Stan, Jack, and Steve - The 1950's. (1956) Separating the Men from the Boys PART ONE

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Jeffro. · July 9, 2022

On 7/6/2022 at 5:50 PM, Prince Namor said:

Super heroes weren't completely dead!

You may be asking yourself... where's John Buscema? Didn't he work for 50's Atlas? Well he'd left after the first Stan debacle (over inventory), but still did an occasional freelance for them. And then there's this from Charlton...

ON NEWSSTANDS JANUARY 1956

Nature Boy #3 - Cover by John Buscema

Story by (Superman co-creator) Jerry Siegel with interior art by John Buscema

(Previously had been Danny Blaze... it'd last 3 issues and become Li'l Rascal Twins)

Ric Flair approved. Wooooo!

Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Melvin the Monster #1 - (Joe Maneely cover) - Stan (with artist Joe Maneely) would try and copy Dennis the Menace with their Melvin the Monster #1, in March of 1956. Considerably more mean-spirited than Dennis, Melvin isn't very likable...

Spoiler

Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Riot #6 - (Joe Maneely cover) - Riot was coming to an end, and Stan would write most of it with his favorite selection of artists. No, that's not Melvin the Monster on the cover - that's 'Pascal the Rascal', a parody of Dennis the Menace. Somewhat bizarre, they do a parody of Dennis the Menace the same month they put out a comic ripping off Dennis the Menace....

As far as Riot, none of this is bad - the market was just really tough - if Mad is already out there why do you need a second Mad copy?

Story ONE with John Severin

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Story TWO with Dan DeCarlo

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Story THREE with Bill Everett

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Story FOUR with John Severin

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Story FIVE with Dan DeCarlo

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Story SIX with Joe Maneely

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Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Two Gun Western #5 - (Joe Maneely cover) - Stan does three stories for Two Gun Western #5.

Story ONE with Joe Sinnott

Spoiler

Story TWO with Gene Colan

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Story THREE with Bob Forgione

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shadroch · July 9, 2022

It would be interesting to see the sales charts on these books. Without knowing how any of them sold, the rest is just conjecture.

Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Western Outlaws #15 - (Carl Burgos cover) - Stan does four stories for Western Outlaws #15.

Story ONE with Syd Shores

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Story TWO with Bob Forgione

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Story THREE with George Tuska

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Story FOUR with Angelo Torres

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Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Quick Trigger Western #13 - (John Severin cover) - Stan does three stories for Quick Trigger Western #13.

Story ONE with Al Williamson

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Story TWO with Matt Baker

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Story THREE with Gene Colan

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Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Rawhide Kid #9 - (John Severin cover) - Stan does the Western 'filler' story for Rawhide Kid #9 with artist Hy Fleishman.

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Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Kid Colt Outlaw #61 - (Joe Maneely cover) - Stan does the Western 'filler' story for Kid Colt Outlaw #61 with artist Manny Stallman.

Spoiler

Edited July 9, 2022 by Prince Namor

Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Wyatt Earp #5 - (John Severin cover) - Stan does the Western 'filler' story for Wyatt Earp #5 with artist Doug Wildey.

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Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Outlaw Kid #12 - (Joe Maneely cover) - Stan does the Western 'filler' story for Outlaw Kid #12 with artist Dick Ayers.

Spoiler

Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Wild Western #50 - (Joe Maneely cover) - Stan does the Western 'filler' story for Wild Western #50 with artist Bob Powell.

Spoiler

Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Western Gunfighters #20 - (John Severin cover) - Apache Kid's sales numbers apparently weren't what Atlas' hoped, so with issue #20 (it DID last 19 issues!) it becomes Western Gunfighters.

Stan does five stories for Western Gunfighters #20.

Story ONE with Don Heck

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Story TWO with Vic Carrabotta

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Story THREE with Bernard Baily

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Story FOUR with Dave Berg

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Story FIVE with Gene Colan

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Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Tales of lesser known Atlas Comics!

Devil Dog Dugan #1 - (John Severin cover)

Ace Magazines would be out of business by the fall of 1956, and jumping ship before that was Jim McLaughlin who’d been with them since 1951. He only did a few stories for Atlas, including most of these Devil Dog Dugan stories… he left for Dell shortly after and never looked back, so its interesting to check out this work he did...

Joe Sinnott would take over the art for issue #2 and #3, before it became Tales of the Marines with #4 and then Marines at War for #5-7. And then cancelled.

Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

Marvel Tales #147 (Bill Everett cover) - Steve Ditko would do two stories for Atlas/Marvel in March, the first is this 4 pager from Marvel Tales #147. Another story attributed to Stan Lee that isn't, it's unknown who the writer is. The color separation sucks - I'd love to see the original art for this story!

Edited July 9, 2022 by Prince Namor

Prince Namor · July 9, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1956

World of Suspense #2 (Joe Maneely cover) - Steve Ditko's other story for the month is in World of Suspense #2, written by Carl Wessler.

Prince Namor · July 10, 2022

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1956

Sherry the Showgirl #1 - For April, Stan and Dan DeCarlo add Sherry the Showgirl. It's pretty much and clone of Millie the Model in a 'Showgirl' setting, featuring the Blonde lead (Sherry), the Red Headed rival (Hazel), the Archie-ish boyfriend (Steve), and the one liner jokes. It does have some great Dan DeCarlo art though. Nevertheless, it didn't last.