A History of Marvel Comics, Part II: 1950s Trivia Quiz | Entertainment

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. 1950 was the last year publisher Martin Goodman used the name "Timely Comics" to sell his line of comicbooks before changing its' name to Atlas Comics. Marvel Boy was the last character considered a superhero to have their own book until 1961. What planet did Robert Grayson receive the alien technology from to fight crime back on earth?

Answer: Uranus

Grayson's father built a spaceship to escape the spread of the Nazis during WWII and piloted his family to Uranus. Created by Stan Lee and Russ Heath, Marvel Boy appeared in #'s 1 and 2 of his own magazine, then the title was changed to "Astonishing" with the third issue where his adventures were shown until the magazine discontinued publication with number seven.

2. Waku, Prince of The Bantu, was Marvel's first character of color to be featured in their own stories.

Answer: True

Waku, Prince of The Bantu, was a regular feature in Atlas Comics "Jungle Tales" comicbook. First drawn by Ogden Whitney, the art was later handled by John Romita Sr. Jann Of The Jungle also appeared in "Jungle Tales" and the series name was changed to "Jann of The Jungle" with issue 8.

3. In 1953 and 1954, Atlas attempted a superhero revival with some of the Timely characters in the anthology "Young Men" comics. Which one(s) did not make the cut?

Answer: The Angel

The Human Torch and Toro, Captain America and Bucky, and The Sub-Mariner were all featured in "Young Men" comics #'s 23 through 28. The idea didn't catch on and the series was dropped after number 28. All three of them saw their self-titled comicbooks return as well for a few issues apiece, with the numbering continued from the Timely Comics period.

The Angel was featured prominently in Marvel's 2009 mini-series,"The Marvels Project".

4. In 1955 Atlas produced five issues of "The Black Knight", which took place back in the time of Merlin and King Arthur. What was the name of the character under the helmet?

Answer: Sir Percy

Sir Percy of Scandia serves as an incompetent musician in the court of King Arthur, but once he wields the Ebony Blade, he becomes The Black Knight. Professor Nathan Garrett, a descendant of Sir Percy, finds the Ebony Blade, becoming the second Black Knight and uses the power as a villain against Ironman, first appearing in "Tales To Astonish" #52. Dane Whitman, another descendant, is the third Black Knight and a hero this time, first appearing in "The Avengers" #47.

5. Jimmy Woo, one of the characters in Marvel's "Agents of Atlas" series, first appeared in "The Yellow Claw" #1.

Answer: True

Jimmy Woo first appeared as an Asian-American FBI agent in all four issues of "The Yellow Claw", an espionage series which appeared in 1956 and 1957. In the late 1960's, Jim Steranko revived the Jimmy Woo character where he appeared alongside Nick Fury in "Strange Tales".

6. Another "Agents of Atlas" member, M-11, The Human Robot, first appeared in a 5 page story entitled "I, The Robot". What is the significance of the M-11 nomenclature?

Answer: His first appearance was in "Menace" #11

"Menace" #11 was published in 1954. Created by an un-named scientist, M-11 found himself at the bottom of the ocean at the end of the story. His second appearance occurred during the '70s in the non-canonical story, "What If The Avengers had been Formed During The 1950's?" in "What If" #9.

7. Not counting a couple of freelance jobs the year or so previously, what year did Jack Kirby return and start working for Atlas, soon to become Marvel Comics?

Answer: 1958

After many years with DC Comics and other companies, Jack returned, starting with "Strange Worlds" #1, dated Dec. 1958, drawing the cover and the accompanying seven-page story "I Discovered The Secret of The Flying Saucers".

8. Which Atlas-era artist died in a train accident?

Answer: Joe Maneely

Born in Philadelphia, Joe was a rising star at Atlas-he was equally adept handling the horror, war, and romance scripts given to him by Stan Lee. Incidentally, the aforementioned Black Knight is considered his signature work. On Dec. 7th, 1958, Joe was returning home on a commuter train, and passing from one car to another, slipped in between, falling onto the tracks where he was killed. Sale, Pike, and Krigstein all worked for Atlas Comics at various times during the '50s.

9. Atlas Comics had a plethora of western titles, one of the more memorable being "Rawhide Kid". What was his real name?

Answer: Johnny Bart

"Rawhide Kid" was first published from 1955 to 1957, then again in 1960 continuing the original numbering of issues, running until 1979, although with reprints. Clay Harder was the original Two-Gun Kid, Blaine Colt was Kid Colt Outlaw, and Alan Krandal was the Apache Kid.

10. Another comicbook genre prevalent in the 1950's was humor and Atlas Comics had many of those on the shelf back then. Between 1950 and 1955, Atlas put out a "My Friend Irma" comicbook. Was this character based on a radio and/or TV program?

Answer: True

"My Friend Irma" was a 1940s radio show which saw its popularity extend to TV, film, a daily comicstrip, and a comicbook. Stan Lee, along with artist Dan DeCarlo, produced the comicbook version.

Source: Author EddieDrums

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

A History of Marvel Comics, Part II: 1950s Quiz

Part 2 of an ongoing series with the Marvel Universe. Questions can be on characters, artists or other trivia associated with the topic.

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