Editing Marvel Comics (section)

=== Timely Publications ===
 {{Main|Timely Comics}}
[[File:MarvelComics1.jpg|left|thumb|''[[Marvel Mystery Comics|Marvel Comics]]'' #1 (Oct. 1939), the first comic from Marvel precursor [[Timely Comics]]. Cover art by [[Frank R. Paul]].]]

[[Pulp-magazine]] publisher [[Martin Goodman (publisher)|Martin Goodman]] created the company later known as Marvel [[Comics]] under the name Timely Publications in 1939.<ref name=marvelcomics1>Postal indicia in issue, per [http://www.comics.org/issue/556/ ''Marvel Comics'' #1 &#91;1st printing&#93; (October 1939)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141103110511/http://www.comics.org/issue/556/ |date=November 3, 2014 }} at the [[Grand Comics Database]]: "Vol.1, No.1, MARVEL COMICS, Oct, 1939 Published monthly by Timely Publications, ... Art and editorial by Funnies Incorporated..."</ref><ref name="MMC4">Per statement of ownership, dated October 2, 1939, published in ''[[Marvel Mystery Comics]]'' #4 (Feb. 1940), p. 40; reprinted in ''Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics'' Volume 1 (Marvel Comics, 2004, {{ISBN|0-7851-1609-5}}), p. 239</ref> Goodman, who had started with a [[Western fiction|Western]] pulp in 1933, was expanding into the emerging—and by then already highly popular—new medium of comic books. Launching his new line from his existing company's offices at 330 West 42nd Street, New York City, he officially held the titles of [[editing|editor]], [[managing editor]], and [[business manager]], with Abraham Goodman (Martin's brother)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bell |first1=Blake |last2=Vassallo |first2=Michael J. |year=2013 |title=The Secret History of Marvel Comics: Jack Kirby and the Moonlighting Artists at Martin Goodman's Empire |publisher=Fantagraphics Books |isbn=978-1-60699-552-5 |page=299}}</ref> officially listed as publisher.<ref name="MMC4" />

Timely's first publication, ''[[Marvel Mystery Comics|Marvel Comics]]'' #1 ([[cover date]]d Oct. 1939), included the first appearance of [[Carl Burgos]]' [[Android (robot)|android]] [[superhero]] the [[Human Torch (android)|Human Torch]], and the first appearances of [[Bill Everett]]'s [[anti-hero]] [[Namor|Namor the Sub-Mariner]],<ref>Writer-artist [[Bill Everett]]'s Sub-Mariner had actually been created for an undistributed movie-theater giveaway comic, ''[[Motion Picture Funnies Weekly]]'' earlier that year, with the previously unseen, eight-page original story expanded by four pages for ''Marvel Comics'' #1.</ref> among other features.<ref name=marvelcomics1 /> The issue was a great success; it and a second printing the following month sold a combined nearly 900,000 copies.<ref name="fromm">Per researcher Keif Fromm, ''[[Alter Ego (magazine)|Alter Ego]]'' #49, p. 4 (caption), ''Marvel Comics'' #1, cover-dated October 1939, quickly sold out 80,000 copies, prompting Goodman to produce a second printing, cover-dated November 1939. The latter appears identical except for a black bar over the October date in the inside front-cover [[indicia (publishing)|indicia]], and the November date added at the end. That sold approximately 800,000 copies—a large figure in the market of that time. Also per Fromm, the first issue of ''[[Captain America Comics]]'' sold nearly one million copies.</ref> While its contents came from an outside packager, [[Funnies, Inc.]],<ref name=marvelcomics1 /> Timely had its own staff in place by the following year. The company's first true editor, writer-artist [[Joe Simon]], teamed with artist [[Jack Kirby]] to create one of the first patriotically themed superheroes,<ref>{{cite book |last=Goulart |first=Ron |title=Comic book culture: an illustrated history |publisher=Collectors Press, Inc. |year=2000 |page=173 |isbn=978-1-888054-38-5}}. Preceding Captain America were [[MLJ Comics]]' the [[Shield (Archie Comics)|Shield]] and [[Fawcett Comics]]' [[Minute-Man]].</ref> [[Captain America]], in ''Captain America Comics'' #1 (March 1941). It, too, proved a hit, with sales of nearly one million.<ref name="fromm" /> Goodman formed Timely Comics, Inc., beginning with comics cover-dated April 1941 or Spring 1941.<ref name=daniels27/><ref>[http://www.comics.org/indicia_publisher/98/ "Marvel : Timely Publications (Indicia Publisher)"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128205434/http://www.comics.org/indicia_publisher/98/ |date=January 28, 2012 }} at the [[Grand Comics Database]]. "This is the original business name under which Martin Goodman began publishing comics in 1939. It was used on all issues up to and including those cover-dated March 1941 or Winter 1940–1941, spanning the period from ''[[Marvel Mystery Comics|Marvel Comics]]'' #1 to ''[[Captain America Comics]]'' #1. It was replaced by Timely Comics, Inc. starting with all issues cover-dated April 1941 or Spring 1941."</ref>

While no other Timely character would achieve the success of these three characters, some notable heroes—many of which continue to appear in modern-day [[Retroactive continuity|retcon]] appearances and flashbacks—include the [[Whizzer (Robert Frank)|Whizzer]], [[Miss America (Madeline Joyce)|Miss America]], the [[Destroyer (Keen Marlow)|Destroyer]], the original [[Vision (Timely Comics)|Vision]], and the [[Angel (Thomas Halloway)|Angel]]. Timely also published one of humor cartoonist [[Basil Wolverton]]'s best-known features, "[[Powerhouse Pepper]]",<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comics.org/search.lasso?type=character&query=powerhouse+pepper&sort=chrono&Submit=Search |title=GCD :: Story Search Results |work=comics.org |access-date=April 4, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071211130225/http://www.comics.org/search.lasso?type=character&query=powerhouse+pepper&sort=chrono&Submit=Search |archive-date=December 11, 2007 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]]/[[Abrams Books|Harry N. Abrams]] |year=1981}}</ref> as well as a line of children's [[talking animals in fiction|talking animal]] comics featuring characters like [[Super Rabbit]] and the duo [[Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal]].

Goodman hired his wife's 16-year-old cousin,<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Stan Lee |first1=Stan |last1=Lee |last2=Mair |first2=George |title=Excelsior!: The Amazing Life of Stan Lee |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group|Fireside Books]] |year=2002 |page=22 |isbn=0-684-87305-2}}</ref> Stanley Lieber, as a general office assistant<!--note: not his personal assistant--> in 1939.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Joe Simon |last1=Simon |first1=Joe |last2=with Simon |first2=Jim |title=The Comic Book Makers |publisher=Crestwood/II Publications |year=1990 |page=208 |isbn=1-887591-35-4}}</ref> When editor Simon left the company in late 1941,<ref name=mylife113-14>{{cite book |title=Joe Simon: My Life in Comics |author-link=Joe Simon |first=Joe |last=Simon |publisher=[[Titan Books]] |year=2011 |location=London, UK |isbn=978-1-84576-930-7 |pages=113–114}}</ref> Goodman made Lieber—by then writing pseudonymously as "[[Stan Lee]]"—interim editor of the comics line, a position Lee kept for decades except for three years during his military service in [[World War II]]. Lee wrote extensively for Timely, contributing to a number of different titles.

Goodman's business strategy involved having his various magazines and comic books published by a number of corporations all operating out of the same office and with the same staff.<ref name=daniels27 /> One of these [[Shell corporation|shell companies]] through which Timely Comics was published was named Marvel Comics by at least ''Marvel Mystery Comics'' #55 (May 1944). As well, some comics' covers, such as ''All Surprise Comics'' #12 (Winter 1946–47), were labeled "A Marvel Magazine" many years before Goodman would formally adopt the name in 1961.<ref>[http://www.comics.org/issue/75617/cover/4/ Cover, ''All Surprise Comics'' #12] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628231428/http://www.comics.org/issue/75617/cover/4/ |date=June 28, 2011 }} at the [[Grand Comics Database]]</ref> The company begin identifying the group of its comic division as '''Marvel Comic Group''', on some comics cover-dated November 1948, when the company set up an in-house editorial board to compete with the likes of [[DC Comics|DC]] and [[Fawcett Comics|Fawcett]], even though the legal name is still Timely.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Seduction of the Innocent: More Anti-Comics Items |url=http://www.lostsoti.org/MoreAntiComics.htm |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=www.lostsoti.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=March 8, 2021 |title=TheComicBooks.com - The History of Graphic Novels |url=http://www.thecomicbooks.com/nsp1-21.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308020359/http://www.thecomicbooks.com/nsp1-21.html |archive-date=March 8, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=V |first=Doc |date=2011-02-06 |title=Timely-Atlas-Comics: Part 1: Fredric Wertham, Censorship & the Timely Anti-Wertham Editorials |url=http://timely-atlas-comics.blogspot.com/2011/02/frederic-wertham-censorship-anti.html |access-date=2024-07-12 |website=Timely-Atlas-Comics}}</ref>