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Timely's Golden Age reputation is largely a retcon based on Marvel's success.

Dude, for a brief period of time during the 40's, Captain America was outselling any other title. And that's not a retconned fact. Marvel Mystery Comics was a huge seller as well. And since I'm assuming you're only talking about superheroes, I won't even mention Patsy Walker and their funny animal titles.
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Unlike with DC, fans weren't inundating Atlas with a call to revive the Timely heros.

Sorry, dude. I've got to call you on this one.

Where did you get your info that DC was being "inundated" with calls to revive their Golden Age heroes? At a time where most consumers started young and typically lost interest in comics after about 5 years, I seriously doubt that many cared enough to write to DC and demand anything. Most of the current readership didn't even remember the old superheroes, much less demand their return.

Not to mention the fact that there weren't message boards and an internet like there is today to fan the flames of fan interest.
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Think of it this way, how many heros or villains of any significance to pop culture or the Marvel Universe come out of the Timely books? I can only think of two heros (Cap and Subby) and one villain (Red Skull).

That's not exactly a fair comparison.

DC/All-American was a much, much larger operation, with a much larger number of significant heroes and villians. Marvel had 3 significant heroes. Except for the "Big 3", none of the other superheroes that Timely introduced lasted for more than a handful of issues.

So if you want to look at it on a percentage basis, 67% of Timely's significant superhero characters are major characters in the current MU.

I'll let you do the math for DC.
ATLAS ERA SUPERHERO REVIVAL OMNIBUS!