The Marvel Universe

MARVEL When it comes to comic books, few names can claim the kind of dominance over the market like Marvel. With characters like Spiderman, Iron Man, Wolverine and The Hulk as part of their roster, they have produced some of the most iconic comic book characters of all time and continue to keep those names fresh and relevant through successful movie franchises. Here are a few things you might not know about Marvel Comics. MARVEL WAS FIRST KNOWN AS TIMELY COMICS. TIMELY INC It was set up in 1939 by New York magazine publisher Martin Goodman. GOODMAN THOUGHT THAT SPIDER-MAN WAS A ROTTEN IDEA FORA SUPERHERO. He told Stan Lee that the character would fail because readers hated spiders. He changed his mind when the sales figures came in. D? MARVEL ONCE OWNED THE RIGHTS TO THE WORD ZOMBIE. MARVEL'S LUKE CAGE, WHICH PREMIERED IN 1972, WAS THE FIRST BLACK SUPERHERO TO HAVE HIS OWN COMIC. READERS WHO ALERTED MARVEL TO MISTAKES IN THEIR COMICS WERE AWARDED A NO-PRIZE. It was an empty envelope with the words "Congratulations! This envelope contains a genuine Marvel Comics No-Prize, which you have just won!" written on it. 'X-MEN' NO I, PUBLISHED IN 1991, IS THE WORLD'S BIGGEST-SELLING COMIC BOOK. IT SOLD CLOSE TO 8 MILLION COPIES. Thusan MICHAEL JACKSON ONCE CAME CLOSE TO OWNING MARVEL. FAMOUS WWRITERS WHO HAVE WRITTEN FOR MARVEL: KEVIN SMITH Director ALLAN HEINBERG *OC" and Sex and the City' seript writer BRIAN K VAUGHAN & DAMON LINDELOF Lost' writers and producers JEPH LOEB "Heroes' producer and Teenwolf" creator J MICHAEL STRACYNSKI "Babylon Five' ereator and Changeling' writer MARVEL IS HOME TO THE FIRST OPENLY GAY SUPERHERO. Northstar, a French-Canadian mutant, came out in 'Alpha Flight' No 106 in 1992. THE COMICS CODE AUTHORITY FORBADE THE USE OF WEREWOLVES IN COMICS. So Marvel writers had to come up with ingenious ways of including the classic villain archetype. For X-Men' No 60 (1969) Roy Thomas and Neal Adams ereated Sauron, a were-pterodactyl to get round the code. WEREWOLVES WERE-PTERODACTYL STAN LEE WAS PREPARED TO CANCEL DAREDEVIL IF THERE WAS ANY HINT THE BOOK CAUSED OFFENCE TO BLIND PEOPLE. TOBEY MAGUIRE WASN'T THE FIRST ACTOR TO PLAY SPIDER-MAN ON SCREEN. Between 1977 and 1979 CBS aired a #1 #2 live-action Spider-man TV series with Nicholas Hammond in the title role. STAN LEE BECAME EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF TIMELY AT AGE 18 IN 1941. He stayed in the role until 1972. MARVEL WENT BANKRUPT IN 1996. The financier Ron Perelman bought Marvel for $82.5 million in 1989, putting up $10.5 million of his own money and borrowing the rest. THE INCREDIBLE HULK WAS ORIGINALLY GRAY, BUT DUE TO PRINTING ISSUES IT WAS HARD TO KEEP HIS COLOR CONSISTENT, SO IT WAS CHANGED TO GREEN. Producers of the Hulk TV series wanted the Hulk to be red, but Stan Lee refused to let it happen. THE TRANSFORMER NAMES OPTIMUS PRIME & MEGATRON WERE CREATED BY MARVEL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JIM SHOOTER AND WRITERS DENNY O'NEIL & BOB BUDIANSKY. SOURCES: http:/liwww.abebooks.com/bloglindexrphp/2009/11/02/10-facts-you-didnt-know-about-mariel-comics/ http:/lientertainment.timeronline.co.ukitoliarts and entertainmentifilmlarticleti892311.ece http:l/superherouniverse.com/marvel.htm HOKUGAMER UnlineSchools DESIGN BY JASON POWERS www.OnlineSchools.org MAR