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Marvel Comics was founded in the 1930s under a constantly changing set of names, the most cited being Timely Comics. Its first major publication was Marvel Comics #1 ( 1939), featuring the first appearance of the superhero The Human Torch and the anti-heroIn literature and film, an anti-hero is a central or supporting character that has some of the personality flaws and ultimate fortune traditionally assigned to villains but nonetheless also have enough heroic qualities or intentions to gain the sympathy o The Sub-Mariner. During the 1940sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s Years: 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 Events and trends Technology First nuclear bomb First cruise missile, the Timely was also known for publishing the patrioticPatriotism is a feeling of love and devotion to one's own homeland patria the land of one's fathers). This article surveys the concept of patriotism from the viewpoints of history, politics, ethics, and biology. Ecole Polytechnique, Paris, 1814 Patriotic hero Captain America.
In the 1950sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Years: 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb. Marvel fell on dark times, along with the rest of the industry. During this time Marvel primarily published monsterThis article is about monsters as a kind of legendary creature. For other uses, see Monster (disambiguation). Monster (lat. monstrum) is a term for any number of legendary creatures that frequently appear in mythology, legend, and horror fiction. The word comics, generally with a light science fictionScience fiction generally speaking, is a form of speculative fiction which deals principally with the impact of imagined science and/or technology upon society or individuals. There are, perhaps, exceptions to (or at least, some very unusual examples of) bent. In this decade the company was generally known as Atlas Comics, and sometimes Timely/Atlas.
In the wake of DC Comics' success reviving the superhero genre in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Marvel decided to follow suit, and so two of its employees, editor/writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby created The Fantastic Four, modeled in a fashion after DC's Justice League of America. The book was a success, and Marvel began publishing further superhero titles. The most successful of these was undoubtedly The Amazing Spider-Man, by Lee and Steve Ditko.
Marvel's comics were noted for focusing on characterization to a greater extent than most superhero comics before them - Spider-Man in particular, its young hero suffering from self-doubt and mundane problems like any other teenager. Marvel superheroes are often flawed, freaks and misfits, unlike the perfect, handsome, athletic heroes found in previous traditional comic books. Some of the Marvel heroes looked like villains and monsters. In time, this non-traditional approach would revolutionize comic books.
Lee became one of the best-known names in comics, with his charming personality and relentless salesmanship of his product. In later years it became clear that the artists often had as much to do with Marvel's product and success as Lee -- Kirby in particular is often credited as the true brains behind The Fantastic Four while Ditko is recognized as the driving artistic force of the beginning period for Spider-Man -- but Lee, although a true "company man", surely deserves a great deal of credit as well.
In the early 1970s Lee stepped aside from running day-to-day operations at Marvel, and a series of new Editors-in-Chief oversaw the company during another slow time for the industry. By the end of the decade, though, Marvel's fortunes were reviving, thanks to the rise of direct market distribution, and behind the revived X-Men title, created by writer Chris Claremont and artist John Byrne.
By the 1980s, one-time wunderkind Jim Shooter was Marvel's Editor-in-Chief. Although a controversial personality, Shooter cured many of the procedural ills at Marvel (including repeatedly missed deadlines) and oversaw a creative renaissance at the company.
In 1981 Marvel purchased the DePatie-Freleng Enterprises animation studio from famed Looney Tunes animator Friz Freleng and his business partner David H. DePatie . The company was renamed Marvel Productions Ltd. and it produced well know animated TV series such as G.I. Joe, The Transformers and Jim Henson's Muppet Babies and movies based on the G.I. Joe and The Transformers TV series. Following the acquisition of Marvel by Ronald Perelman Marvel Productions sold its back catalog to Saban Entertainment and Marvel management permanently closed the animation studio opting to have its animation projects contracted out to third party production companies.
In 1988, Marvel was bought by investor/ entrepreneur Ronald Perelman, who made Marvel a public company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and oversaw a great increase in the number of titles published by the company. Marvel earned a great deal of money early in the 1990s due to the comic book boom going on at the time, but by the middle of the decade the industry had slumped and Marvel filed for bankruptcy, amidst accusations that Perelman had strip-mined the company for his own gain. The casualties include the comic book distribution industry in 1994, when Marvel announced it was acquiring Heroes World as its exclusive distributor. The potential loss of the industry's largest company threw the majority of the comic book distributors out of business. Although Marvel's plan fell through, only Diamond Comic Distributors Inc. now exists as the major distributor of comic books in North America, a development most industry experts believe profoundly damaged the business status of the industry.
Investor Carl Icahn attempted to take control of Marvel, but after protracted legal battles, in 1997 control of the company landed in the hands of Isaac Perlmutter , owner of the Marvel subsidiary Toy Biz . With his business partner Avi Arad and their appointed (and controversial) publisher Bill Jemas and Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada, Perlmutter helped Marvel back on its feet. In addition to revitalizing the company's comic books, several of its properties have been licensed to become hit movies, most notably X-Men and Spider-Man.
Marvel remains a key publisher in the comics business, even as the industry has dwindled to a fraction of its size decades earlier. Stan Lee is no longer officially connected to the company, but remains a visible face in the industry and occasionally remarks on his fondness for the characters.
In 2001, Marvel Comics withdrew from the Comics Code Authority and established its own rating system for comics. It also created new imprints.
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