Unstable Molecules

In this special Treasury Edition we take a break from looking at comics to review the first episode of Robert Kirkman’s new documentary series...

This episode briefly looks at war comics and Jack Kirby’s work for the final issues of Battle at the end of the fifties. We take a look at Kirby’s covers and stories in Battle issues 64-70 (June 1959 to June 1960). Accompanying information:

We take a quick peek at the type of Romance anthology comic that the Marvel team was producing just before they created the superhero universe.

How the idea of the Marvel interconnected universe - where heroes would crossover or “guest star” in each other’s books - first occurred in the teen comics for girls - with characters like Patsy Walker, Millie the Model, Kathy Carter and others.

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby's Young Romance #1 (1947) launched the genre of the Romance comic which, at one point in the 1950s, sold more than any other genre. It's influence was felt in the early Marvel superhero comics,

Patsy Walker's first appearance is in Miss America Magazine #2. Nov 1944 cover date in a seven page introductory story pencilled and inked by Ruth Atkinson.

In her excellent history of American Romance comics, Love on the Racks, Michelle Nolan describes Venus as Marvel's first attempt to match a character to whatever trend she seemed to fit at the time.

Never to underestimate a trend, Atlas produced 3 imitations of MAD within months of the comic’s first issue - Crazy, Wild and Riot (3 titles) which saw 1st issues in December 1953, February 1954 and April 1954 - followed by Snafu later on. Atlas was the only company to produce more than 1 MAD imitation.

Dippy Duck was the last of Timely/Atlas' Animal Funnies with a cover date of October 1957. It's also the last comic to bear the Atlas Logo.

Homer the Happy Ghost was a bi-monthly kids humour comic that ran for 22 issues between 1955 and 1958. It was clearly another of Goodman’s copycat titles, obviously ripping off Harvey Comics’ Casper the Friendly Ghost.

Over the last year I've been reading and researching material for the Unstable Molecules podcast, looking at the influences on the early Marvel universe's comics and creators. What I thought would be two or three episodes looks like being at least ten - before I even get to Fantastic Four #1. I'm hoping to get to that point by the end of the year. There's so much that feeds into the early Marvel comics universe that my original plan to get an episode out monthly has been held up be the sheer amount of reading I've needed to do. I've probably read around 1000 comics plus background material and criticism. On top of that I have a busy job and a family - so getting UM episodes out frequently as I'd hoped has been tough. My plan with Panel Breakouts is to share some of the work I'm doing in between the episodes: from thoughts about a single issue to historical facts I've found out. Nothing polished or edited: just a quick look at something interesting that ties into the main podcast. I'm preparing an episode of Unstable Molecules about Atlas Comics' romance titles and the influence they had in establishing the tone of the early Marvel comics (plus looking at the influence of Simon and Kirby on the Romance genre). This episode of Panel Breakouts takes a look at Patsy Walker #95.

We take a look at Jack Kirby's creation of the first Silver Age superhero team, The Challengers of the Unknown. Plus Kirby's work on Sky Masters of the Space Force. 0:00:00 - Kirby & the creation of The Challengers 0:04:12 - Kirby talks about Challengers (interview) 0:04:25 - About The Challengers 0:06:45 - Who are The Challengers? 0:07:52 - Showcase #6 0:10:53 - Showcase #7 0:16:50 - Showcase #11 0:18:30 - Showcase #12 0:19:52 - Challengers of the Unknown #1 0:21:54 - Challengers of the Unknown #2 0:23:37 - Challengers of the Unknown #3 0:25:17 - Challengers of the Unknown # 0:27:53 - Challengers of the Unknown #5 0:28:59 - Challengers of the Unknown #6 0:31:51 - Challengers of the Unknown #7 0:33:07 - Challengers of the Unknown # 0:38:21 - Kirby & the creation of Sky Masters 0:41:22 - Legal trouble! 0:42:46 - "Washed up at Atlas" 0:43:57 - Thanks for listening "Something Happens" by NICOCO (www.jamendo.com) "Falling Skies" by Bane Djakovic (www.jamendo.com) "Action Inspiration Trailer" by Blue Giraffe (www.jamendo.com) "Emotional Theme" by Blue Giraffe (www.jamendo.com) "Epic 3" by Blue Giraffe (www.jamendo.com) "Epic Trailer" by Blue Giraffe (www.jamendo.com) "Inspire" by Blue Giraffe (www.jamendo.com) "Adventure" by Celestial Aeon Project (www.jamendo.com) "Opener Into Teaser" by Celestial Aeon Project (www.jamendo.com) "Phoenix" by Circus Marcus (www.jamendo.com) "Fragrance of Hope" by Mattia Vlad Morleo (www.jamendo.com) "Epic Success" by Music for Your Media (www.jamendo.com) "Epic Action" by Musway Studio (www.jamendo.com) "Soundtrak01" by Naturalbody (www.jamendo.com) "Cinematic Romance" by The JR Sound Design (www.jamendo.com) Twitter: @MarvelUMpodcast Website: www.marvelunstablemolecules.com Email: marvelumpodcast@gmail.com

The next episode of Unstable Molecules will be in the feed soon. It's all about Kirby's work on The Challengers of the Unknown before he joined Stan Lee at Atlas in 1958. After that I'll be adding episodes on War comics, Romance and Steve Ditko. In the meantime, here's a little something about the Challengers themselves...

This time we look at Marvel's first attempt to create an ongoing superhero in 1961 before The Fantastic Four... The Amazing Dr Droom, occult detective. 0:00:00 - Intro 0:00:14 - "My eyes... They're becoming slanted!" 0:00:40 - Introducing Dr Droom 0:03:50 - Amazing Adventures #1 (June 1961) 0:06:40 - Comparison with Dr Strange's first appearance (Strange Tales #110) 0:08:30 - Amazing Adventures #2 (July 1961) 0:11:07 - Amazing Adventures #3 (August 1961) 0:12:35 - Amazing Adventures #4 (September 1961) 0:14:24 - Amazing Adventures #6 (November 1961) 0:16:25 - Retcon 0:16:52 - thanks for listening

Season Zero Episode Three: Giant Monsters! This time we look at what type of comics Atlas/Marvel were creating at the end of the 50s and why the giant beasts and alien invaders of the Monster Age became a crucial component of the formation of the Marvel Universe. It's these types of fantasy and SF comics that brought together the Marvel architects: Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko. 0:00:00 - “I say there are better things left unsolved!” 0:01:00 - monsters: the context 0:03:01 - monster movies of the 50s 0:04:28 - SF movies of the 50s 0:06:23 - Atlas Comics joins the monster craze 0:08:30 - monster names 0:09:42 - Strange Worlds (December 1958) 0:11:13 - Monstroso attacks! 0:13:06 - Strange Tales #70 (The Sphinx) 0:15:44 - Tales of Suspense #8 (Monstroso) 0:17:53 - Strange Tales #75 (Taboo) 0:20:29 - Tales of Suspense #15 (Goom) 0:24:11 - Strange Tales #83 (Groog) 0:27:18 - Amazing Adventures #1 (Torr) 0:30:57 - Strange Tales #89 (Fin Fang Foom) 0:35:53 - monster comics become super-hero comics 0:38:12 - thanks for listening "Something Happens" by NICOCO (www.jamendo.com) "Le Beau Blaireau" by NICOCO (www.jamendo.com) "Come Here (Piano)" by NICOCO (www.jamendo.com) Stan Lee talking about Fin Fang Foom from “Stan Lee’s Amazing Marvel Universe” Trailers for: It Came from Beneath the Sea, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms Twitter: @MarvelUMpodcast Website: www.marvelunstablemolecules.com Email: marvelumpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode we don't look at any individual issues or stories. Instead we take a look at the events in Martin Goodman's company during the 1950s: the type of comics Atlas produced, the distribution crisis and "Atlas Implosion", the death of Joe Maneely and Steve Ditko and Jack Kirby's return to the company. 0:00:00 - Take a peek! 0:01:15 - Martin Goodman's comics 0:02:16 - 1949 Goodman closes the Timely Bullpen 0:03:03 - Sales of comics in the 1950s & Atlas Distribution 0:04:04 - The Comics Code and its effect 0:05:00 - Westerns 0:05:44 - Horror comics 0:06:03 - Romance and Teen Girl comics 0:06:13 - The Black Knight 0:06:34 - Yellow Claw 0:07:06 - 655 Madison Avenue 0:08:15 - Budget cuts! 0:09:05 - Distribution crisis 0:10:40 - 16 bi-monthly titles 0:12:13 - Death of Joe Maneely 0:13:07 - Lee hires Ditko and Kirby 0:13:50 - The "real start of Marvel"? 0:15:04 - Thanks for listening "Something Happens" by NICOCO (www.jamendo.com) "Le Beau Blaireau" by NICOCO (www.jamendo.com) "Come Here (Piano)" by NICOCO (www.jamendo.com) Twitter: @MarvelUMpodcast Website: www.marvelunstablemolecules.com Email: marvelumpodcast@gmail.com

In this episode we cover the Timely Heroes revival (Human Torch, Captain America and Sub-Mariner) in 1953-54: Young Men #24-28 and Men's Adventures #27-28. These issues are reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Heroes Volumes 1-2. 0:00:00 - It begins with a BANG! 0:00:22 - Post-War America; the context 0:01:34 - The revival of Captain America, The Sub-mariner and the Human Torch 0:02:32 - Anxieties of the era 0:03:01 - The Adventures of Superman TV series 0:04:48 - Overview of the stories of the revival 0:07:05 - "The Human Torch is back!" 0:07:45 - Marvel Masterworks: Atlas Era Heroes reprints 0:08:31 - Who were the creators? 0:08:48 - Young Men #24 0:19:25 - Young Men #25 0:22:56 - Young Men #26 0:26:02 - Young Men #27 0:30:18 - Young Men #28 0:37:50 - About Men's Adventures 0:38:27 - Men's Adventures #27 0:44:29 - Men's Adventures #28 0:52:32 - Cancellation of the Timely Heroes' comics 0:55:29 - Thanks for listening "Sea-Fury Monster 2" (www.freesound.org) "Intro from The Adventures of Superman" "Departure Drums" by NICOCO (www.jamendo.com) "Good Prospect" by NICOCO (www.jamendo.com) "Something Happens" by NICOCO (www.jamendo.com) "Dancing Stars" by NICOCO (www.jamendo.com) Twitter: @MarvelUMpodcast Website: www.marvelunstablemolecules.com Email: marvelumpodcast@gmail.com