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Marvel Comics: Companies
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Comicon's Splash Web site reported last week that Marvel Comics has been forced to put up its trademarks as collateral. According to Splash, "[Marvel] has defaulted on letters of credit with CitiBank to the tune of $17,547,333.53. According to their SEC filing, the bank has shut off Marvel's credit line, set up a strict repayment schedule and demanded the company put up its copyrights and trade marks as collateral."
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Marvel Comics is one of the major publishing companies producing comic book properties today, rivaled primarily by DC Comics. Founded by Martin Goodman in 1939, five years after the establishment of DC, the company was initially known as Timely Comics, and later Atlas. By 1961... following experimentations with science fiction and funny animal characters, the line was relaunched as Marvel (taking its name from one of their earliest comic titles), and re-focused on superheroes. The company soon became DC's most notable rival, with such properties as Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and the X-Men, all of which. like their DC counterparts, have been adapted into animation, films, television, and video games.
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The first Marvel comic book was (appropriately enough) Marvel Comics #1. It was put out by Martin Goodman, a publisher of pulp magazines, and dated November, 1939. Like most of its contemporaries in the burgeoning comic book industry, it was an anthology title with an emphasis on superheroes. This is the comic that introduced The Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, The Angel, Ka-Zar and other characters to the comics-reading world — but more important, it introduced a company that would eventually grow to be an industry giant.
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Marvel Comics is a division of Marvel Entertainment, Inc., a leading global character-based entertainment company that has developed and owns a library of more than 5,000 characters, which have entertained generations around the world for over 60 years. Marvel's operations are focused in entertainment and consumer product licensing and comic book publishing. Marvel Studios supports the development of feature films, DVD/video products and TV series. Marvel’s creative team ... supports the creation of video games and toy lines based on its characters as well as for a broad and growing range of consumer products and services including apparel, collectibles, foods and promotions. Marvel's comic book division is a leading publisher in the global marketplace while also serving as an invaluable source of intellectual property. Marvel’s Toy Biz division is a recognized creative force and leader in toy design, sales and marketing, developing and overseeing both licensee and in-house toy lines.
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Marvel Comics has since become known with DC comics as, “The Big Two”. Together they make up over 70% of the market share of comics sold in the United States. The resurgence of comic book movies of famous characters such as Spider-Man, Daredevil, and The X-Men has cemented Marvel as a comic book company that will be around for decades to come. They continue to add on to their line of comics and create new characters with the hopes that they will catch on as well as the mainstays of the Marvel universe.
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Marvel Comics first started as Timely Publication. The pulp fiction publisher Martin Goodman started the company in 1939 from his existing set up at 330 West 42nd Street, New York City. The first comic to come out of Timely Publication is adaptation of an earlier pulp fiction called the Ka-Zar, a jungle lord.
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