In the 1980’s, America was experiencing a renaissance in music, art and culture. Marvel Publications at this time were definitely in sync with this modern movement. In 1983, film audiences saw the last of the Star Wars instalments entitled The Return of the Jedi. It was eminent that readership of Star Wars would decrease. Marvel Comics adeptly filled this possible void by publishing a new series. Instead of publishing a comic book that was rendition of a film, Marvel Comics produced an animated series that was a rendition of their comic. Marvel released GI-Joe: A Real American Hero. The comic series was created in the spirit of the war comic books from the golden age, an action figure toy line as well as St. Fury and his Howling Commandos; which was published by Marvel Comics in the 1960s. The comic series, which was complimented with a toy line by Hasbro, proved instantly successful. Soon the GI-Joe animated series was released by Marvel Productions.
In 1981, Marvel Comics purchased the DePatie-Freleng Enterprises Animation Studio (famous for Pink Panther) and renamed it Marvel Productions. Having already produced The New Fantastic Four in 1978 and Spiderwoman in 1979, the renamed studio released a Spider-man and Incredible Hulk series.
Soon after GI-Joe’s debut, The Transformers were released. This series, which was also fortified with a popular toy line by Hasbro, would prove even more popular than GI-Joe. Marvel Productions released other animation serials such as Dungeons and Dragon, Muppet Babies and Spider-man and Friends. The last title in particular was useful in presenting various Marvel Comics characters that were unknown to popular audiences. Furthering the exposure of different characters to readers and potential readers seemed to be the driving force behind the company’s marketing in the second half of the 1980s and early 1990s.
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