Marvel: The Silver Age; Jan, 1960-Mar, 1960

It's January 1960, and comics are ruled by DC and Western Comics.  DC is the premier publisher of Silver Age having successfully reigniting the super-hero craze in July, 1956 with the launch of the Silver-Age Flash, Barry Allen.  Western held all of the merchandising rights for the Warner Bros., MGM, Hanna-Barberra, and Disney properties, and as such were the creators of Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Yogi Bear, and Tom and Jerry comics.  A few other publishers still existed.  Warren had picked up the torch from EC and were publishing a line of horror comics as magazines to bypass the Comics Code.  Charlton had a small line of science-fiction, war, and super-hero comics.  And then their was Atlas...

Timely/Atlas/Marvel had gone through many name changes as Martin Goodman restructured his company numerous times over the years.  Headed by his main writer/editor, his nephew Stanley Leiber aka Stan Lee, Timely was publishing a healthy roster of Romance comics, Monster comics, and Westerns.  But change was coming.  Legend has it that Irwin Donenfeld was bragging to Martin Goodman over a game of golf the success DC was having with a new team title that combined their biggest super-heroes into one book.  Martin Goodman was not going to listen to Donenfeld crow and not respond.  But that apocryphal golf game is in the future.  The titles that Marvel publishes that I have that I have started reading in this period are Gunsmoke Western, Kid Colt Outlaw, Journey Into Mystery, Strange Tales, Tales to Astonish, Tales of Suspense, and Two-Gun Kid.  I picked January, 1960 because most of these titles would later be a part of the Silver Age and contain concepts and characters that would be incorporated into the Silver Age continuity at Marvel.  The next issue I have to read on this track is Tales to Astonish #8.