At 75
Worlds Of Wonder looks back at 75 amazing years of the House of Ideas, its pulse-pounding pop culture legacy, and incredible transition from printed page to silver screen.
MARVEL – a simply appropriate name for the home of Spider-Man, Wolverine, Captain America, Iron Man, the Avengers, the X-Men, and so many other memorable characters.
After 75 years of perseverance, the House of Ideas has managed live up to its name and has been instrumental in contributing to the growth of the comics industry, as well as giving so many fond memories to generations of kids and adults (who, like me, just do not want to grow up).
Most of today’s generation would have climbed on board the Marvel bandwagon because of its movies, without realising that Marvel characters have been permeating the fantasy world since 1939, albeit in the less “glamorous” form of the comic book.
Truth is, the Marvel Comics we know today pales in comparison with the company that was originally known as Timely Publications (and later Atlas Comics), or the one that sought Chapter 11 protection in the 1990s.
To get some insight on the company’s journey, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane. In 1939, Martin Goodman (and NOT Stan Lee) started Timely Publications, a publisher that specialised in Western pulp magazines. Its foray into comic books began with Marvel Comics #1, which hit the stands in November that year and featured the first appearances of the Human Torch (the Jim Hammond version) and Namor The Sub-Mariner.
Buoyed by Marvel Comics’ exceptional sales of 900,000 copies (including second printings), Timely expanded its character stable with Captain America (whose first issue sold a million copies!), Destroyer, Vision, Whizzer and Miss America. The focus at that juncture was very WWII-centric and the only anomaly at Timely at the time came from a very unlikely source, or rather, person – a certain general office assistant named Stanley Lieber (remember that name).
The 1950s was not a kind decade to the superhero genre, with Timely (and later, its new incarnation Atlas Comics) suffering a post-war decline for such comic books. The jackpot only came a decade later (in 1961) when Marvel Comics (Atlas’ new incarnation) editor-in-chief Stan Lee (the pen name of the abovementioned Stanley Lieber) and a posse of top-drawer talents (Jack “The King” Kirby, Steve Ditko, John Romita, etc) came up with superheroes such as the Fantastic Four, SpiderMan and the X-Men, thus sparking the Marvel Age of Heroes. The rest, as they say, is history!
In conjunction with the company’s 75th anniversary, this week we review 10 of Marvel’s greatest contributions to the world of comics.
Marvel’s Age of Heroes
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and even after 75 years, the Marvel Universe is still under construction.
Though DC heroes like Superman or Batman are older, it was Marvel that kick-started the modern age of superhero comics when it published Fantastic Four in 1961. The dynamic duo of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby would go on to create some of comics’ greatest ever characters, like Spider-Man, X-Men, Avengers, Hulk, Iron Man, and Thor, all of which could probably populate this entire list on their own. Collectively, however, they are all part of something much bigger and more awesome, making the Marvel Universe an exciting place in which to hang out.
No holds barred
Long before the “for mature readers” MAX imprint was formed, Marvel had no qualms about taking on the dark side of reality, even if it went against the (now defunct) Comics Code Authority. Starting with the infamous Harry Osborn drug abuse tale ( Amazing Spider-Man #96-#98), the House of Ideas has been at the forefront in addressing other social ills such as child abuse, racism ... etc.
On a more positive note, Marvel was also ahead when it came to auspicious moments, especially weddings (Reed Richards and Sue Storm in Fantastic Four Annual #3, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #21, Cyclops and Jean Grey in X-Men #30, and even the Vision and Scarlet Witch in Giant Size Avengers Annual #4).
Marvel’s willingness to tackle all forms of emotions, more so in the 1960s and 1970s where comics were still deemed as a light form of reading material, certainly gave it a head start on its, er, Distinguished Competition.
Growing pains
Life in the Marvel Universe is not just about creating new characters, but the development of the next generation. Take the Future Foundation for instance – the hype for the FF started as early as the 1970s with the birth of Franklin Richards ( Fantastic Four Annual #6), and later in the 1990s with the arrival of Nathan Summers aka Cable ( Uncanny X-Men #201). These births gave the Marvel Universe a line of succession ... and presented real-life problems such as parenthood and potty training.
We’ve also seen former teen characters like the original X-Men, Kitty Pryde, and even Spider-Man grow from awkward teenagers to confident adults charged with grooming the next generation of heroes.
Till death do us part
Although there’s no denying that Marvel is the biggest culprit when it comes to resurrecting seemingly dead heroes, it HAS contributed quite a number of epic and memorable “deaths” throughout the years. These include Gwen Stacy ( Amazing Spider-Man #121), Norman Osborn aka Green Goblin ( Amazing Spider-Man #122), Phoenix ( Uncanny X-Men #137), Elektra ( Daredevil #181), Vindicator aka Guardian ( Alpha Flight #12) and Captain Marvel (Marvel Graphic Novel #1). Ignoring the subsequent resurrections, these issues pass the “ultimate acid test” for comic book deaths – evoking the right emotions from the reader.
Crossover mania
Major crossover events may seem like the norm these days, but it was Marvel that started it all with Secret Wars back in 1984. Initially, it was an idea that was conceived as “one big story with all the heroes and all the villains in it” so that toy company Mattel could base a line of toys on it.
However, with the popularity of the series
and the fact that the effects of the event had such lasting effects on its characters (SpiderMan and his black suit, for instance), the crossover event slowly became the norm, with DC jumping on the bandwagon in 1985 with Crisis
On Infinite Earths.
Keep It Short and Simply Superb
While the credit for starting limited (or rather maxi) series goes to DC Comics ( Camelot
Marvel was the one that perfected the limited series genre with classics such as Secret Wars, Contest Of Champions,
Wolverine (the Chris Claremont/ Frank Miller four-parter), Punisher (the inspired Mike Zeck five-parter that made Frank Castle a household name),
and many more. Another notable effort at “self-containing” a story is the Marvel Graphic Novel product range, which saw classic original stories like Death Of Captain Marvel, God Loves Man Kills, Death Of Groo, Daredevil:
Love And War and Dr Doom/Dr Strange: Triumph And Torment.
Conquering Hollywood
As the saying goes, “You can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs”, and in Marvel’s case, the broken eggs would be the 1970s and 1980s Spidey, Captain America and Hulk movies. While we can blame it on the fact that CGI wasn’t around then, truth is that the filmmakers handling Marvel properties back then were not comic fans (or rather, had limited knowledge about the characters they worked on).
The 21st century, however, saw a new lease of life for Marvel’s cinematic endeavours when the X-Men movie in 2000 finally gave comic fans some long-awaited X-citement and most importantly, an (almost) true-to-label comic-book movie. It, along with Sam Raimi’s 2002 Spider-Man movie, set the benchmark for all future Marvel movies and subsequently when Iron Man came out in 2008, it kick-started the Marvel Cinematic Universe
that has been smashing box office records in recent years with movies like The Avengers, Thor, and most recently, Guardians Of The Galaxy.
Creating creative ownership
On the subject of creative ownership, chances are that Marvel will also be remembered for the legal wrangles it had with Jack Kirby for his myriad creations, as well as Steve Gerber for the rights to Howard the Duck.
The Gerber incident later prompted Marvel to offer its writers and artists ownership rights and royalties, via its Epic Illustrated series and subsequently, the Epic Comics imprint.
Marvel also returned original artwork (not voluntarily) to the Kirby estate and Neal Adams following a court order. This set an industry-wide precedent which made it a standard practice for publishers to return all original artwork to the artist – enabling them to resell them to collectors. Nevertheless, the damage was already done and Marvel paid a heavy price in 1992, when seven artists (Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Rob Liefeld, Jim Valentino, Erik Larsen, Whilce Portacio and Marc Silvestri) “defected” to form their own company, Image Comics.
Image Comics later introduced digital colouring to the comics industry, something that Marvel may
claim indirect
credit for.
Marvel for
all seasons
Here’s a point I hate to admit, but after reflecting on the last three decades of Marvel offerings, I have to concede that the company does indeed have all its bases covered. The New Universe, Unknown Universe, 2099 Universe, Ultimate-verse, Manga-verse, Spiderverse ... there are options aplenty for comic readers to choose from, though this can be a double-edged sword. Still, resistance is futile, though I have decided to embrace the changes by sticking to just one/selected timeline(s)/ universe(s)!
Defining pop culture history
Whatever you may think about Marvel, there’s no denying that it has given us some of the most epic and iconic moments in pop culture history, some of which have become synonymous with Marvel characters.
From catchphrases like “Avengers Assemble!” and “Hulk smash!” to trademarked sound effects like Wolverine’s SNIKT and Nightcrawler’s BAMF; from famous covers like Amazing Fantasy #15 to iconic poses like Iron Man’s three-point landing; all the way to famous scenes like the X-Men stopping the Juggernaut, and Colossus and Wolverine’s fastball special. These timeless crowd-pleasers define the evergreen nature of the Marvel Universe, and there is little doubt that they will continue to do so for many more years. Here’s to the next 75 years, Marvel! ‘Nuff said!