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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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I discovered some more Statement of Ownership listings (see underlined) and that paints a better picture... A few of the dumb blonde books weren't doing as bad as we thought (comparatively... Life with Millie would be about the 44th ranked book), but some are doing better than the Westerns!

Still plenty we DON'T have listings for...

 

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

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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1962

For Strange Tales #96, Jack Kirby does the cover, and writes and pencils TWO stories, all inked by D. Ayers. 

Here's this ugly cover concept again. Kirby takes on the 'dream' concept - notice how much fuller his story is...

On cover, again, Lee to name drop his and Ditko's story in what is essentially one of Kirby's showcase books: "Don't Miss: Lee and Ditko's Latest Off-Beat Thriller...the Clock-Maker!'

Story ONE:

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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1962

Also for Strange Tales #96, we get the Statement of Ownership, showing average number of copies sold during the previous 12 months as 191,261. This makes it Marvel's #1 seller, but still would only rank it about #40 in the Top 50...

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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1962

For Tales of Suspense #29, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko have a story, signed Stan Lee and S. Ditko on the splash. 

The last page includes an advertisement for Amazing Adult Fantasy. 

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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS FEBRUARY 1962

Over at Archie Comics, the Adventures of the Fly (#19) and the Adventures of the Jaguar (#6) just keep on going... both with their female characters - Fly Girl and Cat Girl - the complete 6 page story sold on Heritage back in 2009!

It's weird to think that in 1961, the Adventures of the Fly was outselling Marvel's best seller by almost 50,000 copies a month!

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Prince Namor

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ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1962

For March, Marvel would release 10 titles to the newsstand (For 13 out of 15 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). They now have 32 in 3 months (10.66 a month). 

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

 

Amazing Adult Fantasy #13 - 5 stories with Steve Ditko.

Gunsmoke Western #70 - 1 story each with Jack Keller, Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and Joe Sinnott.

Incredible Hulk #1 - with Jack Kirby.

Journey Into Mystery #76 - 1 story with Steve Ditko.

Love Romances #99 -  4 stories with Jack Kirby.

Patsy & Hedy #82  -  with Al Hartley art.

Rawhide Kid #28 - 3 with Kirby, one with Paul Reinman. 

Strange Tales #97 - 1 story with Steve Ditko.

Tales of Suspense #30 - 1 story with Steve Ditko.

Tales to Astonish #32 - 1 story with Steve Ditko.

 

Teen-Age Romance has been cancelled.

 

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Mmehdy

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On 1/6/2023 at 7:25 AM, Prince Namor said:

 

ON NEWSSTANDS MARCH 1962

For March, Marvel would release 10 titles to the newsstand (For 13 out of 15 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). They now have 32 in 3 months (10.66 a month). 

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

 

Amazing Adult Fantasy #13 - 5 stories with Steve Ditko.

Gunsmoke Western #70 - 1 story each with Jack Keller, Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and Joe Sinnott.

Incredible Hulk #1 - with Jack Kirby.

Journey Into Mystery #76 - 1 story with Steve Ditko.

Love Romances #99 -  4 stories with Jack Kirby.

Patsy & Hedy #82  -  with Al Hartley art.

Rawhide Kid #28 - 3 with Kirby, one with Paul Reinman. 

Strange Tales #97 - 1 story with Steve Ditko.

Tales of Suspense #30 - 1 story with Steve Ditko.

Tales to Astonish #32 - 1 story with Steve Ditko.

 

Teen-Age Romance has been cancelled.

 

I bought hulk #1 off the news stand....it created a buzz in the young collector community...especially the #1 issue...it felt different than anything that was on  the stands at the time...again among collectors it was a 3-1 trade to get it..... Let take a sec to explain that while these books were being created and placed at the local drug store/news stand/grocery store...the wait and the excitement each week to see what was next was something that really cannot be duplicated ...when FF1 hit the stands..it seemed a bit different and did create a small buzz which built to to a scream when FF7 came out due to its stunning cover. But....Hulk #1 cover, one of the greatest SA cover in my opinion stated a big buzz from day 1....I am not too sure, but this could of been created a song called the "Monster Mash"...which had a big impact on the music radio at that time which was released in the same year 1962.. In 1961 the Aurora Monster model was a major hit also...It creates such a impression when I went to the spin rack and saw this and said WOW...it really stood out..60 plus years later and the book delivered in my opinion especially cover #3....all the issues were great and  I can never understand why that was cancelled....One last thing...Hulk #1 was a sort of a blind buy...we did not have previews and Marvel's getting the books together with a monthly list was just great..

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bc

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Possibly a bit off topic but .... I recently watched a bunch of the original The Twilight Zone episodes over the holidays. The series ran from late '59 to mid '64 - about the exact time period that Jack & Steve were doing their thing with the sci-fi/fantasy and monster books.

After reading all the stories posted in this series of threads (along with my own complete PHM set), couldn't help but notice the similarities between the 5 page comic stories and the 1/2 hour show episodes (including semi-hidden social & political commentary along with the required plot twist ending). Specifically the later PHM books from the 61-63 period when the "big monster" was being replaced with more psychological & supernatural themes.

Haven't found anything to connect them, but it just seems like more than a coincidence that both things happened during this short time period.

@Mmehdy was The Twilight Zone TV show popular with the comic crowd back then?

Enjoying the posts & keep up the great work @Prince Namor!

-bc

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Prince Namor

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On 1/6/2023 at 1:45 PM, Mmehdy said:

I bought hulk #1 off the news stand....it created a buzz in the young collector community...especially the #1 issue...it felt different than anything that was on  the stands at the time...again among collectors it was a 3-1 trade to get it..... Let take a sec to explain that while these books were being created and placed at the local drug store/news stand/grocery store...the wait and the excitement each week to see what was next was something that really cannot be duplicated ...when FF1 hit the stands..it seemed a bit different and did create a small buzz which built to to a scream when FF7 came out due to its stunning cover. But....Hulk #1 cover, one of the greatest SA cover in my opinion stated a big buzz from day 1....I am not too sure, but this could of been created a song called the "Monster Mash"...which had a big impact on the music radio at that time which was released in the same year 1962.. In 1961 the Aurora Monster model was a major hit also...It creates such a impression when I went to the spin rack and saw this and said WOW...it really stood out..60 plus years later and the book delivered in my opinion especially cover #3....all the issues were great and  I can never understand why that was cancelled....One last thing...Hulk #1 was a sort of a blind buy...we did not have previews and Marvel's getting the books together with a monthly list was just great..

Sales numbers don't always equate to what was good OR bad of course... and the original short Hulk run was a perfect example. For comic fandom, it was obviously seen as something special... to the average citizen used to reading Archie Comics or Curt Swan Superman, it had to look like death metal to a pop music fan. For those of us that weren't there, we have to remember this was pre-Beatles invasion America - It was a very different place back then...

The Top Songs on Billboards Chart for March 3, 1962 were Duke of Earl by Gene Chandler, Hey! Baby by Bruce Channel and The Wanderer by Dion. I would've sworn those songs were from the 50's! The Beatles wouldn't step foot on American soil for another two years!

The Top TV shows are the Beverly Hillbillies, Bonanza, and The Red Skelton Show. The Longest Day and Lawrence of Arabia would dominate at the movies!

The 'commercial' rise of the Anti-hero was still a long ways off, but underneath the surface there still lurked things like drive-in movie theaters were you could see B-movies like Carnival of Souls and The Brain that Wouldn't Die - but even at regular theaters things like The Manchurian Candidate and Cape Fear were starting to challenge the cultural boredom of an America where the buzz cut was still the norm. 

And of course there was Marvel Comics...

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Mmehdy

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On 1/6/2023 at 11:34 AM, bc said:

Possibly a bit off topic but .... I recently watched a bunch of the original The Twilight Zone episodes over the holidays. The series ran from late '59 to mid '64 - about the exact time period that Jack & Steve were doing their thing with the sci-fi/fantasy and monster books.

After reading all the stories posted in this series of threads (along with my own complete PHM set), couldn't help but notice the similarities between the 5 page comic stories and the 1/2 hour show episodes (including semi-hidden social & political commentary along with the required plot twist ending). Specifically the later PHM books from the 61-63 period when the "big monster" was being replaced with more psychological & supernatural themes.

Haven't found anything to connect them, but it just seems like more than a coincidence that both things happened during this short time period.

@Mmehdy was The Twilight Zone TV show popular with the comic crowd back then?

Enjoying the posts & keep up the great work @Prince Namor!

-bc

Not for me as a individual kid...no TZ impact at all, however movies did have an impact on everyone, 40LB's of trouble, Time Machine, tales of Terror, Magic Sword....we lived in Nor Cal and drive in were very popular. TV SF movies the thing etc

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Prince Namor

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On 1/6/2023 at 2:34 PM, bc said:

Possibly a bit off topic but .... I recently watched a bunch of the original The Twilight Zone episodes over the holidays. The series ran from late '59 to mid '64 - about the exact time period that Jack & Steve were doing their thing with the sci-fi/fantasy and monster books.

After reading all the stories posted in this series of threads (along with my own complete PHM set), couldn't help but notice the similarities between the 5 page comic stories and the 1/2 hour show episodes (including semi-hidden social & political commentary along with the required plot twist ending). Specifically the later PHM books from the 61-63 period when the "big monster" was being replaced with more psychological & supernatural themes.

Haven't found anything to connect them, but it just seems like more than a coincidence that both things happened during this short time period.

@Mmehdy was The Twilight Zone TV show popular with the comic crowd back then?

Enjoying the posts & keep up the great work @Prince Namor!

-bc

Thank you!

Yeah, one of these days I'm going to document the two and see what matches up... I don't really trust Lee that his 'stories' were copied by Rod Serling... Rod had been doing those stories since Oct 1959, utilizing writers like Richard Matheson (I Am Legend) and Charles Beaumont - Lee didn't hook up with Ditko to do Sci-Fi until July of 1961, after ignoring the genre for his whole career...

I'm not putting my money on Lee...

NOTE: Rod Serling actually DID win a writing contest for a radio program in 1949, unlike Lee, who's 'winning a writing contest three weeks in a row' as a teen ager has been proven to be a completely made up story.

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