MARVEL COMICS

#1, 1961, Marvel Comics; cover art by Jack Kirby

A division of Marvel Entertainment, Inc., Marvel Comics, created in 1939 as Timely Publications, was also known as Atlas Comics in the 1950s. Super-Hero archetypes popular during the depression became unfashionable in the post-World War II era, and comic book sales declined. Pop Cultural fads led Timely/Atlas Comics to produce genres including, western, horror, humor, fantasy, war, and crime. An attempt at reviving the Super-Hero archetypes, with Captain America, Sub-Mariner, and the Human Torch lasted from late 1953 to mid-1954. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, DC Comics successfully revived the sales of Super-Hero comics. Over at Marvel, editor/writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four. Somewhat like DC's Challengers of the Unknown, a group of four adventurers Kirby had come up with for DC in 1957, Marvel's Fantastic Four somewhat changed the pattern of the Super-Hero team. The Four had no secret identities; they quarreled amongst themselves, and had a 'monster' as one of the team.