Looking at a month-by-month list of Atlas/Marvel's output in the late 1950s, it's interesting to see which titles survived the 1957 implosion, and which titles were introduced or dropped afterwards. Although fans have powerful associations with titles like Journey Into Mystery or Tales to Astonish, due to the superhero series that they later became, it seems just as likely that it could have turned out to be Journey Into Unknown Worlds or World of Fantasy that lasted instead, if things had gone a little differently.
For example, when we think of Journey Into Mystery, we think of the long-running Atlas horror title (introduced in 1952) that eventually became the home of The Mighty Thor in the 1960s. And yet, for a time, its "last" issue was #48 (Aug. 1957) which came out the same month as Journey Into Unknown Worlds #59, Astonishing #63, Marvel Tales #159, Mystery Tales #54, Mystic #61 and World of Fantasy #8, among others. (The following month, just before the implosion hit and dramatically shrank the line, saw the final issue of another long-running Atlas horror/fantasy series, Uncanny Tales, with #56.)
All of those series except World of Fantasy had higher issue numbers than Journey Into Mystery, but their runs all ended -- except for World of Fantasy which came back with #9 (Dec. 1957) and continued to appear on a bimonthly basis until #19 (Aug. 1959). For a time, in late 1957 and early 1958, Martin Goodman was publishing only two "fantasy" series: Strange Tales and World of Fantasy.
Shown below is a screencap from the "Newsstand" feature of Mike's Amazing World of Comics, for Goodman releases with January and February 1958 cover dates, to indicate where these fantasy comics placed in Goodman's comics line at this time.
That situation lasted for nearly a year until a third fantasy title, Journey Into Mystery, was added to the lineup with #49 (Nov. 1958), its numbering picking up where it had left off the year before. Why continue JiM and not any of the other, longer-running Atlas series? JiM was saved from obscurity by its revival in 1958, but it could have just as easily gone the other way, and Thor might have appeared later on in Journey Into Unknown Worlds or Mystic or Astonishing had they been resumed instead.
(In a previous post on this blog, back in 2020, I wrote about a U.K. comic titled Mystic which continued publishing until 1966, which does offer us an opportunity to see how those early Marvel superhero comics might have looked under that title. So, this "what might have been" is obviously a subject that has intrigued me for some time.)
The next month (cover-date Dec. 1958), a fourth fantasy title was added to the lineup -- a title that is pretty much forgotten today: Strange Worlds. Avon had published a series with that title in the early 1950s, although its focus had switched from science fiction to war stories after the implementation of the Code in 1955. Goodman's Strange Worlds was the first post-implosion fantasy series to have a first issue (#1).
The next month (cover-dated Jan. 1959), two more fantasy titles were added: Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish. (We've all heard of them, haven't we?) Three #1's in the space of two months in the fantasy/science-fiction genre indicates that Goodman thought this genre might be a hot new trend, which is why he just doubled the amount of titles that he published in that genre. To make room on the schedule, he cancelled two of his three war titles: Marines in Battle and Navy Combat (with #25 and #20 respectively) and the long-running Miss America (starring Patsy Walker) with #93.
It's worth pointing out that Goodman didn't simply revive one of his older fantasy titles instead. Rather than Strange Worlds #1, Tales of Suspense #1 and Tales to Astonish #1, we might have seen Journey Into Unknown Worlds #60, Strange Stories of Suspense #17 and Astonishing #64. Perhaps however Goodman wanted to emphasize that this was a new line, a fresh start, and that is why the older titles were not carried on. (Although it's a shame that the flagship title Marvel Tales was not revived at this time, since a new issue would have given it the highest issue number of all: #160.)
So, from this point (late 1958), and through nearly the rest of 1959, Goodman was publishing six bimonthly fantasy series: Strange Tales, Strange Worlds and World of Fantasy published one month, alternating the other month with Journey Into Mystery, Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish. (This was in addition to the other series that were published, in other genres such as western, girl comics, and the last remaining war title, Battle.)
But then something happened. Presumably the sales were weaker for Strange Worlds and World of Fantasy, so they were cancelled after their August 1959 cover-dated issues (#5 and #19 respectively). Presumably material intended for #6 and #20 would have been placed in the four remaining fantasy titles (the survivors which we think of as the core "pre-Marvel" fantasy titles today: JiM, ST, TTA and TOS).
World of Fantasy, which had survived the 1957 implosion, and which for nearly a year (in late 1957 to mid 1958, as we saw above) was one of only two fantasy comics published by Goodman (the other being Strange Tales), was dropped, never to return.
Why were World of Fantasy and Strange Worlds cancelled? To make room on the schedule for two new humor titles, Kathy and A Date With Millie, whose first issues (both #1's) were cover-dated Oct. 1959.
By dropping from six fantasy titles to four, Goodman may have felt that he had expanded too fast. Science fiction comic books have traditionally not sold well, and there was a glut of SF in general at this time, which also saw the demise of prose magazines like Science Fiction Quarterly (with the Feb. 1958 issue), Science Fiction Adventures (June 1958), Venture Science Fiction (July 1958), Satellite Science Fiction (May 1959), and the long-running Future Science Fiction (April 1960) and The Original Science Fiction Stories (May 1960), among others. This was the dawn of the Space Age and the Space Race, but that didn't necessarily mean science fiction comics would sell.
In 1960, Goodman expanded his comics line from 8 titles per month to an average of 10 (i.e., nine one month, eleven the next). Three of the four fantasy titles immediately went monthly, and the fourth (Tales of Suspense) soon followed suit. Eventually a fifth fantasy title was added with the publication of Amazing Adventures #1 (June 1961). So, although there was only a total of five fantasy series being published by Goodman now -- fewer than the number he had in 1959 -- their monthly frequency meant it was the equivalent of twice that amount.
Amazing Adventures #6 (Nov. 1961) was the final issue of that short-lived series, replaced the following month by Amazing Adult Fantasy #7 (continuing its numbering) which was a comic filled entirely with those quieter Lee-Ditko backup stories. This was an experiment, proclaiming itself "The Magazine That Respects Your Intelligence," its reliance on twist endings and moral lessons perhaps influenced by the success of Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone (1959-1964) on television.
If AAF was a magazine consisting entirely of short backup-style tales, then The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961) was its opposite: a lead Kirby monster story filling out the entire issue, with no backups at all. In the beginning, before they acquired uniforms with their third issue (March 1962), the series was more monsters and science fiction than superhero, save for the inclusion of the old Timely hero The Human Torch, albeit recast as a teenager named Johnny Storm.
Beginning with their 1962 cover-dated comics, Marvel introduced a new wave of costumed superheroes that would eventually eclipse their efforts during the Golden Age, and even give DC a run for its money. By the 1970s, Marvel overtook their "distinguished competition" in sales, and most of the "pre-implosion" 1950s Atlas horror titles were by then long forgotten, save for within the pages of reprint comics like Crypt of Shadows and Chamber of Chills (which is where I first discovered them). Who knows, if things had gone just a bit differently, the names of those older series might still be fondly remembered today. Not for their 1950s horror tales, alas -- but for the superheroes who temporarily took them over, before displacing them altogether.
