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Stan, Jack, and Steve - The 1960's (1962) Jack Kirby creates the Marvel Universe!
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Started by Prince Namor,

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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Let's review what Marvel saw as they begun the new year. 

As 1961 closes,  4 of Jack Kirby's books are averaging 2 million copies sold per year, and there was nothing else Marvel was selling prior to Fantastic Four #1 that even came close to that. (We don't know what FF #1 sold and wouldn't see a Statement of Ownership for that until 1966). Millie the Model's average copies per issue went up, as did Kid Colt and Rawhide Kid, but those books are bi-monthly, and in the case of the two Westerns, they sell about 30-40,000 less copies per issue. 

According to Marvel, overall they sold 18.7 Million Copies of Comics in 1961... that means Kirby's 4 monster books accounted for almost HALF those sales, while the rest of the line accounted for the other half... if we're to assume that  Amazing Adventures, Amazing Adult Fantasy, and especially the Fantastic Four had any sort of sales impact... that means the rest of the line... sold absolutely horrible. (Though AAF would be canceled during the year, so it's more likely to assume it DIDN'T.). The other books - the KIRBY books are what are selling. 

THIS is why it was imperative for Stan to suddenly become interested in Sci-Fi and take control of 'writing and editing'. Kirby was dominating the line. It's also why it would be the Westerns that suffered at the expense of the superheroes and NOT the dumb blonde books - Stan enjoyed writing those and it was an easy paycheck (Goldberg and Hartley did them Marvel Method), regardless of their lack of sales. Stan's 'Sci-Fi' book (Amazing Adult Fantasy) would fail however and he'd be forced to make Jack accept his editorial role as calling himself 'writer'. This arrangement would come to a head later in the year, and Jack nearly walked out the door. 

Bet you can't wait to hear that story!

For now though... Marvel has interest in the Fantastic Four, Kirby's monster books are selling, overall the line is selling 2.7 million more comics than the year before, and there's some hope going into 1962...

 

Strange Tales #96                  191,261  (#82-92)   11 issues - 2,103,871 Total Copies Sold (Up 21,660 per issue)

Tales to Astonish #31            184,895 (#17-27)   11 issues -  2,033,845 Total Copies Sold  (Up 21,739 per issue)

Millie the Model #108              184,733 (#101-106)  7 issues - 1,293,131 Total Copies Sold (Up 29,761 per issue)    

Tales of Suspense #29          184,635 (#17-26)    10 issues - 1,846,350 Total Copies Sold (Up 35,706 per issue)

Journey Into Mystery #79     182,090 (#65-75)  11 issues - 2,002,990  Total Copies Sold (Up 14,965 per issue)

Life with Millie #16                   168,270 (#10-15)  6 issues - 1,009,620 Total Copies Sold

Kathy #16                                 153,428 (#10-15)  6 issues - 920,568  Total Copies Sold

Kid Colt Outlaw #104              152,877 (#97-102)  6 issues - 917,262  Total Copies Sold  (Up 8,131 per issue)

Rawhide Kid #28                     150,162 (#21-25)  5 issues - 750,810 Total Copies Sold

GunSmoke Western #70         147,230 (#64-68) 5 issues - 736,159  Total Copies Sold

 

 

Amazing Adventures #1-6 - 6 issues

Amazing Adult Fantasy #7-10 - 4 issues

Fantastic Four #1-#3 - 3 issues

My Girl Pearl #11??? Cancelled - 1 issue

Patsy & Hedy #75-80 - 6 issues

Patsy Walker #94-99 - 6 issues

Two Gun Kid #59 - 1 issue

Teen-Age Romances #81-85  - 5 issues

Love Romances #93-97 - 5 issues

Linda Carter, Student Nurse #1-4 - 4 issues

Edited by Prince Namor
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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS JANUARY 1962

For January, Marvel would release 10 titles to the newsstand (For 11 out of 13 months now they've put out more than the rumored 8 titles, and one of the months they didn't was when they shut down for the month). 

Stan Lee would have at least one story in all 10. 

 

Amazing Adult Fantasy #11 - 5 stories with Steve Ditko

Gunsmoke Western #68 - 1 story each with Jack Keller, Don Heck, Paul Reinman, and D. Ayers

Journey Into Mystery #76 - 1 story with Steve Ditko

Love Romances #96 - 1 story with Kirby, 2 with Bob Forgione, and one with Vince Colletta

Patsy & Hedy #81  -  with Al Hartley art 

Rawhide Kid #27 - 3 with Kirby, one with Don Heck

Strange Tales #95 - 1 story with Steve Ditko

Tales of Suspense #28 - 1 story with Steve Ditko

Tales to Astonish #30 - 1 story with Steve Ditko

Teen-Age Romance #85 -  3 stories with Kirby! and 1 story with Gene Colan

 

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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS JANUARY 1962

For Amazing Adult Fantasy #11 - Stan Lee and Steve Ditko had 5 stories again in this issue, signed Stan Lee & S. Ditko on all 5 splash pages. Ditko pencils and inks the cover and even THAT for some reason is signed Stan Lee & S. Ditko. The contents page shows the names of the 5 stories and that is signed Stan Lee & S. Ditko as well. 

Story ONE:

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Edited by Prince Namor
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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS JANUARY 1962

Amazing Adult Fantasy #11 - Also featured an ad for the 'Letters to the Editor' coming in the next issue. But I'm curious... if AAF debuted in September (Aug 31, 1961), that's four months... a great promotion for the book would've been to print at least 2 or 3 letters... were they NOT getting the reaction they wanted? Heck, at least in the FF they MADE UP some of the letters they printed...

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ANATOMY OF A STORY

For Gunsmoke Western #69 - Stan had taken a story he'd already done in Western Outlaws #19 in 1957, and gave it to Kirby to redo. The modern day Shakespeare who'd had an epiphany to 'do stories the way he always wanted' with the start of the Fantastic Four, decided to just copy himself instead of come up with a new idea. 

Currently there's someone doing research for a new book that has...

documents show Stan used ghost writers for plots (in the sense of synopses, imagining the story) on stories where he was credited as the writer (or sometimes plotter). Stan used ghost writers for plots between 1943-46, in the mid 50's and possibly in 1965 (jury is still out on that one, will confirm in February).

 

Was this another story written by a ghost writer, where Lee credited himself as the writer and then had someone redo it a few years after that?

https://www.facebook.com/FathersOfMarvelComics/posts/pfbid0jSfyRBbkuDsx4yR9M28DrbXESCweQZWKzkU24HesKWmivDhVdRsmsbKmhM1xQVFcl

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1758159214462637/permalink/2728650320746850

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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS JANUARY 1962

One place Stan still WASN'T signing his name was to the Kirby monster stories in 4 of the 5 best selling Marvel books of the previous year. In Journey Into Mystery #78, Kirby did the cover (inked by Ayers) and wrote and penciled TWO stories.

The ad at the bottom of the page for the Fantastic Four wouldn't follow either Kirby story in this issue, but instead be put at the end of a story Joe Sinnott drew. 

Story ONE (inked by Steve Ditko):

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS JANUARY 1962

In Journey Into Mystery #78, Kirby did the cover (inked by Ayers) and wrote and penciled TWO stories.

The ad at the bottom of the page for the Fantastic Four wouldn't follow either Kirby story in this issue, but instead be put at the end of a story Joe Sinnott drew. 

Incidentally... I don't care what anyone thinks. I'll take a story like the one below over anything else non-superhero/Kirby that Marvel currently has out. Reading Kirby's dialogue (and story) here is 100% better than anything else they have, besides FF. 

Story TWO (inked by D. Ayers - thus, no signature to be seen):

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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS JANUARY 1962

For Love Romances #98 - Lee keeps Kirby busy with these Romance stories and he does the cover and all 4 stories with Colletta inking each one. All are signed on the splash 'Stan Lee, J. Kirby and VC'.

Story THREE:

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Prince Namor

Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS JANUARY 1962

For Rawhide Kid #27 - Kirby did the cover and wrote and penciled THREE stories, all inked by D. Ayers and thus, missing their signature - but it is signed Stan Lee and J. Kirby. Stan does one other story with Don Heck, a generic 5 page filler signed by both.

At the bottom of the last page of the first story is a written blurb for the Fantastic Four. 

Story ONE:

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Edited by Prince Namor
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