Number 151


"I Discovered The Secret Of The Flying Saucers!"


Sixty years ago today, June 24, 1947, pilot Kenneth Arnold was flying his private plane over the Cascade Mountains in Washington State when he saw a flight of what he described as "crescent-shaped craft." It caught the public's attention in a big way. From the early news reports grew the legends, stories and mythology of flying saucer lore. Nowadays we call them UFOs, but I still like the term "flying saucers." So did Jack Kirby, who did this story for the resurrection in 1958 of Atlas Comics.

Here's how I understand the events: In 1957 comic book publisher Martin Goodman sold his distribution company, and went with another distributor that went out of business.  No comic books were produced until Goodman made a deal with his main competitor, DC Comics. DC agreed to distribute Martin Goodman's comic book line as long as he kept it to six titles a month. The first of those titles, which is dated December, 1958, was Strange Worlds #1, with the cover and lead story by Jack Kirby.

In retrospect this is the comic book that led to the creation of the Marvel Comics line as we know it today. No writer is listed but it was probably Stan Lee, working with art provided by Kirby.