The Nintendo Comics System was a series of comic books published by Valiant Comics in 1990 and 1991. It was part of a licensing deal with Nintendo , featuring characters from their video games and the cartoons based on them.
115-523: Valiant Comics 's Nintendo Comics System series of comic books was published between 1990 and 1991. The comics are based upon Nintendo video game and television intellectual property from Super Mario Bros. , Game Boy , The Legend of Zelda , Captain N: The Game Master , Metroid , and Punch-Out!! . Valiant's Super Mario Bros. comic books are based on the three main Mario games on
230-653: 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
345-414: 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
460-617: 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
575-586: 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
690-541: 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
805-502: 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
920-518: 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
1035-505: 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
1150-518: 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
1265-524: 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
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#17327981807541380-535: 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
1495-420: A fifth printing. In July 2016, Valiant was nominated for 50 Harvey Awards, the most nominations for any publisher that year, including eight for Bloodshot Reborn . In 2017, Valiant added ten new international publishing partnerships for China, India, South Korea, Pakistan and other international markets. In January 2018, it was announced that DMG Entertainment had acquired Valiant Entertainment. As part of
1610-1127: A five-issue limited series written by Cullen Bunn and drawn by Adam Gorham launching in April; Fallen World , a five-issue event series written by Dan Abnett and drawn by Adam Pollina featuring the character Rai launching in May; and Killers , written by B. Clay Moore and drawn by Fernando Dagnino launching in July. Two days later, the company announced it had hired Editorial intern Drew Baumgartner as Assistant Editor and Zane Warman as Domestic Licensing Coordinator. On January 7, 2019, Valiant announced it had hired former JHU Comic Books manager Dani Ward as its Sales Manager. On January 9, 2019, Valiant announced it had hired former Marvel assistant editor Heather Antos as an editor. The following month Valiant announced an ongoing Psi Lords series written by Fred Van Lente and drawn by Renato Guedes that will launch in July 2019. This would be followed in subsequent months by announcements of new series. On March 14 Valiant announced
1725-512: A form of animated Valiant comic books for digital devices. That August, Valiant joined Madefire digital comics on iOS and Android for day-and-date digital releases and digital collections, and also joined iVerse’s ComicsPlus with a complete digital comics library. Following the conclusion of Armor Hunters , Valiant announced its Valiant Next initiative. Launching in December 2014 with the miniseries The Valiant , it continued through 2015 with
1840-540: A group of investors attempted to purchase Marvel Entertainment . They submitted the second-highest bid, with financier Ronald Perelman submitting the highest bid and acquiring Marvel. Shooter and Massarsky instead formed Voyager Communications in 1989 with significant venture capital financing from Triumph Capital. Valiant (an imprint of Voyager Communications) recruited numerous writers and artists from Marvel, including Barry Windsor-Smith and Bob Layton , and launched an interconnected line of superhero comics featuring
1955-472: A licensing partnership with Alien Books, which would take over publishing Valiant's characters. The company's properties have been adapted to other media, including video games , digital series, and collectible figures. The character Bloodshot was adapted into an eponymous 2020 feature film starring Vin Diesel . In 1988, former editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics Jim Shooter , Steven J. Massarsky and
2070-1002: A limited series written by Andy Diggle and drawn by Doug Braithwaite, launching in February 2019. On July 5, 2018, Valiant announced that comics retailer Matthew Klein had joined the company as its Sales Director after previously working at the company as a Sales Manager. On July 26, 2018, Valiant announced that comic industry veteran Lysa Hawkins had joined the company as an editor. On September 13, 2018, Valiant announced it had hired Emily Hecht as Sales & Social Media Manager. On October 3, 2018, Valiant announced it had promoted Karl Bollers to Senior Editor. On October 24, 2018, Valiant announced it had hired former intern Oliver Taylor as International Licensing Coordinator. On October 31, 2018, Valiant announced it had promoted Julia Walchuk to Sales and Live Events Manager. On December 9, 2018, Valiant announced it had promoted Matthew Klein to Vice President of Sales and Marketing. On December 11, 2018, it
2185-442: 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 ,
2300-416: A major sports video game license, Acclaim became financially insolvent and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. In 2005, the rights to Valiant/Acclaim's original characters such as Archer and Armstrong , Rai , and Quantum and Woody were auctioned off and bought by Valiant Entertainment, while the rights to the three licensed characters ( Solar , Magnus and Turok ) reverted to Classic Media (then-owner of
2415-581: A mixture of characters licensed from Western Publishing and original creations. In 1991, Valiant released its first title, Magnus, Robot Fighter , cover-dated May 1991. Solar, Man of the Atom , cover-dated September 1991 followed as the next release. Both titles were licenses from Gold Key Comics . Rai became the third title published by Valiant and was distributed as a special insert in Magnus, Robot Fighter beginning with issue 5. Harbinger No. 1
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#17327981807542530-591: 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
2645-542: 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
2760-469: 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
2875-524: A new Bloodshot ongoing series would launch in September 2019, written by Tim Seely and drawn by Brett Booth . The series would launch with a one-shot written by Seely which will be released on May 4, 2019 as part of Free Comic Book Day . The first three issues will be collected and released as a trade paperback in December to coincide with the release of the Bloodshot movie on February 21, 2020. On April 17 editor Heather Antos announced on Twitter that
2990-444: A new Quantum & Woody series would launch in January 2020, written by Chris Hastings and drawn by Ryan Browne. Two days later, the company revealed that the character Faith Herbert would be featured in a series of Young adult prose novels co-published with HarperCollins imprint Balzer + Bray. The first novel, FAITH: Taking Flight , written by author Julie Murphy , would be released in early 2020. On October 30 Valiant released
3105-507: A new Rai ongoing series would launch in November, written by Dan Abnett and drawn by Juan José Ryp. On September 17 Valiant announced a five-issue The Visitor mini-series would launch in December, written by Paul Levitz and drawn by M.J. Kim. Three days later, the company hired Legendary Comics Co-Founder/Senior Editor Greg Tumbarello as Editor to develop new properties and advance existing IP. On October 1, 2019, Valiant announced
3220-399: A new X-O Manowar ongoing series would launch in November 2019, written by Dennis Hopeless and drawn by Emilio Laiso. On July 11 it was announced that a four-issue Ninjak miniseries written by Cullen Bunn and drawn by Ramon F. Bachs would debut that October. On July 30, 2019, Valiant announced it had hired Kat O'Neill as Live Events & Sales Manager. On August 13 Valiant announced
3335-525: 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
3450-589: A partnership for foreign language print and digital publishing in France, Italy, and other territories, and Valiant announced ComicCube Publishing as its launch partner in China. Several of Valiant's launch titles reached their planned conclusions in 2014, with Harbinger , Bloodshot , and Archer & Armstrong all concluding. Valiant celebrated the milestones by publishing a 48-page anniversary issue for each series' twenty-fifth issue, and hinting at new directions for
3565-543: 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
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3680-404: 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
3795-533: 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
3910-443: A teaser image featuring the bird logo of Harbinger on a blue background, with the hashtag #Valiant2020 on the bottom. On November 12, 2019, Valiant announced that a new version of Doctor Tomorrow would be debuting in a self-titled ongoing series that will launch in February 2020, written by Alejandro Arbona and drawn by Jim Towe. On November 18 Valiant announced that President of Consumer Products Russell Brown, who had been with
4025-576: 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
4140-640: Is a New York City -based comic book publisher , 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
4255-474: The Bloodshot and Harbinger comic books. The films would be set in a shared universe, which would be launched with Bloodshot , to be co-produced by Original Film, and culminate in a crossover film, Harbinger Wars . The rights for Harbinger would later be acquired from Sony by Paramount Pictures in 2019. In March 2017, it was announced that Valiant was developing a Quantum and Woody TV show with
4370-490: The Metroid heroine who does not appear in the cartoon, and Mother Brain's second-in-command is Uranos, the demigod from Kid Icarus . For unexplained reasons, Pit's toga is bleached yellow, and in most of the stories, Lana's dress is purple. However, she has a weapon: the scepter she had in concept art but never featured on the show. The comics retain some of the creative license taken by the cartoon's creators for elements of
4485-576: 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 ",
4600-507: 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
4715-522: The Britannia and Savage miniseries; expanding Divinity in two sequels — Divinity II and Divinity III: Stalinverse ; and elevating supporting characters from the Harbinger title in two new miniseries — Generation Zero and Faith . That same month, a four-issue Faith miniseries launched, garnering significant media interest, and was one of only a handful of series in the past decade to reach
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4830-682: 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
4945-515: 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
5060-697: The Gold Key Comics properties), which was acquired by DreamWorks Animation SKG in July 2012. DreamWorks itself was bought by Universal Studios on August 22, 2016. In 2005, a group of entrepreneurs led by Dinesh Shamdasani and Jason Kothari raised financing and acquired the rights to the Valiant Comics library from Acclaim Entertainment's estate, forming Valiant Entertainment. In 2007, Valiant hired former Valiant Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter to write new short stories that would accompany hardcover reprints of classic Valiant Universe stories. Two of
5175-722: The Nintendo Entertainment System , as well as The Super Mario Bros. Super Show . It features the five main characters from the games and cartoon: Mario , Luigi , Princess Toadstool (as the name Peach was not known in America at the time until Yoshi's Safari in 1993), Toad , and Bowser as "King Koopa". Wart (the main villain from Super Mario Bros. 2 ), the Koopalings , and the viruses from Dr. Mario also make minor appearances. New characters are also featured for these comics, including: Stanley
5290-647: 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
5405-489: 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
5520-566: The "Summer of Valiant", winning Publisher of the Year and being nominated for Book of the Year at the Diamond Gem Awards. Valiant has set sales records, and was the most nominated publisher in comics at the 2014, 2015 and 2016 Harvey Awards , releasing the biggest-selling independent crossover event of the decade with "Book of Death" in 2015. Valiant was sold to DMG Entertainment in 2018. In June 2023, Valiant Comics announced
5635-414: The "Valiant Beyond" banner, with Faith: Dreamside , a limited series written by Jody Houser and drawn by MJ Kim, launching in September; Bloodshot Rising Spirit , an ongoing series written by Lonnie Nadler & Zac Thompson and drawn by Ken Lashley, launching in November; Livewire , a limited series written by Vita Ayala and drawn by Raúl Allén & Patricia Martín, launching in December; and Incursion ,
5750-526: 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,
5865-570: 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
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#17327981807545980-521: 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
6095-551: The Bionosaurs , Turok 2: Seeds of Evil , Shadow Man , Turok: Rage Wars , Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. , Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion , Shadow Man: 2econd Coming and Turok: Evolution . In December 2019, Valiant announced a partnership with Blowfish Studios to create multiplatform video games featuring Valiant characters. In 2012, Valiant announced a partnership with Rittenhouse Archives for collectable trading cards. Marvel Comics Marvel Comics
6210-799: 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
6325-978: The Geomancer . Book of Death was one of the best-reviewed comics of the year and the biggest selling independent crossover event of the decade. Spinning out from Book of Death , the ongoing series Wrath of the Eternal Warrior launched in November 2015. In 2015, Valiant renewed its print distribution agreement with Diamond Distributors, making Diamond the worldwide distributor of Valiant's comics and graphic novels within comic book specialty and book markets worldwide. In 2017, Valiant added ten new international publishing partnerships for China, India, South Korea, Pakistan and other comic book specialty and book markets worldwide. In January 2016, Valiant announced at Valiant Summit 2016 that Valiant would spend 2016 focusing on expanding its universe of characters beyond its core titles, launching brand new characters in
6440-524: 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
6555-556: The Russo Brothers. It was later announced the TBS was developing the series as a franchise. That June, it was reported that Reginald Huldin, Director of Marshall and former President of BET, was set to write and direct Valiant's Shadowman , while J. Michael Straczynski would executive produce. In March 2018, it was announced that Vin Diesel would star as the title character in a Bloodshot feature film adaptation. The film
6670-760: 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,
6785-526: The Talking Fish, an annoying fish who often pesters Mario about his dating problems; King Toadstool, the Princess' father, who is not very intelligent; and Wooster, the king's much smarter and more sensible advisor. One particular character created for the comics is Dirk Drain-Head, a comic book superhero favored by Mario and all of Bowser's minions, and disliked by most other characters. Mario's line
6900-520: 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
7015-486: The Valiant Comics universe of characters. In an event dubbed The Summer of Valiant in 2012, Valiant Entertainment launched the Valiant Comics universe with four ongoing titles, X-O Manowar , Harbinger , Bloodshot and Archer & Armstrong , one launching each month for four months. X-O Manowar premiered May 2, 2012, with the creative team of writer Robert Venditti and artist Cary Nord . The first issue of X-O Manowar received over 42,000 preorders, making Valiant
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#17327981807547130-551: The Year – Under 4% and was nominated for Best Comic Book of the Year – Over $ 3.00 X-O Manowar # 1 at the Diamond Gem Awards. In January 2013, Valiant announced that Chief Creative Officer and co-founder Dinesh Shamdasani had been promoted to CEO & Chief Creative Officer and Jason Kothari was leaving management. That March, Valiant and Kamite Announced a partnership for Spanish language publishing in Mexico. In May 2013, Valiant announced The Summer of Valiant 2013, during which
7245-504: The acquisition, it was announced that Valiant's CEO Dinesh Shamdasani Chairman Peter Cuneo and COO Gavin Cuneo would be leaving the company. On February 23, 2018, Valiant announced The Life and Death of Toyo Harada , a six-issue miniseries written by Joshua Dysart and drawn by CAFU that would be released sometime in 2019. On March 6, 2018, it was announced that Valiant's Vice President of Marketing & Communications Hunter Gorinson had left
7360-577: The animated series that aired alongside on The Super Mario Bros. Super Show . Captain N: The Game Master is based on the animated series of the same name but with some major differences. All third-party characters are excluded due to Valiant not licensing them from Capcom and Konami as the creators of the animated series had done, but the characters made for the show ( Kevin Keene , Princess Lana, Duke, and King Charles), as well as Pit , remain. Simon Belmont and Mega Man are replaced by Samus Aran ,
7475-519: 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
7590-541: The characters. Ongoing series such as X-O Manowar , Unity , and Rai continued, and were coupled with limited series such as Harbinger: Omegas , Eternal Warrior: Days of Steel , The Death-Defying Dr. Mirage and The Delinquents . In December 2013, Valiant announced the 2014 "Armor Hunters" crossover storyline, consisting of a four-issue Armor Hunter mini-series and issues of XO-Manowar and Unity . In April 2014, Valiant announced several new partnerships with digital distributors, including Visionbooks , to distribute
7705-584: 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
7820-419: The company since January 2013, had left in order to take up the position of Senior VP of Entertainment at Authentic Brands Group . On March 11, 2020, Valiant announced that Heather Antos and Lysa Hawkins had been promoted to Senior Editors. That July, Valiant announced it had hired former Marvel and Top Cow editor David Wohl as a senior editor. On August 17, the company indicated that it would restructure
7935-668: 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
8050-500: The company was sold to Acclaim Entertainment . After Acclaim’s 2004 bankruptcy, the company’s assets were purchased as part of Valiant Entertainment by entrepreneurs Dinesh Shamdasani and Jason Kothari in 2005. In 2011, Valiant received a capital infusion from private investment company Cuneo & Company, LLC. Peter Cuneo and Gavin Cuneo joined the company and a relaunch was announced. Valiant Entertainment launched its publishing division in 2012 as part of an initiative dubbed
8165-438: The company would launch two new ongoing titles, Quantum & Woody and Eternal Warrior , and publish a special Bloodshot zero issue. Quantum & Woody , written by James Asmus and drawn by Tom Fowler , launched in July 2013, and became the most-nominated title at the 2014 Harvey Awards. That November, Amazon announced a new license from Valiant Entertainment for its Kindle Worlds platform, Panini and Valiant announced
8280-442: 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
8395-660: The company, bringing its publishing, TV and film divisions closer together and moving its New York offices to another location within the city, with editor David Wohl working out of the Los Angeles offices of DMG Entertainment. In August 2020, it was reported that Valiant, which had been one of the earliest comic book publishers to go into lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic , had chosen to permanently close its Manhattan office, and have its employees work remotely. By June 2023, Valiant Comics' output had slowed over
8510-566: The company. On March 8, 2018, Valiant announced it had hired Karl Bollers as an editor. On March 22, 2018, Valiant announced it had hired Mel Caylo as Director of Marketing. On April 9, 2018, Valiant announced it had hired Joe Illidge as Executive Editor as of April 5, 2018. On April 16, 2018, Valiant's editor-in-chief Warren Simons announced that he had left the company. On April 17, Valiant announced it had promoted Robert Meyers from Managing Editor to Editorial Director. On June 7, 2018, Valiant announced they would launch four new titles under
8625-579: 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
8740-544: The course of the preceding year to one monthly title, X-O Manowar Unconquered , with another title, Ninjak Superkillers , scheduled to debut later in the year. That month, the company announced a licensing partnership with Alien Books, which would see that publisher take over publication of Valiant comics, graphic novels and trade paperback collections. In August 2014, Valiant partnered with Pendant Productions to produce audio dramas based on their comic books. The first of these, Archer & Armstrong: The Michelangelo Code ,
8855-541: 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
8970-503: 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
9085-526: 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
9200-552: The first publisher outside of Marvel and DC to do so. In 1992, Valiant's Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for co-creating the Valiant Universe in a ceremony that also honored Stan Lee for co-creating the Marvel Universe. However, Shooter left Valiant by the end of 1992. According to Massarsky, "Jim had a different idea as to the direction of the company, and he
9315-402: 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
9430-516: 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
9545-581: The impression that the figure has come to life and is talking to the reader. Valiant Entertainment extended The Summer of Valiant 2012 event and added a fifth ongoing title with Shadowman in November 2012 by writer Justin Jordan and artist Patrick Zircher . The comic debuted as the number 1, non-Marvel and/or DC comic of the month. That month, Valiant announced it would exclusively distribute its digital comics through ComiXology (later acquired by Amazon). In February 13, Valiant won Comic Book Publisher of
9660-550: The largest new publisher launch in over a decade, and eventually sold through 4 full-priced printings and 3 additional reduced-priced printings. The release of X-O Manowar was followed by Harbinger , launched in June 2012 by writer Joshua Dysart and artist Khari Evans; Bloodshot , launched in July 2012 by writer Duane Swierczynski and artist Manuel Garcia; and Archer & Armstrong , launched in August 2012 by writer Fred Van Lente and artist Clayton Henry . To coincide with
9775-533: The launch of publishing in 2012, Valiant introduced the Pullbox Program , which encourages readers to start a pull box subscription for the title being launched with their comics store to obtain an exclusive alternate cover version of the comic, and the QR Voice Variant , where the reader's smartphone, after scanning a QR code on the cover of the comic, plays a video of the figure's mouth, giving
9890-495: 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
10005-469: 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,
10120-416: 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
10235-501: 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
10350-426: The ongoing titles Ninjak , Imperium , Ivar, Timewalker and Bloodshot Reborn and the miniseries Divinity . For the summer of 2015, Valiant announced the event miniseries Book of Death , accompanied by one-shots Book of Death: The Fall of Bloodshot , Book of Death: The Fall of Ninjak , Book of Death: The Fall of Harbinger and Book of Death: The Fall of X-O Manowar and the miniseries Book of Death: Legends of
10465-590: The original game (i.e., Metroid being a place, King Hippo being blue, Mother Brain's appearance). Metroid and Punch-Out!! appear as stories in the graphic novel-like issues, and do not have their own books. Samus is portrayed as self-serving and interested in Captain N. Valiant Comics Valiant Comics is an American comic book publisher, the first incarnation of which was founded in 1989 by former Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Jim Shooter along with lawyer and businessman Steven Massarsky . In 1994,
10580-410: 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
10695-403: 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
10810-500: 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
10925-406: 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
11040-438: 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
11155-460: The storyline. He is an ill-willed character whom Tatanga —the villain of source game—could easily hypnotize into doing his bidding due to the bitterness in the man's cynical soul. In each issue, Smirch releases Tatanga and his minions into the real world, and a child then releases a tiny Mario to battle them. The Legend of Zelda is based on the two Zelda games released on the NES at the time as well as
11270-611: 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
11385-433: 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
11500-732: The third Valiant Summit was broadcast on Twitch TV. On April 21, 2018, Bat in the Sun Productions and Valiant Digital released the web series Ninjak vs. the Valiant Universe on ComicBook.com, featuring Michael Rowe as Ninjak. Acclaim Entertainment produced numerous video games based on Valiant characters. The games were produced for various console and mobile platforms from PlayStation, Nintendo and Xbox. These games included Iron Man and X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal , Turok: Dinosaur Hunter , Turok: Battle of
11615-568: The three collections were named among "The Ten Best Collected Editions" of their respective years of publications. . In 2011, Valiant announced that it had received a capital investment from Cuneo & Company. Former Marvel Comics CEO and Vice Chairman Peter Cuneo was named Valiant's Chairman and Gavin Cuneo became CFO and COO. Valiant then hired former Marvel editor Warren Simons as Executive Editor and former President of Wizard, Magazine, Fred Pierce, as Publisher. In 2012, Valiant Entertainment began publishing new monthly comic books based on
11730-439: 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
11845-407: The title character. In 2015, the first Valiant Summit was broadcast from Twitter's San Francisco headquarters. The Valiant Summit 2016 was broadcast live on Twitch from New York City's UCB Theatre. Season 2 of the game show Valiant Vanquished began streaming on Twitch in March 2017. It was based in the world of Catalyst Game Labs' Valiant Universe role playing game. The following month,
11960-530: 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
12075-587: 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
12190-472: 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
12305-623: 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
12420-402: Was announced that Joe Illidge had left the company and that Robert Meyers had been promoted to Senior Editorial Director. On December 12, 2018, Valiant announced its "Breakthrough" lineup of first issues launching in 2019. The four titles include the previously announced The Life and Death of Toyo Harada , written by Joshua Dysart and drawn by various artists launching in March; Punk Mambo ,
12535-480: Was asked to leave." Valiant also engaged in several comic book-marketing innovations common in the 1990s, such as issue zero "origin" issues, the gold logo program, coupons redeemable for original comic books, and chromium covers. Following the conclusion of the " Unity " crossover in September 1992, Valiant released Bloodshot , Ninjak , H.A.R.D. Corps , The Second Life of Dr. Mirage , and Timewalker , among other titles. In 1994, Voyager Communications
12650-487: 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
12765-526: Was listed on the top ten list of Wizard magazine for a record eight consecutive months and was eventually named "Collectible of the Decade" while Rai No. 0 appeared on Wizard' s top ten list for a new record nine consecutive months. In 1992, Valiant won the Best Publisher under 5% Market Share from comic distributor Diamond. The next year, Valiant won Best Publisher over 5% Market Share, becoming
12880-400: Was purchased by video game developer and publisher Acclaim Entertainment for $ 65 million. Acclaim Comics created a number of video games based on Valiant properties, such as Shadow Man , Turok: Dinosaur Hunter , Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M. , and Iron Man and X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal , which featured Valiant's X-O Manowar alongside Marvel's Iron Man . In 2004, after losing
12995-476: Was released in 2016. In 2014, Valiant and Sean Daniel Company announced that they were collaborating to produce an Archer & Armstrong movie. In March 2015, Valiant signed a partnership agreement with DMG Entertainment which included a nine-figure investment for film and TV adaptations of the Valiant characters. That May, Valiant announced a partnership with Sony Pictures to produce five films based on
13110-481: Was released on March 13, 2020, 31% rating on Rotten Tomatoes . That July, Sony Pictures announced it was developing a movie based on the Valiant character Faith Herbert , with Maria Melnik writing the screenplay. That December, it was announced that a Dr. Mirage drama was being developed by the CW network . In November 2020, it was reported that a sequel to Bloodshot was in development with Vin Diesel to again play
13225-467: Was renewed for 1991, in which he has two different books: Super Mario Bros. and Adventures of the Super Mario Bros. The stand-alone Game Boy comic books, despite having that title, are based solely on Super Mario Land since it was the only Game Boy adventure game around at the time. It ended at four issues. The stories feature an original character named Herman Smirch, a quasi-hero of
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