Question for Timely/Atlas collectors 1 1

[Tri-Color Brian]

When did Timely/Atlas start putting the circle with "Marvel Comic" in it on the covers, and for how long did this last before they switched to Atlas.  See examples below.  It appears that with All-True Crime the Marvel logo appeared on issue 32 in March 1948 and ended with issue 38, then there was a period with no logo until the Atlas Globe appeared on issue 47 dated Nov 1951.  Does this scenario coincide with all other Timely/Marvel comics from that period?

 

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by Tri-ColorBrian

[Telegan]

I'm just getting into GA comics (go me), but if you believe Wikipedia (and who doesn't?) :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Comics_(1950s)

Although for several months in 1949 and 1950 Timely's titles bore a circular logo labeled "Marvel Comic", the first modern comic books so labeled were the science fiction anthology Journey into Mystery #69 and the teen humor title Patsy Walker #95 (both June 1961), which each showed an "MC" box on its cover.^[53] However, collectors routinely refer to the company's comics from the April 1959 cover-dates onward (when they began featuring Jack Kirby artwork on his return to Goodman's company), as pre-superhero Marvel.

Maybe someone else can give a better answer.

From looking at your pics (and hopefully I didn't make too many mistakes) :

the first Joker Comics I could find with the logo was Joker Comics #36 with a December 9, 1948 release date and a March 1949 cover date.  For some reason issue #40 didn't have the logo, but issue #41 did. The last one I could find with the logo is Joker Comics #41 with a release date of January 22, 1950 and cover date of May, 1950.  After issue #42 which didn't have the logo, it becomes what else but.... Adventures into Terror.  Seriously?  From Joker Comics to Adventures into Terror?

the first Willie Comics : Willie Comics #18 with a December 4, 1948 release date and a February 1949 cover date.  It looks like it went through the entire run after that and then changed to L'il Willie Comics for 2 issues and they both had the logo.  Then it changes back to Willie Comics for 2 issues (#22, #23) and #23 had a release date of January 23, 1950 and cover date of May 1950.  Then it apparently changed to Crime Cases Comics with issue #24, but that one doesn't have the logo.

the first Patsy Walker : Patsy Walker #21 with a November 30, 1948 release date and March 1949 cover date.  The last appearance of the logo seems to be Patsy Walker #24 with a May 22, 1949 release date and September 1949 cover date.

the first Crimefighters : Crimefighters #6 with a December 15, 1948 release date and March 1949 cover date.  Looks like the logo disappeared with issue #8 with an April 13, 1949 release date and July 1949 cover date.

Like I said, I'm new to GA comics, but from reading about the number hopping and name/title changes on issues in this era, nobody can talk bad about the drug use in the 60's and 70's. LOL.

 

[Tri-Color Brian]

On 11/18/2022 at 6:46 PM, Telegan said:

I'm just getting into GA comics (go me), but if you believe Wikipedia (and who doesn't?) :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_Comics_(1950s)

Although for several months in 1949 and 1950 Timely's titles bore a circular logo labeled "Marvel Comic", the first modern comic books so labeled were the science fiction anthology Journey into Mystery #69 and the teen humor title Patsy Walker #95 (both June 1961), which each showed an "MC" box on its cover.^[53] However, collectors routinely refer to the company's comics from the April 1959 cover-dates onward (when they began featuring Jack Kirby artwork on his return to Goodman's company), as pre-superhero Marvel.

Maybe someone else can give a better answer.

From looking at your pics (and hopefully I didn't make too many mistakes) :

the first Joker Comics I could find with the logo was Joker Comics #36 with a December 9, 1948 release date and a March 1949 cover date.  For some reason issue #40 didn't have the logo, but issue #41 did. The last one I could find with the logo is Joker Comics #41 with a release date of January 22, 1950 and cover date of May, 1950.  After issue #42 which didn't have the logo, it becomes what else but.... Adventures into Terror.  Seriously?  From Joker Comics to Adventures into Terror?

the first Willie Comics : Willie Comics #18 with a December 4, 1948 release date and a February 1949 cover date.  It looks like it went through the entire run after that and then changed to L'il Willie Comics for 2 issues and they both had the logo.  Then it changes back to Willie Comics for 2 issues (#22, #23) and #23 had a release date of January 23, 1950 and cover date of May 1950.  Then it apparently changed to Crime Cases Comics with issue #24, but that one doesn't have the logo.

the first Patsy Walker : Patsy Walker #21 with a November 30, 1948 release date and March 1949 cover date.  The last appearance of the logo seems to be Patsy Walker #24 with a May 22, 1949 release date and September 1949 cover date.

the first Crimefighters : Crimefighters #6 with a December 15, 1948 release date and March 1949 cover date.  Looks like the logo disappeared with issue #8 with an April 13, 1949 release date and July 1949 cover date.

Like I said, I'm new to GA comics, but from reading about the number hopping and name/title changes on issues in this era, nobody can talk bad about the drug use in the 60's and 70's. LOL.

 

Thanks for doing that research.  I started to, but then had to deal with more serious issues, like dinner and chores.    As for the title changes, that was done to fool the post office so a new postal permit for a #1 issue would not need to be paid for.  Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't...Anyway, this came up today because I was talking to a younger collector who thought there were only 3 incarnations of Marvel comics...Timely, Atlas and Marvel.  I told him there were 4 and he didn't believe me.  Imagine that...

[Telegan]

On 11/18/2022 at 8:32 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

Thanks for doing that research.  I started to, but then had to deal with more serious issues, like dinner and chores.    As for the title changes, that was done to fool the post office so a new postal permit for a #1 issue would not need to be paid for.  Sometimes it worked, and sometimes it didn't...Anyway, this came up today because I was talking to a younger collector who thought there were only 3 incarnations of Marvel comics...Timely, Atlas and Marvel.  I told him there were 4 and he didn't believe me.  Imagine that...

Thanks.  I learned something. lol.  I really need to learn more about the history of comics/companies back then.

[adamstrange]

On 11/18/2022 at 9:32 PM, Tri-ColorBrian said:

Timely, Atlas and Marvel.  I told him there were 4 and he didn't believe me.  Imagine that...

Not every comic got the Marvel Bug during that brief interlude in 49.  Few, if any, of the romance titles were included.

The situation is even more complicated depending on what you think makes a comic belong to a particular brand. 

Take "Atlas".  Atlas was the distribution company set up by Goodman to distribute comics and other periodicals produced by his different companies.  Should comics be named according to the distributor or publisher?  If you say it should be based on the distributor, then should 60s Marvels, distributed by DC, be considered DC comics?

In the Atlas era, the comics weren't technically published by a single company but, when you look at the indicia, you find that sometimes each title was published by a different company.  This was done to allow the publisher to declare bankruptcy of a company should a title fail, but not have that bankruptcy bring down the entire Goodman empire.

When Marie Severin was asked what it was like working at Atlas in the 50s, she said, "What's Atlas? I worked at Timely."

[fifties]

To add to the confusion, I think it depended on the title AFA what, if any publisher logo was used.  Here's a few examples of no logo;

 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2022 by fifties

[Frisco Larson]

The first comics I see the Marvel circle on are Gay Comics #36, Margie Comics #45, Marvel Mystery Comics #90 and Nellie the Nurse #17, all cover dated October 1948. Interestingly, the Marvel circle on the Marvel Mystery #90 is placed in a black area of the cover, so the Marvel circle is red and white. The comic examples provided below aren't mine, simply shared from the internet for educational purposes.

 

 

[Frisco Larson]

The first comics I see the Marvel circle on are Gay Comics #36, Margie Comics #45, Marvel Mystery Comics #90 and Nellie the Nurse #17, all cover dated February 1949. Interestingly, the Marvel circle on the Marvel Mystery #90 is placed in a black area of the cover, so the Marvel circle is red and white. The comic examples provided below aren't mine, simply shared from the internet for educational purposes.

 

 

Edited November 21, 2022 by Frisco Larson

[Frisco Larson]

The first comics I see the Marvel circle on are Gay Comics #36, Margie Comics #45, Marvel Mystery Comics #90 and Nellie the Nurse #17, all cover dated February 1949. Interestingly, the Marvel circle on the Marvel Mystery #90 is placed in a black area of the cover, so the Marvel circle is red and white. The comic examples provided below aren't mine, simply shared from the internet for educational purposes.

 

 

Edited November 23, 2022 by Frisco Larson

[Frisco Larson]

June of 1950 is the last cover date I can find sporting the Marvel Circle. Of the 17 titles with that cover date, 14 have the Marvel circle, while 2 romance comics have a heart that says, "A lover's magazine" and inexplicably, Whip Wilson has no Marvel circle, while the other westerns that month do. As mentioned above, the Marvel circle didn't appear on every cover. The romance comics frequently had the "A lover's magazine" heart and for whatever reason (likely a publishing issue) Miss America Magazine only had one issue where the Marvel circle appeared, #26. It would certainly be a fun subset to see someone complete a set of the Marvel circle comics! 

[HouseofComics.Com]

That would be a very cooll subset. I like it!

[TheLogoDetective]

https://www.cgccomics.com/news/article/11192/cgc-comic-labels/

Scroll to bottom of link...✌🏻

Marvel emblem #4 
1 - Nellie #17 (10/18/48 LOC) 
2 - Marvel Mystery #90 (10/20/48 LOC) 
3 - Margie #45 (10/24/48 LOC) 

[TheLogoDetective]

On 11/21/2022 at 8:21 AM, Frisco Larson said:

June of 1950 is the last cover date I can find sporting the Marvel Circle. Of the 17 titles with that cover date, 14 have the Marvel circle, while 2 romance comics have a heart that says, "A lover's magazine" and inexplicably, Whip Wilson has no Marvel circle, while the other westerns that month do. As mentioned above, the Marvel circle didn't appear on every cover. The romance comics frequently had the "A lover's magazine" heart and for whatever reason (likely a publishing issue) Miss America Magazine only had one issue where the Marvel circle appeared, #26. It would certainly be a fun subset to see someone complete a set of the Marvel circle comics! 

I've got nine of the first ten... they look awesome! This Marvel logo is awesome!

[lotemo]

Around 1947, there were issues with "A Marvel Magazine" in the upper left corner.  I haven't counted them but it appears that there were usually only 1 to 2 issues of a title with this logo.  Some examples are:

[badback83]

What's the deal with the Atlas globe?  CGC notes that on Human Torch 14, it's the first time the Atlas globe is used.  But on Terry Toons 17, they note "1st Atlas brand emblem and 1st Atlas globe logo (blue)".  I know there were a few different versions, but what's the deal?  Is it so simple that I'm missing it?  I'm confused.  

[lotemo]

On 12/29/2023 at 12:00 PM, badback83 said:

What's the deal with the Atlas globe?  CGC notes that on Human Torch 14, it's the first time the Atlas globe is used.  But on Terry Toons 17, they note "1st Atlas brand emblem and 1st Atlas globe logo (blue)".  I know there were a few different versions, but what's the deal?  Is it so simple that I'm missing it?  I'm confused.  

I suspect it's because the humor and funny animal books were ignored by the collecting community for such a long time that this was just overlooked or at least not documented until more recently.  I always used to think that the Ernie Gerber Photo-Journal books included almost every golden age comic book from the major publishers.  It wasn't until I started collecting the Timely humor titles like Mille the Model, Tessie, Nellie, Joker etc. that I realized that the Gerber books only included photos of a handful of issues from each of these titles. Many of the humor titles were largely ignored for decades.

[Cat-Man_America]

On 12/27/2023 at 10:17 PM, TheLogoDetective said:

https://www.cgccomics.com/news/article/11192/cgc-comic-labels/

Scroll to bottom of link...✌🏻

Marvel emblem #4 
1 - Nellie #17 (10/18/48 LOC) 
2 - Marvel Mystery #90 (10/20/48 LOC) 
3 - Margie #45 (10/24/48 LOC) 

First Timely shield ...?