Stan, Jack, and Steve - The 1950's. (1959) The Uphill Climb 2 2

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

The Double Life of Private Strong #1

Story THREE:

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

The Double Life of Private Strong #1

Story FOUR:

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

And of course Jack Kirby had his Sky Masters Newspaper strip going...

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

Steve Ditko had a couple of stories for Marvel released in April of 1959, and one was a 5 pager he penciled and inked in Journey into Mystery #53. 

No writer is known, and again retroactively Marvel are trying to say Stan Lee wrote it. Stan did none of the sci-fi writing until 1961, and when he did, he signed those stories. 

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

Steve Ditko had a couple of stories for Marvel released in April of 1959, and the other was a 5 pager he penciled and inked in Strange Tales #70. 

No writer is known, and again retroactively Marvel are trying to say Stan Lee wrote it. Stan did none of the sci-fi writing until 1961, and when he did, he signed those stories. 

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS APRIL 1959

DC seemed to be the House of Ideas in 1959! In April they would introduce Sgt. Rock in Our Army at War #83. Written by Robert Kanigher, with pencils and inks by the legendary Joe Kubert.

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

For May Stan Lee wrote:

 

Patsy Walker #84 - with Al Hartley art 

Kid Colt Outlaw #86 - 2 stories with with art by Jack Keller

Two Gun Kid #49  - 3 stories with art by John Severin

Millie the Model #92 - The last issue with art by Dan DeCarlo, who'd go on to success and legendary status doing Archie Comics for the next 30+ years.

 

Atlas released 8 titles in November. The other 4 were:

Strange Worlds #5 

World of Fantasy #19

Tales to Astonish #5

Tales of Suspense #5

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

Jack Kirby had an inventory story in this months Kid Colt Outlaw #86 (Job #M-556), a Black Rider story inked by George Klein...

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

No longer doing work for DC, Jack still wasn't completely committing to Marvel, but he did do 4 of the 8 covers for the month (all inked by Christopher Rule)...

Strange Worlds #5

Tales of Suspense #5

Tales to Astonish #5

World of Fantasy #19 (Final Issue)

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

Kirby DID actually do one new story for Marvel in May, in Tales to Astonish #5... written and penciled by Jack, with inks by Christopher Rule...

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

So... when Dan DeCarlo decided to leave Marvel for Atlas - it seems to me it happened because of Marvel's teetering financial situation. No blow up with Stan Lee or anything like that... even though Stan very rarely even mentions Dan (despite the fact they did Millie together for 10 years and a couple of newspaper strip try outs including Willie Lumpkin that ran after Dan left Marvel until right about the time the Fantastic Four started).

I've never read anywhere of DeCarlo speaking negatively about Stan or anything like that, so it seems they had a pretty good working relationship. Even though DeCarlo's signature seems to be mysteriously absent from that last issue... 

It looks like, in issue #86, Stan adds DeCarlo's name to the SPLASH PAGE (finally - remember he'd been letting him put DeCarlo, in small lettering in like the 2nd to last panel of the last page of the lead story...), in what may have been a desperate effort to appease him and keep him at Marvel. Then in his last issue (having made his decision to leave)... his signature disappears altogether... is this Stan again showing his pettiness?

from Blog Entry

Dan DeCarlo: It was difficult to get a job after the war. I did all sorts of odd jobs to make ends meet. One day I answered an ad by Timely Comics (Later changed to Marvel) looking for cartoonists. I ended up drawing Millie the Model, My Friend Irma, and various other teenage titles while there. After about two years, the company let go most of the staff. They kept only the men that had books that were selling, and then only as freelancers. After I realized the type of business I was in, I decided to try to expand by seeking work from other companies too. It was at that point that I got some work with Archie. I was also working on a comic strip called Willie Lumpkin with Stan Lee. Often times, I would think that this was going to be it for me. I better do the work, because I might not get it tomorrow. I don’t feel that way now, but then I did. I was paranoid about the whole thing, and worked like crazy. I hired an inker. I really wanted to expand more, but couldn’t get any cooperation from the inkers.

 

Ah well, it was a bonus for Archie Comics, who didn't exactly do Dan right over the years - we the fans got rewarded - those Archie Comics were infinitely better than those dumb Millie the Model stories. 

 

From The Comics Journal Interview, December 2000

Curtis: So Millie was a serious strip at the time?

DeCarlo: Yeah. And I made it cartoony, like the way I was handling Jeannie. Also I was using Marilyn Monroe as an influence, one of the pinups of her. Stan called me in and said, "What are you doing? She looks like Marilyn Monroe?" nd I said, "Is that bad? And he said, "All right. You can draw it that way. Just don't make it so obvious."

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

Was Jack Kirby trying to make a decision on his career path? Work for Goodman and Stanley again or do superheroes at Archie and work with Joe Simon again?

With what was released in May, he might've been leaning towards Archie....

Though he'd only do one story in The Double Life of Private Strong #2 (inked by maybe Joe Simon?) Story by... sure reads like Kirby, might be him and Simon both to some degree...

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

Of course another important book that you never hear Stan mention but that obviously had a huge impact on the way things ended up was Archie Comics' The Adventures of the Fly #1, released in May. Kirby cover with Joe Simon inks, Joe Simon stories with Kirby art and Simon inks. Sure does read like... well, this reads more like Golden Age Kirby...

Part ONE:

[Prince Namor]

 

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

Archie Comics' The Adventures of the Fly #1, released in May. Kirby cover with Joe Simon inks, Joe Simon stories with Kirby art and Simon inks. Sure does read like... well, this reads more like Golden Age Kirby... and the Captain Marvel (Shazam) influence is there...

Part TWO:

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

Archie Comics' The Adventures of the Fly #1, released in May. Kirby cover with Joe Simon inks, Joe Simon stories with Kirby art and Simon inks. Sure does read like... well, this reads more like Golden Age Kirby... 

Part THREE:

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

Wait! Some of you are probably saying, WHY is Archie Comics' The Adventures of the Fly #1, important in the grand scheme of things?

Well, I thought you'd never ask... In 1998-2000 (roughly - going on memory here), Steve Ditko FINALLY began to discuss his time at Marvel 30+ years earlier with a series of essays. Below... is one that mentions the Fly and the creation of Spiderman. 

Enjoy!

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

And of course, Jack had his Sky Masters newspaper strip going...

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

Steve Ditko did 4 stories for Marvel in May. From Strange Worlds #5.

Penciled and inked by Steve Ditko. Writer unknown. NOT written by Stan Lee. 

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

Steve Ditko did 4 stories for Marvel in May. From Tales of Suspense #5. 

Penciled and inked by Steve Ditko. Writer unknown. NOT written by Stan Lee. 

[Prince Namor]

ON NEWSSTANDS MAY 1959

Steve Ditko did 4 stories for Marvel in May. From Tales to Astonish #5.

Penciled and inked by Steve Ditko. Writer unknown. NOT written by Stan Lee.