Atlas Comics (1950s)

Infobox Defunct Company
company_name = Atlas Comics
company_
fate = distribution company closed
Predecessor = Timely Comics
successor = Magazine Management Co., Inc., Marvel Comics
foundation = November 1951
defunct = October 1957
location = Manhattan, New York City
industry = Publishing
key_people = Martin Goodman,
products = Comic Books, Magazine
num_employees =
parent =
subsid = numerous

Atlas Comics is the 1950s comic book publishing company that would evolve into Marvel Comics. Magazine and paperback-novel publisher Martin Goodman, whose business strategy involved having a multitude of corporate entities, used Atlas as the umbrella name for his comic-book division during this time. Atlas was located on the 14th floor of the Empire State Building.

This company is distinct from the 1970s comic-book company, also founded by Goodman, that is generally known as Atlas/Seaboard Comics.

After the Golden Age

Atlas grew out of Timely Comics, the company Goodman founded in 1939 and whose star characters during the 1930s and '40s Golden Age of comic books were the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, and Captain America. The post-war era, however, found superheroes falling out of fashion. Television and paperback books now also competed for readers and leisure time.

The line marking the end of the Golden Age is vague, but for Timely, at least, historians point to the cancellation of "Captain America Comics" at issue #75 (Feb. 1950) — by which time the series had already been "Captain America's Weird Tales" for two issues, with the finale featuring merely anthological suspense stories and no superheroes. The company's flagship title, "Marvel Mystery Comics", starring the Human Torch, had already ended its run (with #92, June 1949), as had "Sub-Mariner Comics" (with #32, the same month). Goodman's comic-book line dropped superheroes and expanded into a wider variety of genres than even Timely had published, emphasizing horror, Westerns, humor, funny-animal, men's adventure-drama, crime, and war comics, later adding a helping of jungle books, romance titles, and even espionage, medieval adventure, Bible stories and sports. As did other publishers, Atlas also courted female readers with mostly humorous comics about models and career women.

Goodman began using the globe logo of Atlas (see above), the newsstand-distribution company he owned, on comics cover-dated November 1951. This united a line put out by the same publisher, staff and freelancers through 59 shell companies, from Animirth Comics to Zenith Publications.

Atlas would attempt to revive superheroes in "Young Men" #24-28 (Dec. 1953 - June 1954), with the Human Torch (art by Syd Shores and Dick Ayers, variously), the Sub-Mariner (drawn and most stories written by Bill Everett), and Captain America (writer Stan Lee, artist John Romita Sr.). Yet they featured the same sort of Communist Red Scare villains as the late-'40s comics, broke no new ground, and looked old-fashionedPOV-statement|date=July 2008 — particularly in comparison with the clean, uncluttered, streamlined reimagining of super-speedster The Flash two years later in DC Comics' "Showcase" #4 (Sept. 1956), which would successfully bring back superheroes and kick off the Silver Age of comics.

Trend-following

Atlas, rather than similarly innovate, took what it saw as the proven route of following popular trends in TV and movies — Westerns and war dramas prevailing for a time, drive-in movie monsters another time — and even other comic books, particularly the EC horror line. [Daniels, Les, "Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics" (Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1991) ISBN 0-8109-3821-9, p. 57, quoted Marvel/Atlas editor-in-chief Stan Lee saying, " 'Martin Goodman ... would notice what was selling, and we'd put out a lot of books of that type'. The short-term results were lucrative; but while other publishers took the long view and kept their stables of heroes solid, Goodman let his slide". While Atlas had some horror titles, such as "Marvel Tales", as far back as 1949, the company increased its output dramatically in the take of EC: Per Daniels, pp. 67-68: "The success of EC had a definite influence on Marvel. As Stan Lee recalls, 'Martin Goodman would say, "Stan, let's do a different kind of book", and it was usually based on how the competition was doing. When we found that EC's horror books were doing well, for instance, we published a lot of horror books'."] Until the early 1960s, when editor-in-chief and head writer Stan Lee would help revolutionize comic books with the advent of The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, Atlas was content to flood newsstands with profitable, cheaply produced product — often, despite itself, beautifully rendered by talented if low-paid young artists.

The Atlas "bullpen" had at least five staff writers (officially called editors) besides Lee: Hank Chapman, Paul S. Newman, Don Rico, Carl Wessler, and, in the teen-humor division, future MAD Magazine cartoonist Al Jaffee. Daniel Keyes, future author of "Flowers for Algernon", was an associate editor circa 1952. Other writers, generally freelance, included Robert Bernstein.

The artists — some freelance, some on staff — included such veterans as Human Torch creator Carl Burgos and Sub-Mariner creator Bill Everett. The next generation included the prolific and much-admired Joe Maneely, who before his death just prior to Marvel's 1960s breakthrough was the company's leading artist, providing many covers and doing work in all genres, most notably on Westerns and on the medieval adventure "The Black Knight". Others included Russ Heath, Gene Colan, and the fledgling, highly individualistic Steve Ditko.

Atlas' most prominent Western titles, many reprinted in the 1970s, were "Ringo Kid", with art by Maneely, Fred Kida and John Severin; Doug Wildey's "The Outlaw Kid"; Jack Keller's "Kid Colt, Outlaw" and the anthology "Gunsmoke Western", starring Kid Colt; and "The Black Rider", by Maneely, Syd Shores and others. (The Atlas versions of two prominent '60s Western characters, the Rawhide Kid and the Two-Gun Kid, were different and historically undistinguished iterations.)

Humor and miscellanea

Atlas also published a plethora of children's and teen humor titles, including Dan DeCarlo's "Homer, the Happy Ghost" (a la Casper the Friendly Ghost) and "Homer Hooper" (a la Archie Andrews). If newspapers had "Dennis the Menace", Atlas had the Joe Maneely-drawn "Melvin the Monster". TV had Sgt. Bilko? Atlas had the lovably conniving "Sergeant Barney Barker" — drawn by John Severin, one of comics' top war artists, no less.

One of the most popular titles was the long-running "Millie the Model", which began as a Timely Comics humor book in 1945 and ran a remarkable 207 issues, well into the Marvel-era '70s, launching spin-offs along the way. Created or co-created (accounts differ) by artist Ruth Atkinson, it later became the proving ground for cartoonist DeCarlo — the future creator of Josie and the Pussycats, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and other Archie Comics characters, and the artist who established Archie's modern look. DeCarlo wrote and drew "Millie" for a remarkable ten years, even while such companion titles as "Tillie the Typist", "Nellie the Nurse" and even his own "Sherry the Showgirl" fell by the wayside.

The high-school series "Patsy Walker", also created or co-created by Atkinson in 1945, ran until 1967 and spun-off three titles. More naturalistic than the slapsticky "Millie", it featured attractive but sedate art by Al Hartley, Al Jaffee, Morris Weiss and others. Given the tone and the target audience, "Patsy Walker" oddly included the legendary Harvey Kurtzman's bizarre "Hey Look!" one-pagers in several early issues. Patsy herself would be integrated into Marvel Universe continuity years later as the supernatural superheroine Hellcat.

No hellcats graced Atlas' funny animal books, but they did have cartoonist Ed Winiarski's trouble-prone "Buck Duck", Maneely's mentally suspect "Dippy Duck", and Howie Post's "The Monkey and the Bear", which bore a striking resemblance to DC Comics' "Fox and the Crow". Buck and others saw life again briefly in the early 1970s, when Marvel published the five-issue reprint title, "Li'l Pals" ("Fun-Filled Animal Antics!").

Notable miscellanea include the espionage title "Yellow Claw", with sumptuous Maneely, Severin, and Jack Kirby art; the Native American hero "Red Warrior", with art by Tom Gill; the Tom Corbett, Space Cadet-like "Space Squadron", written and drawn by future Marvel production executive Sol Brodsky; and "Sports Action", initially with true-life stories about the likes of George Gipp and Jackie Robinson, and later with fictional "Rugged Tales of Danger and Red-Hot Action!"

Layoffs

From 1952 to late 1956, Goodman distributed this torrent of comics to newsstands through his self-owned distributor, Atlas. He then switched to American News Company, the nation's largest distributor and a virtual monopoly — which shortly afterward lost a Justice Department lawsuit and discontinued its business. As historian and author Gerard Jones explains, the company in 1956

Stan Lee, in a 1988 interview, recalled that Goodman:

For that and other reasons, including a recession in the overall economy, Atlas retrenched in 1957. A fabled story has the publisher discovering a closet-full of unused, but paid-for, art, leading him to have virtually the entire staff fired while he used up the inventory. In the interview noted above, Lee, one of the few able to give a firsthand account, told a seemingly self-contradictory version of the downsizing:

In a 2003 interview, Joe Sinnott, one of the company's top artists for more than 50 years, recalled Lee citing the inventory issue as a primary cause:

Return of Jack Kirby

Goodman's men's magazines and paperback books were still successful — the comics, except in the early Golden Age, were a relatively small part of the business — and Goodman considered shutting the division down.

The details of his decision not to do so are murky. Jack Kirby, who after his amicable split with creative partner Joe Simon a few years earlier was not as busy as he would have liked, recalled in a 1990 interview for "The Comics Journal" that in late 1958,

The interviewer, "Comics Journal" publisher Gary Groth, later wrote of this interview in general, "Some of Kirby's more extreme statements ... should be taken with a grain of salt...." [Jack Kirby interview, "The Comics Journal Library", p. 19] Lee, specifically asked about the office-closing anecdote, said,

Kirby had previously returned, in late 1956, to freelance on five issues cover-dated Dec. 1956 and Feb. 1957, [ "Astonishing" #56 (4 pp.), "Strange Tales of the Unusual" #7 (4 pp.), "Quick-Trigger Western" #16 (5 pp.), and "Yellow Claw" #2-3 (19 pp. each)] but did not stay. Now, beginning with the cover and the seven-page story "I Discovered the Secret of the Flying Saucers" for "Strange Worlds" #1 (Dec. 1958), Kirby returned for a 12-year run that would soon help revolutionize comics. Atlas gave Kirby a high-profile market, splashing the maestro's work across countless covers and lead stories, with the singular quality and dynamism of Kirby's art elevating such preexisting comics as "Strange Tales" and the newly launched "Amazing Adventures", "Strange Worlds", "Tales of Suspense", "Tales to Astonish" and "World of Fantasy" above the other horror/science fiction titles that had proliferated in the wake of the recently defunct master of those comics genres, EC Comics.

A Kirby monster story, usually inked by Dick Ayers, would generally open each book, followed by one or two twist-ending thrillers or sci-fi tales drawn by Don Heck, Paul Reinman, or Joe Sinnott, with the whole thing capped by an often-surreal, sometimes self-reflexive Lee-Ditko short.

Pre-superhero Marvel

Goodman had begun moving away from newsstand distributor Kable News by branding his comics with the Atlas globe on issues cover-dated Nov. 1951, even though Kable's "K" logo and North American map symbol remained through the Aug. 1952 issues.

Goodman shut down his self-distributorship on Nov. 1, 1956, and began newsstand distribution through American News Service. The Atlas globe remained, however, through the Oct. 1957 issues, when American News went out of business. Goodman switched to the distributor Independent News, owned by rival DC Comics, and dropped the Atlas globe at that time. Goodman would reuse the name Atlas for the next comics company he founded, in the 1970s.

The final comic to bear the Atlas globe logo was "Dippy Duck" #1, the company's only release with an October 1957 cover date.

Goodman's switch to the distributor Independent News (see above), owned by rival DC Comics, was on constrained terms that allowed only eight titles per month. Fans sometimes refer to these surviving, bi-monthly titles as the "sweet 16". The first of these to bear the new "Ind." label was "Patsy Walker" #73 — ironically cover-dated, like "Dippy Duck" #1, October 1957. The best-selling titles were Westerns (with Kid Colt starring in two titles) and girl humor (led by the long-running "Millie the Model").Fact|date=February 2007 The two fantasy titles ("Strange Tales" and "World of Fantasy") clung on printing stored inventory material from late 1957 through late 1958.

Although for several months in 1949 and 1950 Timely's titles bore a circular logo labeled "Marvel Comic", the first modern comic book so labeled was the science-fiction anthology "Amazing Adventures" #3, which showed the "MC" box on its cover. Cover-dated August 1961, it was published May 9, 1961. [Library of Congress copyright information at [http://www.comics.org/details.lasso?id=16392 Grand Comics Database: "Amazing Adventures" #3] ] However, collectors routinely refer to the companies' 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.

Quotes

Stan Goldberg on the Atlas Comics staff: "I was in the Bullpen with a lot of well-known artists who worked up there at that time. We had our Bullpen up there until about 1958 or '59. [sic; the Bullpen staff was let go in 1957] The guys ... who actually worked nine-to-five and put in a regular day, and not the freelance guys who'd come in a drop off their work ... were almost a hall of fame group of people. There was John Severin. Bill Everett. Carl Burgos. There was the all-time great Joe Maneely.... We all worked together, all the colorists and correction guys, the letterers and artists. ... We had a great time". [ [http://www.adelaidecomicsandbooks.com/goldberg.htm Adelaide Comics and Books: Stan Goldberg interview] ]

Atlas titles by genre

Information from Atlas Tales [ [http://www.atlastales.com Atlas Tales] ] and other references. Some titles may be arguably Timely at the earlier end, or Marvel at the later end. Note: In titles numbered from or into the various "All Winners Comics", additional clarifying information is supplied. List, in progress, complete through "Menace", inclusive.

Crime

* "All-True Crime" #26-52 (Feb. 1948 - Sept. 1952; early issues Timely; continued from Timely's "Official True Crime")
* "Amazing Detective Cases" #3-14 (Nov. 1950 - Sept. 1952; continued from n.a.)
* "Caught" #1-5 (Aug. 1956 - April 1957)
* "Crime Can't Win" #41-43, 4-12 (Sept. 1950 - Sept. 1952; continued from Romance title "Cindy Smith")
* "Crime Cases Comics" #24-27, 5-12 (Aug. 1950 - July 1952; continued from Timely's "Willie Comics" and "Li'l Willie Comics")
* "Crime Exposed" (2nd series, following Timely's) #1-14 (Dec. 1950 - June 1952)
* "Crime Fighters" #11-13 (Sept. 1954 - Jan. 1955; continued from Timely's "Crimefighters")
* "Crime Must Lose!" #4-12 (Oct. 1950 - April 1952; continued from n.a.)
* "Justice" #7-9 (first three issues), then 4-52 (Fall 1947 - March 1955; early issues Timely; continued from Timely title "Wacky Duck"); continued as:*"Tales of Justice" #53-67 (May 1955 - Sept. 1957)
*"Kent Blake of the Secret Service" #1-4 (May 1951 - July 1953)

Drama

*"Man Comics" #1-10 (Dec. 1949 - Oct. 1951) continued as War title "Man Comics"
*"True Adventures" #3 (May 1950; continued from Western title "True Western"); continued as:*"Men's Adventures" #4-8 (Aug. 1950 - June 1951); continued as War title "Men's Adventures"

Espionage

*"Spy Cases" #26-19 (Sept. 1950 - Oct. 1953; continued from Timely's superhero title "Kid Komics" and humor titles "Kid Movie Komics", "Rusty Comics", "Rusty and her Family" and "The Kellys")

Funny-animal and other children's comics

*"Adventures of Homer Ghost" #1-2 (Jan.-Aug. 1957)
*"Buck Duck" #1-4 (June-Dec. 1953)
*"Cartoon Kids" #1 (no date; 1957)
*"Dippy Duck" #1 (Oct. 1957)
*"Homer, the Happy Ghost" #1-22 (March 1955 - Nov. 1958)
*"Little Lizzie" vol. 2, #1-3 (Sept. 1953 - Jan. 1954; previous volume Timely)
*"Marvin Mouse" #1 (Sept. 1957)
*"Melvin the Monster" #1-6 (July 1956 - July 1957) continued as:*"Dexter the Demon" #7 (Sept. 1957): Note: These two series not supernatural, but "Dennis the Menace"-like
*"The Monkey and the Bear" #1-3 (Sept. 1953 - Jan. 1954)
*"Wonder Duck" #1-3 (Sept. 1949 - March 1950) continued as:*"It's a Duck's Life" #4-11 (Nov. 1950 - Feb. 1952)

Heroes

* "Black Knight" #1-5 (May 1955 - April 1956)
* "Captain America" #76-78 (May-Sept. 1954) continued from Timely's "Captain America Comics" and "Captain America's Weird Tales")
* "The Human Torch" #36-38 (April-Aug. 1954) continued from its Timely Comics run, despite its numbering having been taken over
by the Romance title "Love Tales")
* "Marvel Boy" #1-2 (Dec. 1950 - Feb. 1951) continued as Horror title "Astonishing", in which Marvel Boy stars from #3-6
*"Men's Adventures" #27-28 (May-July 1954; continued from Horror title "Men's Adventures")
*"Sub-Mariner" #33-42 (April 1954 - Oct. 1955) continued from Timely's "Sub-Mariner Comics")
* "Young Men" #24-28 (Dec. 1953 - June 1954) continued from Misc. title "Young Men"
*"Yellow Claw" #1-4 (Oct. 1956 - April 1957; FBI agent Jimmy Woo as hero, versus supervillain Yellow Claw)

Humor - satire

*"Crazy" #1-7 (Dec. 1953 - July 1954)
*"Riot"
* "Wild"

Humor - sitcom

* "The Adventures Of Pinky Lee" #1-5 (July-Dec. 1955)
* "Della Vision" #1-3 (April-Aug. 1955)—————————————————————————————
* "Millie the Model" #1-207 (Winter 1945 - Marvel Comics)
* "A Date with Millie" #1-7 (Oct. 1956 - Aug. 1957)
* "A Date with Millie" Vol. 2, #1-7 (Oct. 1959 - Oct. 1960) continued as:* "Life With Millie" #8-20 (Dec. 1960 - Marvel Comics)—————————————————————————————
*"Hedy of Hollywood Comics" #36-50 (Feb, 1950 - Sept. 1952; continued from Timely's "Young Allies" #1-20, "All Winners Comics" #21, and "Hedy De Vine Comics" #22-35)—————————————————————————————
* "Patsy Walker" #1-99 (Winter 1945 - Marvel Comics)
* "Patsy and Hedy" #1-73 (Feb. 1952 -Dec. 1960)
* "Patsy and Her Pals" #1-29 (May 1953 - Aug. 1957)
* "A Date with Patsy" #1 (Sept. 1957)
* "Girls' Life" (subtitled "Patsy Walker's Own Magazine for Girls") #1-6 (Jan.-Nov. 1954)
* "Hedy Wolfe" (subtitled: "Patsy Walker's Rival"; not to be confused with "Hedy of Hollywood") #1 (Aug. 1957)—————————————————————————————
* "Homer Hooper" #1-4 (July - Dec. 1953)
*"Kathy" #1-27 (Oct. 1959 - Marvel Comics)
* "Sergeant Barney Barker" #1-2 (Aug.-Dec. 1957) continued as War title "G.I. Tales"
* "Sherry the Showgirl" #1-3 (July.-Dec. 1956) continued as:* "Showgirls" #4 (Feb. 1957) continued as:* "Sherry the Showgirl" #5-7 (April-Aug. 1957)
* "Showgirls" Vol. 2, #1-2 (July-Aug. 1957)

Horror/fantasy/SF

*"Adventure into Mystery" #1-8 (May 1956 - July 1957)
*"Adventures into Terror" #43-44 (first two issues), then #3-31 (Nov. 1950 - May 1954) orig. numbering continued from Timely's "Joker"
*"Adventures into Weird Worlds" #1-30 (Jan. 1952 - June 1954)
*"Amazing Adventures" #1-6 (June-Nov. 1961) continued as:*"Amazing Adult Fantasy" #7-14 (Dec. 1961 - July 1962) continued as Marvel's "Amazing Fantasy"
*"Amazing Mysteries" #32-35 (May 1949 - Jan. 1950; continued from n.a.; one source lists Timely's "Sub-Mariner Comics", which had an issue #32, and which numbering reportedly continued with "Best Romance")
*"Astonishing" #3-63 (April 1951 - Aug. 1957; continued from Superhero title "Marvel Boy")
*"Journey into Mystery" #1-82 (June 1952 - July 1962) series continued as Marvel comic featuring "The Mighty Thor"
*"Journey into Unknown Worlds" #36-59 (Sept. 1950 - Aug. 1957; continued from Timely teen-humor series "Teen Comics")
*"Marvel Tales" #93-159 (Aug. 1949 - Aug. 1957; continued from Timely's superhero title "Marvel Mystery Comics")
*"Menace" #1-11 (March 1953 - May 1954)
*"Men's Adventures" #21-26 (May 1953 - March 1954; continued from War title "Men's Adventures") continued as Superhero title "Men's Adventures"
*"Mystery Tales"
*"Strange Stories of Suspense"
*"Strange Tales"
*"Strange Tales of the Unusual"
*"Strange Worlds"
*"Suspense"
*"Tales of Suspense"
*"Tales to Astonish"
*"World of Fantasy"

Jungle

*"Jungle Action" #1-6 (Oct. 1954 - Aug. 1955; Vol. 2 published in 1970s)
*"Jungle Tales" #1-7 (Sept. 1954 - Sept. 1955) continued as:*"Jann of the Jungle" #8-17 (Nov. 1955 - June 1957)
*"Lorna, the Jungle Queen" #1-5 (July 1953 - Feb. 1954) continued as:*"Lorna, the Jungle Girl" #6-26 (March 1954 - Aug. 1957)

Romance

*"Cindy Smith" #39-40 (May-July 1950; continued from Timely's "Cindy Comics") continued as Crime title "Crime Can't Win")
* "Girl Confessions" #13-34 (March 1952 - Aug. 1954; continued from Misc. title "Girl Comics")
*"Love Adventures" #1-12 (Oct. 1949-Aug. 1952; early issues Timely) continued as:*"Actual Confessions" #13-14 (Oct.-Dec. 1952)
*"Love Romances" #6-106 (May 1949 - July 1963; early issues Timely; continued from Timely's "Ideal"
*"Love Tales" #36-75 (May 1949 - Sept. 1957; early issues Timely; continued from Timely's "The Human Torch" #1-35; see note at Superhero, below)
*"Lovers" #23-86 (May 1949 - Aug. 1957; early issues Timely; continued from Timely's "Blonde Phantom")
*"Meet Miss Bliss" #1-4 (May 1955 - Nov. 1955) continued as:*"Stories of Romance" #5-13 (March 1956 - Aug. 1957)
*"The Romances of Nurse Helen Grant" #1 (Aug. 1957)

ports

* "Sports Action" #2-14 (Feb. 1950-Sept. 1952; continued from Timely's "Sport Stars" )

War

* "3-D Action" #1 (Jan. 1954)
* "Battle" #1-70 (March 1951 - June 1960)
* "Battle Action" #1-30 (Feb. 1952 - Aug. 1957)
* "Battle Ground" (first four issues "Battle-Ground") #1-20 (Sept. 1954 - Sept.1957)
* "Battlefield" #1-11 (April 1952 - May 1953)
* "Battlefront" #1-48 (June 1952 - Aug. 1957)
* "Combat" #1-11 (June 1952 - April 1953)
* "Combat Kelly" #1-44 (Nov. 1951 - Aug. 1957)
* "Commando Adventures" #1-2 (June-Aug. 1957)
* "G.I. Tales" #4-6 (Feb.-July 1957; continued from Humor title "Sergeant Barney Barker")
*"Man Comics" #11-28 (Dec. 1951 - Sept. 1953; continued from Drama title "Man Comics"
* "Marines in Action" #1-14 (June 1955 - Sept. 1957)
* "Marines in Battle" #1-25 (Aug. 1954 - Sept. 1958)
* "Men in Action" #1-9 (April-Dec. 1952) continued as:* "Battle Brady" #10-14 (Jan.-June 1953)
*"Men's Adventures" #9-20 (Aug. 1951 - April 1953; continued from Drama title "Men's Adventures") continued as Horror title "Men's Adventures"
* "War Combat" #1-5 (March-Nov. 1952) continued as:* "Combat Casey" #6-34 (Jan. 1953 - July 1957)
* "Devil-Dog Dugan" #1-3 (July-Nov. 1956) continued as:* "Tales of the Marines" #4 (Feb. 1957) continued as:* "Marines at War" #5-7 (April-Aug. 1957)

Western

* "3-D Tales of the West" #1 (Jan. 1954)
* "All Western Winners" #2-4 (Winter 1948 - April 1949; continued from Timely's "All Winners Comics" vol. 2, #1); continued as:* "Western Winners" #5-7 (June 1949 - Dec. 1949) continued as:* "Black Rider" #8-27 (March 1950 - March 1955) continued as:* "Western Tales of Black Rider" #28-31 (May 1955 - Nov. 1955) continued as:* "Gunsmoke Western" #32-77 (Dec. 1955 - July 1963)
* "Annie Oakley" #1-11 (Spring-Nov. 1948; June 1955 - June 1956)
* "Arizona Kid" #1-6 (March 1951 - Jan. 1952)
* "Arrowhead" #1-4 (April 1954 - Nov. 1954)
* "Best Western" #58-59 (June 1949 - Aug. 1949; continued from n.a.) continued as:* "Western Outlaws & Sheriffs" #60-73 (Dec. 1949 - June 1952)
* "Billy Buckskin Western" #1-3 (Nov. 1955 - March 1956) continued as:*"2-Gun Western" #4 (May 1956) continued as:*"Two-Gun Western" #5-12 (July 1956 - Sept. 1957)
*"The Black Rider Rides Again!" #1 (Sept. 1957) See also "Black Rider", above
*"Frontier Western" #1-10 (Feb. 1956 - August 1957)
*"The Gunhawk" #12-18 (Nov. 1950 - Dec. 1951; continued from successive Timely titles "Blaze Carson", "Rex Hart", and "Whip Wilson")
*"Kid Colt, Hero of the West" #1-2 (Aug.-Oct. 1948) continued as:*"Kid Colt, Outlaw" #3-229 (Dec. 1948 - Marvel Comics)
*"The Kid from Dodge City" #1-2 (July-Sept. 1957)
*"The Kid from Texas" #1-2 (July-Aug. 1957)
*"Matt Slade, Gunfighter" #1-4 (May-Nov. 1956) continued as:*"Kid Slade, Gunfighter" #5-8 (Jan.-July 1957)
*"The Outlaw Kid #1-19 (Sept. 1954 - Sept. 1957)
*"Rawhide Kid" #1-16 (March 1955 - Dec. 1961)
*"Red Warrior" #1-6 (Jan.-Dec. 1951)
*"Reno Browne, Hollywood's Greatest Cowgirl" #50-52 (April-Sept. 1950; continued from Timely's "Margie") continued as:*"The Apache Kid" #53 (Dec. 1950) continued as:*"Apache Kid" #2-19 (Feb. 1951 - Jan. 1952; Dec. 1954 - April 1956) continued as:*"Western Gunfighters" #20-27 (June 1956 - Aug. 1957)
*"Ringo Kid Western" #1-4 (Aug. 1954 - Feb. 1955) continued as:*"Ringo Kid" #5-21 (April 1955 - Sept. 1957)
*"True Western" #1-2 (Dec. 1949 - March 1950) continued as Drama title "True Adventures"
*"Western Thrillers" #1-4 (Nov. 1954 - Feb. 1955) continued as:*"Cowboy Action" #5-11 (March 1955 - March 1956) continued as:*"Quick-Trigger Western #12-19 (May 1956 - Sept. 1957)

Misc.

* "Bible Tales for Young Folk" #1-5 (Aug. 1953 - March 1954)
* "Girl Comics" #1-12 (Oct. 1949 - Jan. 1952) continued as Romance title "Girl Confessions"
* "Young Men" #4-23 (June 1950 - Oct. 1953; continued from Timely's "Cowboy Romances"; note: cover title is "Young Men on the Battlefield!" #12-20) continues as Superhero title "Young Men"

Note: The romance title "Linda Carter, Student Nurse" #1-9 (Sept. 1961 - Jan. 1963), sometimes grouped together with Atlas Comics, chronologically falls within Marvel, and all covers have the "MC" box.

Footnotes

References

* [http://www.atlastales.com/ Atlas Tales]
* [http://www.maelmill-insi.de/UHBMCC/ The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators]
* [http://www.comicboards.com/marvelguide Marvel Guide: An Unofficial Handbook of the Marvel Universe]
* [http://www.marveldirectory.com/ Marvel Directory]
* [http://www.comics.org The Grand Comics Database]
* [http://www.newsfromme.com/archives/2004_09_23.html News from Me, Sept. 23, 2004: "More on Atlas Comics" by Tom Lammers and Mark Evanier]
* [http://columns.stlcomics.com/ironslab/III/ The Marvel/Atlas Super-Hero Revival of the Mid-1950s]
* [http://www.samcci.comics.org/chronology.htm Timely-Atlas-Marvel Chronology, by Scott Hollifield]
* [http://www.comicartville.com/bellmanpg2.htm A Timely Talk with Allen Bellman]
* [http://collectedcomicslibrary.blogspot.com/ Collected Comics Library]
* [http://www.kirbymuseum.org/ The Jack Kirby Museum]
* "All in Color for a Dime" by Dick Lupoff & Don Thompson ISBN 0-87341-498-5
* "The Comic Book Makers" by Joe Simon with Jim Simon ISBN 1-887591-35-4
* "Excelsior! The Amazing Life of Stan Lee" by Stan Lee and George Mair ISBN 0-684-87305-2
* "Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics" by Les Daniels ISBN 0-8109-3821-9

External links

* [http://www.timely-atlas.comics.org/ Timely Atlas Cover Gallery]