Starting From The Beginning

[babyblob]

So I wanted to start from the Beginning of marvel comics. I started in 1961 with Fantastic Four and read month by month to the year 1965. But that wasnt really starting at the beginning. There were Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub Mariner comic from the 40s. So i have decided to stop reaping the 1960s marvel and start in the 1940s. I am going to read The three tittles from the 40s and then move on to starting over in the 60s. I found a site that gives me month to month releases and have creating a reading list of comics until 1976.

I am really looking forward to starting this project. I love the early stuff and have reread them several times. Has anyone else tried this? How far did you get? Was it a fun time? Can anyone tell me if there were other superhero tittles from that era that I am missing?

I am have also started from the beginning on dc comics and am on 1941.

[Snoop Dogg]

Marvel Unlimited could have everything from the Golden Age and that wouldn't prevent the brain damage I got trying to read some early Torch and Sub-Mariner. Good art, though.

[jb681131]

So I wanted to start from the Beginning of marvel comics. I started in 1961 with Fantastic Four and read month by month to the year 1965. But that wasnt really starting at the beginning. There were Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub Mariner comic from the 40s. So i have decided to stop reaping the 1960s marvel and start in the 1940s. I am going to read The three tittles from the 40s and then move on to starting over in the 60s. I found a site that gives me month to month releases and have creating a reading list of comics until 1976.

I am really looking forward to starting this project. I love the early stuff and have reread them several times. Has anyone else tried this? How far did you get? Was it a fun time? Can anyone tell me if there were other superhero tittles from that era that I am missing?

I am have also started from the beginning on dc comics and am on 1941.

That's a massive project.
And honestly, I don't think it's possible.
Lets say you read 2-4 chapters a day and maybe more on weekends. That makes around 20 to 50 chapters a weed, 4-10 tpb a week, 1-2 omnibus a week.
But that would be if you spend all your free time reading only comics ! No video games, no tv shows, no movies, to fun with you friend !

There are around 20 to 60 comics a mounth by publisher depending on months !
So that's not enought time in your life to read them all.

If you want a good list of title look into the "Marvel Epic Collection" and into the "DC Showcase present" omnibus collection.
Don't forget as well that through time, DC and Maverl have obtain/bought smaller publishers.

Here are the early Marvel Titles, before it was called Marvel but Timely Comics, Then Atlas, from 1939 to 1961, when it the became Marvel:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...s_publications

Here are more lesser known titles by Marvel from the 70's

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...t_in_the_1970s

And for all the Marvel main hereos early titles from Marvel:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel...llection_lines

Have fun with this impossible task.

I hope this is what you were looking for.

[Gaastra]

You might want to check out the marvel epic collections as well. lots of classic marvel titles in trades.

[shooshoomanjoe]

You are missing a lot of titles. I've been following this list but it has them in chronological order so it has Kull, Conan, the wild west, etc before reaching 1939. I couldn't get through the Golden/Silver age. They took too long to read and I found them very boring.

[babyblob]

I am not going to read every tittle. Just hand pick the superhero tittles. Like I am skipping the romance and western tittles.

[Gaastra]

Note that some of the west titles are canon with the marvel universe and do show up in avengers and fantastic four and their stories are talked about.

[Reviresco]

So I wanted to start from the Beginning of marvel comics. I started in 1961 with Fantastic Four and read month by month to the year 1965. But that wasnt really starting at the beginning. There were Captain America, Human Torch, and Sub Mariner comic from the 40s. So i have decided to stop reaping the 1960s marvel and start in the 1940s. I am going to read The three tittles from the 40s and then move on to starting over in the 60s. I found a site that gives me month to month releases and have creating a reading list of comics until 1976.

I am really looking forward to starting this project. I love the early stuff and have reread them several times. Has anyone else tried this? How far did you get? Was it a fun time? Can anyone tell me if there were other superhero tittles from that era that I am missing?

I am have also started from the beginning on dc comics and am on 1941.

What site are you using? Link?

Also, for the Golden Age Namor stuff, Thor-El started with that in the Namor Readathon thread.

Marvel Unlimited could have everything from the Golden Age and that wouldn't prevent the brain damage I got trying to read some early Torch and Sub-Mariner. Good art, though.

Haven't read much Golden Age Torch, but alot of the Namor stuff was crazy fun. Emphasis on cray cray. At least, until they got into the non-stop WWII propaganda racist stuff.

[babyblob]

What site are you using? Link?

If you are talking about the site I use for my checklist here is the link

https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Category:1961,_January

It is super great. Gives a list of the comics that came out each month and when you click on the issue it gives you a run down of what it was about. Really great site.

[Mike_Murdock]

SuperMegaMonkey Chronocomic is a very good resource for this.

That being said, I don't think it's possible to do this without burning out. I think there's value in reading the early Stan Lee Marvel comics in order before the line expansion when continuity was crazy tight and it was possible for a kid to buy everything but I wouldn't continue the project until the present.

[Mormegil]

Honestly i would think 99.9% of people would not enjoy what you're about to do. I read 80% of Marvel's superhero silver age material between 2014 and 2019 and I don't know that it was worth it. Sure I found some good stuff that i love (like Sub-mariner) but there is a lot of crap in that pile. I would imagine the golden age to be the same or worse.

It all comes down to the market they were writing for and how poorly the creators got paid. There isn't going to be a lot of continuity or even multi issue stories in the golden age. The art is pretty much the only draw for me. I would say read a handful of golden age issues for each character (including Maneely's Black Knight) and move on. Unless you really enjoy what you're reading. Just know that you will most likely run out of steam

[babyblob]

I have read a few golden age tittles already and really enjoy them. I have read 6 issues of Human Torch and five issues of Captain America. And several dc tittles. They are goofy but I like that. I have also read several issues of 1960s comics from different tittles over the last few years and have really enjoyed them. I love the camp and goofyness fo them. There are very few comics I dont enjoy. I dont get too critical of them. I read them for what they are, cheap entertainment. If i dont take them too seriously then it is easier to enjoy them.

[DrNewGod]

...I love the camp and goofyness fo them. There are very few comics I dont enjoy. I dont get too critical of them. I read them for what they are, cheap entertainment. If i dont take them too seriously then it is easier to enjoy them.

That's a really good attitude to bring to it.

I started in 1961 and am now into 1990, reading anywhere from 6-12 titles at a time, cover-month by cover-month. I was doing about the same number from DC. I forget when I started, but it's been a couple of years.

One thing that struck me is how much the quality and "voice" of a title can swing with a change in creative team. Real standout examples in my mind include Byrne's coming and going from Captain America, Fantastic Four (probably the best thing he ever did at Marvel, IMO), and X-Men.

[babyblob]

That's a really good attitude to bring to it.

I started in 1961 and am now into 1990, reading anywhere from 6-12 titles at a time, cover-month by cover-month. I was doing about the same number from DC. I forget when I started, but it's been a couple of years.

One thing that struck me is how much the quality and "voice" of a title can swing with a change in creative team. Real standout examples in my mind include Byrne's coming and going from Captain America, Fantastic Four (probably the best thing he ever did at Marvel, IMO), and X-Men.

I have planed on this being a several year project. Most days I read 10 issues a day. Sometimes more, sometimes less when I get to those 68 page giants or am super busy with my dad. But as I have more free time then most people I dont mind taking on a project of this size. Like today for instance. I woke up at five am. Got my dad his breakfast, meds and got him settled in his favorite chair with his tablet and book. After that I got to reading and am already at 6 for the day. So it may take awhile to read through all the years but not as long as I fear.

[babyblob]

After looking at the comics from the 40s and 50s I have decided to read the following comics.

All Winners Comics
Captain America
Daring Comics 7-12
Human Torch
Marvel Mystery Comics
Sub Mariner

These comics have the characters that I care about reading. After I finish these I am going to skip ahead to Fantastic Four in 1961.