39 Facts About Marvel Comics

1.

Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and primary imprint of Marvel Worldwide Inc (formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc and Marvel Comics Group), part of Marvel Entertainment.

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2.

The Marvel Comics 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.

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3.

Additionally, Marvel Comics has published several licensed properties from other companies.

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4.

Goodman formed Timely Marvel Comics, Inc, beginning with comics cover-dated April 1941 or Spring 1941.

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5.

Atlas was left without distribution and was forced to turn to Independent News, the distribution arm of its biggest rival, National Marvel Comics, which imposed draconian restrictions on Goodman's company.

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6.

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.

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7.

Marvel Comics often presented flawed superheroes, freaks, and misfits—unlike the perfect, handsome, athletic heroes found in previous traditional comic books.

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8.

Some Marvel Comics heroes looked like villains and monsters such as the Hulk and the Thing.

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9.

Once again, Marvel attempted to diversify, and with the updating of the Comics Code published titles themed to horror, martial arts (Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu), sword-and-sorcery (Conan the Barbarian in 1970, Red Sonja), satire (Howard the Duck) and science fiction (2001: A Space Odyssey, "Killraven" in Amazing Adventures, Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and, late in the decade, the long-running Star Wars series).

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10.

DC followed suit, but Marvel the following month dropped its comics to 20 cents for 36 pages, offering a lower-priced product with a higher distributor discount.

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11.

Marvel Comics ventured into audio in 1975 with a radio series and a record, both had Stan Lee as narrator.

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12.

At the 1975 event, Stan Lee used a Fantastic Four panel discussion to announce that Jack Kirby, the artist co-creator of most of Marvel's signature characters, was returning to Marvel after having left in 1970 to work for rival DC Comics.

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13.

In 1990, Marvel Comics began selling Marvel Comics Universe Cards with trading card maker SkyBox International.

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14.

In purchasing Malibu, Marvel now owned the leading standard for computer coloring of comic books that had been developed by Rosenberg, and integrated the Ultraverse line of comics and the Genesis Universe into Marvel's multiverse.

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15.

In late 1994, Marvel Comics acquired the comic book distributor Heroes World Distribution to use as its own exclusive distributor.

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16.

In 1993, Marvel teamed up with Thomas Nelson to create Christian media genre comics, including a Christian superhero named The Illuminator, they made adaptions of Christian novels too, including In His Steps, The Screwtape Letters, and The Pilgrim's Progress.

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17.

In 1996, Marvel had some of its titles participate in "Heroes Reborn", a crossover that allowed Marvel to relaunch some of its flagship characters such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, and outsource them to the studios of two of the former Marvel artists turned Image Comics founders, Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld.

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18.

The relaunched titles, which saw the characters transported to a parallel universe with a history distinct from the mainstream Marvel Comics Universe, were a solid success amidst a generally struggling industry.

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19.

In 1998, the company launched the imprint Marvel Comics Knights, taking place just outside Marvel Comics continuity with better production quality.

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20.

In 2001, Marvel withdrew from the Comics Code Authority and established its own Marvel Rating System for comics.

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21.

Marvel Comics created new imprints, such as MAX and Marvel Comics Adventures (developed for child audiences).

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22.

Marvel Comics created an alternate universe imprint, Ultimate Marvel, that allowed the company to reboot its major titles by revising and updating its characters to introduce to a new generation.

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23.

Marvel Comics published additional titles including miniseries until 2000 for a total of 650 issues.

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24.

In 2009 Marvel Comics closed its Open Submissions Policy, in which the company had accepted unsolicited samples from aspiring comic book artists, saying the time-consuming review process had produced no suitably professional work.

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25.

Marvel Comics moved its office to the Sports Illustrated Building in October 2010.

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26.

Marvel Comics relaunched the CrossGen imprint, owned by Disney Publishing Worldwide, in March 2011.

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27.

Marvel Comics Legacy was the company's Fall 2017 relaunch branding, which began that September.

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28.

Marvel Comics responded to these complaints by rescinding these ordering requirements on newer series, but maintained it on more long-running titles like Invincible Iron Man.

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29.

On March 25, 2021, Marvel Comics announced that they planned to shift their direct market distribution for monthly comics and graphic novels from Diamond Comic Distributors to Penguin Random House.

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30.

In 1994 Marvel Comics briefly abolished the position of editor-in-chief, replacing Tom DeFalco with five group editors-in-chief.

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31.

Therefore it wasn't easy for readers to tell which titles were produced by which Executive Editor … In late '94, Marvel Comics reorganized into a number of different publishing divisions, each with its own Editor-in-Chief.

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32.

Marvel Comics reinstated the overall editor-in-chief position in 1995 with Bob Harras.

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33.

In June 1993, Marvel Comics issued its collectable caps for milk caps game under the Hero Caps brand.

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34.

In 2003 Marvel Comics Publishing published its own role-playing game, the Marvel Comics Universe Roleplaying Game, that used a diceless stone pool system.

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35.

Video games based on Marvel Comics characters go back to 1984 and the Atari game, Spider-Man.

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36.

Marvel Comics first licensed two prose novels to Bantam Books, who printed The Avengers Battle the Earth Wrecker by Otto Binder and Captain America: The Great Gold Steal by Ted White (1968).

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37.

In 2003, following publication of the prose young adult novel Mary Jane, starring Mary Jane Watson from the Spider-Man mythos, Marvel Comics announced the formation of the publishing imprint Marvel Comics Press.

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38.

However, Marvel Comics moved back to licensing with Pocket Books from 2005 to 2008.

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39.

Marvel Comics has licensed its characters for theme parks and attractions, including Marvel Comics Super Hero Island at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida, which includes rides based on their iconic characters and costumed performers, as well as The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man ride cloned from Islands of Adventure to Universal Studios Japan.

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