Atlas Comics 1950s: Encyclopedia II - Atlas Comics 1950s - Atlas or Marvel?

Atlas Comics 1950s - Atlas or Marvel?

The exact point at which "Atlas" began to be considered "Marvel" has never been definitively established. 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 distrbution 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. Had American News continued, Goodman might have continued to brand the company Atlas, as he indeed named the next comics company he founded, in the 1970s.

The first comic book labeled Marvel Comics was the science-fiction anthology Amazing Adventures #3, which showed the "MC" box on its cover. Cover-dated Aug. 1961, it was published May 9, 1961 per the Library of Congress [4]. 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.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Atlas or Marvel?", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki