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107-418: Bonny Hoffman and Carmen Leno are assassins who work for Requiem, Inc., an agency for hired killers. Bonny, daughter of a crime lord, wants to prove her worth to her father, while Carmen, a former adult film actress, hopes to become a legitimate actress. Both women meet and become assassins and use many types of hi-tech weapons, often concealed in, or disguised as, makeup accessories. Bonny's uncle Nick hires

214-653: A Once Upon a Time graphic novel was announced for publication in September. With Disney, Marvel announced in October 2013 that in January 2014 it would release its first title under their joint "Disney Kingdoms" imprint "Seekers of the Weird", a five-issue miniseries. On January 3, 2014, fellow Disney subsidiary Lucasfilm announced that as of 2015, Star Wars comics would once again be published by Marvel. Following

321-414: 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. Eschewing such comic book tropes as secret identities and even costumes at first, having a monster as one of the heroes, and having its characters bicker and complain in what was later called a "superheroes in the real world" approach, the series represented

428-617: A Marvelcon '76. At the 1975 event, Stan Lee used a Fantastic Four panel discussion to announce that Jack Kirby , the artist co-creator of most of Marvel's signature characters, was returning to Marvel after having left in 1970 to work for rival DC Comics . In October 1976, Marvel, which already licensed reprints in different countries, including the UK, created a superhero specifically for the British market. Captain Britain debuted exclusively in

535-581: A Resurrection Man who has a different super-power each time he returns from death. After learning of the copy's existence and abilities, the original Shelley and Hooker decided to retrieve the Resurrection Man. The Resurrection Man is horrified to learn he is a copy of a cruel villain. He concludes that the tektites brought him to life to make amends for the evil the original Shelley has caused. During their confrontation, forces of Heaven and Hell come to claim Mitch Shelley's soul. The angel Suriel takes

642-586: A brief time. During his time as president, he appointed his associate editor, prolific writer Roy Thomas , as editor-in-chief. Thomas added "Stan Lee Presents" to the opening page of each comic book. A series of new editors-in-chief oversaw the company during another slow time for the industry. Once again, Marvel attempted to diversify, and with the updating of the Comics Code published titles themed to horror ( The Tomb of Dracula ), martial arts ( Shang-Chi: Master of Kung Fu ), sword-and-sorcery ( Conan

749-541: A cash and stock deal worth approximately $ 4 billion, which if necessary would be adjusted at closing, giving Marvel shareholders $ 30 and 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they owned. As of 2008, Marvel and its major competitor DC Comics shared over 80% of the American comic-book market. As of September 2010, Marvel switched its bookstore distribution company from Diamond Book Distributors to Hachette Distribution Services . Marvel moved its office to

856-502: A change that proved to be a great success. 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 . This naturalistic approach even extended into topical politics. Comics historian Mike Benton also noted: In

963-518: 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. Kennedy and Bob Dylan . In 2009, writer Geoff Boucher reflected that, Superman and DC Comics instantly seemed like boring old Pat Boone ; Marvel felt like The Beatles and the British Invasion . It

1070-505: A controversial personality, Shooter cured many of the procedural ills at Marvel, including repeatedly missed deadlines. During Shooter's nine-year tenure as editor-in-chief, Chris Claremont and John Byrne 's run on the Uncanny X-Men and Frank Miller 's run on Daredevil became critical and commercial successes. Shooter brought Marvel into the rapidly evolving direct market , institutionalized creator royalties, starting with

1177-518: A crossover that allowed Marvel to relaunch some of its flagship characters such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four , and outsource them to the studios of two of the former Marvel artists turned Image Comics founders, Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld. The relaunched titles, which saw the characters transported to a parallel universe with a history distinct from the mainstream Marvel Universe, were

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1284-524: A deal brokered by Malibu Comics ' owner Scott Mitchell Rosenberg . Three years later, on November 3, 1994, Rosenberg sold Malibu to Marvel. In purchasing Malibu, Marvel now owned computer coloring technology that had been developed by Rosenberg, and also integrated the Ultraverse line of comics and the Genesis Universe into Marvel's multiverse . Earlier that year, the company secured

1391-535: A deal with Harvey Comics , whereas Marvel took on the publishing and distribution of Harvey's titles. In late 1994, Marvel acquired the comic book distributor Heroes World Distribution to use as its own exclusive distributor. As the industry's other major publishers made exclusive distribution deals with other companies, the ripple effect resulted in the survival of only one other major distributor in North America, Diamond Comic Distributors Inc. Then, by

1498-568: A dedicated fanbase but did not become a commercial success. The series ended in 1999 after 27 issues, with one issue being numbered Resurrection Man #1 Million (taking place in the 853rd century and tying into the DC One Million crossover). While the series answered many questions about Shelley's life and powers, some mysteries were left unresolved regarding the revelation that he had fought evil and villains such as Vandal Savage across history by reincarnating many times and somehow recalling

1605-547: A desperate Director Hooker takes a sample of Mitch's blood and injects it into himself. Rather than duplicating Shelley's full resurrection, Hooker becomes invincible to death but is unable to heal from wounds, losing his sanity in the process. In a rage, he attacks the Lab personnel, causing enough chaos that Shelley escapes. Once again living on the streets, a confused and still amnesiac Shelley discovers he can fly. Meanwhile, Hooker escapes, in pursuit of Shelley, able to sense him due to

1712-442: A line of digital comics , Marvel AR, a software application that provides an augmented reality experience to readers and Marvel NOW! , a relaunch of most of the company's major titles with different creative teams. Marvel NOW! also saw the debut of new flagship titles including Uncanny Avengers and All-New X-Men . In April 2013, Marvel and other Disney conglomerate components began announcing joint projects. With ABC ,

1819-591: A month, maybe more, and ... suddenly we went ... to either eight or 12 books a month, which was all Independent News Distributors would accept from us." The company was briefly renamed to Goodman Comics in 1957 under the distribution deal with Independent News . The first modern comic books under the Marvel Comics brand were the science-fiction anthology Journey into Mystery #69 and the teen-humor title Patsy Walker #95 (both cover dated June 1961), which each displayed an "MC" box on its cover. Then, in

1926-598: A monthly or annual subscription fee. At the December 2007 the New York Anime Fest, the company announcement that Del Rey Manga would published two original English language Marvel manga books featuring the X-Men and Wolverine to hit the stands in spring 2009. In 2009 Marvel Comics closed its Open Submissions Policy, in which the company had accepted unsolicited samples from aspiring comic book artists, saying

2033-469: A new Atlas Comics line, but this lasted only a year and a half. In the mid-1970s a decline of the newsstand distribution network affected Marvel. Cult hits such as Howard the Duck fell victim to the distribution problems, with some titles reporting low sales when in fact the first specialty comic book stores resold them at a later date. But by the end of the decade, Marvel's fortunes were reviving, thanks to

2140-526: A new body and with his full memories intact. Cave Carson of the Forgotten Heroes explains to Shelley that the meteorite exposed the two men to tektites of unknown (possibly alien) origin, causing their immortal abilities. Savage then funded the Lab, hoping DeWitt (his son) and the other scientists could replicate the tektites in his own body. These replicated tektites were then injected into Shelley, giving him his resurrection power and slowly undoing

2247-525: A number of different titles. 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. One of these shell companies through which Timely Comics was published was named Marvel Comics by at least Marvel Mystery Comics #55 (May 1944). As well, some comics' covers, such as All Surprise Comics #12 (Winter 1946–47), were labeled "A Marvel Magazine" many years before Goodman would formally adopt

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2354-600: A parasitic creature called the Rider, Mitch once again has visions of past lives, recalling being a boy in Ancient Egypt, a knight in medieval times who encountered the demon Etrigan , and a soldier during World War I . With each of these memories, Shelley also recalls the experience of dying. Soon afterward, he is confronted by Lament, who claims to be an angel who has seen Mitch die many times but has never been able to collect his soul. Following this, Shelley teams up with

2461-466: A permanent prison for metahuman and costumed villains, forcing them to behave or die. The Body Doubles use the wounded Hellhound , on the pretense of helping him, as a bait to let their group escape from alien beasts. They end up in the main group saved by Lex Luthor , with which they are returned to Earth. The Body Doubles were seen among the villains sent to retrieve the Get Out of Hell free card from

2568-587: A property of The Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin Goodman as Timely Comics , and by 1951 had generally become known as Atlas Comics . The Marvel era began in August 1961 with the launch of The Fantastic Four and other superhero titles created by Stan Lee , Jack Kirby , Steve Ditko , and numerous others. The Marvel brand, which had been used over

2675-543: A reputation for focusing on characterization and adult issues to a greater extent than most superhero comics before them, a quality which the new generation of older readers appreciated. This applied to The Amazing Spider-Man title in particular, which turned out to be Marvel's most successful book. Its young hero suffered from self-doubt and mundane problems like any other teenager, something with which many readers could identify. Stan Lee and freelance artist and eventual co-plotter Jack Kirby 's Fantastic Four originated in

2782-436: A romantic interest in each other. The two find the Lab and learn about its tektite experiments from Mr. Fancy. Hooker then attacks, causing the Lab's nuclear reactor to become unstable. Rebecki, Fancy, and others escape, but Shelley and Hooker are caught in the nuclear explosion. Shelley survives for weeks as a living shadow before regaining his body, while Hooker is now a sentient skull. Following this incident, and while battling

2889-404: A series of junk bonds that he used to acquire other entertainment companies, secured by MEG stock. Marvel earned a great deal of money with their 1980s children's comics imprint Star Comics and they earned a great deal more money and worldwide success during the comic book boom of the early 1990s, launching the successful 2099 line of comics set in the future ( Spider-Man 2099 , etc.) and

2996-402: A show of good faith, they hire corrupt police detective Keach to kill Mitch Shelley. A gas main explosion destroys Shelley's office while he is inside. Miraculously, Mitch survives, brain-damaged and amnesiac, wandering the streets as a homeless man. Months later, he is kidnapped by a clandestine organization simply called "the Lab". Along with many other homeless people, Shelley is forced to be

3103-593: A single super-power in his different lives, indicating this is the reason he exhibits superhuman abilities while no other tektite test subject does. Before they part ways, the Phantom Stranger warns Mitch that his life has a great purpose and reminds him that in many lives he has been an enemy to the immortal villain Vandal Savage . The villain Skism causes reality to warp around Mitch, outfitting him in

3210-533: A solid success amidst a generally struggling industry. In 1997, Toy Biz bought Marvel Entertainment Group to end the bankruptcy, forming a new corporation, Marvel Enterprises . With his business partner Avi Arad , publisher Bill Jemas , and editor-in-chief Bob Harras , Toy Biz co-owner Isaac Perlmutter helped stabilize the comics line. In 1998, the company launched the imprint Marvel Knights , taking place “with reduced [Marvel] continuity,” according to one history, with better production quality. The imprint

3317-506: A superhero costume and temporarily convincing him he is a masked hero. Mitch then formally meets Superman, who has met a future version of the Resurrection Man in the 853rd century (during the crossover DC One Million ) and invites him to join the Justice League. Working with the team for a short time, Shelley decides a superhero life is overwhelming and not right for him, then leaves with Batman's blessing. Mitch later teams up with

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3424-428: A test subject of Hooker, director of the Lab. Suffering from an inoperable brain tumor, Hooker is determined to achieve immortality through a form of nano-technology called " tektites ", sub-atomic robots that can heal and rebuild the body, defeating death. All of the test subjects are injected with tektites and then killed, but only Shelley ("sample 268") actually resurrects. Unable to determine what makes Shelley special,

3531-576: A time, drive-in film monsters another time—and even other comic books, particularly the EC horror line. Atlas also published a plethora of children's and teen humor titles, including Dan DeCarlo 's Homer the Happy Ghost (similar to Casper the Friendly Ghost ) and Homer Hooper (à la Archie Andrews ). Atlas unsuccessfully attempted to revive superheroes from late 1953 to mid-1954, with

3638-412: A time, though sometimes the singular power can be used in a variety of ways. There seems to be no limit to the nature of the power Shelley might possess. His temporary abilities have ranged from minor shape-shifting (the ability to alter his skin color) or heightened perception (X-ray vision) to energy/matter manipulation. It was hypothesized by some characters that the power Mitch gets with his resurrection

3745-512: A woman incarnation with higher pain tolerance, then reverted to his former physical form during his next resurrection. Shelley himself has no control over what new power or trait his resurrection decides to give him. Due to the tektites in his bloodstream, Shelley can detect and be detected by others who have tektites, with their technology noticeably reacting to each other the closer they get. His "tektite field" can also interact with another's, increasing their power or causing interference. During

3852-467: Is captured by Hooker, who explains that the two of them, as well as the Body Doubles, are all empowered by tektites that have reacted to them in different ways (Hooker became immortal but with no healing ability, while the Body Doubles became superhumanly strong). The director of the Lab then reveals himself to be the real, original Mitch Shelley, a cold-hearted and amoral scientist. Five years before,

3959-445: Is done, he always resurrects fully healed. With each resurrection, he also has a different additional new super-power (while whatever super-power he had previously disappears). In some cases, there is a physical transformation element to his resurrection (in one case, he resurrected as a living shadow, while another time his body altered into a woman's form). The character has been connected to DC's immortal characters Vandal Savage and

4066-417: Is implied that they worked with Mitch personally at some point, as they make comments suggesting they knew him fairly well when he worked for the company that employs them though they appear to have disliked him a great deal when working with him. Resurrection Man (DC Comics) Mitch Shelley , also known as Resurrection Man , is a character appearing in stories published by DC Comics . The character

4173-425: Is often a defensive response influenced by the method of his previous death. After dying in a fire, Mitch resurrected with flame-based abilities and immunity to burns. After being atomized in a nuclear blast, Mitch resurrected as a sentient shadow who was only tangible when he concentrated, meaning he had a body that couldn't be injured (except by bright light). When he died from pain inducement, Shelley resurrected as

4280-454: Is then confronted by Hooker. Their meeting triggers more memories and Shelley recalls his life in Viceroy, while also realizing that Paula and Richard betrayed him. He arranges for his killers to be caught, leading to Keach and Paula's arrest and indirectly causing Richard's death. Following this, crime lord Lucky Falcone targets Shelley. While investigating his past, Shelley and Rebecki form

4387-576: The X-Men: The Animated Series which was aired on Fox Kids , they later released Spider-Man: The Animated Series on the network as well. In 1993, Marvel teamed up with Thomas Nelson to create Christian media genre comics, including a Christian superhero named The Illuminator, they made adaptions of Christian novels too, including In His Steps , The Screwtape Letters , and The Pilgrim's Progress . In 1996, Marvel had some of its titles participate in " Heroes Reborn ",

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4494-507: The American News Company —which shortly afterward lost a Justice Department lawsuit and discontinued its business. Atlas was left without distribution and was forced to turn to Independent News , the distribution arm of its biggest rival, National (DC) Comics , which imposed draconian restrictions on Goodman's company. As then-Atlas editor Stan Lee recalled in a 1988 interview, "[We had been] turning out 40, 50, 60 books

4601-682: The Comics Code Authority (CCA) approval seal, due to the violence depicted in the issue. The CCA, which governed the content of American comic books, rejected the issue, requiring that changes be made. Instead, Marvel simply stopped submitting comics to the CCA. It then established its own Marvel Rating System for comics. Marvel also created new imprints , such as MAX (an explicit-content line) and Marvel Adventures (developed for child audiences). The company also created an alternate universe imprint, Ultimate Marvel , that allowed

4708-515: The Epic Comics imprint for creator-owned material in 1982; introduced company-wide crossover story arcs with Contest of Champions and Secret Wars ; and in 1986 launched the ultimately unsuccessful New Universe line to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Marvel Comics imprint. Star Comics , a children-oriented line differing from the regular Marvel titles, was briefly successful during this period, although hampered by legal action by

4815-556: The Forgotten Heroes , a team originally formed by the heroic Immortal Man to fight his arch-enemy Vandal Savage. Before recorded history, Savage and his longtime enemy the Immortal Man gained their forms of immortality via exposure to a seemingly radioactive meteorite. This made Savage ageless and nearly invincible to injury, while the Immortal Man was able to die but each time would instantly reappear elsewhere on Earth in

4922-560: The Immortal Man . In the crossover DC One Million , a future timeline shows Mitch Shelley still alive in the 853rd century, operating with the superhero team Justice Legion A and now armed with a "Resurrector" device that controls his resurrection ability. Resurrection Man was created by British comic book writers Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (frequently known as DnA in their collaborations) and American artist Butch Guice. The initial idea came to them while working for Marvel Comics in

5029-604: The Secret Six . The Body Doubles appear in the relaunched Resurrection Man series. In the new continuity, the two are a romantic couple and, rather than being supervillains, are mercenaries in the employ of an organization that Mitch Shelley (The Resurrection Man) once worked for and which now wants him back to figure out how he returns from the dead. The two have rapid regeneration , able to heal from any injury almost instantly and are shown recovering from electric shocks, broken bones and various physical injuries rapidly. It

5136-706: The Secret Society of Super Villains , as well as having aided the Riddler , Fisherman and several other villains in Gotham City in Infinite Crisis #1. The group rampages, killing several police officers. The Body Doubles are members of the new Injustice League , and as such are brought to the Planet Salvation , a distant planet filled with deadly technology used by Amanda Waller as

5243-647: The Silver Surfer , and such memorable antagonists as Doctor Doom , Magneto , Galactus , Loki , the Green Goblin , and Doctor Octopus , all existing in a shared reality known as the Marvel Universe , with locations that mirror real-life cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Marvel even lampooned itself and other comics companies in a parody comic, Not Brand Echh (a play on Marvel's dubbing of other companies as "Brand Echh", à la

5350-489: The United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare approached Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Stan Lee to do a comic book story about drug abuse. Lee agreed and wrote a three-part Spider-Man story portraying drug use as dangerous and unglamorous. However, the industry's self-censorship board, the Comics Code Authority , refused to approve the story because of the presence of narcotics, deeming

5457-526: The Atlas years, allowing him now to release as many titles as demand warranted. Late that year, he sold Marvel Comics and its parent company, Magazine Management , to the Perfect Film & Chemical Corporation (later known as Cadence Industries) , though he remained as publisher. In 1969, Goodman finally ended his distribution deal with Independent by signing with Curtis Circulation Company . In 1971,

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5564-570: The Barbarian in 1970, Red Sonja ), satire ( Howard the Duck ) and science fiction ( 2001: A Space Odyssey , " Killraven " in Amazing Adventures , Battlestar Galactica , Star Trek , and, late in the decade, the long-running Star Wars series). Some of these were published in larger-format black and white magazines, under its Curtis Magazines imprint. Marvel was able to capitalize on its successful superhero comics of

5671-577: The Barbarian title was canceled in 1993 after 275 issues, while the Savage Sword of Conan magazine had lasted 235 issues. Marvel published additional titles including miniseries until 2000 for a total of 650 issues. Conan was picked up by Dark Horse Comics three years later. In a cross-promotion, the November 1, 2006, episode of the CBS soap opera Guiding Light , titled "She's a Marvel", featured

5778-590: The Body Doubles for their first job, which brings them into conflict with Resurrection Man . The two later work for a beauty-obsessed alien warrior named Mystress, who wants to use the energies of female superheroes to rejuvenate her appearance, and for whom the Body Doubles kidnap Argent , Power Girl and Deep Blue . The two also try to kill Catwoman during her campaign for mayor of New York City , but they were defeated. They continue to work for Uncle Nick, murdering assigned victims while pursuing their dreams. The Body Doubles, as of Villains United #1, have joined

5885-799: The Galaxy . Its stable of well-known supervillains includes Doctor Doom , Magneto , Green Goblin , Kingpin , Red Skull , Loki , Ultron , Thanos , Kang the Conqueror , Venom , and Galactus . Most of Marvel's fictional characters operate in a single reality known as the Marvel Universe , with most locations mirroring real-life places; many major characters are based in New York City. Additionally, Marvel has published several licensed properties from other companies. This includes Star Wars comics , twice from 1977 to 1987 , and again since 2015 . Pulp-magazine publisher Martin Goodman created

5992-579: The Human Torch (art by Syd Shores and Dick Ayers , variously), the Sub-Mariner (drawn and most stories written by Bill Everett ), and Captain America (writer Stan Lee , artist John Romita Sr. ). Atlas did not achieve any breakout hits and, according to Stan Lee, survived chiefly because it produced work quickly, cheaply, and at a passable quality. In 1957, Goodman switched distributors to

6099-483: The Resurrection Man and the Immortal Man are separate people, and reveals that the Immortal Man has been his prisoner for years. Shelley, Savage, the Immortal Man, and the Forgotten Heroes then join forces against a creature that emerges along with a second tektite meteorite. This creature, a "Warp Child", alters time and reality. To save the day, the Immortal Man melds his tektite field with the creature's own, overloading it. This destroys them both while restoring reality in

6206-760: The Sports Illustrated Building in October 2010. Marvel relaunched the CrossGen imprint, owned by Disney Publishing Worldwide , in March 2011. Marvel and Disney Publishing began jointly publishing Disney/Pixar Presents magazine that May. Marvel discontinued its Marvel Adventures imprint in March 2012, and replaced them with a line of two titles connected to the Marvel Universe TV block . Also in March, Marvel announced its Marvel ReEvolution initiative that included Infinite Comics,

6313-520: The UK, and later appeared in American comics. During this time, Marvel and the Iowa-based Register and Tribune Syndicate launched a number of syndicated comic strips — The Amazing Spider-Man , Howard the Duck , Conan the Barbarian , and The Incredible Hulk . None of the strips lasted past 1982, except for The Amazing Spider-Man , which is still being published. In 1978, Jim Shooter became Marvel's editor-in-chief. Although

6420-465: The ability to resurrect fully healed from all forms of death (including cremation and seeming disintegration), but to have a different additional super-power each time he does so. When he next dies and resurrects, this power will be exchanged for another. The time it takes Mitch Shelley to resurrect varies with each occurrence. The process may take moments, minutes, or hours. Beyond this unique immortality, Mitch seems to usually have only one super-power at

6527-488: The angel Suriel, who targets Mitchell because she insists that his soul is overdue to enter the afterlife. Shelley is also pursued by the Body Doubles, hired by Hooker, and private investigator Kim Rebecki, who has been hired by Amanda Waller , director of Task Force X (also known as the Suicide Squad ). Initially believing Mitchell to be a villain, Rebecki's view changes after meeting him. Eventually, Mitch Shelley

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6634-573: The artist. Rather than act as a sequel to the original stories, this series rebooted the character as an amnesiac searching for his origins, pursued by the Lab, the US government, and an angel who took issue with his constant resurrections. With 52 new superhero titles being published simultaneously, DC Comics acted quickly to cancel books that did not sell well enough to warrant their continuation. Due to mediocre sales, Resurrection Man volume 2 ended after 13 issues (the final issue being numbered #0, wrapping up

6741-510: The brain-damage he suffered from the gas main explosion, restoring his memories. Cave Carson initially believes that Shelley is actually Immortal Man, who was believed to have finally died during the Crisis on Infinite Earths (an event in 1985-86 where DC comics decided to both celebrate its 50th anniversary and reboot its fictional continuity where all DC stories would take place henceforth) and hasn't been seen since. Later, Savage confirms that

6848-451: The businesses of crime lords, partially as an act of defiance to his father. Later deciding he no longer wishes to be involved with criminals, Shelley gathers evidence to give to the FBI in exchange for entering the witness protection program. His wife Paula and his business partner Richard Bessly, secretly lovers, decide to take over Shelley's business and continue working for organized crime. As

6955-495: The centuries-old mystic known as the Phantom Stranger . The Phantom Stranger calls Mitch one of his oldest friends and says they have fought together during many lifetimes because each time Shelley has died he has later reincarnated, the same soul and mind reborn. The Phantom Stranger is surprised to learn that Mitch now has the power to literally resurrect rather than reincarnate. He also mentions that Shelley used to have

7062-519: The character Harley Davidson Cooper (played by Beth Ehlers ) as a superheroine named the Guiding Light. The character's story continued in an eight-page backup feature, "A New Light", that appeared in several Marvel titles published November 1 and 8. Also that year, Marvel created a wiki on its Web site. In late 2007 the company launched Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited , a digital archive of over 2,500 back issues available for viewing, for

7169-584: The company later known as Marvel Comics under the name Timely Publications in 1939. Goodman, who had started with a Western pulp in 1933, was expanding into the emerging—and by then already highly popular—new medium of comic books. Launching his new line from his existing company's offices at 330 West 42nd Street, New York City, he officially held the titles of editor , managing editor , and business manager , with Abraham Goodman (Martin's brother) officially listed as publisher. Timely's first publication, Marvel Comics #1 ( cover dated Oct. 1939), included

7276-668: The company to reboot its major titles by revising and updating its characters to introduce to a new generation. Some of the company's properties were adapted into successful film franchises, such as the Men in Black film series (which was based on a Malibu book), starting in 1997, the Blade film series, starting in 1998, the X-Men film series, starting in 2000, and the highest grossing series, Spider-Man , beginning in 2002. Marvel's Conan

7383-442: The company's entire publishing line. This branding pattern, being typically either a full-body picture of the characters' solo titles or a collection of the main characters' faces in ensemble titles, would become standard for Marvel for decades. In 1968, while selling 50 million comic books a year, company founder Goodman revised the constraining distribution arrangement with Independent News he had reached under duress during

7490-582: The concept to the editors and it was accepted. It was decided that the character Mitch Shelley would be a reluctant hero who did not emulate traditional superheroes, deciding not to wear a costume and often avoiding team-ups with DC's more famous characters such as Superman or the Justice League. To add mystery, the character was introduced as an amnesiac who was uncertain about the nature or origins of his resurrection ability. Mitch Shelley made his debut in Resurrection Man #1 (1997). The monthly series

7597-579: The context of the story irrelevant. Lee, with Goodman's approval, published the story regardless in The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 (May–July 1971), without the Comics Code seal. The market reacted well to the storyline, and the CCA subsequently revised the Code the same year. Goodman retired as publisher in 1972 and installed his son, Chip, as publisher. Shortly thereafter, Lee succeeded him as publisher and also became Marvel's president for

7704-541: The creatively daring though commercially unsuccessful Razorline imprint of superhero comics created by novelist and filmmaker Clive Barker . In 1990, Marvel began selling Marvel Universe Cards with trading card maker SkyBox International . These were collectible trading cards that featured the characters and events of the Marvel Universe. The 1990s saw the rise of variant covers , cover enhancements, swimsuit issues , and company-wide crossovers that affected

7811-504: The crossover DC One Million , Mitch Shelley was seen alive in the 853rd century without having aged. In this future timeline, Shelley wielded a device called a Resurrector that could instantly kill him while allowing him to choose what new power he would have after his next resurrection. The Resurrector also allowed him to keep the "default" powers of superhuman strength and flight. The New 52 version of Resurrection Man owes his powers entirely to tektites and never lived past lives. During

7918-503: The duo Ziggy Pig and Silly Seal . Goodman hired his wife's 16-year-old cousin, Stanley Lieber, as a general office assistant in 1939. When editor Simon left the company in late 1941, Goodman made Lieber—by then writing pseudonymously as " Stan Lee "—interim editor of the comics line, a position Lee kept for decades except for three years during his military service in World War II . Lee wrote extensively for Timely, contributing to

8025-471: The early 90s. Abnett and Lanning had considered reviving the Great Lakes Avengers , a superhero team led by a character called Mr. I or Mr. Immortal . Both felt it was boring that immortality was Mr. Immortal's sole power, and Lanning suggested it would be more interesting if the hero gained a different superpower with every resurrection. When the writing team moved to DC Comics, they proposed

8132-526: The first appearance of Carl Burgos ' android superhero the Human Torch , and the first appearances of Bill Everett 's anti-hero Namor the Sub-Mariner , among other features. The issue was a great success; it and a second printing the following month sold a combined nearly 900,000 copies. While its contents came from an outside packager, Funnies, Inc. , Timely had its own staff in place by

8239-402: The following month dropped its comics to 20 cents for 36 pages, offering a lower-priced product with a higher distributor discount. In 1973, Perfect Film & Chemical renamed itself as Cadence Industries and renamed Magazine Management as Marvel Comics Group. Goodman, now disconnected from Marvel, set up a new company called Seaboard Periodicals in 1974, reviving Marvel's old Atlas name for

8346-516: The following year. The company's first true editor, writer-artist Joe Simon , teamed with artist Jack Kirby to create one of the first patriotically themed superheroes, Captain America , in Captain America Comics #1 (March 1941). It, too, proved a hit, with sales of nearly one million. Goodman formed Timely Comics, Inc., beginning with comics cover-dated April 1941 or Spring 1941. While no other Timely character would achieve

8453-860: The gas main explosion, Shelley is killed while trying to protect people from criminals. He resurrects and discovers his flight has been replaced with a new power. The shock of his resurrection brings back concrete memories, leading him to learn from a newspaper article that he is Mitchell "Mitch" Shelley, a lawyer believed to have died. Pursued by the bounty hunters known as the Body Doubles, Mitch begins investigating what happened to him two years ago that left him amnesiac and unable to die. As he travels, he involves himself in new adventures, helping those he can. During some of his subsequent deaths and resurrections, more memories return. Returning home to Viceroy, he reveals himself to his wife Paula and his business partner Richard Bessly, only to be shocked when they try to kill him. Shelley joins forces with investigator Kim Rebecki and

8560-542: The memories of his past lives, making him essentially the same person living throughout history. What gave him this unique ability is unknown. The Phantom Stranger implied that in each life, Mitch had a single super-power, which might also be connected to why he gains a different power each time he resurrects. In his current life, Mitch Shelley was injected by sub-atomic "tektites" based on the same microscopic technology that grants Vandal Savage his own immortality. The tektites reacted to Mitch's unique nature, giving him not only

8667-539: The memories of his past lives. Following the series cancellation, Mitch Shelley made only occasional guest appearances and cameos in other DC Comics stories. In 2011, DC ended its mainstream superhero titles and relaunched its superhero universe across 52 new series, leading to the New 52 rebooted timeline. Editor Eddie Berganza asked Abnett and Lanning to revive Resurrection Man as an ongoing title. The new monthly series debuted in September, with Fernando Dagnino Guerra as

8774-438: The memories of other people". Conchita believes this means Mitch is remembering past lives he's lived. Believing his child needs stricter discipline and should not have his dreams and "flights of fancy" encouraged, Preston sends Mitch to a boarding school at age eight. This begins a rift between the two that extends into Mitch's adulthood. Later becoming a lawyer himself, Mitch works with organized crime and helps bring legitimacy to

8881-495: The middle of the decade, the industry had slumped, and in December 1996 MEG filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In early 1997, when Marvel's Heroes World endeavor failed, Diamond also forged an exclusive deal with Marvel —giving the company its own section of its comics catalog Previews . Marvel in the early to mid-1990s expanded their entries in other media, including Saturday-morning cartoons and various comics collaborations to explore new genres. In 1992, they released

8988-469: The most part and expanded into a wider variety of genres than even Timely had published, featuring horror , Westerns , humor, talking animal , men's adventure -drama, giant monster, crime , and war comics , and later adding jungle books, romance titles, espionage , and even medieval adventure, Bible stories and sports. Goodman began using the globe logo of the Atlas News Company,

9095-416: The name in 1961. The company begin identifying the group of its comic division as Marvel Comic Group , on some comics cover-dated November 1948, when the company set up an in-house editorial board to compete with the likes of DC and Fawcett , even though the legal name is still Timely. The post-war American comic market saw superheroes falling out of fashion. Goodman's comic book line dropped them for

9202-501: The newsstand-distribution company he owned, on comics cover-dated November 1951 even though another company, Kable News , continued to distribute his comics through the August 1952 issues. This globe branding united a line put out by the same publisher, staff and freelancers through 59 shell companies, from Animirth Comics to Zenith Publications. Atlas, rather than innovate, took a proven route of following popular trends in television and films— Westerns and war dramas prevailing for

9309-453: The original Shelley experimented on fallen and fatally injured soldiers in Iraq, attempting to perfect his "tektite solution". Shelley then lost his arm during an attack on their base and received a tektite injection. Rather than allow him to re-attach his arm, the tektites grew a new arm. The lost arm was burned but later grew into a copy of Mitch Shelley with no memories and a different morality,

9416-410: The overall continuity of the Marvel Universe . In early 1992, seven of Marvel’s prized artists — Todd McFarlane (known for his work on Spider-Man ), Jim Lee ( X-Men ), Rob Liefeld ( X-Force ), Marc Silvestri ( Wolverine ), Erik Larsen ( The Amazing Spider-Man ), Jim Valentino ( Guardians of the Galaxy ), and Whilce Portacio ( Uncanny X-Men ) — left to form Image Comics in

9523-403: The owners of the recently defunct Harvey Comics for purposefully plagiarizing their house style. In 1986, Marvel's parent, Marvel Entertainment Group , was sold to New World Entertainment , which within three years sold it to MacAndrews and Forbes , owned by Revlon executive Ronald Perelman in 1989. In 1991 Perelman took MEG public. Following the rapid rise of this stock, Perelman issued

9630-500: The predominantly child audiences of the medium, thus ushering what Marvel later called the Marvel Age of Comics . Modern Marvel's first superhero team, the titular stars of The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961), broke convention with other comic book archetypes of the time by squabbling, holding grudges both deep and petty, and eschewing anonymity or secret identities in favor of celebrity status. Subsequently, Marvel comics developed

9737-406: The previous decade by acquiring a new newsstand distributor and greatly expanding its comics line. Marvel pulled ahead of rival DC Comics in 1972, during a time when the price and format of the standard newsstand comic were in flux. Goodman increased the price and size of Marvel's November 1971 cover-dated comics from 15 cents for 36 pages total to 25 cents for 52 pages. DC followed suit, but Marvel

9844-600: The process. Following the battle, Mitch decides to leave adventures behind for a while so he can pursue a relationship with Kim Rebecki. Much of the DC Universe has its history changed as a result of the New 52 timeline. In this version of events, Mitch Shelley is born in the late 20th century but has no memories of any past lives and there is no indication he has ever lived past lives. An amnesiac Mitch Shelley wanders America, gaining different powers with each death, encountering

9951-438: The rise of direct market distribution—selling through those same comics-specialty stores instead of newsstands. Marvel ventured into audio in 1975 with a radio series and a record, both had Stan Lee as narrator. The radio series was Fantastic Four . The record was Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero concept album for music fans. Marvel held its own comic book convention , Marvelcon '75, in spring 1975, and promised

10058-400: The run of Resurrection Man , Abnett and Lanning also wrote an Elseworlds graphic novel called The Superman Monster which retold the story of Frankenstein as a Superman story. This featured an actual "resurrection man" (i.e. a body-snatcher ) who was drawn to closely resemble Mitch Shelley. Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City -based comic book publisher ,

10165-399: The series while revealing the new origin story). Mitch Shelley grows up in (the fictional) Viceroy, South Carolina , raised by lawyer Preston Shelley. While Mitch finds his father to be harsh and judgmental, he is comforted with love and empathy from the housekeeper Conchita. As a child, Mitch seems to have dreams and visions of information and events he shouldn't know "as if he could access

10272-583: The soul of the original Mitch Shelley, while a demon takes Resurrection Man and Kim Rebecki to safety back in Metropolis. The demon remarks that Resurrection Man's soul grows more powerful with each resurrection, and is curious to see what the result of this will be. After he leaves, Resurrection Man and Kim ponder their future. It was confirmed by Vandal Savage and the Phantom Stranger that Mitch Shelley has lived many lives across history, dying only to be reincarnated later. In each new life, he gained access to

10379-611: The success of these three characters, some notable heroes—many of which continue to appear in modern-day retcon appearances and flashbacks—include the Whizzer , Miss America , the Destroyer , the original Vision , and the Angel . Timely also published one of humor cartoonist Basil Wolverton 's best-known features, " Powerhouse Pepper ", as well as a line of children's talking animal comics featuring characters like Super Rabbit and

10486-446: The tektites in their respective bloodstreams. His subordinates "Mr. Fancy" and Cliff DeWitt take over the tektite experiments. They send the Body Doubles to retrieve Shelley, wishing to know why he gained a resurrection ability not seen in any other test subject, and also hoping to understand why he gained super-powers, as the Lab's tektite technology should not have been able to grant superhuman abilities. Two years later after surviving

10593-433: The then-common phrase "Brand X"). Originally, the company's publications were branded by a minuscule "Mc" on the upper right-hand corner of the covers. However, artist/writer Steve Ditko put a larger masthead picture of the title character of The Amazing Spider-Man on the upper left-hand corner on issue #2 that included the series' issue number and price. Lee appreciated the value of this visual motif and adapted it for

10700-439: The time-consuming review process had produced no suitably professional work. The same year, the company commemorated its 70th anniversary, dating to its inception as Timely Comics , by issuing the one-shot Marvel Mystery Comics 70th Anniversary Special #1 and a variety of other special issues. On August 31, 2009, The Walt Disney Company announced it would acquire Marvel Comics' parent corporation, Marvel Entertainment, for

10807-530: The wake of DC Comics ' success in reviving superheroes in the late 1950s and early 1960s, particularly with the Flash , Green Lantern , Batman , Superman , Wonder Woman , Green Arrow , and other members of the team the Justice League of America , Marvel followed suit. In 1961, writer-editor Stan Lee revolutionized superhero comics by introducing superheroes designed to appeal to older readers than

10914-587: The world of [rival DC Comics '] 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 [in Marvel Comics] than on the subscription list of Pravda . Communist agents attack Ant-Man in his laboratory, red henchmen jump the Fantastic Four on the moon, and Viet Cong guerrillas take potshots at Iron Man. All these elements struck

11021-472: The years and decades, was solidified as the company's primary brand. Marvel counts among its characters such well-known superheroes as Spider-Man , Iron Man , Wolverine , Captain America , Black Widow , Thor , Hulk , Daredevil , Doctor Strange , Black Panther , Captain Marvel , and Deadpool , as well as popular superhero teams such as the Avengers , X-Men , Fantastic Four , and Guardians of

11128-623: Was Kirby's artwork with its tension and psychedelia that made it perfect for the times—or was it Lee's bravado and melodrama, which was somehow insecure and brash at the same time? In addition to Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four, Marvel began publishing further superhero titles featuring such heroes and antiheroes as the Hulk , Thor , Ant-Man , Iron Man , the X-Men , Daredevil , the Inhumans , Black Panther , Doctor Strange , Captain Marvel and

11235-403: Was created by Andy Lanning , Dan Abnett , and Jackson Guice , and first appeared in Resurrection Man #1 in 1997. The character does not identify himself as a superhero but often involves himself in cases where he protects people from criminals and super-villains. Due to sub-atomic technology in his bloodstream, Shelley cannot be permanently killed. No matter how he is killed or how much damage

11342-487: Was helmed by soon-to-become editor-in-chief Joe Quesada ; it featured tough, gritty stories showcasing such characters as the Daredevil , the Inhumans , and Black Panther . With the new millennium, Marvel Comics emerged from bankruptcy and again began diversifying its offerings. X-Force #116 X-Force #119 (October 2001) was the first Marvel Comics title since The Amazing Spider-Man #96–98 in 1971 to not have

11449-410: Was structured to follow a grand story arc planned by Abnett and Lanning, with stories following Shelley as he wandered America, having adventures while searching for the truth behind his past and his transformation. During this, he is pursued by "the Lab", its former director Hooker, and the bounty hunters known as the Body Doubles. The first volume of Resurrection Man was critically acclaimed and earned

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