Providing children as well as adults with hours upon hours of reading some of the very best dialogue ever to be put on paper, and witnessing some of the best drawings to be sketched, in 1939, a new type of entertainment media is born. I’m, of course, describing to you, the birth of one of the largest, greatest comic book companies of all time to hit the stands – Marvel Comics.
Originally in 1939 Marvel was founded under the name of ‘Timely Publications’ by a young but already highly popular Martin Goodman. Timely Publications brought to life new characters such as Silly Seal and Ziggy Pig. Timely also introduced comic fans with books that reflected the war and the new way of life.
All through the 1940′s Timely Publications would continue to grow and gain momentum when suddenly in 1950 the name was changed to Atlas Comics. Being that post war America had enough of the same sort of superheroes, this was a really smart move that Goodman decided to make. They needed something new and fresh. They got exactly that with Atlas Comics. Atlas expanded into new genres such as westerns, drama, humor and espionage to name but a few! Atlas did well despite the fact that they made no attempt at innovation. They instead let popular culture dictate what was to be included in their new material.
Finally in 1961 a brand of comic books is revealed. Marvel Comics launches their first comic anthology ‘Amazing Adventures’ and it proves to be a hit. By this time a strong rivalry had developed between DC comics and Marvel. It was during this time that Marvel released their acclaimed ‘The Fantastic 4′ in response to DC’s ‘Justice League of America’. Back in the spotlight again were some new superheroes and it was time for Marvel to take that spotlight.
Marvel worked on a variety of comic book series which would secure its’ place as Comic Book King. The series included X-Men, The Hulk, Iron Man, Spider-man and several more.
Why on earth was Marvel Comics such a smashing success? A simple word to describe their success is the word ‘humility’. Your traditional athletic, handsome, perfect superheroes weren’t being created in the Marvel comic books. Marvel steered away from the defacto standard and revolutionized characterization allowing the readers to relate and therefore make personal connections with the superheroes.
Spider-man, for example, has mixed feelings about his super powers and is filled with self doubt making him a very relatable character. It is without doubt, the great character build ups combined with great storylines that topped Marvel Comics as the King of the funny pages.
Even if you walk into a store today you’ll still see Marvel Comic Books everywhere, and they are as popular as ever. You will even find adults still reading the same comics they did as kids! New series are being printed all of the time in the Marvel Universe. Through perseverance, effort and time, Martin Goodman managed to create the greatest Comic book company ever known and for that and all the great stories along the way – We thank him.