547 – Marvel’s Torch Still Burning?

In Young Men #24 (August 1953), Atlas (Marvel) Comics attempted to revive its three most popular Golden Age superheroes. First, the Human Torch steps into the spotlight after a 4-year hiatus, explaining his super-powers to the readers, er criminals, narrating his history wherein he explains that he burned Hitler to death: And ensuring everyone still […]

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538 – Speed Carter, Spaceman!

Atlas Comics (Marvel) debuts Speed Carter, Spaceman #1 (May 1953). Speed Carter was a member of the Space Sentinels, which jetted around space stopping invasions and battling space pirates in 2075. Speed Carter was drawn by Joe Maneely who had a pretty distinctive style filled with action and emotion.

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515 – Mordo Combat

Atlas (Marvel) Comics had quite a few publications (more than DC) throughout the Golden and Early Silver many of which were driven by Stan Lee. In the anthological Adventures Into Weird Worlds #11 (July 1952), a one-shot villain named “Swami Mordo” makes an appearance, who shares a name and some characteristics of one of Doctor […]

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506 – Marvel-ous EC Flattery

In Atlas/Marvel’s Mystic Comics #10 (April 1952), it becomes pretty clear that someone over at Atlas (perhaps a Mr. Stan Lee?) is really jealous of the attention that E.C. Comics is getting. Each story features a little blurb that pays homage to an E.C. comic book: Cryptic Tales, Vault of Evil, Crypt of Shadows… I’m […]

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501 – Going My Way?

Speaking of riffing on ideas, Marvel Tales #107 (February 1952) has a tale called “Going My Way?” wherein a spooky ghost utters the phrase repeatedly to the driver of a car, who comes to realize he has died and this is an angel of death. The famous Twilight Zone episode “The Hitch-Hiker” also used this […]

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500 – Journey Into Mystery!

Wow, my 500th entry! It’s hard to believe I’ve been doing this for almost two years! I’m happy to see that I’m well into what I am calling the “Early Silver Age”, where many of the horror and science fictions stories are interesting, even if superheroes themselves have faded down to just a few exceptions. […]

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474 – Strange Tales

In February 1951, Marvel (Timely Comics) sold their first issue of the comic book Strange Tales. It is a mixture of horror-sci-fi stories, but in later years it becomes the home of Doctor Strange and Nick Fury.

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458 – War Comics

Timely (Marvel) Comics debuted War Comics #1 (September 1950). While most war comics of the time are primarily propaganda vehicles, the first story is particularly heavy-handed. A young soldier spends his time complaining to his fellow officer about why the U.S. is involved in the Korean War. Of course by the end of the story, […]

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456 – Marvel Boy 2

In August 1950, Timely (Marvel) Comics gave superheroes one more shot with the introduction of Marvel Boy #1, created by Stan Lee and Russ Heath. Marvel Boy was Robert Grayson, the son of a Jewish scientist who fled the Earth during World War II when his wife was killed and ended up in Uranus. This […]

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434 – Evil and Weird

The very very last vestige of Timely (Marvel) Comics’ superheroes occurs with Captain America’s Weird Tales #75 (November 1949). The cover mentions Captain America, but the book is very clearly EC Comics-inspired (down to the left-hand vertical title bar) with anthological horror tales. The magazine probably needed to include “Captain America” in the title so […]

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