Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1

History

The book was conceived by Lloyd Jacquet, former art director at Centaur Publications and founder of the packaging studio then called First Funnies, Inc., who planned to sell the weekly comic as a free promotional supplement distributed inside movie theaters. Everett — a young Massachusetts artist who had worked in pulp illustration — wrote, penciled, inked, and lettered the entire Sub-Mariner story solo, reportedly inspired in part by a desire to create a water-based counterpart to Carl Burgos's fire-wielding Human Torch. Theater owners showed no interest, the venture collapsed before a full print run could occur, and only a small number of sample copies were produced, most of which surfaced decades later at Jacquet's 1974 estate sale; one of those copies, annotated with handwritten creator-payment figures, became known as the 'Pay Copy.' Proof sheets for planned covers of issues #2 through #4 were also found at the estate, confirming that a weekly run had been seriously envisioned even though no interior content beyond issue #1 was ever completed.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance and origin of Namor the Sub-Mariner (Prince Namor McKenzie), created entirely by Bill Everett — writer, penciler, inker, and letterer — dated April 1939, roughly six months before his public debut in Marvel Comics #1 (October 1939).
• First appearance of Princess Fen (Namor's Atlantean mother) and Emperor Tha-Korr (ruler of Atlantis, Namor's grandfather), both introduced in a flashback sequence set in 1920; Tha-Korr appears unnamed in this issue, referred to only as the 'Holy One.'
• First appearance of Leonard McKenzie (Namor's human father, captain of the research vessel Oracle), introduced in the same 1920 flashback via Princess Fen's narration.
• The 36-page issue was printed in black-and-white interiors with a color cover by cartoonist Fred Schwab; no copy was ever filed with the Library of Congress and the book was never sold on newsstands.
• Also contains the first appearance of aviator hero the American Ace, created by Paul J. Lauretta — a second Timely character whose origin was later reprinted in Marvel Mystery Comics #2–3 (December 1939–January 1940).
• The eight-page Sub-Mariner story ends with a 'Continued Next Week' caption box; when Everett expanded the story to twelve pages for Marvel Comics #1, that box was blanked out and colored over rather than removed, leaving a visible ghost of the original publication.
• Surviving copies were re-discovered at Lloyd Jacquet's estate sale in 1974; most sources cite approximately eight to nine known copies, one of which bears handwritten payment notations for the contributing creators.
• The original eight-page story was reprinted in color in Marvel's The Invaders #20 (September 1977), the first time it was made broadly accessible to readers, and has since appeared in multiple Marvel collected editions including the Golden Age Marvel Comics Omnibus.

Cast · 5 characters

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