Last week, Wired ran an article heralding the 50th anniversary of two great super-teams — The Avengers and The X-Men, both created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963. Wired ran this on 9/10, noting that the first issues of those two comics had come out on September 10, 1963. This has prompted several folks to write to me and ask one or both of two questions…
- Why did Marvel choose to issue the first issues of two team comics by Lee and Kirby on the same day? Wasn't that bad marketing?
- How could those comics have come out September 10 when they both clearly say "September" on their covers? Isn't the cover date on a comic book always a few months after the date the comic actually comes out?
To answer the first question: They didn't exactly plan it that way. What happened was that Martin Goodman — the publisher of Marvel and a man known for imitating whatever was selling for others — realized he had mega-hits in his recently-launched funnybooks, Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. He wanted to add two new comics which would be similar. As Mr. Kirby put it, "Martin was making progress. He went from imitating others' successes to imitating his own."
At the time, the Marvel line was distributed by Independent News (aka DC Comics), which limited the number of books Goodman could publish. To add two, he had to drop two. He opted to sacrifice Gunsmoke Western and Love Romances — two bi-monthly comics of his that happened to come out on the same day every other month. The two new books were therefore scheduled to debut on the same day. One would be a new team comic that would hopefully replicate the sales of F.F. The other would be about a new acrobatic hero whose book would, God willing, sell as well as Spider-Man.
The team comic would be The X-Men. Over the years, Stan told me and others on many occasions how he and Jack came up with the X-Men. Jack told me and others how he came up with the X-Men and presented the idea to Stan. And lately, Stan has apparently decided that the X-Men — and all the other Marvel superstars that have commonly been viewed as joint creations of Stan and someone else — were concepts that he came up with all by himself. This is not the time or place to wade into that matter except to say that I consider them all joint creations and I wish Stan would go back to what he used to say. Anyway, the two men whipped up X-Men #1 in plenty of time to get to press and meet that publication date.
The Spidey-style hero didn't have it so easy. Goodman seems to have suggested the name "Daredevil" after noticing it was free and clear. An earlier, popular character by that moniker had been published for years by another company. The company and its Daredevil had been gone long enough that the title was up for grabs.
Stan talked with Kirby and with Steve Ditko about collaborating on a new hero with that name but both men were too busy. Finally, Lee turned to Bill Everett, best known (then) as the creator of the Sub-Mariner. Kirby had some input (accounts vary as to how much) but it fell to Everett to get the first issue drawn by the deadline and he couldn't do it. He was concurrently working full-time at a greeting card company and he was having personal problems often reported as alcohol-related.
When it became apparent that Everett could not finish Daredevil #1 in time, editor Stan faced two choices: Yank the book away from Everett and have someone else finish it in a hurry…or come up with something else to release that day and schedule Daredevil #1 later. Largely out of consideration for the well-loved Mr. Everett, the decision was made to do the latter.
Goodman had long discussed the idea of doing a Marvel book that would ape DC's popular Justice League of America and gather together heroes from different titles. The Fantastic Four had, in fact, started with Goodman's request for a book like J.L.A. This seemed like the time for that so in a matter of very few days, Lee and Kirby whipped out the first issue of The Avengers and it went to press along with X-Men #1…which is why it emerged the same day. (Daredevil #1 finally made it out months later and even then, two other artists had to pitch in to get it done.)
That's the answer to Question #1. The answer to Question #2 is that Wired got it wrong and it may not be their fault. It's been reported that way in numerous places and it's not true. X-Men #1 and Avengers #1 both came out in July of 1963 and the evidence points to July 2. I explained back in this message why a comic book with "September" on its cover might come out in June or July…but never in September. So Happy Birthday, Avengers and X-Men…but it's a belated celebration.