Marvel Comics is an
American comic book publisher and the flagship property of
Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
since September 1, 2009. Evolving from
Timely Comics
Timely Comics is the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely Publications became the name ...
in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 1951 and its predecessor, ''Marvel Mystery Comics'', the ''Marvel Comics'' title/name/brand was first used in June 1961.
Marvel was started in 1939 by
Martin Goodman as
Timely Comics
Timely Comics is the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely Publications became the name ...
,
and by 1951 had generally become known as
Atlas Comics. The Marvel era began in June 1961 with the launch of ''
The Fantastic Four'' and other superhero titles created by
Stan Lee,
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gre ...
,
Steve Ditko
Stephen John Ditko Page contains two reproductions from school yearbooks. A 1943 Garfield Junior High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen Ditko". A 1945 Johnstown High School yearbook excerpt lists "Stephen J. Ditko" under extracurricular act ...
and many others. The Marvel brand, which had been used over the years and decades, was solidified as the company's primary brand.
Marvel counts among
its characters such well-known
superheroes as
Spider-Man,
Iron Man,
Captain America,
Thor,
Doctor Strange,
Hulk,
Wolverine, and
Captain Marvel, as well as popular
superhero teams such as the
Avengers, the
X-Men, the
Fantastic Four, and the
Guardians of the Galaxy
The Guardians of the Galaxy is a fictional superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.
It may more specifically refer to:
Comic book teams
* Guardians of the Galaxy (1969 team), the original 31st-century team fr ...
. Its stable of well-known
supervillains includes the likes of
Doctor Doom,
Magneto
A magneto is an electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce periodic pulses of alternating current. Unlike a dynamo, a magneto does not contain a commutator to produce direct current. It is categorized as a form of alternator, ...
,
Ultron,
Thanos,
Green Goblin,
Galactus,
Loki, and
Kingpin. 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
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. Additionally, Marvel has published several licensed properties from other companies. This includes ''
Star Wars'' comics twice from 1977 to 1986 and again since 2015.
History
Timely Publications
Pulp-magazine publisher
Martin Goodman created the company later known as Marvel
Comics under the name Timely Publications in 1939.
[Postal indicia in issue, pe]
''Marvel Comics'' #1 [1st printing] (October 1939)
at the Grand Comics Database
The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information useful ...
: "Vol.1, No.1, MARVEL COMICS, Oct, 1939 Published monthly by Timely Publications, ... Art and editorial by Funnies Incorporated..."[Per statement of ownership, dated October 2, 1939, published in '']Marvel Mystery Comics
''Marvel Mystery Comics'' (first issue titled simply ''Marvel Comics'') is an American comic book series published during the 1930s–1940s period known to fans and historians as the Golden Age of Comic Books. It was the first publication of Mar ...
'' #4 (Feb. 1940), p. 40; reprinted in ''Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics'' Volume 1 (Marvel Comics, 2004, ), p. 239 Goodman, who had started with a
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
pulp in 1933, was expanding into the emerging—and by then already highly popular—new medium of comic books. Launching his new line from his existing company's offices at 330 West 42nd Street, New York City, he officially held the titles of
editor,
managing editor
A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication.
United States
In the United States, a managing edit ...
, and
business manager
The Oxford English Dictionary defines a business manager as "a person who manages the business affairs of an individual, institution, organization, or company".
Compare manager.
Business managers drive the work of others (if any) in order to oper ...
, with Abraham Goodman (Martin's brother) officially listed as publisher.
Timely's first publication, ''
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...
'' #1 (
cover dated Oct. 1939), included the first appearance of
Carl Burgos'
android superhero the
Human Torch
The Human Torch (Jonathan "Johnny" Storm) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is a founding member of the Fantastic Four. He is writer Stan Lee's and artist Jack Kirby's reinvention of a si ...
, and the first appearances of
Bill Everett
William Blake Everett (; May 18, 1917 – February 27, 1973) was an American comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner as well as co-creating Zombie and Daredevil with writer Stan Lee for Marvel Comics. He was alleg ...
's
anti-hero Namor the Sub-Mariner
Namor (), also known as the Sub-Mariner, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Debuting in early 1939, the character was created by writer-artist Bill Everett for comic book packager Funnies Inc ...
, among other features.
The issue was a great success; it and a second printing the following month sold a combined nearly 900,000 copies.
[Per researcher Keif Fromm, '' Alter Ego'' #49, p. 4 (caption), ''Marvel Comics'' #1, cover-dated October 1939, quickly sold out 80,000 copies, prompting Goodman to produce a second printing, cover-dated November 1939. The latter appears identical except for a black bar over the October date in the inside front-cover indicia, and the November date added at the end. That sold approximately 800,000 copies—a large figure in the market of that time. Also per Fromm, the first issue of '' Captain America Comics'' sold nearly one million copies.] While its contents came from an outside packager,
Funnies, Inc.,
Timely had its own staff in place by the following year. The company's first true editor, writer-artist
Joe Simon, teamed with artist
Jack Kirby
Jack Kirby (born Jacob Kurtzberg; August 28, 1917 – February 6, 1994) was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He gre ...
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.
[
While no other Timely character would achieve the success of these three characters, some notable heroes—many of which continue to appear in modern-day ]retcon
Retroactive continuity, or retcon for short, is a literary device in which established diegetic facts in the plot of a fictional work (those established through the narrative itself) are adjusted, ignored, supplemented, or contradicted by a subs ...
appearances and flashbacks—include the Whizzer, Miss America, the Destroyer, the original Vision
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...
, and the Angel. Timely also published one of humor cartoonist Basil Wolverton
Basil Wolverton (July 9, 1909 – December 31, 1978)
at the Powerhouse Pepper", as well as a line of children's
talking animal
A talking animal or speaking animal is any non-human animal that can produce sounds or gestures resembling those of a human language. Several species or groups of animals have developed forms of communication which superficially resemble verbal ...
comics featuring characters like
Super Rabbit and the duo
Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal.
Goodman hired his wife's 16-year-old 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
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Lee wrote extensively for Timely, contributing to a number of different titles.
Goodman's business strategy involved having his various magazines and comic books published by a number of corporations all operating out of the same office and with the same staff.
One of these
shell companies through which Timely Comics was published was named Marvel Comics by at least ''Marvel Mystery Comics'' #55 (May 1944). As well, some comics' covers, such as ''All Surprise Comics'' #12 (Winter 1946–47), were labeled "A Marvel Magazine" many years before Goodman would formally adopt the name in 1961.
Magazine Management/Atlas Comics
The post-war American comic market saw superheroes falling out of fashion. Goodman's comic book line dropped them for the most part and expanded into a wider variety of genres than even Timely had published, featuring
horror,
Westerns
The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
, humor,
talking animal
A talking animal or speaking animal is any non-human animal that can produce sounds or gestures resembling those of a human language. Several species or groups of animals have developed forms of communication which superficially resemble verbal ...
,
men's adventure
Men's adventure is a genre of magazine that was published in the United States from the 1940s until the early 1970s. Catering to a male audience, these magazines featured pin-up girls and lurid tales of adventure that typically featured wartime fe ...
-drama, giant monster,
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...
, and
war comics
War comics is a genre of comic books that gained popularity in English-speaking countries following World War II.
History American war comics
Shortly after the birth of the modern comic book in the mid- to late 1930s, comics publishers began incl ...
, and later adding
jungle books,
romance
Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to:
Common meanings
* Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings
* Romance languages, ...
titles,
espionage, and even
medieval adventure,
Bible stories and sports.
Goodman began using the globe logo of the Atlas News Company, the newsstand-distribution company he owned,
on comics
cover-date
The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unu ...
d November 1951 even though another company,
Kable News, continued to distribute his comics through the August 1952 issues.
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