashed completist.

And I’m pretty sure I’m gonna keep going into the 50s.

TECHNICAL STUFF

In this book, when I use the term ‘feature’ I am referring to a set of stories with a specific star or cast of characters that may have appeared in one or more magazines. In the later 40s, Timely started publishing magazines that were anthologies of non-feature stories, stories that were meant to be one shots whose characters only appeared in that one specific story. Granted, some features only appeared in one story so at times it’s difficult knowing when a story was meant to be the first in a continuing feature or just a one-shot story.

The first part of this book deals with the magazines themselves, year by year. I discuss the year overall, looking at influences and trends, what genres were gaining or losing popularity, how Timely was branding itself on the covers and inside, etc. I then list each magazine (in the order in which they were first published) and all of the issues published that year. Over the decade, many magazines change titles and even genres, and some even adjust the numbering after the title change, but I treat all the changes as one continuous magazine. A ] after the issue numbers signifies the end of that magazine.

For each issue I list the issue number, the dates, the number of pages and all of the features with stories in the issue.

The issue numbers are, for the most part, fairly straightforward. The Human Torch magazine does have two issue #2s, but that is explained in that entry. Miss America Magazine also restarts its numbering several times. Several magazines change titles but maintain the numbering of the previous title and often it is a challenge figuring out which title is actually being continued.

Each issue has two dates assigned, the publication month that it first appeared on the newsstand, and the cover date which is the month, season or year printed on the cover or in the indicia at the bottom of the inside front cover. Very rarely, if ever, are these two the same and there is usually a two or three month difference between the two. For example, an issue published in January usually has a cover date of March or April. All of my chronology and ordering of issues is based on the publication date and I pretty much ignore the cover date (which may irritate some readers).

The number of pages always includes the cover, front and back, inside and outside.

Issues separated by a dotted line show a title change. An issue with a solid underline is the last issue for that title.

I made little charts to show which features appear in each issue, using abbreviations for each feature which are explained beneath the chart.

* = that feature appears in one story in that issue

o = this is the first story published to appear for that feature

# = a number means that there are multiple stories in that issue and tells how many

R= the entire issue consists of reprinted stories

The second part of the book looks at the features, again listing them in the order in which they first appeared by publication date. I discuss the characters and some important plot points, changes that happen including the introductions of important characters and, when available, the artists and writers involved. I then list every issue in which the feature appears in that specific publication year, again in chronological order. If the feature has more than one story in an issue I signify that with the number of stories after the issue number. I do not summarize the plots of each individual story and I do not spend any time on the text stories or the rare reprints.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

When it comes to finding the publication dates, I was completely dependent and very grateful for the Mike’s Amazing World of Comics website which lists not just Timely/Marvel comics but virtually all the comic books published in the United States during this and the previous century.

I am no expert at identifying the artists that worked at Timely during the 40s and so once again I depended on experts, particularly the experts at the Grand Comics Database website and the Atlas Tales website.

Because I do not have the financial resources to buy all of the Timely comics of the 40s, I read all of these online and I am very grateful for the work put into scanning all of these issues. Unfortunately, due to the number of pop-up ads I had to battle with (including many that were not quite suitable for work, as they say) and at times the threats of viruses, I do not feel comfortable listing these sites.

Although I was able to read the vast majority of comics published by Timely, there are still several that are unavailable online. The issues that I was not able to read are highlighted in yellow. Some issues are so hard to find that I couldn’t even get any information about them on the websites listed above so I marked them with question marks.

So I dedicate this project to those comic book nerds like me who are not only fascinated by the history and the evolution of the comic book, particularly Marvel Comics, but who just enjoy reading them.

THE MAGAZINES

1939

It all started in 1939, specifically in August, when Timely published Marvel Comics #1, an action anthology featuring not only its first superheroes, but also a western and a jungle adventure. Some of these characters would disappear quickly, some characters would continue to appear in comics for the rest of the century, albeit in often strikingly altered forms.

Throughout the rest of the year, Timely published five more issues between two different titles, both of them action anthologies with features encompassing many different genres.

All the issues were 68 pages, priced at 10 cents, with no ads except for the back cover, inside and outside, and the inside front cover, although in the December issues the inside front cover was used as an in-company request/contest for letters explaining which features the readers liked or disliked. The page was signed simply, ‘The Editor’.

Each issue also contained a two-page type-written story, with an illustration, sometimes involving characters from the magazine. This practice would continue throughout the 40s, indeed, into the 60s.

The covers had nothing to identify the publishing company, Timely, but it was named in the indicia at the bottom of the inside front cover.

Marvel Comics (#1)/Marvel Mystery Comics (#2-4)

This magazine was always fairly consistent with its feature lineup compared to other titles, although the word Mystery was added to the title with the second issue. It featured three superheroes, a western and a jungle adventure. The five features in the first issue, Human Torch, The Angel, Sub-Mariner, Masked Ranger and Ka-Zar appeared in all four issues this year. Amazingly, one of these characters would last into the Silver Age and the names of 3 others would be used as names for characters in the Silver Age. American Ace was added in the second issue but only lasted for two installments, and then Electro and Ferret were added in the third issue, expanding the diversity of genres with science-fiction and detective stories.

The first issue contained a one-shot jungle adventure and also included a page of one-panel comedy on the inside front cover. The second issue also featured two pages of one-panel comedy on the inside and outside back cover.

With issue #3, Alex Schomburg took over as the cover artist. The front covers featured one of the three superhero characters along with blurbs about some of the other features. Schomburg’s covers could be very busy but also very fun, oftentimes with giant-sized heroes but depicting scenarios that never occurred in the actual stories.

HT=Human Torch, Ang=Angel, Sub=Sub-Mariner, MR=Masked Raider, KZ=Ka-Zar, Ele=Electro, Fer-Ferret

Daring Mystery Comics (#1-2)

Timely followed up with Daring Mystery Comics two months later. Sadly, it can’t be said that lightning struck twice. While all of the features in Marvel #1 stuck around for at least nine months, none of the features in Daring stuck around for issue #2, although two of them did make brief comebacks in the following year. All of the features were replaced in the second issue, but even two of the new ones never made it another issue.

There was something for everyone in these two issues, with eight stories in the first issue, six in the second. There were superheroes, war stories, westerns, magicians, sports, detectives, science-fiction and even jungle adventures. Some of them may have been intended as one-shot stories, but several of them ended with a promise for another story next issue, only to never be seen again. The first issue also included a one page comic featuring different facts dealing with war and weapons.

FM=Fiery Mask, JS=John Steele, TK=Texas Kid, Mon=Monako, FF=Flash Foster, PU=Phantom of the Underworld, BM=Barney Mullen, ZJ=Zephyr Jones, PB=Phantom Bullet, Tro=Trojak, K4=K-4, MrE=Mr. E, LM=Laughing Mask

1940

Timely published 25 comics in 1940 over 5 series, all superhero/action series. They certainly couldn’t be accused of being afraid to try new things, seeing that they introduced close to 50 new features throughout the year, although most of them had faded into oblivion by the end of the year. Marvel Mystery Comics was the flagship, being published monthly the entire year and maintaining a fairly constant roster of features. They introduced a new anthology, Mystic Comics, in January, and in June, they published the first series titled after a specific character, the Red Raven, but they decided to focus instead on the Human Torch from Marvel Mystery starting with the second issue. At the end of the year, they released the first issue of Captain America Comics, the last of the Big 3 characters of the Marvel Golden Age, who would go on to become one of the most popular characters of the era.

Timely increasingly featured stories pointing out the growing danger from Nazi Germany and, even though America had not yet entered the war, the writers were not afraid to express their concern for the rise of fascism.

Although the focus of the magazines was still action and increasingly superheroes, Timely started to throw in humor features like Little Hercules, Officer O’Krime and Stuporman. It wouldn’t be too long before Timely fully committed to the humor genre.

The issues were once again all 68 pages and priced at 10 cents (15 in Canada), The covers all had characters from that issue, but the scenes depicted often had no relationship to any actual story inside. The ads were reserved for the inside front cover and the back cover, although sometimes they were used to promote other magazines. In September, on the cover of the second issue of Human Torch Comics, there was a blurb reading ‘Marvel Comics Special Feature’, although whether it was meant to refer to the company as a whole or that the Human Torch had been featured in Marvel Mystery Comics is unclear. But you definitely got the impression that Timely was becoming more and more aware of itself as a brand.

Marvel Mystery Comics (#5-16)

Marvel Mystery Comics was the only truly constant and consistent of Timely’s series this year. It was published every month and there were only two feature endings and replacements. In June, Terry Vance replaces Ferret, and in September, the Vision replaces the Masked Raider.

Of course, the event of the year was the crossover between the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner, begun in #8, and a full-blown 22 page epic single story in #9 with art by both Burgos and Everett, and with a brief ending in #10. What has become commonplace in the Silver Age must have been mind-blowing in 1940.

Issue 9 also included a one-page feature on the last page with facts about underwater creatures, while issue 10 featured a one-page humor feature about fictional inventors. The inside back cover of issue 11 had a contest/survey asking the readers to grade the different features of the magazine.

After a Jack Kirby Angel cover on issue 12, the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner pretty much took over the cover, usually with beautiful Schomburg artwork.

HT=Human Torch, Ang=Angel, Sub=Sub-Mariner, MR=Masked Raider, Ele=Electro, Fer-Ferret, KZ=Ka-Zar, TV=Terry Vance, Vis=Vision

Daring Mystery Comics (#3-6)

Daring Mystery Comics was once again all over the map in 1940. There were only four issues published, all in the first half of the year, and no one feature appeared in all four issues. Just about all genres were represented: detective, science-fiction, superhero, jungle, robot, war, magician, even humor. Issue 3 included a one-page humor story called ‘The Medicine Man’.

The covers were all by Schomburg except the last, by Kirby and Simon, and each featured a different character.

After issue 6, the magazine went on an eight month hiatus.

Dal=Dale of the FBI, Brz=Breeze Barton, PM=Purple Mask, PR=Phantom Reporter, Tro=Trojak, Mvx=Marvex, CaS=Captain Strong, K4=K-4, Mon=Monako, WhC=Whirlwind Carter, GMD=G-Man Don Gorman, FM=Fiery Mask, LH=Little Hercules, Fal=Falcon, MvB=Marvel Boy, Stu=Stuporman, FlF=Flying Flame, Dyn=Dynaman, Tig=Tigerman

Mystic Comics (#1-5)

Mystic Comics debuted in January of 1940 and it was another action anthology with a variety of genres included. Only five issues were published this year, the first three in the first three months, then 3 months later, then 6 months later. Then there was a seven month gap till issue 6.

All of the features were new except Zephyr Jones which jumped here from Daring #1. Just like the other two magazines, there were robots, superheroes, detectives, magicians and science-fiction, but as the year progressed, there is a noticeable increase in superheroes. In fact, by issue #6, all of the features were superheroes. None of the features introduced in this magazine lasted very long. All of the features in issue 1 were gone by issue 5. This series had the distinction of being the first to have features with women as the leads, Zara of the Jungle (#3) and the Black Widow (#5).

Issue 1 reprinted a story from Funny Pages in 1937 and on the last page had a full-page ad for the other two magazines. Issue 4 ended with a ‘What’s Wrong With These Pictures?’ page.

As usual, all the covers were by Schomburg, but each featured a different character.

Flx=Flexo, BBz=Blue Blaze, ZJ=Zephyr Jones, 3Xs=3 X’s, Dak=Dakor, Dnc=Dynamic Man, Exc=Excello, SpR=Space Rangers, TxT=Taxi Taylor, DrG=Dr. Gade, Zar=Zara, Hrc=Hercules, Thi=Thin Man, BlW=Black Widow, Mrz=Merzah, BkM=Black Marvel, Slv=Super-Slave, SEM=Sub-Earth Man, Ter=Terror, Moo=Moon-Man, BzS=Blazing Skull

Red Raven Comics (#1)/The Human Torch (#2-3)

Red Raven Comics #1 was published in May 1940 and it stands out as an anomaly in many ways. It was Joe Simon’s first issue as editor and it also contains Jack Kirby’s first cover for Timely. It was also Timely’s first series named after a specific character although there were seven stories in the issue, only one of which featured that character. The other six stories were the debuts of six different characters, only two of which would ever appear again in the Golden Age, and one of them was a humor strip.

Something was definitely going on behind the scenes in the making of this issue. At the end of virtually all of the stories, instead of a blurb promising another story in the next issue, there were advertisements for other Timely magazines, most commonly the Human Torch/Sub-Mariner crossover in Marvel Mystery Comics. It almost seems that the publishers knew before it even hit the newsstands that this would be the only issue, and that most of these characters would never be seen again.

Instead The Human Torch took over the magazine with issue 2, starting with the introduction of his young sidekick Toro. This issue also had a Sub-Mariner story, the final appearances of The Fiery Mask and the Falcon from Daring and the first and only appearances of Microman and Mantor the Magician. Interestingly, the two text pages were fictional retellings of the creations of the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner, featuring Burgos and Everett.

The third issue contained one 40 page Human Torch story, split into two chapters, and a 20 page Sub-Mariner story interspersed with several inter-company ads and a two-page text story of a Human Torch/Sub-Mariner meet-up to argue which of them has the better artist. The Sub-Mariner would become the de facto back-up feature for several years, and would often appear on the cover, both of this year’s by Schomburg. This is also the first series to be published quarterly using the seasons as the cover date.

Red=Red Raven, HTp=Human Top, Mer=Mercury, CmP=Comet Pierce, OOK=Officer O’Krime, Mag=Magar, EBr=Eternal Brain, HT=Human Torch, Sub=Sub-Mariner, Fal=Falcon, Mic=Microman, Mtr=Mantor, FM=Fiery Mask

Captain America Comics (#1)

Captain America Comics #1 hit the shelves in December of 1940 and would go on to be one of Timely’s most successful comics, and, of course, Cap would become one of the major characters of the Marvel Silver Age and beyond. It all started here with a Kirby and Simon cover depicting Cap punching Hitler months before the US entered the war. This issue was the first Timely mag to use the inside front cover as a table of contents for the mag. It contained four Cap and Bucky stories starting with their origin, but also introduced Hurricane (a reworking of Mercury from Red Raven #1) and Tuk the Caveboy, all of which came from Simon and Kirby. There is also the first ad for the Sentinels of Liberty, a fan club of sorts in which you can get an official badge and membership card for ten cents! The issue also contains an ad for the first issue of USA Comics, called

Captain America’s companion comic book, which would be published the first month of 1941.

Cap=Captain America, Hur=Hurricane, Tuk=Tuk

1941

1941 was the year that super-heroes truly reigned supreme and World War II provided the background for a majority of the stories. Timely published 42 issues in 1941 over 10 different series, five of which debuted this year, and over the course of the year, introduced 29 new features, the majority of which would be superheroes, and a few that would actually still be around a year later. The issues were all still 68 pages and priced at 10 cents. The text stories usually featured characters from the magazine until the end of this year, when they became rather generic, not geared towards any specific series. The only advertisements were on the covers, inside and out, but ads for other Timely mags were becoming more and more commonplace between the stories. There were some ads for a new series called All-Aces Comics #1 which was to feature some of the most popular characters (Cap, Torch, Subby, Angel, etc) but don’t try to find a copy of it. At some point before publication, the title was changed to All-Winners Comics!

Marvel Mystery Comics (#17-28)

Once again, Marvel Mystery Comics was the flagship for the Timely line of comics. It was published monthly and of all the anthology series it had the least amount of feature turnover.

The Human Torch and Toro were featured on the covers eight times, the Sub-Mariner twice and they shared the cover twice. But even when he wasn’t featured the Torch was still prominently displayed. And the heroes were shown battling Nazis on eight of the twelve covers. The covers were once again all drawn by Schomburg but, interestingly, several of the covers also carried small ads for the Torch’s and Subby’s solo magazines.

The year begins with another extra long crossover story with the Human Torch and Sub-Mariner followed by a page for a contest for readers to write a little dialog for the two heroes (the winner is announced in #23), with a framed ‘portrait’ of the Torch on the back cover. (Subby’s portrait was on the back cover of #21) With #18, Toro permanently joined the Torch in his feature and on the cover. Electro’s last appearance was in #19 and replaced in #21 by The Patriot who had debuted in The Human Torch #4.

Up until #26, the two-page text stories all featured one of the characters in the issue, sometimes more than one, and sometimes told the story depicted on the cover. After that, the text stories did not feature super-heroes too often, but in #28, we get the first of several written by Mickey Spillane.

#27 had a request for the readers to rank their favorite features in the magazine, and the mail must have travelled very fast back then because in #28, Ka-Zar was replaced with Jimmy Jupiter, a fantasy adventure that was definitely a sign that Timely was going to be trying different directions in the months to come.

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

Daring Mystery Comics (#7-8)/

Daring only appeared two more times, #7 after an eight months hiatus and #8 after another eight months. Once again, issue 7 pretty much started from a clean slate with seven new features, five of them superheroes, plus the humor strip, Office O’Krime. In fact, the cover by Simon featured five of the new characters. One of the new characters was the Silver Scorpion, Timely’s first true female superhero. Issue 8, despite the gap

between issues, continued five of the features from #7 adding one more new superhero feature, and two humor features and also showcased many of the characters on the cover,

this time by Kirby. It was almost inevitable that Daring would end at this time considering the schizophrenic roster of features, none of which seemed to grab the readers’ attention for too long, the haphazard publishing schedule, and the changing directions Timely was heading the following year. It found more success and longevity under its new title in the first month of ‘42. In ‘44, however, the title was relaunched under the title Daring Comics starting with issue #9.

Thu=Thunderer, Fin=Fin, BDi=Blue Diamond, OOK=Officer O’Krime, SSc=Silver Scorpion, Mil=Mr. Millions, CDa=Captain Daring, Cha=Challenger, CzV=Citizen V, P&R=Lil Professor & Rudy the Robot, T&T=Tubby & Tack

Mystic Comics (#6-8)

Like Daring Mystery Comics, it seems like Mystic Comics had been canceled since there were seven months between issues 5 and 6. And, even more unusual, when it did return, only one of the features was brand new, although one of the returning features, The Challenger, had only appeared in Daring, not Mystic. (Maybe the editors thought Daring was over and done but still liked The Challenger.) The new feature was The Destroyer, in fact, we get two Destroyer stories in issue 6, and he gets the covers for the rest of the year. Mystic continued in an almost bimonthly schedule into the following year. The remaining issues of 1941 kept the same roster of characters but added The Witness, Davey and the Demon (a fantasy adventure) and even threw in The Black Widow for issue 7.

Des=Destroyer, BkM=Black Marvel, Ter=Terror, Cha=Challenger, BzS=Blazing Skull, Wit=Witness, BlW=Black Widow, D&D=Davey & the Demon

The Human Torch (#4-5b)

First, let’s talk about the issue numbers. The Spring issue had a 3 on the cover but a 4 in the indicia at the bottom of the inside front cover (I’m gonna call it issue 4). The Summer issue had no number on the cover but a 5 in the indicia (I’m gonna call it 5a). And the Fall issue had a 5 on the cover and a 5 in the indicia (I’m calling it 5b). All straight?

Anyway, the series continued to feature two of Timely’s biggest stars. In #s 4 and 5a, there was a 40 page Human Torch story (in two parts) and a 10 page Sub-Mariner story, along with a 10 page story starring the Patriot, a new feature capitalizing on the idea of patriotic heroes that started with Captain America, and who would go on to a successful run over the next several years. Issue 5b, however, had a 60 page crossover between the Torch and Subby, along with two one page features, the first installment of Tubby and Tack and the third of Unsolved Mysteries.

Once again, the covers were all by Schomburg, usually with no connection to the stories within, and always giving a prominent space for Subby.

HT=Human Torch, Sub=Sub-Mariner, Pat=Patriot, T&T=Tubby & Tack, UnM=Unsolved Mysteries

Captain America Comics (#2-11)

Captain America Comics was one of the best selling comics of the Forties, selling around a million copies of each issue, and quickly became the second Timely series to be published monthly, having ten issues this year. Each issue had three or four Cap stories and a fairly steady roster of back-up features. Tuk lasted four issues but was replaced by Headline Hunter and Father Time which stayed around till the next year. Each issue had a Table of Contents on the inside front cover, and, starting with issue 6, the Sentinels of Liberty Secret Club News page which usually had messages from Cap and Bucky, activities and coded messages.

The text stories featured Cap in each issue until #9 (in fact, issue 4’s story featured Cap and the Sentinels of Liberty, the precursor of the Young Allies!) and issue 3’s text story is considered the first published writing of a very young Stan Lee. Issues 3 also contains an odd, two-page story called ‘Amazing Spy Adventures’ and issue 11 contains a one-page feature titles ‘Do You Know?’, both appear to simply be page fillers. Issue 4 has a portrait of Cap and Bucky on the back cover of which you could get a copy by joining the Sentinels (according to an ad in #3), and except for a couple by Schomburg, the covers were by Kirby until the end of the year. Issue #5 contains the first installment of Headline Hunter, considered Stan Lee’s first scripted comic. Starting with issue #8, the pages were numbered at the top of the pages along with the words Captain America.

This year also marks the first time in a Timely magazine that a seemingly dead villain is brought back, the Red Skull in issue 3, a trend that would continue throughout the history of comics!

Simon and Kirby did all of the creative work on Cap’s stories for most of this year. Kirby started using two-page spreads for the start of many of his stories. Unfortunately, they left Timely after issue 10, leaving Al Avison to take over as Cap’s artist.

Cap=Captain America, Tuk=Tuk, Hur=Hurricane, HeH=Headline Hunter, FaT=Father Time

Sub-Mariner Comics (#1-3)

The Sub-Mariner got his own magazine in the spring of ‘41, cementing his status as one of the heavy hitters of the Timely stable of characters. In fact, he was the first to be regularly appearing in three different magazines. In each issue of his own series, he had

two 20-page stories (although the story in issue 3 was one big story in two parts) and the editors gave the back-up slot to the Angel from Marvel Comics, giving him his first 20-page stories. Issue 2 had two one-page filler features, one a fact-filled page called ‘Steaming Statistics of Fire and Water’ and the other a slightly humorous story called ‘Bum Jokes’. Schomburg did all three covers and even took over for Everett on the Subby stories in issue 3.

Sub=Sub-Mariner, Ang=Angel

USA Comics (#1-3)

USA Comics debuted in April and was the fourth of Timely’s superhero anthologies, starting off with six never-before-seen features. The name of the series probably was meant to tap into the patriotic fervor of the time, but only half of the characters had a patriotic theme to them. It’s nice to see heroes with more specific, visually interesting powers, like the super-fast (but unfortunately named) Whizzer and the super-cold Jack Frost. The first issue also contained the first work for Timely from Basil Wolverton  (before he found his niche of super-wacky humor) with Rockman, Underground Secret Agent, whose name seemed to have been chosen just for the initials. The other features in the first issue were the Defender (who was featured on the first cover (by Kirby)), Mr. Liberty and the Young Avenger.

By the second issue, Mr. Liberty was promoted to Major Liberty and the Young Avenger was gone, replaced by Captain Terror (who is featured on the next two covers by Simon) and the rather unique Vagabond, the crime-fighting hobo. By the third issue, the Whizzer had sped away to another magazine, replaced by Powers of the Press, the crime-fighting reporter, and an installment of Unsolved Mysteries.

Def=Defender, Whi=Whizzer, MLi=Mr./Major Liberty, Roc=Rockman, YAv=Young Avenger, JFr=Jack Frost, CaT=Captain Terror, Vag=Vagabond, UnM=Unsolved Mysteries, PoP=Powers of the Press

All-Winners Comics (#1-3)

All-Winners Comics first appeared in May and was Timely’s fifth superhero anthology, but there were no new characters here. The editors decided to give the readers even more of their three superstars, the Human Torch, Sub-Mariner and Captain America, even though they each had their own magazines already. They also gave us stories from other characters, Black Marvel and the Angel in the first issue and then the Destroyer and Whizzer in the second and third issue. (along with an Unsolved Mysteries page in #2). The covers by Schomburg and Simon featured all of the characters and most of the features were written and drawn by the original creators.

HT=Human Torch, BkM=Black Marvel, Cap=Captain America, Sub=Sub-Mariner, Ang=Angel, Des=Destroyer, Whi=Whizzer, UnM=Unsolved Mysteries

Young Allies (#1-2)

Young Allies is unique in several ways. It can be considered Timely’s first comic about a group of heroes and Timely’s first spin-off magazine, using Bucky from Captain America and Toro from Human Torch as two members of the group, and the pair would often get top-billing on the covers and stories. It was Timely’s first magazine that had one epic 50 to 60 page story in each issue leaving little space for a back-up feature. It was also Timely’s first feature with an African-American hero, which will be discussed below.

Oddly enough, many of the pages in the first issue had a blurb at the top of the page encouraging the readers to tell their friends about the Young Allies. The first issue contained the first installment of Unsolved Mysteries and the second issue contained another plus a one-page feature called ‘Debunker’ which explained away some common misconceptions and appeared to have been drawn by the same artist as Unsolved Mysteries.

YA=Young Allies, UnM=Unsolved Mysteries

Tough Kid Squad Comics (#1)]

The Young Allies sales report for the first issue must have been encouraging because Timely tried to replicate its success right away with the Tough Kid Squad. Unfortunately, lightning did not strike twice because there was no second issue. They definitely did their best to mimic the Young Allies, one issue-long story featuring a group of five young boys, in this case, all on the same school football team, each filling a specific personality niche, and including a minority. Here it’s a young Native American but he was still presented as an offensive stereotype in speech and dress. Maybe it was the lack of already established characters like Bucky and Toro, but they must not have caught on and this was the only issue published. It also included the Tough Kid Game Page and stories featuring the Flying Flame who appeared a year earlier in Daring Comics and the Human Top who appeared a year earlier in Red Raven Comics.

TKS=Tough Kid Squad, FlF=Flying Flame, HTp=Human Top

1942

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

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

One of the funny animal magazines,