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By AAAStateofPlay.com

Pulp-magazine publisher Martin Goodman started the company later known as Marvel Comics under the name Timely Publications in 1939.

The first publication of Timely was Marvel Comics #1, which introduced Carl Burgos’s android superhero the Human Torch and Bill Everett’s Namor the Sub-Mariner. The issue was a fantastic success, with the first and second printing selling a combined 900,000 copies.

By March 1941, Timely’s first hired editor, writer-artist Joe Simon, teamed with artist Jack Kirby to create one of the first patriotic superheroes, Captain America.

Captain America Comics #1 was a massive hit, with sales of nearly $1 million. Eventually, Goodman hired his wife’s cousin, Stanley Lieber, as a general office assistant, and when Simon departed the company in late 1941, Goodman appointed Lieber as an editor, even though he had been writing pseudonymously as “Stan Lee” for some time. Lee kept this position for decades, except for the three years when he served in World War II.

Goodman’s business strategy involved having various magazines and comic books published by a number of corporations operating out of the same office and with the same staff. One of these shell companies was called Marvel Comics.

Eventually, Goodman officially adopted the name of Marvel Comics for the entire enterprise. The first comic book to be published by the Marvel Comics brand was Journey Into Mystery #69, part of a science-fiction anthology series.

By 1961, Lee had revolutionized comics by creating superheroes who appealed to older readers rather than just children. Marvel’s first superhero team was the Fantastic Four; they broke convention by being flawed characters who squabbled, held grudges, and sought celebrity.

Find more about the author: Kim Hart