Stan & Jack launched the Marvel Age with FF #1 in 1961

The strange, natural, dialogue, the unique personalities, and the new dynamic art style made the Fantastic Four an instant hit with fans. After their spaceship passed through a cosmic storm, the four people on board found

Showcase #37, the 1st appearance of the Metal Men

themselves with strange new powers. They became Mr. Fantastic, a new The Human Torch, Invisible Girl, and The Thing. They were also unique in that they had no secret identities.

In 1962 Marvel and DC raised their cover prices from ten cents to twelve cents. Dell went to a whopping fifteen cents! Despite these increases, industry sales continued to grow. Next up for Showcase was the Metal Men. The Metal Men, a team of robots, appeared in Showcase Nos. 37-40 from April to

Incredible Hulk #1, Marvel's 2nd Silver Age hero, though it lasted only 6 issues

October 1962 and then received their own title with Metal Men No. 1 in April 1963.

Marvel rolled out it's second new Silver Age hero with Incredible Hulk No. 1, with the gentle Dr. Bruce Banner being transformed into the raging green Hulk. Under Marvel's distribution deal with DC Comics, they were limited to eight

Because of publication limitations, Thor 1st appeared in Journey Into Mystery #83

titles a month, so the next hero began in a existing title. Thor first appeared in Journey Into Mystery No. 83 in August 1962.

Stan Lee had approached publisher Martin Goodman about publishing a Spider-hero. Goodman thought the public would dislike such a creepy premise.

Amazing Fantasy #15, the lame duck title that contained Spider-Man's 1st appearance

With Amazing Adult Fantasy to be cancelled and therefore the issue's contents being a low priority, Lee published this Spider-man in No. 15 (August 1962,) dropping the "adult" and making the title simply Amazing Fantasy No. 15. After being bitten by a radioactive spider, geeky high school wimp Peter Parker gained the proportional strength of a spider, the ability to stick to surfaces, and his "spider-sense." This was a unique hero, he was more worried about his personal problems than saving the world, and, in the early issues, was believed by the public to be a criminal! He only turned to fighting crime after the death of his guardian Uncle by a criminal, a criminal Peter had had the chance

March 1963 marked the release of Amazing Spider-Man #1, the first of many Spider-Man titles

to stop earlier but hadn't, figuring it wasn't his problem. So he learned that, "with great power, comes great responsibility." No. 15 was the last issue of the title and in March 1963 Spider-man received his own title, The Amazing Spider-man No. 1. In January 1962 in

Tales to Astonish #27, Henry Pym's 1st appearance, but not Ant-Man's

Tales to Astonish No. 27, scientist Henry Pym shrank to the size of an ant. Seeing promise, Lee brought the character back in Tales to Astonish No. 35 in September and called him Ant-Man.

In Adventure Comics No. 299 in August 1962, Superboy made his final solo appearance and Gold Kryptonite, an ore that that could forever rob the power of Kryptonians, made it's first appearance. The following month, the Legion of Super-Heroes finally received their own comic, though still with Superboy, with Adventure Comics No. 300.