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This article is about the comic book company using this name beginning in 1961.
For the earlier comic book series, see .
Marvel Worldwide Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American publisher of
and related media. In 2009,
acquired , Marvel Worldwide's parent company.
Marvel started in 1939 as , and by the early 1950s had generally become known as . Marvel's modern incarnation dates from 1961, the year that the company launched
and other superhero titles created by , ,
and many others.
Marvel counts among
such well-known properties as , , , , , ,
and , such teams as the , the , the , the
and the , and antagonists such as , , , , , ,
and . Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the , with locations that mirror real-life cities. Characters such as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers,
are based in New York City, whereas the X-Men have historically been based in
and Hulk's stories often have been set in the American Southwest.
Main article:
#1 (Oct. 1939), the first comic from Marvel precursor . Cover art by .
founded the company later known as Marvel Comics under the name Timely Publications in 1939. Martin Goodman, a
publisher who had started with a
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 , managing editor, and , with Abraham Goodman officially listed as publisher.
Timely's first publication,
#1 ( Oct. 1939), included the first appearance of '
the , and the first appearances of 's
, among other features. The issue was a great success, with it and a second printing the following month selling, combined, nearly 900,000 copies. While its contents came from an outside packager, , Timely had its own staff in place by the following year. The company's first true editor, writer-artist , teamed with artist and emerging industry notable
to create one of the first patriotically themed superheroes, , 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 "big three", some notable heroes—many of which continue to appear in modern-day
appearances and flashbacks—include the , , the , the original , and the . Timely also published one of humor cartoonist 's best-known features, "", as well as a line of children's
comics featuring popular characters like
and the duo .
Goodman hired his wife's 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 ""—interim editor of the comics line, a position Lee kept for decades except for three years during his military service in . 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
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.
Main article:
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 , , humor, , -drama, giant monster, , and , and later adding
titles, , and even
adventure,
and sports.
Goodman began using the globe logo of the Atlas News Company, the newsstand-distribution company he owned, on comics
November 1951 even though another company, Kable News, continued to distribute his comics through the August 1952 issues. This globe branding united a line put out by the same publisher, staff and freelancers through 59 shell companies, from Animirth Comics to Zenith Publications.
Atlas, rather than innovate, took a proven route of following
in television and movies— and war dramas prevailing for a time,
monsters another time—and even other comic books, particularly the
line. Atlas also published a plethora of children's and teen humor titles, including 's
(à la ) and Homer Hooper (à la ). Atlas unsuccessfully attempted to revive superheroes from late 1953 to mid-1954, with the Human Torch (art by
and , variously), the
(drawn and most stories written by ), and
(writer , artist ). Atlas did not achieve any breakout hits and, according to Stan Lee, Atlas survived chiefly because it produced work quickly, cheaply, and at a passable quality.
#1 (Nov. 1961). Cover art by
(penciler) and unconfirmed inker.
The first modern comic books under the Marvel Comics brand were the
#69 and the teen-humor title
June 1961), which each displayed an "MC" box on its cover. Then, in the wake of ' success in reviving superheroes in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly with the , , and other members of the team the , Marvel followed suit.
In 1961, writer-editor
revolutionized
comics by introducing superheroes designed to appeal to more all-ages readers than the predominantly child audiences of the medium. Modern Marvel's first superhero team, the titular stars of
#1 (Nov. 1961), broke convention with other comic book archetypes of the time by squabbling, holding grudges both deep and petty, and eschewing anonymity or secret identities in favor of celebrity status. 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. This applied to The Amazing Spider-Man title in particular, which turned out to be Marvel's most successful book. Its young hero suffered from self-doubt and mundane problems like any other teenager, something with which readers could identify.
Lee and freelance artist and eventual co-plotter 's Fantastic Four originated in a
culture that led their creators to revise the superhero conventions of previous eras to better reflect the psychological spirit of their age. Eschewing such comic-book tropes as secret identities and even costumes at first, having a monster as one of the heroes, and having its characters bicker and complain in what was later called a "superheroes in the real world" approach, the series represented a change that proved to be a great success.
Marvel often presented flawed superheroes, freaks, and misfits—unlike the perfect, handsome, athletic heroes found in previous traditional comic books. Some Marvel heroes looked like villains and monsters such as the Hulk and the Thing. This
approach even extended into topical politics.
Comics historian Mike Benton also noted:
In the world of [rival ']
comic books, communism did not exist. Superman rarely crossed national borders or involved himself in political disputes. From 1962 to 1965, there were more communists [in Marvel Comics] than on the subscription list of . Communist agents attack Ant-Man in his laboratory, red henchmen jump the Fantastic Four on the moon, and
guerrillas take potshots at Iron Man.
All of these elements struck a chord with the older readers, such as college-aged adults, and they successfully gained in a way not seen before. In 1965, Spider-Man and the Hulk were both featured in
magazine's list of 28 college campus heroes, alongside
and . In 2009 writer Geoff Boucher reflected that, "Superman and DC Comics instantly see Marvel felt like
and the . It was Kirby's artwork with its tension and
that made it perfect for the times—or was it Lee's bravado and melodrama, which was somehow insecure and brash at the same time?"
In addition to
and the Fantastic Four, Marvel began publishing further superhero titles featuring such heroes and antiheroes as the , , , , the , , the , , ,
and the , and such memorable antagonists as , , , , the , and , all existing in a shared reality known as the , with locations that mirror real-life cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
Marvel even lampooned itself and other comics companies in a
(a play on Marvel's dubbing of other companies as "Brand Echh", à la the then-common phrase "Brand X").
#4 (March 1964), with (from left to right), the , , , ,
and (inset) the . Cover art by
In 1968, while selling 50 million comic books a year, company founder Goodman revised the constraining distribution arrangement with Independent News he had reached under duress during the Atlas years, allowing him now to release as many titles as demand warranted. Late that year he sold Marvel Comics and his other publishing businesses to the , which continued to group them as the subsidiary , with Goodman remaining as publisher. In 1969, Goodman finally ended his distribution deal with Independent by signing with .
In 1971, the
approached Marvel Comics editor-in-chief
to do a comic book story about drug abuse. Lee agreed and wrote a three-part
story portraying drug use as dangerous and unglamorous. However, the industry's self-censorship board, the , refused to approve the story because of the presence of narcotics, deeming the context of the story irrelevant. Lee, with Goodman's approval, published the story regardless in
#96–98 (May–July 1971), without the Comics Code seal. The market reacted well to the storyline, and the CCA subsequently revised the Code the same year.
#8 (Jan. 1977). Cover art by
Goodman retired as publisher in 1972 and installed his son, Chip, as publisher, Shortly thereafter, Lee succeeded him as publisher and also became Marvel's president for a brief time. During his time as president, he appointed as editor-in-chief , who added "Stan Lee Presents" to the opening page of each comic book.
A series of new editors-in-chief oversaw the company during another slow time for the industry. Once again, Marvel attempted to diversify, and with the updating of the Comics Code achieved moderate to strong success with titles themed to
(), martial arts, (),
(, ), satire () and science fiction (, "" in , , and, late in the decade, the long-running
series). Some of these were published in larger-format black and white magazines, under its
imprint. Marvel was able to capitalize on its successful superhero comics of the previous decade by acquiring a new newsstand distributor and greatly expanding its comics line. Marvel pulled ahead of rival
in 1972, during a time when the price and format of the standard newsstand comic were in flux. Goodman increased the price and size of Marvel's November 1971 cover-dated comics from 15 cents for 36 pages total to 25 cents for 52 pages. 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.
Goodman, now disconnected from Marvel, set up a new company called
in 1974, reviving Marvel's old Atlas name for a new
line, but this lasted only a year and a half. In the mid-1970s a decline of the newsstand distribution network affected Marvel. Cult hits such as Howard the Duck fell victim to the distribution problems, with some titles reporting low sales when in fact the first specialty comic book stores resold them at a later date.[] But by the end of the decade, Marvel's fortunes were reviving, thanks to the rise of
distribution—selling through those same comics-specialty stores instead of newsstands.
Marvel held its own , Marvelcon '75, in spring 1975, and promised a Marvelcon '76. At the 1975 event, Stan Lee used a
panel discussion to announce that , the artist co-creator of most of Marvel's signature characters, was returning to Marvel after having left in 1970 to work for rival . In October 1976, Marvel, which already licensed reprints in different countries, including the UK, created a superhero specifically for the British market.
debuted exclusively in the UK, and later appeared in American comics.
#1 (May 1984). Cover art by .
became Marvel's editor-in-chief. Although a controversial personality, Shooter cured many of the procedural ills at Marvel, including repeatedly missed deadlines. During Shooter's nine-year tenure as editor-in-chief,
and 's run on the
and 's run on
became critical and commercial successes. Shooter brought Marvel into the rapidly evolving , institutionalized creator royalties, starting with the
imprint for
material in 1982; introduced company-wide crossover story arcs with
and ; and in 1986 launched the ultimately unsuccessful
line to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Marvel Comics imprint. , a children-oriented line differing from the regular Marvel titles, was briefly successful during this period.
Despite Marvel's successes in the early 1980s, it lost ground to rival DC in the latter half of the decade as many former Marvel stars defected to the competitor. DC scored critical and sales victories with titles and
such as , , , Byrne's revamp of , and 's .
In 1986, Marvel's parent, , was sold to , which within three years sold it to , owned by
executive .
#1, later renamed "Peter Parker: Spider-Man" (August 1990; second printing). Cover art by .
Marvel earned a great deal of money and recognition during the comic book boom of the early 1990s, launching the successful
line of comics set in the future (, etc.) and the creatively daring though commercially unsuccessful
imprint of
comics created by novelist and filmmaker . In 1990, Marvel began selling
with trading card maker . These were collectible trading cards that featured the characters and events of the Marvel Universe. The 1990s saw the rise of , cover enhancements, , and company-wide crossovers that affected the overall continuity of the fictional
Marvel suffered a blow in early 1992, when seven of its most prized artists— (known for his work on ),
(), and —left to form .
In 1996, Marvel had some of its titles participate in "", a crossover that allowed Marvel to relaunch some of its flagship characters such as the
and the , and
them to the studios of two of the former Marvel artists turned Image Comics founders, Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. The relaunched titles, which saw the characters transported to a parallel universe with a history distinct from the mainstream Marvel Universe, were a solid success amidst a generally struggling industry, but Marvel discontinued the experiment after a one-year run and returned the characters to the Marvel Universe proper. In 1998, the company launched the imprint , taking place within M helmed by soon-to-become editor-in-chief , it featured tough, gritty stories showcasing such characters as the ,
Marvel's logo, circa 1990s
In late 1994, Marvel acquired the comic book distributor
to use as its own exclusive distributor. As the industry's other major publishers made exclusive distribution deals with other companies, the ripple effect resulted in the survival of only one other major distributor in North America,
In early 1997, when Marvel's Heroes World endeavor failed, Diamond also forged an exclusive deal with Marvel—giving the company its own section of its comics catalog Previews.
In 1991 , whose company, , had purchased Marvel Comic's Parent corporation,
(MEG) in 1989, took the company public. Following the rapid rise of this stock, Perelman issued a series of
that he used to acquire other entertainment companies, secured by MEG stock. Then, by the middle of the decade, the industry had slumped, and in December 1996 Marvel filed for
bankruptcy protection.
and MEG merged to end the bankruptcy, forming a new corporation, . With his business partner , publisher , and editor-in-chief , Toy Biz co-owner
helped stabilize the comics line.
With the new millennium, Marvel Comics emerged from bankruptcy and again began diversifying its offerings. In 2001, Marvel withdrew from the
and established its own
for comics. The first title from this era to not have the code was
#119 (October 2001). Marvel also created new , such as
(an explicit-content line) and
(developed for child audiences). In addition, the company created an
imprint, , that allowed the company to
its major titles by revising and updating its characters to introduce to a new generation.
Some of its characters have been turned into successful film franchises, such as the
movie series, starting in 1997,
movie series, starting in 1998,
movie series, starting in 2000, and the highest grossing series , beginning in 2002.
In a cross-promotion, the November 1, 2006, episode of the CBS soap opera , titled "She's a Marvel", featured the character Harley Davidson Cooper (played by ) as a superheroine named the Guiding Light. The character's story continued in an eight-page backup feature, "A New Light", that appeared in several Marvel titles published November 1 and 8. Also that year, Marvel created a
on its Web site.
In late 2007 the company launched , a digital archive of over 2,500 back issues available for viewing, for a monthly or annual subscription fee.
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. The same year, the company commemorated its 70th anniversary, dating to its inception as , by issuing the one-shot
70th Anniversary Special #1 and a variety of other special issues.
Writers of Marvel titles in the 2010s include (seated left to right) , ,
On August 31, 2009,
announced a deal to acquire Marvel Comics' parent corporation, Marvel Entertainment, for $4 billion or $4.2 billion, with Marvel
to receive $30 and 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they own. As of 2008, Marvel and its major, longtime competitor
shared over 80% of the American comic-book market. As of September 2010, Marvel switched its bookstores distribution company from
Marvel relaunched the
imprint, owned by , in March 2011. Marvel and Disney Publishing began jointly publishing Disney/Pixar Presents magazine that May.
Marvel discontinued its
imprint in March 2012, and replaced them with a line of two titles connected to the . Also in March, Marvel announced its Marvel ReEvolution initiative that included Infinite Comics, a line of , Marvel AR, an
that provides an
experience to readers and , a relaunch of most of the company's major titles with different creative teams. Marvel NOW! also saw the debut of new flagship titles including
In April 2013, Marvel and other Disney conglomerate components began announcing joint projects. With ABC, a
was announced for publication in September. With Disney, Marvel announced in October 2013 that in January 2014 it would release its first title under their joint "Disney Kingdoms" imprint "Seekers of the Weird", a five-issue miniseries. On January 3, 2014, fellow Disney subsidiary
announced that as of 2015,
would once again be published by Marvel.
Following the events of the company-wide crossover
in 2015, a relaunched Marvel universe is scheduled to begin in September 2015.
Michael Z. Hobson, Executive Vice President, Publishing Group vice-president, publishing (1986)
, executive vice president & publisher (1986)
Joseph Calamari, executive vice president (1986)
, vice president and Editor-in-Chief (1986)
Abraham Goodman 1939 – ?
 ? – 1972
Charles "Chip" Goodman 1972
1972 – October 1996
October 1996 – October 1998
Winston Fowlkes February 1998 – November 1999
February 2000 – 2003
2003–present
Marvel's chief editor originally held the title of "editor". This head editor's title later became "editor-in-chief".
was the company's first true chief-editor, with publisher , who had served as titular editor only and outsourced editorial operations.
In 1994 Marvel briefly abolished the position of editor-in-chief, replacing
with five group editors-in-chief. As Carl Potts described the 1990s editorial arrangement:
In the early '90s, Marvel had so many titles that there were three Executive Editors, each overseeing approximately 1/3 of the line.
was the third Executive Editor [following the previously appointed
and Potts]. We all answered to Editor-in-Chief Tom DeFalco and Publisher . All three Executive Editors decided not to add our names to the already crowded credits on the Marvel titles. Therefore it wasn't easy for readers to tell which titles were produced by which Executive Editor ... In late '94, Marvel reorganized into a number of different publishing divisions, each with its own Editor-in-Chief.
Marvel reinstated the overall editor-in-chief position in 1995 with .
(; titular only)
(acting editor during Lee's military service) ()
Stan Lee ()
( magazines , entire line )
Editor-in-chief
No overall; separate group editors-in-chief ()
, Universe ( & Cosmic)
& general entertainment
(2011–present)
Originally called associate editor when Marvel's chief editor just carried the title of editor, the title of the next highest editorial position became executive editor under the chief editor title of editor-in-chief. The title of associate editor later was revived under the editor-in-chief as an editorial position in charge of few titles under the direction of an editor and without an assistant editor.
Associate Editor
Jim Shooter January 5, 1976 – January 2, 1978
Executive Editor
, senior editor
Epic , 1995–
early '90s – 1994
Bobbie Chase
2007–present
Axel Alonso 2010 – January 2011
Parent corporation
Marvel Enterprises, Inc. ()
Marvel Entertainment, LLC (2009–present)
Located in New York City, Marvel has had successive headquarters:
in the , where it originated as
in suite 1401 of the
(the actual location, though the comic books'
listed the parent publishing-company's address of 625 Madison Ave.)
575 Madison A
387 Park Avenue South
a 60,000-square-foot (5,600 m2) space at 135 W. 50th Street
This section needs additional citations for . Please help
by . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2015)
In 2013, Marvel held a 33.50% share of the comics market, compared to its competitor ' 30.33% share. By comparison, the companies held 40.81% and 29.94% shares in 2008, respectively.
Retail % ($)
Unit % (Number of items)
Marvel characters and stories have been adapted to many other media. Some of these adaptations were produced by Marvel Comics and its sister company, , while others were produced by companies licensing Marvel material.
In 2014, the
Japanese TV series was launched together with a collectible game called Bachicombat, a game similar to , by .
The RPG industry brought the development of the
(CCG) in the early 1990s which there were soon Marvel characters were featured in CCG of their own starting in 1995 with 's
(). Later collectible card game were:
(2001–? ) Marvel
(, 2014–) Upper Deck Company
published the pen-and-paper
in 1984. TSR then released in 1998 the
which used a different system than their first game. In 2003 Marvel Publishing published its own role-playing game, the .
In August 2011
announced it was developing a
based on the Marvel universe, set for release in February 2012.
Main article:
Video games based on Marvel characters go back to 1984 and the Atari game, . Since then several dozen video games have been released and all have been produced by outside licensees. In 2014,
was released that brought Marvel characters to the existing
sandbox video game. and Ps2 games to voice over by and played by Jason Orange for save the children fund
Main article:
As of the start of September 2015, films based on Marvel's properties represent the highest-grossing U.S. franchise, having grossed over $7.7 billion
as part of a worldwide gross of over $18 billion.
(2014–) live arena show
() a Broadway musical
Main articles:
Marvel first licensed two prose novels to , who printed The Avengers Battle the Earth Wrecker by
(1967) and Captain America: The Great Gold Steal by
(1968). Various publishers took up the licenses from 1978 to 2002. Also, with the various licensed films being released beginning in 1997, various publishers put out movie . In 2003, following publication of the prose
Mary Jane, starring
mythos, Marvel announced the formation of the publishing
. However, Marvel moved back to licensing with Pocket Books from 2005 to 2008. With few books issued under the imprint, Marvel and
relaunched Marvel Press in 2011 with the Marvel Origin Storybooks line.
Main article:
Many television series, both live-action and animated, have based their productions on Marvel Comics characters. These include multiple series for popular characters such as Spider-Man, Iron Man and the X-Men. Additionally, a handful of television movies, usually also pilots, based on Marvel Comics characters have been made.
Marvel has licensed its characters for theme-parks and attractions, including at the 's , in , which includes rides based on their iconic characters and costumed performers. Universal theme parks in California and Japan also have Marvel rides.
plans on creating original Marvel attractions at their theme parks, with
becoming the first Disney theme park to feature a . Due to the licensing agreement with Universal Studios, signed prior to Disney's purchase of Marvel, Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disney are barred from having Marvel characters in their parks. However, this only includes characters Universal is currently using, other characters in their "families" (X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, etc.), and the villains associated with said characters. This clause has allowed Walt Disney World to have meet and greets, merchandise, attractions and more with other Marvel characters not associated with the characters at Islands of Adventures, such as
as well as
Disney Kingdoms
Marvel Comics
, joint imprint with
Curtis Magazines/Marvel Magazine Group
Marvel Monsters Group
(creator owned) ()
(co-owned with 's )
Former Marvel Comics line
Apocryphal legend has it that in 1961, either
of DC Comics (then known as National Periodical Publications) bragged about DC's success with the Justice League (which had debuted in The Brave and the Bold #28 [February 1960] before going on to its own title) to
(whose holdings included the nascent Marvel Comics) during a game of golf.
However, film producer and comics historian
partly debunked the story in a letter published in Alter Ego #43 (December 2004), pp. 43–44
Irwin said he never played golf with Goodman, so the story is untrue. I heard this story more than a couple of times while sitting in the lunchroom at DC's 909 Third Avenue and 75 Rockefeller Plaza office as
and [production chief]
were schmoozing with some of us ... who worked for DC during our college summers.... [T]he way I heard the story from Sol was that Goodman was playing with one of the heads of Independent News, not DC Comics (though DC owned Independent News). ... As the distributor of DC Comics, this man certainly knew all the sales figures and was in the best position to tell this tidbit to Goodman. ... Of course, Goodman would want to be playing golf with this fellow and be in his good graces. ... Sol worked closely with Independent News' top management over the decades and would have gotten this story straight from the horse's mouth.
Goodman, a publishing trend-follower aware of the JLA's strong sales, confirmably directed his comics editor, , to create a comic-book series about a team of superheroes. According to Lee in Origins of Marvel Comics (, 1974), p. 16: "Martin mentioned that he had noticed one of the titles published by National Comics seemed to be selling better than most. It was a book called The
[] Justice League of America and it was composed of a team of superheroes. ... ' If the Justice League is selling ', spoke he, 'why don't we put out a comic book that features a team of superheroes?'"
(November 20, 2007). The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City. Gallery Books.
. . April 27, 2011.
(i). "Elegy".
#138 (October 1980). Marvel Comics.
(September 28, 2011). . .
Lascala, Marisa (June 2011). . .
Phegley, Kiel (February 26, 2013). . .
Postal indicia in issue, per
at the : "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
#4 (Feb. 1940), p. 40; reprinted in Marvel Masterworks: Golden Age Marvel Comics Volume 1 (Marvel Comics, 2004, ), p. 239
Writer-artist 's Sub-Mariner had actually been created for an undistributed movie-theater giveaway comic,
earlier that year, with the previously unseen, eight-page original story expanded by four pages for Marvel Comics #1.
Per researcher Keif Fromm,
#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 , 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.
Goulart, Ron (2000). Comic book culture: an illustrated history. Collectors Press, Inc. p. 173.  .. Preceding Captain America were ' the
at the . "This is the original business name under which Martin Goodman began publishing comics in 1939. It was used on all issues up to and including those cover-dated March 1941 or Winter , spanning the period from
#1. It was replaced by Timely Comics, Inc. starting with all issues cover-dated April 1941 or Spring 1941."
(1991). Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics. New York City: . pp. 27, 32–33.  . Timely Publications became the name under which Goodman first published a comic book line. He eventually created a number of companies to publish comics ... but Timely was the name by which Goodman's Golden Age comics were known. . . . Marvel wasn't always M in the early 1940s the company was known as Timely Comics....
A Smithsonian Book of Comic-Book Comics. /. 1981.
; Mair, George (2002). Excelsior!: The Amazing Life of Stan Lee. . p. 22.  .
; with Simon, Jim (1990). The Comic Book Makers. Crestwood/II Publications. p. 208.  .
(2011). Joe Simon: My Life in Comics. London, UK: . pp. 113–114.  .
Wright, Bradford W. (2001). Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America. The
Press. p. 57.  .
"Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc.". . Farmington Hills, Michigan:
/ St. James Press, . 1995.
from the original on July 11, .
at the Grand Comics Database
at the Grand Comics Database
in Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics, pp. 67–68: "The success of EC had a definite influence on Marvel. As Stan Lee recalls, 'Martin Goodman would say, "Stan, let's do a different kind of book," and it was usually based on how the competition was doing. When we found that EC's horror books were doing well, for instance, we published a lot of horror books'".
Boatz, Darrel L. (December 1988). "Stan Lee".
(64) (). pp. 15–16.
Roberts, R Olson, James S. (1998). American Experiences: Readings in American History: Since 1865 (4 ed.). . p. 317.  . Marvel Comics employed a realism in both characterization and setting in its superhero titles that was unequaled in the comic book industry.
Genter, Robert (2007). "With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility': Cold War Culture and the Birth of Marvel Comics". . 40\issue=6.
Comics historian Greg Theakston has suggested that the decision to include monsters and initially to distance the new breed of superheroes from costumes was a conscious one, and born of necessity. Since DC distributed Marvel's output at the time, Theakston theorizes that, "Goodman and Lee decided to keep their superhero line looking as much like their horror line as they possibly could," downplaying "the fact that [Marvel] was now creating heroes" with the effect that they ventured "into deeper waters, where DC had never considered going". See Ro, pp. 87–88
Benton, Mike (1991). Superhero Comics of the Silver Age: The Illustrated History. Dallas, Texas: Taylor Publishing Company. p. 35.  .
Benton, p. 38.
Howe, Sean (2012). Marvel Comics: The Untold Story. New York, NY: . p. 4.  .
Boucher, Geoff (September 25, 2009). . Los Angeles Times.
from the original on June 25, .
. Time. October 31, 1960.
from the original on June 29, .
Daniels, Les (September 1991). Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics, Harry N Abrams. p. 139.
Nyberg, Amy Kiste. Seal of Approval: History of the Comics Code. University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, Miss., 1998
Ro, Ronin (2004). Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and the American Comic Book Revolution. . p. .
Lee, Mair, p. 5.
(2010). 75 Years of DC Comics The Art of Modern Mythmaking. . p. 451.  . Marvel took advantage of this moment to surpass DC in title production for the first time since 1957, and in sales for the first time ever.
Daniels, Marvel, pp.154–155
Cooke, Jon B. (December 2011). .
from the original on December 1, .
: "The King is Back! 'Nuff Said!", in Marvel Comics
October 1975, including
Specific series- and issue-dates in article are collectively per GCD and other databases given under References
Both pencils and inks per UHBMCC; GCD remains uncertain on inker.
Howe, Sean (20 August 2014). . Wired (Condé Nast) 2015.
"Marvel Focuses On Direct Sales".
(59): 11–12. October 1980.
"DC Overcomes Marvel In Sales".
(118): 24. December 1987.
. . November 28, .
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