Premiere issue: Marvel Comics #1 In 1939,
pulp magazine publisher
Martin Goodman expanded into the newly emerging comic book field by buying content from
comics packager Funnies, Inc. On August 31, 1939, his first effort,
Marvel Comics #1 (
cover-dated Oct. 1939), from his company
Timely Publications, was published. This featured the
first appearances of writer-artist
Carl Burgos'
android superhero the
Human Torch,
Paul Gustavson's costumed detective the
Angel, and the first generally available appearance of
Bill Everett's
mutant anti-hero Namor the Sub-Mariner. The Sub-Mariner was created for the unpublished movie-theater giveaway comic
Motion Picture Funnies Weekly earlier that year, with the eight-page original story now expanded by four pages. Also included were Al Anders'
Western hero the
Masked Raider (Jim Gardley), canceled after appearing in the first twelve issues; the jungle lord feature "The Adventures of
Ka-Zar the Great", with Ben Thompson beginning a five-issue adaptation of the story "King of Fang and Claw" by Bob Byrd (pseudonym of Martin Goodman) in Goodman's pulp magazine
Ka-Zar #1 (Oct. 1936); the non-continuing-character story "Jungle Terror", featuring an adventurer named Ken Masters and Professor John Roberts, written by the quirkily named Tohm Dixon; "Now I'll Tell One", five single-panel, black-and-white gag cartoons by
Fred Schwab, on the inside front cover; and "Burning Rubber", a two-page prose story by Ray Gill about
auto racing. With a hit on his hands, Goodman began assembling an in-house staff, hiring Funnies, Inc. writer-artist
Joe Simon as editor. Simon brought along his collaborator, artist
Jack Kirby, followed by artist
Syd Shores.
As Marvel Mystery Comics The Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner would continue to star in the long-running title even after receiving their own solo comic-book series shortly afterward. The Angel, who was featured on the covers of issues #2–3, would appear in every issue through #79 (Dec. 1946). Other characters introduced in the title include the aviator the
American Ace (#2, Dec. 1939), with part one of his origin reprinted, like the first part of the Sub-Mariner's, from
Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1; the private detective the
Ferret (Leslie Lenrow) by writer Stockbridge Winslow and artist
Irwin Hasen (issues 4-9, February 1940-July 1940); and writer-artist Steve Dahlman's robot hero Electro, the Marvel of the Age (appearing in every issue from #4–19, Feb. 1940 – May 1941). Issue #13 saw the first appearance of the
Vision, the inspiration for
the same-name Marvel Comics superhero created in 1968. The original Vision appeared in solo stories through
Marvel Mystery Comics #48. The bulk of this series was published under the company name
Atlas Comics.
Marvel Tales included among its contributors writer and editor-in-chief
Stan Lee and such comics artists as Golden Age veterans Harry Anderson,
Carl Burgos,
Bill Everett,
Fred Kida,
Mike Sekowsky,
Syd Shores, and
Ogden Whitney, and, early in their careers,
Dick Ayers,
Gene Colan,
Tony DiPreta,
Mort Drucker,
Russ Heath,
Bernard Krigstein,
Joe Maneely,
Joe Sinnott, and
Basil Wolverton, among others. Issue #147 featured one of
Steve Ditko's first stories for Marvel, "The Vanishing Martians". The series ran 67 issues under the new title, through #159 (Aug. 1957). It ended because of the collapse of Atlas's distributor,
American News Company, and the subsequent restructuring that limited the number of comics the company could publish in a month. An issue of
Marvel Tales was included in a display of covers representative of the "Crime, Horror & Weird Variety" at the April 1954 hearings of the
United States Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency. Marvel published a
different series of the same name in the 1960s, primarily reprinting
Spider-Man stories. ==Reprints==