History of Marvel Comics

Marvel Publishing, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics, is an American company that publishes specializing comic books and related media. Marvel Entertainment, Inc., a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, owns Marvel Publishing.

Marvel counts among its characters such well-known properties as Spider-Man, Iron Man, the X-Men, Wolverine, the Hulk, the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Daredevil, the Punisher, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange and others. Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe, with locales set in real-life cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. (Nyberg, 10)

The comic-book arm of the company started in 1939 as Timely Publications, and by the 1950s had generally become known as Atlas Comics. Marvel's modern incarnation dates from 1961, with the launching of Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and others. Marvel has since become the largest American comic-book publisher, surpassing its longtime competitor DC Comics. (Marvel , 11-12)

On December 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company acquired Marvel Videogame Entertainment for $4.24 billion.

Marvel Comics is home to many of the most well known and most popular comic book characters of all time. Today they are a part of the mega corporation known as Marvel Entertainment which has massive worldwide revenues and influence. (Marvel , 11-12)

It was a long journey for Marvel comic books to get to where they are now, featuring some down periods as well as some periods of explosive popularity and innovation.

Marvel Comics was originally founded in 1939 and was then known as Timely Comics. Timely Comics introduced several super hero characters such as the Human Torch. These characters proved to be rather successful and gained popularity throughout the United States.

With World War II gaining obvious social traction and importance, Timely introduced what would ...