An independent reference
Timely Comics1939 – 1951
Martin Goodman's pulp house put out its first comic book in the autumn of 1939 and spent the next twelve years inventing, discarding, and occasionally striking gold. This site is a plain-language record of those years for readers and collectors of Golden Age comics.
Section 1What Timely was
Martin Goodman was a pulp-magazine publisher who followed trends rather than set them. When the sales figures on early superhero comics from other houses became impossible to ignore, he ordered one of his own. The book was packaged by an outside shop, Funnies, Inc., and appeared under the name Marvel Comics with a cover date of October 1939. It sold well enough that Goodman printed it again, and from the second issue the title became Marvel Mystery Comics.
The company behind it was one of a rotating set of Goodman shell corporations. "Timely Publications" was the imprint used on the early books, and a Timely Comics shield began appearing on covers in the early 1940s. Collectors use "Timely" to mean the whole Goodman comics operation from 1939 until the globe logo of Goodman's Atlas News Company took over on covers dated late 1951.
Timely's first stars were an android who burst into flame and a sea-prince who hated the surface world. Their fight across two issues of Marvel Mystery in 1940 is the first crossover battle in comics. The company's real breakthrough came a year later, when Joe Simon and Jack Kirby delivered a patriotic hero punching a dictator on the cover, months before the United States entered the war.
After the war the superheroes faded. Timely moved through funny animals, teen humour, romance, westerns, crime, and horror, chasing whatever sold. By 1950 its last costumed titles were gone, and the company that would eventually become Marvel Comics spent the next decade under the Atlas name.
Section 2Timeline
Marvel Comics #1 goes on sale at the end of August (cover-dated October) with the Human Torch, the Sub-Mariner, the Angel, Ka-Zar, and the Masked Raider. A second printing follows in November.
Joe Simon becomes Timely's first editor. Daring Mystery, Mystic, and a solo Human Torch title launch. Torch and Sub-Mariner fight in Marvel Mystery #8–9.
Captain America Comics #1, by Simon and Kirby, cover-dated March, reportedly approaches a million copies. Stan Lee, hired as an assistant, sees his first published work in issue #3 and becomes editor at nineteen when Simon and Kirby leave at year's end. All Winners, Young Allies, and USA Comics debut.
The offices move into the Empire State Building. Wartime paper rationing starts to squeeze page counts and print runs.
Millie the Model launches, the start of a teen-humour line that will outlast every superhero.
Superhero sales soften. The All Winners Squad appears in All Winners #19 and #21, Timely's only Golden Age super-team.
Sub-Mariner Comics ends with #32. Marvel Mystery Comics ends with #92 and continues as the horror anthology Marvel Tales.
Captain America Comics ends with #75, its last two issues retitled Captain America's Weird Tales. The Golden Age is over at Timely.
The Atlas globe replaces the Timely shield on covers from the November cover date. The Timely era closes.
Section 3Principal titles
| Title | Run | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Marvel Comics / Marvel Mystery Comics | #1 – #92 · 1939–1949 | The flagship anthology. Retitled from #2. Becomes Marvel Tales at #93. |
| Daring Mystery Comics | #1 – #8 · 1940–1942 | Rotating cast of short-lived heroes; the Fin, the Thunderer, the Blue Diamond. |
| Mystic Comics | #1 – #10 · 1940–1942 | Home of the Black Marvel, the Blazing Skull, and the Destroyer. |
| Human Torch | #2 – #38 · 1940–1954 | Numbering begins at #2, continuing from a one-shot. Suspended 1949, revived briefly 1954. |
| Captain America Comics | #1 – #75 · 1941–1950 | Simon and Kirby for the first ten issues. Bucky introduced in #1. |
| Sub-Mariner Comics | #1 – #32 · 1941–1949 | Bill Everett's character in his own book; also revived in 1954. |
| All Winners Comics | #1 – #21 · 1941–1947 | Anthology of the top three heroes; the All Winners Squad in #19 and #21. |
| Young Allies | #1 – #20 · 1941–1946 | Kid-gang book led by Bucky and Toro. |
| USA Comics | #1 – #17 · 1941–1945 | Major Liberty, the Whizzer, Jack Frost. |
| All Select Comics | #1 – #11 · 1943–1946 | Becomes Blonde Phantom at #12. |
| Miss America Comics / Magazine | 1944–1958 | Superhero for one issue, then a teen magazine that introduces Patsy Walker. |
| Millie the Model | #1 – #207 · 1945–1973 | Timely's longest-lived creation. |
| Venus | #1 – #19 · 1948–1952 | Starts as romance-comedy, ends as Everett horror. |
Issue counts and cover dates follow standard price-guide numbering. Cover dates ran roughly two months ahead of on-sale dates.
Section 4People
- Martin GoodmanPublisher
Founded the company from his pulp line. Managed by imitation and volume; kept a dozen corporate names in rotation.
- Carl BurgosWriter-artist
Created the Human Torch for the first issue. Returned to draw the character's 1954 revival.
- Bill EverettWriter-artist
Created the Sub-Mariner, first for an unsold movie giveaway, then for Marvel Comics #1. Later drew Venus.
- Joe SimonFirst editor
Ran the line from 1940 and co-created Captain America. Left with Kirby in a dispute over royalties.
- Jack KirbyArtist
Drew the first ten issues of Captain America and set the visual pace of the whole line.
- Stan LeeEditor from 1941
Hired as an office assistant at seventeen; editing the line at nineteen. Created the Destroyer and Jack Frost during the Timely years.
- Syd ShoresArtist, art director
Principal Captain America artist after Kirby's departure and through the postwar years.
- Al JaffeeWriter-artist
Ran Timely's humour and funny-animal books before the long career at Mad.
- Mike SekowskyArtist
Workhorse of the funny-animal and teen lines; drew hundreds of Timely pages.
Section 5Collecting notes
Condition
Timely books were printed on wartime pulp stock that has aged worse than most Golden Age paper. Cream to off-white pages are typical; white pages are exceptional. Check any raw copy for brittleness at the spine and edges before handling.
Restoration
A large share of high-grade Timely copies on the market have some restoration, from colour touch to married covers. On slabbed books, the label colour tells you. On raw books, a black light and a loupe are the minimum.
Pedigrees
Edgar Church (Mile High) copies set the ceiling for most Timely issues. Larson, Allentown, Denver, and San Francisco copies also command premiums. Pedigree is noted on the grading label and should be verified in the certification database.
Key issues
Marvel Comics #1 and Captain America Comics #1 are the two books that define the top of the market; both have sold for well over two million dollars in the highest grades. Below them, Marvel Mystery #8 and #9, Captain America #3, All Winners #19, and Human Torch #2 are the issues collectors most often chase.
Nothing here is investment advice. Verify current values against recent auction records and a current price guide before buying or selling.
Section 6About this site
This domain was registered in 2005 by a long-time collector of comic books and is maintained as a personal reference project. There is no company behind it and no revenue from it.
Corrections are welcome. If you spot an error in a date, a creator credit, or an issue number, please write to corrections@timelycomics.com.
If you own the rights to something discussed here and have a concern, the same address reaches the site owner directly.