For the earlier comic book series marvel valentines gifts the predecessor to this topic, see Marvel Mystery Comics. Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a division of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Marvel was started in 1939 by Martin Goodman as Timely Comics, and by 1951 had generally become known as Atlas Comics.

Pulp-magazine publisher Martin Goodman created the company later known as Marvel Comics under the name Timely Publications in 1939. Goodman hired his wife’s 16-year-old cousin, Stanley Lieber, as a general office assistant in 1939. Goodman’s business strategy involved having his various magazines and comic books published by a number of corporations all operating out of the same office and with the same staff. The post-war American comic market saw superheroes falling out of fashion.

In 1957 Goodman switched distributors to the American News Company — which shortly afterward lost a Justice Department lawsuit and discontinued its business. 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. Stan Lee and 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. 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 the Thing. In the world of Superman comic books, communism did not exist.

Superman rarely crossed national borders or involved himself in political disputes. From 1962 to 1965, there were more communists than on the subscription list of Pravda. 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’s list of 28 college campus heroes, alongside John F. Marvel felt like The Beatles and the British Invasion. Originally, the company’s publications were branded by a minuscule “Mc” on the upper right-hand corner of the covers. 2 that included the series’ issue number and price.