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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Before the MARVEL AGE Of COMICS began in 1961, publisher MARTIN GOODMAN decided to revive TIMELY COMICS' three main superheroes of the '30s and '40s and see if he could repeat the wartime popularity that the characters had once enjoyed. It was 1953, and by this stage Timely was now calling itself ATLAS - at least on the covers. However, the indicia inside the mags usually sported a different name, as Goodman had many subsidiaries within the comicbook line's parent company, MAGAZINE MANAGEMENT.
In the case of YOUNG MEN #24, it was INTERSTATE PUBLISHING CORP., and within its interiors The HUMAN TORCH, SUB-MARINER, and CAPTAIN AMERICA made their return to four-colour comicbooks. They only lasted five issues though, before disappearing again, and the world had to wait until the '60s to see The Human Torch (though not the original) and The Sub-Mariner in the pages of The FANTASTIC FOUR, and Captain America in The AVENGERS. (A try-out with an impostor appeared in a Torch solo story in STRANGE TALES to gauge reader reaction to the prospect of Cap's return.)
Well, you know the rest. All three characters are still around today in some form or other, so all's well that ends well, eh? I think I've got an issue of FANTASY MASTERPIECES somewhere that reprints Young Men #24, but the reproduction (if I remember correctly) isn't all that great and besides, I can't be bothered digging it out. So here instead is the cover and splash pages of #25 for you to paste your peepers on. Just think how different the future of the comicbook industry might've been had this '50s revival been successful.
For some reason, the super-hero genre was in a slump in the 1950s, and Atlas' attempted revivals of Captain America, Namor, and the Torch did not catch on. So, IIUC, the company mostly did science fiction anthologies like Tales to Astonish and Journey Into Mystery. Watered-down imitations of EC's stuff like Weird Science and Tales From the Crypt.
ReplyDeleteAFAIK, the only super-heroes who stayed popular enough to star in their own self-titled comics in the '50s were DC's Big Three (Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman). Aquaman and Green Arrow may have starred in secondary strips in Adventure Comics.
Just a few years later, though, DC had success with their revived/revised versions of the Flash and Green Lantern. And then they scored a big hit by teaming up their super-heroes in Justice League of America.
In fact, Fantastic Four, the comic that started the Marvel Age, was created because JLA was selling well and Marvel wanted a superhero team comic of their own.
Yeah, the old golf game story which some have disputed, but whether it happened or not, Martin Goodman obviously got wind of JLA's sales statistics somehow, hence the FF.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that makes me doubt some people's claims that Jack Kirby was totally responsible for dreaming up the FF on his own is that I doubt he'd have used the Torch, due to the fact that he reputedly didn't like working on other people's characters. And Mr. Fantastic was too similar to Plastic Man, and I doubt that Jack would've come up with such an obvious rip-off.
Strangely, the FF are conspicuous by their absence on the cover of Marvel Comics #1000.