Well, there's also Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk, Runaways, which is lead by a female character and features more women than men, the new Quasar miniseries, a couple of the one-shots in the new magic books, and Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane. Recently they've published Arana and Jubilee books, as well.

There's some fan debate/speculation over whether or not the 1950's Avengers team existed in the mainstream Marvel U. Was this team mentioned in "Agents of Atlas"?

--CLiffy

Millie appeared as the Blonde Phantom in an early issue of her comic, so the B.P. was recreated as a character in her own right.

I believe two other folks have mentioned it, but if not a picture, perhaps a description if one is available, of what Thor and Loki looked like prior to their "official" debut would be really great- I'm very curious if they were sporting more "traditional" looks (like Thor's once upon a time mortal replacement who took on the "original" red bearded look so oft described in Norse mythology), or if they actually did appear as we know them.

There was an issue of Batman: Gotham Knights written by Devin Grayson that editorial found so disturbing that they dropped it after it was solicited and replaced it with a random fill-in. It's in regards to Batman: Gothan Knights #12, a part of the unfortunate "This Issue: Batman Dies!" month. It was supposed to focus on Mr. Zsasz, the knife-wielding lunatic introduced by Alan Grant and Norm Breyfogle in "The Last Arkham" story. The solicitations in Previews showed up with the description of the story and the cover (the cover is actually used as the image on Zsasz's Wikipedia page). But when the issue came out... it was an issue about Oracle. I read somewhere on some message board (making me think it was an urban legend) that the issue was just so creepy, and Zsasz portrayed as so monstrous, and his "murder" of Batman so perverse, that they canned the story and replaced it with a fill-in.

Isn’t it possible (or even likely) that the push to add all these female superheroes to the Timely books was a reaction to Werthem and his efforts against comic books? I mean, the flip side of adding a new female sidekick is losing the former young boy sidekick. Attacks on “young male wards” like Robin, Bucky, Toro, etc. would have been around that same late-40’s timeframe, right? So in addition to tapping into a new market of female readers, it also seems to me to be, at least in part, a reaction to attacks on the comic industry.

That stuff almost all took place in the early 1950s, Craig. This took place in 1948, so I don't think they were responding to Wertham.

Sorry to be so picky, but Venus is a Roman goddess. Aphrodite is the Greek goddess. They’re pretty much the same deity, but they were two different cultures and the names shouldn’t be considered interchangeable.

I think the Romans felt differently.