Editing Marvel Comics (section)

=== Marvel Comics ===
<!--[[Marvel Age of Comics]] redirects here-->
[[File:Fantastic Four Vol 1 01 Cover.jpg|thumb|''[[Fantastic Four (comic book)|The Fantastic Four]]'' #1 (Nov. 1961). Cover art by [[Jack Kirby]] (penciler) and an unknown inker.]]

The first modern comic books under the Marvel Comics brand were the [[science-fiction]] anthology ''[[Journey into Mystery]]'' #69 and the teen-humor title ''[[Patsy Walker]]'' #95 (both [[cover date]]d June 1961), which each displayed an "MC" box on its cover.<ref>[http://www.comics.org/brand/36/ Marvel : MC (Brand)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110307234958/http://www.comics.org/brand/36/ |date=March 7, 2011 }} at the [[Grand Comics Database]].</ref> Then, in the wake of [[DC Comics]]' success in reviving superheroes in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly with the [[Barry Allen|Flash]], [[Hal Jordan|Green Lantern]], [[Batman]], [[Superman]], [[Wonder Woman]], [[Green Arrow]], and other members of the team the [[Justice League|Justice League of America]], Marvel followed suit.{{refn|Apocryphal legend has it that in 1961, either [[Jack Liebowitz]] or [[Irwin Donenfeld]] of DC Comics (then known as [[National Periodical Publications]])<!--also known as name is mentioned here because Stan Lee says "National Comics" in quote directly below this paragraph--> 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 [[publisher]] [[Martin Goodman (publisher)|Martin Goodman]] (whose holdings included the nascent Marvel Comics) during a game of golf.

However, film producer and comics historian [[Michael Uslan]] partly debunked the story in a letter published in ''Alter Ego'' #43 (December 2004), pp. 43–44
{{Blockquote|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 [[Sol Harrison]] and [production chief] [[Jack Adler]] 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, [[Stan Lee]], to create a comic-book series about a team of superheroes. According to Lee in ''[[Origins of Marvel Comics]]'' ([[Marvel Fireside Books|Simon and Schuster/Fireside Books]], 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'' {{sic}} ''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?{{' "}}|group=n}}

In 1961, writer-editor [[Stan Lee]] revolutionized [[superhero]] comics by introducing superheroes designed to appeal to older readers than the predominantly child audiences of the medium, thus ushering what Marvel later called the '''Marvel Age of Comics'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Marvel Legacy of Jack Kirby |publisher=Marvel |year=2015 |page=50 |isbn=978-0-785-19793-5}}</ref> Modern Marvel's first superhero team, the titular stars of ''[[Fantastic Four (comic book)|The Fantastic Four]]'' #1<!--first 14 issues had "The" in the title--> (Nov. 1961),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.comics.org/series/1482/ |title=Fantastic Four |publisher=[[Grand Comics Database]] |access-date=March 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110315125926/http://www.comics.org/series/1482/ |archive-date=March 15, 2011 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=Randy |first2=James S. |last2=Olson |title=American Experiences: Readings in American History: Since 1865 |edition=4 |publisher=[[Addison–Wesley]] |year=1998 |page=317 |isbn=978-0-321-01031-5 |quote=Marvel Comics employed a realism in both characterization and setting in its superhero titles that was unequaled in the comic book industry.}}</ref> 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 many readers could identify.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Dunst |first1=Alexander |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUpnDwAAQBAJ&dq=Spider-Man+comic+suffered+mundane+problems+like+any+other+teenager&pg=PA76 |title=Empirical Comics Research: Digital, Multimodal, and Cognitive Methods |last2=Laubrock |first2=Jochen |last3=Wildfeuer |first3=Janina |date=July 3, 2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-73388-5 |language=en |access-date=December 17, 2022 |archive-date=April 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406013516/https://books.google.com/books?id=fUpnDwAAQBAJ&dq=Spider-Man+comic+suffered+mundane+problems+like+any+other+teenager&pg=PA76 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Stan Lee and [[freelancer|freelance artist]] and eventual co-plotter [[Jack Kirby]]'s Fantastic Four originated in a [[Cold War]] culture that led their creators to revise the superhero conventions of previous eras to better reflect the psychological spirit of their age.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Genter |first=Robert |title=With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility': Cold War Culture and the Birth of Marvel Comics |journal=[[The Journal of Popular Culture]] |volume=40 |issue=6 |date=2007 |pages=953–978 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-5931.2007.00480.x}}</ref> 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.<ref>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</ref>

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 [[Thing (comics)|the Thing]]. This [[naturalism (literature)|naturalistic]] approach even extended into topical politics. Comics historian Mike Benton also noted:

{{Blockquote|text=In the world of [rival [[DC Comics]]'] [[Superman]] comic books, communism did not exist. Superman rarely crossed national borders or involved himself in political disputes.<ref>{{cite book |first=Mike |last=Benton |title=Superhero Comics of the Silver Age: The Illustrated History |publisher=Taylor Publishing Company |location=Dallas, Texas |isbn=978-0-87833-746-0 |year=1991 |page=35}}</ref> From 1962 to 1965, there were more communists [in Marvel Comics] than on the subscription list of ''[[Pravda]]''. Communist agents attack Ant-Man in his laboratory, red henchmen jump the Fantastic Four on the moon, and [[Viet Cong]] guerrillas take potshots at Iron Man.<ref>Benton, p. 38.</ref>}}

All these elements struck a chord with the older readers, including college-aged adults. In 1965, Spider-Man and the Hulk were both featured in ''[[Esquire (magazine)|Esquire]]'' magazine's list of 28 college campus heroes, alongside [[John F. Kennedy]] and [[Bob Dylan]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Howe |first1=Sean |title=Marvel Comics: The Untold Story |year=2012 |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-0-06-199210-0 |page=4}}</ref> In 2009, writer Geoff Boucher reflected that,

<blockquote>Superman and DC Comics instantly seemed like boring old [[Pat Boone]]; Marvel felt like [[The Beatles]] and the [[British Invasion]]. It was Kirby's artwork with its tension and [[psychedelia]] 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?<ref name=laxgb>{{cite news |last=Boucher |first=Geoff |url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2009/09/jack-kirby-the-forgotten-hero-in-marvels-grand-hollywood-adventure.html |title=Jack Kirby, the abandoned hero of Marvel's grand Hollywood adventure, and his family's quest |work=Los Angeles Times |date=September 25, 2009<!-- (online); longer version of September 27, 2009 (print version) --> |access-date=September 28, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725154424/http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2009/09/25/jack-kirby-the-forgotten-hero-in-marvels-grand-hollywood-adventure/ |archive-date=July 25, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

In addition to [[Spider-Man]] and the Fantastic Four, Marvel began publishing further superhero titles featuring such heroes and antiheroes as the [[Hulk]], [[Thor (Marvel Comics)|Thor]], [[Ant-Man]], [[Iron Man]], the [[X-Men]], [[Daredevil (Marvel Comics character)|Daredevil]], the [[Inhumans]], [[Black Panther (character)|Black Panther]], [[Doctor Strange]], [[Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics)|Captain Marvel]] and the [[Silver Surfer]], and such memorable antagonists as [[Doctor Doom]], [[Magneto (Marvel Comics)|Magneto]], [[Galactus]], [[Loki (Marvel Comics)|Loki]], the [[Green Goblin]], and [[Doctor Octopus]], all existing in a shared reality known as the [[Marvel Universe]], 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 [[parody]] comic, ''[[Not Brand Echh]]'' (a play on Marvel's dubbing of other companies as "Brand Echh", à la the then-common phrase "Brand X").<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,938716,00.html |title=The Real Brand X |magazine=Time |date=October 31, 1960 |access-date=April 27, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629022930/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C938716%2C00.html |archive-date=June 29, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Originally, the company's publications were branded by a minuscule "Mc" on the upper right-hand corner of the covers. However, artist/writer [[Steve Ditko]] put a larger masthead picture of the title character of ''[[The Amazing Spider-Man]]'' on the upper left-hand corner on issue #2 that included the series' issue number and price. Lee appreciated the value of this visual motif and adapted it for the company's entire publishing line. This branding pattern, being typically either a full-body picture of the characters' solo titles or a collection of the main characters' faces in ensemble titles, would become standard for Marvel for decades.<ref>{{cite web |title=Branding Failure: The Rise and Fall of Marvel's Corner Box Art |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sk7BAuUCFc  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/6sk7BAuUCFc| archive-date=December 11, 2021 |url-status=live|website=YouTube | date=August 31, 2021 |publisher=ComicTropes |access-date=September 13, 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[File:Avengers4.jpg|thumb|Cover of ''[[Avengers (comics)|The Avengers]]'' #4 (Mar 1964), featuring the return of [[Captain America]]. Art by [[Jack Kirby]].]]