What make's Marvel character's Marvel?

The Avengers contained a patchwork of characters including Ant-man, Thor, Wasp, Iron Man and briefly the Hulk.  The fourth issue marked the return of Captain America to the Silver Age.  Daredevil, a blind superhero seemed to be another anomaly.  Just as DC Comics super heroes formed an industry archetype (handsome, perfect, and mentally stable), Marvel Comics characters formed an archetype of their own.  Most of these early characters possess similarities. 

Most of these stories involved very intelligent people such as Reed Richards (Fantastic Four), Peter Parker (Spider-man), Hank McCoy (X-men), Bruce Banner (The Hulk) and Henry Pym (Avengers).   Most character’s suffered an accident of some sort involving a little-known circumstance (radiation being the foremost culprit).  Marvel characters were clumsy, awkward, sensitive and prone to becoming angry.  Thus these traits made Marvel Character more relative to the psyche of modern people. 

Equally worthy of mention are other colorful characters such as the Silver Surfer.  First appearing in the Fantastic Four, the Silver Surfer was an intergalactic traveller.  Another character that came out of a Fantastic Four story was the Black Panther.  Being the first character of Negroid descent, The Black Panther was an African prince named T’challa.  He would not be the last African superhero to emerge from Marvel Comics.  X-Men #6 marked the Silver Age debut of The Submariner.  He, the Silver Surfer and Iron Man were to have individual titles in 1968. 

Stan Lee perpetuated a different routine for making comic books that would be called the “Marvel Method.”  Traditionally a writer would separately draft a script and then an artist would render drawings to accommodate it.   Under Lee’s direction, an artist and a writer would together oversee the art and then the writing would be added to it.  Under this method, artists and writers would be in greater relation with each other.

Enter the X-men:The superstars of Marvel

Even though Spider-man became the figurehead of Marvel Comics, it is the X-men that remain the dominant force in Marvel diaspora.  The Uncanny X-men, who came out the following year, presented an even more powerful platform for the complex nature of self identity.  For the first time, Marvel Comics introduced the concept of mutants, people who achieved their powers genetically from birth.  This group of teenagers had a “strangeness” to them that seemed to distance them from other Marvel superhero groups.  The leader of the X-men was an adult named Charles Xavier who possesses a mutant power of manipulating thoughts.  Since the ability to control of his powers was self-taught, Xavier acts as a mentor and teacher to the young mutants. 

Their arch rival was another mutant named Magneto, whose was embittered by those who hated him because he was different.   Years later, Marvel Comics added more depth to Magneto’s past by including that he spent time as a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. Unfortunately, most of the situations stemming from confrontations with the ignorant didn’t start to occur until the mid-1970s.

Part 3:The start of the Silver Age and Marvel

Coming from a cold-war society, Marvel Comic creators wanted their characters to redefine the superhero by eliminating pre-existing conventions.  Marvel Comics under the creative drive of Stan Lee, started to feature a strong line of anti-heroes. [5] These characters didn’t typically have greatness “thrust upon them,” but grabbed it from the depths of their suffering.  The first of such super heroes was the Fantastic Four; which debuted in 1961.  The Lee and Kirby story involved a group of four characters who acquired their powers amidst a space trip “that went wrong.”  Marvel Comics, through its characters, combined science fiction, fantasy and sometimes horror genres.  One of the characters, known as the Thing, was permanently altered into an orange, monstrous form.  Besides the DC Comics character the Martian Manhunter, who appeared in 1955, there were few characters that appeared non-humanoid. That clearly changed as Marvel Comics continued to “roll out” their characters

. In 1962, The Hulk and The Amazing Spider-man were released.  The Hulk, a victim of a gamma radiation accident, was a tortured soul trapped within the body of a green behemoth.  Spider-man, which was the most popular of these new heroes, was a teenager who, upon being bit by a radioactive spider, gained powers.  The core of Spider-man’s appeal didn’t come from his powers, but rather from his alter-ego Peter Parker.  Parker, being a teenager, was often filled with self-doubt.  This perfectly captured the persona of the average young person during the 1960s who lived among such controversy as the civil rights movement, the destruction of segregation and the advent U.S. involvement in Vietnam. 

From Print to Media

A superhero animation explosion occurred in the mid 1960’s.  By 1966 several titles became animated under a small Canadian company by the name of Grantray Lawrence.  The company, founded by Grant Simmons, Ray Patterson and Robert Lawrence, had little money and limited budget.  Because of Canadian law, broadcasting regulation guaranteed that animation by Grantray Lawrence would be aired continuously on Canadian television.This allowed the company to produce low budget animation whose quality lacked little discretion.

The company came out with six Marvel Comic titles in 1966 alone.  These included Thor, Hulk, Captain America, Iron Man, Submariner and The Marvel variety show. At times these cartoons look as though images were cut directly out of comic pages, pasted unto cells and added with voice.  Only the 1967 production of Spider-man stood out.  This was mainly due to the theme song, which to this day has a strong cult following.  The following year Grantray Lawrence Productions went bankrupt and Krantz Productions took over the series.  In New York, a young Ralph Bakshi, the famed underground animator, was put in charge of the series. Bakshi gave the stories a slightly darker façade and focused more on Peter Parker.  Hanna Barbara Animation Studios released The Fantastic Four.

Spider-man:Through the years

Part 2: Wandering in the wasteland

In 1950, a Senate Committee released a report connected comic books and delinquency.  Soon afterward, parents and educators began to ban comic books from schools and homes.  The Comics Code was the ultimate goal of the psychiatrist Dr. Frederick Wertham.  Having started his anti-comic campaign in the late nineteen forties, Dr. Wertham believed comic books were the main cause of the deterioration of young people.  The former Yale professor lecturer released his book, The Seduction of the Innocent in 1954.

In this book, Dr. Wertham states that comic books are responsible for almost all juvenile misbehavior from racial hatred to petty crime.  Soon, the U.S. Senate ordered that a set of standards be made in order to minimize the negative effects of comic books.  Many newsstands were thrilled to not carry comic books that didn’t have the comic code seal on them (comic books were often tedious to inventory due to their smaller size and large numbers).

Even though the contents of the code were created by a union of comic publisher as a means of self regulation, its effect proved disastrous to the industry. [2] Under the code, comic books had to display limited violence, sexual contact and negative language. [3] Changes could be seen in almost every genre of comic.

In Western comic books, there were fewer gunfights.  In romance comic books , there was less romance.  Even Funny Animal titles were forced to “curb” their violence.   Horror comic books nearly suffered extinction.  Science fiction titles seemed to survive this baptism.  The recent creation of the atomic bomb combined with UFO interest (stemming from the Roswell incident in 1947 and numerous pulp literature that followed), brought out a surge in science fiction Comic books.  To appease this interest, Marvel Comics brought out World of Suspense, World of Fantasy, Mystical Tales and World of Mystery.

The history of Marvel Part I

The Golden Age

Marvel Comics was founded in 1939 by Martin Goodman under the name Timely Publications.  Previous to Timely, Goodman published his first western comic book as early as 1933. Three years later, he published a comic book featuring a jungle lord similar to Ka-zar (who would appear years later). [1]   Their first publication Marvel Comics: Action, Mystery and Adventure, which formally debuted The Human Torch and The Sub Mariner.  The Human Torch, created by Carl Burgos was an android and The Submariner, by Bill Everett was an undersea prince by the name of Namor.  Interestingly enough, Namor was an anti-hero whose appearance predates DC Comic’s anti-hero known as Batman.  Namor, an often disgruntled character who struggles to do what he feels is right, represented the direction Marvel Comics would take their characters in during the sixties under Stan Lee.

Jack Kirby and Joe Simon’s Captain America arrived unto the comic scene in March of 1941.  Having a centralized theme of American patriotism, Captain America was an instant hit. The Second World War definitely helped the success of Marvel Comics.  Alongside The Human Torch and The Submariner, the “big three” were involved in numerous stories battling Nazis and the Japanese.  Together they formed a strong combination that would survive until 1954. [1]   With the enormous popularity of Disney and Warner Brother’s animation studios, comic book publishers strived to tap into this resource.  Marvel Comics’s attempt came in the form of Super Rabbit and the duo of Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal.  Plus, Basil Wolverton’s Power Pepper was featured for some flavoring. [2]

  During the 1950’s, Marvel Comics went under the name Atlas Comics.  With the Second World War ending at least five years before, the super heroes that were once revered were declining in popularity.  The U.S. involvement in the Korean War only resulted in a popular surge of war Comic books.  Marvel Comics’ Battle No. 1 came from this popularity. [2] It wasn’t long before superhero comic books were falling being not only war titles, but Western, crime, humor, romance and spy fiction Comic books as well.

Marvel Comics tried to make adjustments by publishing many Romance titles.  By the end of the 40’s, many Marvel titles, such as Human Torch and Submariner changed into romance titles.  The foremost being My Romance which featured writing by Stan Lee. Soon Western titles such as The Two Gun Kid, Annie Oakley, Tex Morgan and Kid Cold Outlaw emerged.