Guest Author - Kirsten Olsen-Keyser

Marvel Comics was established in 1939, by pulp fiction mogul Martin Goodman as a subsidiary of the umbrella corporation Timely Comics. Its first publication was Marvel Comics #1 which featured The Human Torch and was ostensibly, the first appearance of the anti-hero Namor, The Sub-Mariner. In the 1950’s, Timely was known as Atlas Comics and was still a part of the Goodman conglomerate.

Post war, Atlas suffered the same fate as other comics of the era : a downward trend on sales. Atlas stayed afloat by producing comics that were less about heroes and more about westerns, amusing animal antics, horror and even fantasy. Atlas changed its genre into adventure science fiction in 1961, killing the Atlas name and giving birth to the Marvel Comics we know today. With the release of Amazing Adventures #3, the Marvel name was launched with “MC” under the comics code seal.

In the wake of DC’s success in bringing back super heroes to comics in the late 50’s and early 60’s, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby responded with the creation of The Fantastic Four. In turn, many famous Marvel superhero titles were launched in the 1960’s: Hulk, Spider-man, Thor, Iron Man, X-men and Daredevil to name a few.

The early 1970s’ was the end of the marriage of Goodman to Marvel. In the mid 70’s, Marvel attempted to buy DC’s entire library of comic heroes. DC would later combine with Warner Communications – a move that some say today was the worst mistake DC ever made. In the late 70’s, Marvel was able to overcome distribution problems by implementing direct distribution of comics to specialty stores rather than just newsstands.

The 1980’s, Marvel was helmed by one time DC boy, Jim Shooter. Shooter was able to stabilize Marvel’s production implementing strict deadlines and a creative overhaul of the Marvel Universe. In ’81, Marvel bought the famed animation studio from Freleng-DePatie. Re-named Marvel Productions, the company put forth such animated productions as G.I. Joe, Transformers, Dungeons and Dragons, Muppet Babies, and Spiderman & His Amazing Friends. In 1989, the company was sold to McAndrews and Forbes. The company was made public on the New York stock exchange by Ronald Perelman, Revlon exec and owner of M&F.

In the ‘90’s, Marvel struggled through threat of bankruptcy, revamps, and the creation of it’s own production company, Marvel Studios. In 1998, Blade became the first successful theatrical production for Marvel and began a legacy in the comic book to film industry.

Today, Marvel maintains its status as a juggernaut (pun intended!) in the entertainment industry.

Trivia: Atlas Comics was located on the 14th floor of the Empire State Building.