CASE STUDY MARVEL COMICS The birth , an American media and entertainment company based in New York City, is a giant in the comic industry. The precursor to Marvel Comics was founded in 1939 by magazine publisher Martin Goodman who created in order to exploit the growing popularity of comic books – especially those starring superheroes. Timely’s first comic book was (1939), which presented several superheroes such as the . introduced many superhero characters during the of comics in the 1940s. Among them their most important was , who first appeared in (1941). Timely characters were often portrayed as fighting against the Nazis and the Japanese, even before the United States entered World War II. Marvel Comics Timely Comics Marvel Comics no. 1 Human Torch Timely Comics Golden Age Captain America Captain America Comics no. 1 A break with superheroes At the end of the 1940s, readers were no longer interested in superheroes, so cancelled the last of its books in this genre in 1950. In the same year, Goodman formed his own distribution company, , which published other genres of comics such as humour, western, horror, war, and science fiction. Timely Atlas Magazines Success and failures In 1956, rival company led the so-called Silver Age of comics by reintroducing superhero titles with a great commercial success. In the early 1960s changed its name to . Throughout the 1980s and ‘90s Marvel changed hands numerous times, becoming a in 1991. Problematic management decisions and a general decrease in sales in the comic book industry drove Marvel Comics into in 1996. The company re-emerged in 1998 and began to diversify its production, expanding its filmmaking offerings under the Marvel Studios . In 2007 Marvel began publishing digital comics. DC Comics Atlas Marvel Comics publicly held company bankruptcy banner Expansion of Marvel Entertainment In 2009 was purchased by Disney and the film-development plan which had just begun at the time of the purchase was strongly reinforced to give rise to many films. Marvel Entertainment top-grossing GLOSSARY : : : : bankruptcy bancarotta banner bandiera publicly held company società a capitale pubblico top-grossing record di incassi 7. Read and match the years and events of Marvel Comics. Checkbox 1939 1. ☐ Readers were no longer interested in superheroes. a. 1941 2. ☐ DC Comics reintroduced superheroes titles. b. 1940s 3. ☐ Marvel became a publicly held company. c. End of 1940s 4. ☐ Martin Goodman created . d. Timely Comics 1950 5. ☐ First appearance of . e. Captain America 1956 6. ☐ Many superheroes were introduced. f. Early 1960s 7. ☐ Marvel Comics went into bankruptcy. g. 1980s-1990s 8. ☐ Marvel was purchased by Walt Disney Company. h. 1991 9. ☐ Timely cancelled the last comic books. Goodman formed . i. Atlas Magazine 1996 10. ☐ Marvel changed hands numerous times. j. 2007 11. ☐ changed its name to . k. Marvel Marvel Comics 2009 12. ☐ changed its name to . l. Atlas Marvel Comics