The company that would eventually dominate the superhero landscape didn’t start with a name we associate with modern blockbusters. In 1939, Marvel Comics released its very first issue, Marvel Comics no. 1, under a different corporate banner. That banner was Timely Comics.
Timely stuck with the Marvel brand for its titles throughout the 1940s and ’50s. The entity itself, however, underwent a shift. In 1951, the publisher rebranded as Atlas Comics. It wasn’t until the early 1960s that the company reverted to the Marvel Comics name. The move recalled the title it had often used in its earlier decades, setting the stage for the modern era.
