Martin Goodman (publisher)

Martin Goodman
Born	January 18, 1908(1908-01-18)
Died	June 2, 1992(1992-06-02) (aged 84) Palm Beach, Florida
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Publisher
Notable works	Marvel Comics Magazine Management Company

Martin Goodman born on (January 18, 1908 – June 6, 1992, Palm Beach, Florida)^[1] was an American publisher of pulp magazines, paperback books, men's adventure magazines, and comic books, launching the company that would become Marvel Comics.

Biography

Pulps and the Golden Age of Comics

Uncanny Tales (May 1940), one of the Red Circle pulp magazines

After traveling around the country as a young man during the Great Depression, living in hobo camps, Goodman became a salesperson for New York City publisher Paul Sampliner's Independent News, "alongside future comics publishers and rivals John Goldwater and Louis Silberkleit," as well as "Frank Armer, who helped distribute Harry Donenfeld's Detective Comics."^[2][3][4] In 1931, Goodman, Silberkleit, and Maurice Coyne formed Columbia Publications, one of the earliest publishers of pulp magazines, which Goodman left in 1932, and (with borrowed money) found his own companies including Western Fiction Publishing.^[5]

Goodman's first publication was Western Supernovel Magazine, premiering May 1933. After the first issue he renamed it Complete Western Book Magazine, beginning with cover-date July 1933.^[6]

Goodman's business strategy involved using several corporate names for various publishing ventures, such as Red Circle. Goodman's pulp magazines included All Star Adventure Fiction Complete Western Book, Mystery Tales, Real Sports, Star Detective, the science fiction magazine Marvel Science Stories and the jungle-adventure title Ka-Zar, starring its Tarzan-like namesake.

In 1939, with the emerging medium of comic books proving hugely popular, and the first superheroes setting the trend, Goodman contracted with newly formed comic-book "packager" Funnies, Inc. to supply material for a test comic book. Marvel Comics #1, cover-dated October 1939 and featuring the first appearances of the hit characters the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner,^[7] quickly sold out 80,000 copies. Goodman produced a second printing, cover-dated November 1939, that then sold an approximate 800,000 copies.^[8] With a hit on his hands, Goodman began assembling an in-house staff, hiring Funnies, Inc. writer-artist Joe Simon as editor, and the first official employee of the new Timely Publications. Timely Comics became the umbrella name for the several paper corporations that comprised Goodman's comic-book division, which would in ensuing decades evolve into Marvel Comics.^[9][10]

Marvel Comics #1, featuring the Human Torch. Art by Frank R. Paul.

In 1941, Timely published its third major character, the patriotic superhero Captain America by Simon and future comics-artist legend Jack Kirby. The success of Captain America #1 (March 1941) led to an expansion of staff, with Simon bringing freelancer Kirby on staff and subsequently hiring inker Syd Shores "to be Timely's third employee."^[4] Simon & Kirby departed Timely after 10 issues of Captain America, and Goodman appointed Stan Lee as Timely's editor, a position Lee would hold for decades.

With the post-war lessening of interest in superheroes, Goodman published a wider variety of genres including horror, Westerns, teen humor, crime and war comics.

The name "Timely Comics" went into disuse after Goodman began using the globe logo of the newsstand-distribution company he owned, Atlas, starting with the covers of comic books dated November 1951. This united a line put out by the same publisher and staff through 59 shell companies, from Animirth Comics to Zenith Publications. Throughout the 1950s, the company formerly known as Timely was called Atlas Comics.

Magazines and paperback books

As the market for pulp magazines waned, Goodman, in addition to comic books, transitioned to conventional magazines — published through a concern dubbed Magazine Management Company at least as far back as 1953^[11] — and in 1949 founded Lion Books, a paperback line. Goodman used the name Red Circle Books for the first seven titles plus an additional two later. Most were novels, but there was a smattering of mostly sports-oriented nonfiction. Goodman eventually developed two lines, the 25¢ Lion and the 35¢ Lion Library.^[12]

New American Library bought Lion in 1957, and several Lion titles were reprinted under its Signet label. Authors that Lion published included such notables as Robert Bloch, David Goodis and Jim Thompson.^[12]

Marvel Comics

Main article: Marvel Comics

In mid-1961, following rival DC Comics' successful revival of superheroes a few years earlier, Goodman's comic-book editor and art director, Stan Lee, and freelance artist Jack Kirby created The Fantastic Four #1 (cover-dated Nov. 1961), the first hit of what would become Marvel Comics. The newly naturalistic comics, in which superheroes bickered, worried about money and behaved more like everyday people than noble archetypes, changed the industry. Lee, Kirby, such artists as Steve Ditko, Don Heck, Dick Ayers, John Romita Sr., Gene Colan, and John Buscema, and eventually writers including Roy Thomas and Archie Goodwin, ushered in a string of hit characters, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, and, in a 1970s revival of the unsuccessful 1960s team, the X-Men.

In fall 1968, Goodman sold Magazine Management to the Perfect Film & Chemical Corporation. Goodman remained as publisher^[13] until 1972. Two years later he founded a new comics company, Seaboard Periodicals, which published under a new Atlas Comics imprint and is known to collectors as "Atlas/Seaboard Comics". It shut down the following year.

Perfect Film & Chemical renamed itself Cadence Industries in 1973, the first of many post-Goodman changes, mergers, and acquisitions that led to what became the 21st-century corporation Marvel Entertainment Group.

Men's magazines

Goodman's Magazine Management Company also published such men's adventure magazines as For Men Only, Male and Stag, edited during the 1950s by Noah Sarlat. As well, there was such ephemera as a one-shot black-and-white "nudie cutie" comic, The Adventures of Pussycat (Oct. 1968), that reprinted some stories of the sexy, tongue-in-cheek secret-agent strip that ran in some of his men's magazines. Marvel/Atlas writers Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Ernie Hart and artists Wally Wood, Al Hartley, Jim Mooney and Bill Everett and "good girl art" cartoonist Bill Ward contributed.^[14][15]

By the late 1960s, these titles had begun evolving into erotic magazines, with pictorials about dancers and swimsuit models replaced by bikinis and discreet nude shots, with gradually fewer fiction stories.

Another division, Humorama, published digest-sized magazines of girlie cartoons by Ward, Bill Wenzel and Archie Comics great Dan De Carlo, as well as black-and-white photos of pin-up models including Bettie Page, Eve Meyer, stripper Lili St. Cyr and actresses Joi Lansing, Tina Louise, Irish McCalla, Julie Newmar and others. Abe Goodman, a relative, headed this division. Titles included Breezy, Gaze, Gee-Whiz, Joker, Stare, and Snappy. They were published from at least the mid-1950s to mid-1960s.

In addition to men's adventure magazines and Humorama, Goodman also published many other magazines covering a plethora of topics including several male-oriented glossy 5" x 7" digests in the early-to-mid 1950s (e.g. Focus, Photo, and Eye) prior to the development of Humorama, as well as many romance, film and television, sports and other general interest magazines spanning several decades.

Goodman's magazines

Pulp Magazines: see Red Circle

Romance and true crime magazines

My Confession My Romance True Secrets Humor magazines Best Cartoons from the Editors of Male & Stag, Magazine Management — published at least from 1973-1975)[16] Breezy[citation needed] Cartoon Capers — published at least from vol. 4, #2 (1969) - vol. 10, #3 (1975)[16] Cartoon Laughs — confirmed extant: vol 12, #3 (1973)[16] Comedy — published at least January, 1942, a digest sized publication[citation needed] Cupid[citation needed] Gayety — published at least September, 1941[citation needed] Gaze[citation needed] Gee-Whiz[citation needed] Joker — published at least Spring, 1941[citation needed] Stare[citation needed] Snap — published at least October, 1940[citation needed] Snappy[citation needed] Zippy — published at least May, 1941[citation needed] Men's-adventure and erotic magazines Launched pre-1970 Male vol. 26, #3 (March 1976) Action Life Magazine — published at least volume 4, #4 (Nov. 1954), Atlas Magazine Pub.[citation needed] Complete Man Magazine — published at least between Sept. 1965 and April 1967, Atlas Magazines[citation needed] For Men Only — confirmed at least from vol. 4, #11 (Dec. 1957) through at least vol. 26, #3 (March 1976) Published by Canam Publishers at least 1957), Newsstand Publications Inc. (at least 1966-1967), Perfect Film Inc. (at least 1968), Magazine Management Co. Inc. (at least 1970) [17] Male — published at least vol. 1, #2 (July 1950) through 1977 [18] Male Home Companion[citation needed] Stag — at least 314 issues published February 1942 - Feb. 1976 Published by Official Communications Inc. (1951), Official Magazines (Feb. 1952 - March 1958), Atlas (July 1958 - Oct. 1968), Magazine Management (Dec. 1970 to end) [19] Stag Annual — at least 18 issues published 1964-1975 Published by Atlas (1964–1968), Magazine Management (1970 – 1975)[19] 1970s and later FILM International — covering X-rated movies [20] True crime magazines Action Life Magazine — published at least volume 4, #4 (Nov. 1954), Atlas Magazine Pub. Complete Detective Cases — published at least between March 1941 and Fall 1954, Postal Pub. Inc. Leading Detective Cases — published at least May 1947, Zenith Pub. Corp. National Detective Cases — published at least March 1941. Movie magazines Screen Stars — published at least October 1944. Other magazines Celebrity — extant in at least 1977 It's Amazing — issue #1 dated only 1949, published by Stadium Publishing. Movie World Popular Digest — volume 1 #1, September 1939. Sex Health — issue #1 dated August 1937. References ^ Les Daniels, in Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics (Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (1991), p. 17, ISBN 0-8109-3821-9, gives 1910, Brooklyn, for birth. The Michigan State University Libraries Special Collections Division: Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection, "Goo" to "Goodman" (WebCitation archive) gives life-dates as 1910-1992. However, these are incorrect according to the Social Security Death Index, which gives the supplied dates above for Goodman, Martin, Social Security Number 087-07-1191. Ronin Ro's Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution (Bloomsbury, 2004) quotes Brooklyn and a birthdate of January 8, but that is likely a typo. ^ Daniels, Marvel. p. 18 ^ "Publisher Profile: Ar chie Comics" from Borderline #19 by Rik Offenberger, March 1, 2003. Accessed April 2, 2008 ^ a b Ro, Ronin (2004). Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution. Bloomsbury. http://books.google.com/books?id=CFhbqswztWkC&lpg=PA179&ots=8o1B9uCxtz&dq=Sheldon%20Feinberg%20Cadence%20Industries&pg=PA179#v=onepage&q=Sheldon%20Feinberg%20Cadence%20Industries&f=false.  ^ Sources differ as to dates and facts surrounding these brief years. Ro (Tales to Astonish, above) writes with slightly different dates, ignoring "Columbia Publications", and talks instead of Goodman & Silberkleit forming "Western Fiction" (with emphasis added): "Goodman worked for Independent News alongside future comics publishers and rivals John Goldwater and Louis Silberkleit and Frank Armer, who helped distribute Harry Donenfeld's Detective Comics. In 1932, Goodman and Silberkleit left Independent News, borrowed money, and formed Western Fiction Publishing... Two years after forming Western Fiction, however, Silberkleit left." Rik Offenberger (Borderline, above), writing about the formation of Archie Comics, includes "Columbia Publications" but not "Western Fiction": "In the early 1930's Louis Silberkleit, Martin Goodman, and Maurice Coyne started Columbia Publications. Martin Goodman soon left that company and it was owned solely by Louis Silberkleit and Maurice Coyne. Columbia was one of the last pulp companies, putting out its last pulp in the late 50's..." In 1939 Silberkleit and Coyne joined John L. Goldwater to found what is now Archie Comics. ^ Cottrill, Tim. Bookery's Guide to Pulps & Related Magazines 1888-1969. Bookery Press, 2005. pp 70,274. ^ Writer-artist Bill Everett's Sub-Mariner had actually been created for an undistributed movie-theater giveaway comic, Motion Picture Funnies Weekly earlier that year, with the previously unseen, eight-page original story expanded by four pages for Marvel Comics #1. ^ Per researcher Keif Fromm, Alter Ego #49, p. 4 (caption) ^ Daniels, Les (1991). Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. New York: Harry N. Abrams. pp. 27 & 32–33. ISBN 0-8109-3821-9. "Timely Publications became the name under which Goodman first published a comic book line. He eventually created a number of companies to publish comics ... but Timely was the name by which Goodman's Golden Age comics were known." "Marvel wasn't always Marvel; in the early 1940s the company was known as Timely Comics, and some covers bore this shield." (See infobox at top of article) ^ "Marvel : Timely Publications (Indicia Publisher)" at the Grand Comics Database. "This is the original business name under which Martin Goodman began publishing comics in 1939. It was used on all issues up to and including those cover-dated March 1941 or Winter 1940-1941, spanning the period from Marvel Comics #1 to Captain America Comics #1. It was replaced by Timely Comics, Inc. starting with all issues cover-dated April 1941 or Spring 1941." ^ Wakefield, Dan, New York in the 50s (Macmillan, 1999, ISBN 031219935X), quoting Bruce Jay Friedman: "I started with Magazine Management and stayed until 1963...." ^ a b Black, Bruce, ed.. "Lion". Archived from the original on October 29, 2010. http://bookscans.com/Publishers/lion/lion.htm. Retrieved 15 August 2011.  ^ Daniels, Marvel. p. 139 ^ POV Online: "The Marvel Age of Huge Breasts" by Mark Evanier ^ Tony's Online Tips, July 2, 2003 ^ a b c Michigan State University Libraries: Reading Room Index to the Comic Art Collection ^ The FictionMags Index. Note: Cached version includes contents list with staff/contributors names. Editor of vol. 21, #8 (Aug. 1974) is Ivan Prashker) ^ University of Pennsylvania Library: "First copyright renewals for periodicals" ^ a b Magazine Data File, p. 300 ^ Sexy Magazines: Title List External links Nevins, Jess. "The Timely Comics Story". WebCitation archive. A List of Pre-Golden Age Marvel Magazines (dead link) "Louis Silberkleit, Co-Founder of Archie Comics, Dies at 81", The New York Times February 25, 1986, with correction published February 27, 1986 Persondata Name Goodman, Martin Alternative names Short description Date of birth January 18, 1908 Place of birth Date of death June 2, 1992 Place of death Palm Beach, Florida