$4,000,000,000
Marvel Comics
Net Worth
Started in (City)
New York
Started in (Country)
United States of America
Incorporation Date
01st December, 1939
Bankruptcy Date
-
Founders
- Martin Goodman
About
Marvel Comics is the brand name and primary imprint of Marvel Worldwide Inc., formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, a publisher of American comic books and related media. In 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Entertainment, Marvel Worldwide's parent company. Marvel counts among its characters such well-known superheroes as Spider-Man, Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Thor, Wolverine, Black Widow, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Doctor Strange, and Deadpool. Superhero teams exist such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four and the Guardians of the Galaxy as well as supervillains including Doctor Doom, Magneto, Thanos, Loki, Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, Venom and Galactus. Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with most locations mirroring real-life places; many major characters are based in New York City.
Beginning
Marvel was started in 1939 by Martin Goodman under a number of corporations and imprints but now known as Timely Comics, and by 1951 had generally become known as Atlas Comics. The Marvel era began in 1961, the year that the company launched The Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and many others. The Marvel brand, which had been used over the years, was solidified as the company’s primary brand. Timely’s first publication, Marvel Comics #1 (cover dated Oct. 1939), included the first appearance of Carl Burgos’ android superhero the Human Torch, and the first appearances of Bill Everett’s anti-hero Namor the Sub-Mariner, among other features. The issue was a great success; it and a second printing the following month sold a combined nearly 900,000 copies. The company’s first true editor, writer-artist Joe Simon, teamed with artist Jack Kirby to create one of the first patriotically themed superheroes, Captain America, in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). It, too, proved a hit, with sales of nearly one million. Goodman formed Timely Comics, Inc., beginning with comics cover-dated April 1941 or Spring 1941. Goodman hired his wife’s cousin, Stanley Lieber, as a general office assistant in 1939. When editor Simon left the company in late 1941, Goodman made Lieber—by then writing pseudonymously as "Stan Lee"—interim editor of the comics line. a position Lee kept for decades except for three years during his military service in World War II. Lee wrote extensively for Timely, contributing to a number of different titles.
Road to Success
The first modern comic books under the Marvel Comics brand were the science-fiction anthology Journey into Mystery and the teen-humor title Patsy Walker, which each displayed an "MC" box on its cover. Then, in the wake of DC Comics’ success in reviving superheroes in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly with the Flash, Green Lantern, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow and other members of the Justice League of America, Marvel followed suit. In 1961, writer-editor Stan Lee revolutionized superhero comics by introducing superheroes designed to appeal to older readers than the predominantly child audiences of the medium, thus ushering what Marvel later called the Marvel Age of Comics. Modern Marvel’s first superhero team, the titular stars of The Fantastic Four, broke convention with other comic book archetypes of the time by squabbling, holding grudges both deep and petty, and eschewing anonymity or secret identities in favor of celebrity status. Subsequently, Marvel comics developed a reputation for focusing on characterization and adult issues to a greater extent than most superhero comics before them, a quality which the new generation of older readers appreciated. This applied to The Amazing Spider-Man title in particular, which turned out to be Marvel’s most successful book. Its young hero suffered from self-doubt and mundane problems like any other teenager, something with which many readers could identify. Goodman retired as publisher in 1972 and installed his son, Chip, as publisher. Shortly thereafter, Lee succeeded him as publisher and also became Marvel 's president for a brief time. During his time as president, he appointed his associate editor, prolific writer Roy Thomas, as editor-in-chief. Thomas added "Stan Lee Presents" to the opening page of each comic book.
Challenges
In the mid-1970s a decline of the newsstand distribution network affected Marvel. Cult hits such as Howard the Duck fell victim to the distribution problems, with some titles reporting low sales when in fact the first specialty comic book stores resold them at a later date. Marvel had to face challenges especially when DC's rebirth was announced. From introducing new characters and dynamic plots, Marvel had to watch over instantly. From Runaways to Damage Control, we keep hearing reports of new Marvel Television projects — but The Inhumans (due September 2017) is literally the first one to see any movement in a long time. In fact, 2016 saw ABC cancel the much-loved Agent Carter, and pass on Marvel's Most Wanted — even after Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had actually written two popular characters out as setup for the show. It was clear that Marvel's approach needed to be carefully evaluated. The company needed to work out what's broken, why the events were running late, and why overall plotting was evidently so poor as to need a whole extra issue.
Failures
Marvel suffered a blow in early 1992, when seven of its most prized artists — Todd McFarlane (known for his work on Spider-Man), Jim Lee (X-Men), Rob Liefeld (X-Force), Marc Silvestri (Wolverine), Erik Larsen (The Amazing Spider-Man), Jim Valentino (Guardians of the Galaxy), and Whilce Portacio (Uncanny X-Men) — left to form Image Comics in a deal brokered by Malibu Comics’ owner Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. Three years later Rosenberg sold Malibu to Marvel on November 3, 1994, who acquired the then-leading standard for computer coloring of comic books (developed by Rosenberg) in the process, but also integrating the Ultraverse into Marvel’s multiverse and ownership of the Genesis Universe.
Subsidies
- Marvel UK
- Razorline
- Epic Comics
CEOs
- Isaac Perlmutter