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''Motion Picture Funnies Weekly'' was produced by Funnies, Inc. , one of the 1930s - 1940s Golden Age Of Comic Books "packagers" that would create outsourced comics on demand for publishers. The company, founded by Centaur Publications Art Director Lloyd Jacquet , had originally been formed as First Funnies, Inc. to be a publisher itself, with ''Motion Picture Funnies Weekly'' as its initial product. Seven of the only eight known samples created to send to theater owners were discovered in an estate sale in 1974 , following Jacquet's death. Additionally, proof sheets were found there for the covers of issues #2-4. The discovery of the hitherto forgotten ''Motion Picture Funnies Weekly'' rewrote an early part of the history of comics, and caused a sensation at the time. The first issue included Bill Everett's original eight-page Sub-Mariner origin story, expanded by four pages when it eventually saw print in '' Marvel Comics '' #1 (Oct. 1939) — the first publication of Marvel Comics' Golden Age predecessor, Timely Comics , the contents for which were supplied by Funnies, Inc. The final panel on page 8 contained a box reading "Continued Next Week", as well as a notation indicating an April 1939 date for the art. The box remained, sans words and colored in, when reprinted in ''Marvel Comics'' #1 and again in Marvel's '' The Invaders '' #20 (Sept. 1977). Another Timely character that debuted in ''Motion Picture Funnies Weekly'' was writer-artist Paul Lauretta 's aviator hero the American Ace , whose origin eventually appeared in two six-page stories in ''Marvel Mystery Comics'' #2-3 (Dec. 1939 - Jan. 1940), following the renaming of ''Marvel Comics'' after issue #1. An additional feature in ''Motion Picture Funnies Weekly'' #1 was the adventure strip "Spy Ring". Cartoonist Martin Filchock is generally credited as the cover artist for all but #3, credited to Max Neill . The "Comic Books on Microfiche" collection of the University Of Tulsa 's McFarlin Library lists Centaur Publications ' '' Amazing Man Comics'' #5 (Sept. 1939), the premiere issue, as continuing the numbering of ''Motion Picture Funnies Weekly'' {Link without Title} , but this is unconfirmed. FOOTNOTES
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