2006-03-29 – BACK IN TIME – MARVEL-TIME, THAT IS

Received an intriguing e-mail this week from frequent reader Thomas C:

As always, fantastic work on the column. It has always provided a wealth of information that is not always easy to find short of having a 60-year-old comic collection.

I had an idea the other day for a potential column / resource for the site. Reading the archives I have a good idea what has happened in comic past. This allows those of us with an interest to "catch up" and not feel lost in a sea of continuity. I’m a little fuzzier on *when* things happen.

A timeline or a chronology would be a big help. I know too much detail would make it hard to read (not to mention create) and I’m sure exact dates / years get fuzzy in places. Just a simple time line for major events would be a great help to sort of put things in perspective.

This way when your diligent pupils go to read something on your recommendation, we have a pretty good idea where in history it falls.

I’m mostly interested in a DC timeline, but I'm sure folks would find a Marvel one just as useful / interesting.

Thanks for listening. Keep up the good work. And how about that ROM column for Ryall?

An interesting notion, Thomas. So interesting, in fact, I’m going to test it out right now. Unfortunately, for you, though, since I get so often accused of spending too much time on DC, I’m going to try it out on Marvel Comics instead. (Mostly because you took Ryall’s bait and mentioned ROM…) The idea here is significant events both in the Marvel Universe and in Marvel’s publishing history. Let’s see where this goes:

1939 – The Marvel Universe is born, with the publication of MARVEL COMICS #1, which featured the first appearances of Bill Everett’s Sub-Mariner and Carl Burgos’ Human Torch.

1940 – What may be the first-ever crossover in comic books takes place, as the Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner, who had up to this point only appeared in separate stories, beat the holy hell out of each other for 22 pages, tearing apart New York City in the process. Good times…

1941 – The Holy Trinity of Golden Age Marvel is complete (although the company was known as Timely back then), with the introduction of Joe Simon and Jack Kirby’s Captain America in CAPTAIN AMERICA COMICS #1. The granddaddy of all patriotic super-hero types, the character would continue to be a sales success even after Simon and Kirby left the company a year later.

1946 – Taking a cue from National Comics’ success with the Justice Society of America, Timely introduces their first superhero team, the All-Winners Squad, in the pages of the 19th issue of the logically named ALL-WINNERS COMICS. However, a close look at the team’s membership shows that “All-Winners” is charitable at best, for although the team does include the company’s most popular characters Captain America and Bucky, the Human Torch and Toro, and the Sub-Mariner, it also features decidedly second-string players like Miss America and the Whizzer. Yes, you heard me. The Whizzer. The All-Winners Squad only appeared twice and was gone.

1949 – The superhero trend in comics goes the way of the dodo, and Marvel ceases publication of Captain America, the Torch and Sub-Mariner, their last remaining super-types. For the next 11 years, Marvel would simply follow the trends in the comics biz, pumping out romance books or westerns or sci-fi comics as the market dictated.

1961 – Under orders from Marvel’s publisher Martin Goodman to create a super-team book to compete with National Comics’ JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, Marvel editor Stan Lee enlists artist Jack Kirby, and together the two create FANTASTIC FOUR, a series that combined superhero action with compelling, bickering characterizations and a more “real-world” approach, ushering in the Marvel Age of Comics. The success of Lee and Kirby’s FANTASTIC FOUR sets the path for all the success to come.

Also in 1961 came the introduction of Ant-Man in TALES TO ASTONISH. Which may not be quite as historically significant, but it’s my damn list, so I’m including it anyway.

1962 – Lee and Kirby follow up FANTASTIC FOUR with the creation of THE HULK, a superhero take on the Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde motifs. Hulk’s gray skin in his premiere issue is quickly changed to green after editor Lee dislikes the way the gray skin looked in the final printed books. While the Hulk’s initial series isn’t quite as successful as the FF, only lasting 6 issues, Lee keeps the character alive through steady guest appearances in other series, until he receives a regular co-starring spot in TALES TO ASTONISH, whose title would eventually be changed to THE INCREDIBLE HULK.

Also appearing for the first time in 1962 was the Mighty Thor, Lee and Kirby’s mythological Asgardian hero, who made his debut in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #83. Thor was the first of Marvel’s new heroes to fit a more traditional super-heroic mold, but his long hair (remember, this was 1962) and divine origins broke him out from the crowd.

Iron Man also showed up toward the end of that year (in TALES OF SUSPENSE #39, to be exact), with an unusually topical Vietnam-War-oriented origin that would come to be something of a continuity pickle as time went on.

But most important of all, in 1962, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man made his debut in the pages of the 15th and final issue of Marvel’s suspense anthology series AMAZING FANTASY. Since sales numbers took a while to trickle back to the office back then, Spidey wouldn’t return until…

1963 – The first issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko hits the racks. Spider-Man’s success would raise the profile of the company as a whole to staggering new heights, with Spidey himself eventually becoming the publisher’s corporate mascot and one of the three most popular superheroes in the world.

Also showing up for the first time in ’63 was Marvel’s Master of the Mystic Arts, Dr. Strange, who premiered with a measly 5-page feature in STRANGE TALES #110. Dr. Strange’s popularity built slowly, thanks mostly to the psychedelic renderings of artist Steve Ditko but soon his 5-page features grew to the standard half-issue tales for the former anthology books like TALES TO ASTONISH.

Marvel also expanded into the super-team business in a big way in 1963, introducing two new series from the Lee-Kirby team; the AVENGERS, the true Marvel response to National’s JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA, and the X-MEN, an all-new idea about a team of mutant teenagers under the tutelage of their wheelchair-bound headmaster. Kirby wouldn’t stick around more than a year or two on either series, although both would remain mainstays of the company for decades.

1964 – Stan Lee and artist Bill Everett create DAREDEVIL, the first blind superhero in comics and Marvel’s first solo character since the Hulk to premiere in his own series.

Also in ’64, the Avengers, on the way home from a pretty thorough asskicking at the hands of Sub-Mariner and the Hulk, discover the frozen body of Captain America sealed in a block of ice in the Atlantic Ocean. Thanks to the Super-Soldier Serum in his bloodstream preventing his blood from crystallizing, Cap awakes from suspended animation, and begins his tenure with the Avengers that continues to this day.

1965 – Marvel cashes in on the then-current James Bond craze and transplant its WW II character Sgt. Nick Fury to the modern day, making him a secret agent running Marvel’s new super-spy organization S.H.I.E.L.D as of STRANGE TALES #135.

The Avengers also cemented the last piece of their formula in ’65 with the first of their many roster reshufflings, as the Old Order Changeth for the first time in AVENGERS #16. Founding members Iron Man, Thor, Giant-Man and the Wasp went their separate ways, leaving sole member Captain America with three new ex-supervillains-turned-Avengers-recruits: Quicksilver, the Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye the Marksman.

1966 – The high point of Lee and Kirby’s FANTASTIC FOUR run comes in FANTASTIC FOUR #48-50, with the introduction of Galactus, Devourer of Worlds, and his herald, the Silver Surfer. The Surfer would go on to become a favorite character of editor Stan Lee, who would go on to write a critically acclaimed SILVER SURFER series with artist John Buscema.

Also in 1966, Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko leaves AMAZING SPIDER-MAN under circumstances still mysterious to this day. Ditko is replaced by John Romita, whose take on a slightly more handsome Peter Parker would become the other significant, defining style for the series.

1970 – The co-architect of the House of Ideas, Jack Kirby, leaves Marvel, dissatisfied over issues of credit and control. He heads over to DC and embarks upon his “Fourth World” series of books and characters, but doesn’t receive the respect he deserves there either. He would return to Marvel for another brief run on a few series in 1976, before leaving for California to work in the animation industry.

1971 – Marvel’s first “non-team,” the loosely affiliated Defenders, makes its debut in the pages of MARVEL FEATURE #1. While sometimes it seems like nearly everyone has been a Defender at one time or another, the core membership of Dr. Strange, Sub-Mariner, the Hulk and the Silver Surfer remained a mainstay for the majority of the team’s existence, and is still occasionally published to this day.

1972 – Stan Lee steps down as Editor-in-Chief of Marvel and assumes the role of Publisher, with Roy Thomas taking over the EIC position. Thomas’ tenure as Editor-in-Chief would only last two years, with the position becoming something of a revolving door after that, being held briefly by Len Wein, Marv Wolfman, Gerry Conway and Archie Goodwin before the lengthy reign of Jim Shooter begins in 1978.

1973 – Spider-Man fans are shocked at the murder of Peter Parker’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy at the hands of the Green Goblin, in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #121. Gwen’s being hurled off a bridge by the Goblin is seen by many fans as the ending point for the “Silver Age of Comics,” the unofficial era marking the renaissance of the American superhero comic book.

1975 – With the publication of GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1, the X-Men are revived in a big, big way by writer Len Wein and artist Dave Cockrum, introducing a whole crop of new X-Men like Wolverine, Colossus, Storm, Nightcrawler. In the hands of writer Chris Claremont, the revitalized franchise would go on to become Marvel’s most successful series by far for decades to come.

1977 – Spider-Woman makes her premiere in MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #32, created by Archie Goodwin and Jim Mooney. The character will thrive throughout the ‘70s and early ‘80s, then fall into comic-book limbo for almost 20 years, until her recent revival by Brian Bendis in the pages of NEW AVENGERS.

1978 – Jim Shooter takes over as Editor-in-Chief of Marvel. A writing wunderkind at DC Comics (selling stories to LEGION OF SUPERHEROES editors at the age of 13), Shooter assumed control of Marvel after it seemed like everyone else in the company had had a shot at the big chair, and under his tenure the company had some of its strongest successes both financially and creatively, including the Claremont/Byrne era of X-MEN and Frank Miller’s DAREDEVIL run. Shooter was also big on introducing new concepts, such as introducing the miniseries and graphic-novel formats and increasing the number of toy tie-in series, such as GI JOE, TRANSFORMERS and ROM, SPACEKNIGHT (which in particular was unusual for how closely it was allowed to become incorporated into the Marvel Universe). Unfortunately, as gifted as Shooter was creatively and editorially, from all accounts his people skills left much to be desired, and his increasingly hostile relationships with both his corporate bosses and the creative folks he depended on eventually led to his termination from the post, replaced by Marvel editor Tom DeFalco.

1979 – The publication of SAVAGE SHE-HULK marks the last major Marvel character created by founding father Stan Lee. The character will really come into her own in the hands of later writers like Roger Stern, John Byrne and Dan Slott.

1980 – The “Dark Phoenix Saga” comes to a close in UNCANNY X-MEN #137, by Claremont and Byrne. The death of long-time X-Man and fan favorite Jean Grey cements UNCANNY X-MEN’s place as the most significant book in comics at the time, and sets a standard of quality for the series that to this day has been seldom equaled. Even the numerous resurrections and deaths of the character since haven’t dulled the sheen from what is still widely considered one of the best story arcs Marvel ever published. Claremont and Byrne have both had numerous career high points since, but odds are this will still be the one they’re remembered for.

1981 – Frank Miller begins his stint as both writer and artist of DAREDEVIL. In Miller’s hands, the series becomes a moodier, much darker crime comic like nothing else Marvel was publishing at the time, and his introduction of the femme fatale Elektra and her subsequent demise helped make DAREDEVIL one of Marvel’s most popular books in the ‘80s, and catapulted Miller to star status.

At about the same time, John Byrne was beginning his landmark 6-year stint as writer and artist of FANTASTIC FOUR, a run that many consider second only to the Lee/Kirby originals. Byrne’s run focused on the characters, solidifying Reed Richards’ real gift as not his stretching ability, but his unparalleled genius, and writing a more powerful, confident Sue Storm than we’d ever seen before. Along with his uncanny knack for Ben Grimm’s character and his genius idea of bringing in the She-Hulk as a member, Byrne’s version of the FF is to this day the one I most fondly remember. And artistically, Byrne was at the top of his game here as well, with this period providing the most consistently gorgeous and innovative artwork of his career. Byrne may have done better work elsewhere since, but not as much of it for so long a period of time.

1982 – Marvel publishes its first-ever limited series, CONTEST OF CHAMPIONS, a three-issue mini which pitted Earth’s superheroes against each other by cosmic-types like the Grandmaster and Death in a worldwide scavenger hunt. It’s mostly remembered for its introduction of some rather goofy (even by comic-book standards) new international heroes like Ireland’s Shamrock, France’s Peregrine, and China’s the Collective Man.

Marvel also ushered in the graphic-novel format in ’82 with THE DEATH OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, written and drawn by Jim Starlin. The book saw the death from cancer of the alien superhero Mar-Vell, who had been fairly active in the Marvel Universe since 1967.

Also premiering in 1982 was the OFFICIAL HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE, an exhaustively researched and detailed 15-issue encyclopedia of the people, places and things found in Marvel Comics. Written primarily by Mark Gruenwald and Peter Sanderson, with technical drawings by Eliot R. Brown, the series was such a success that a 20-issue revised edition followed in 1985 (As did a clearly copied version from DC, WHO’S WHO IN THE DC UNIVERSE). Even today, the series was so well remembered and appreciated that the ESSENTIAL MARVEL UNIVERSE HANDBOOK trade paperback collections published this year are among the most popular Marvel offers, despite the entries being some 20 years out of date.

1984 – Marvel ushers in the age of the giant crossover miniseries with the first issue of MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS, a 12-issue limited series that pits the publisher’s most popular heroes and villains against each other in a war arranged by an omnipotent cosmic being. Written by Marvel’s EIC Jim Shooter and drawn by artists Mike Zeck and Bob Layton, the series ushered in a number of changes in other Marvel series, including the introduction of Spider-Man’s black costume (which would later be revealed to be an alien symbiote being, and still later bond with embittered journalist Eddie Brock to become the Spider-Man villain known as Venom) and the induction of the She-Hulk into the Fantastic Four, following the Thing’s decision to stay on the distant planet where the Secret Wars took place.

1986 – Marvel EIC Jim Shooter celebrates the company’s 25th anniversary with the introduction of the “New Universe,” an octet of new sci-fi/superhero series with an intentionally more grounded, “real-world” flavor to it. (According to the series’ promotional slogan, it was “the world outside your window.” Or at least, it was until an increasingly desperate creative team decided to nuke the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, off the map.) According to Shooter, the budget for the new division was slashed by around 80% at the last minute, so the big-name creatives he’d planned to have work on series like STAR BRAND, KICKERS, INC., SPITFIRE AND THE TROUBLESHOOTERS and NIGHT MASK could no longer be acquired, with the books instead being done by editorial staffers and unknown artists. Despite the quality of a couple of the books (most notably Mark Gruenwald’s D.P. 7), the division was not a success, and the New Universe was no more by 1989.

1987 – After decades of courtship, Peter Parker and Mary-Jane Watson tie the knot in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #21. Marrying Spidey off was a risky choice, as it by definition takes away any sort of romantic tension in the series, as well as making him more difficult for younger readers to relate to.

1991 – Seven of Marvel’s top artists leave en masse, after their demands for ownership and creative control of their work are refused. The group, which included Todd MacFarlane, Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld and Erik Larsen (at the time best known for their work on SPIDER-MAN, X-MEN, X-FORCE and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN respectively) would go on to form their own publishing house, Image Comics, and would run rampage over the comics industry for a few years before partially imploding under the weight of their own egos and missed schedules. The Image Comics of today is a much leaner, smarter and more efficient publisher.

1994 – Under pressure to duplicate some of the success DC found in their enormous “Death of Superman” and Batman “Knightfall” storyline events, Marvel bigwigs push the Spider-Man editorial team to come up with something similar. The result? The much-ballyhooed and nearly universally derided “Clone Saga,” the story which featured the return of Spider-Man’s clone, thought killed off back in the 1970s. Even worse, the decision was made to declare that the clone was actually the genuine article, while the Spider-Man that fans had been reading about and grown up with for decades was actually the fake. While sales were strong at first, the resulting feeling of betrayal both from fans and creators eventually resulted in the “revelation” that the discoveries had all been faked, that Peter was indeed Peter, and that it had all been a gargantuan head game arranged by … the original and long-believed dead Green Goblin, Norman Osborn, who had been ill-advisedly brought back from the grave to extricate the editors from the mess they’d made for themselves. As a result, the most moving story in Spider-Man’s history was tainted by Osborn’s return, and reader interest in Spidey sunk to a further low, until J. Michael Stracyznski’s tenure on the book in 2001.

1996 – Feeling that its non-X-Men and non-Spidey titles needed freshening up, Marvel handed over complete control of the Fantastic Four and Avengers characters to former Image creators Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld in a one-year deal, who then started the characters over from scratch in their own distinctive styles. While the FANTASTIC FOUR and IRON MAN series headed up by Jim Lee were moderately well-received, Rob Liefeld’s CAPTAIN AMERICA and AVENGERS were a critical train wreck, with Liefled’s titles being given to Lee to complete. While the overall experiment was a success from a sales perspective, popular demand won out and the characters soon returned to the Marvel Universe proper, where each title received a new creative team that would prove to be a great improvement both creatively and financially.

And tragically, Marvel’s Executive Editor Mark Gruenwald died unexpectedly in 1996. Gruenwald had enjoyed an admirable career at Marvel, writing such series as CAPTAIN AMERICA, HAWKEYE, SQUADRON SUPREME, D.P. 7 and the HANDBOOK OF THE MARVEL UNIVERSE, and editing numerous series at the company. Unfortunately, he passed on before he ever had the chance to assume the reins of the company, a position in which he would undoubtedly have excelled.

2000 – Joe Quesada is named Editor-in-Chief of Marvel, and along with the company’s new president Bill Jemas, the two embark on a series of high-profile publicity stunts and a generally vociferous public persona intended to make some waves in the industry and get some attention for Marvel following the company’s bankruptcy in the 1990s.

Also in 2000, writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mark Bagley kick off Marvel’s new Ultimate imprint (spearheaded by Quesada and Jemas) with the premiere of ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN, a new series that re-tells Spidey’s origin from scratch in the modern day. In short order, ULTIMATE X-MEN, THE ULTIMATES (a new version of the Avengers) and ULTIMATE FANTASTIC FOUR followed. The ULTIMATE books have varied in critical and sales reception, but the imprint has unquestionably been a success.

2001 – Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely shake up the X-Men with their tenure on the series NEW X-MEN, introducing such controversial concepts as the destruction of Genosha, the notion of “secondary mutation,” and the psychic adultery between Scott “Cyclops” Summers and Emma Frost.

2004 – In an effort to generate controversy and boost sagging sales, AMAZING SPIDER-MAN writer J. Michael Stracyznski unveils the story arc SINS PAST in issues #509-514, in which it is revealed that Peter Parker’s deceased girlfriend Gwen Stacy had cheated on him with Norman Osborn, the creepy father of Peter’s roommate, became pregnant and somehow fled to Europe and gave birth to twins (apparently all during a weekend when Peter was in Canada, since the original Spider-Man comics don’t at all show Gwen being gone for any length of time long enough to give birth to twins without anyone knowing). The long-term impact of the storyline, bandied about at the time as the story that “would change Spider-Man’s life forever!”, is now, two years later, painfully apparent: zero. Not only did nothing come from the storyline to improve sales, but Marvel wisely acts as if the story never happened. If it’s not completely erased from the continuity five years from now, I’ll be surprised.

2005 – Marvel attempts to juice up its Avengers franchise with the introduction of Brian Bendis’ NEW AVENGERS, a more sales friendly-iteration of the team that combined franchise players like Spider-Man and Wolverine with Avengers founders like Iron Man and Captain America and personal favorites of the writer like Luke Cage and Spider-Woman. Although the series started under the shadow of the ill-conceived “Avengers Disassembled” event which discorporated the original team, even many of that story’s detractors have conceded the merits of the sharply written, entertaining new series, which tends to offer a Spider-Man better written than in his solo books.

Thanks to Chris Ryall for the brainstorming and suggestions. Undoubtedly, you think there are some things that were left out. Send them along, and Scott Tipton will include them in a future edition. Send ‘em here.

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