172-403: Crisis on Infinite Earths is a 1985 to 1986 American comic book crossover series published by DC Comics . Written by Marv Wolfman and pencilled by George Pérez , it was first released as a 12-issue limited series from April 1985 to March 1986. As the main piece of a crossover event, some plot elements were featured in tie-in issues of other publications. Since its initial publication,
344-634: 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
516-487: A naturalistic style of superheroes with human failings, fears, and inner demons - heroes who squabbled and worried about the likes of paying the rent. In contrast to the super-heroic do-gooder archetypes of established superheroes at the time, this ushered in a revolution. With dynamic artwork by Kirby, Steve Ditko , Don Heck , and others, complementing Lee's colorful, catchy prose, the new style became very popular among teenagers and college students who could identify with
688-414: 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
860-724: A shared universe called the DC Universe (DCU) allowing plot elements, characters, and settings to cross over with each other. The concept of the DCU has provided DC's writers some challenges in maintaining continuity , due to conflicting events within different comics that need to reflect the shared nature of the universe. " Flash of Two Worlds " from The Flash #123 (September 1961), which featured Barry Allen (the Silver Age Flash ) teaming up with Jay Garrick (the Golden Age Flash)
1032-493: A tabloid -sized, 10-by-15-inch (250 mm × 380 mm), 36-page magazine with a card-stock, non-glossy cover. An anthology , it mixed humor features such as the funny animal comic "Pelion and Ossa" and the college-set "Jigger and Ginger" with such dramatic fare as the Western strip "Jack Woods" and the " yellow-peril " adventure "Barry O'Neill", featuring a Fu Manchu -styled villain, Fang Gow. Issue #6 (Oct. 1935) brought
1204-469: A "must have" rating. Fellow IGN writer Jesse Schedeen named Crisis on Infinite Earths one of the best DC crossovers, agreeing it was unprecedented and dramatic. Marc Buxton of Comic Book Resources named "Crisis on Infinite Earths" the greatest comic book crossover ever, saying that no crossover has been bigger or as ambitious: "where some events seem hesitant to actually leave a mark on their respective universes, Crisis did it with aplomb". He praised
1376-655: A Crisis Event, and using the crisis energy which would form, restart and bring back the infinite earths lost in the original Crisis. Nightwing and the Titans work to protect the world from the Secret Society, while Hal Jordan investigates the deaths of the Justice League. American comic book An American comic book is a thin periodical originating in the United States , on average 32 pages, containing comics . While
1548-604: 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
1720-491: A Siegel/Shuster creation from the slush pile and used it as the cover feature (but only as a backup story) in Action Comics #1 (June 1938). The duo's alien hero, Superman , was dressed in a cape and colorful tights. The costume, influenced by Flash Gordon 's attire from 1934, evoked circus aerial performers and circus strongmen, and Superman became the archetype of the " superheroes " that would follow. In early 1939,
1892-580: 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
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#17328545497702064-505: A carefully-planned counterattack, culminating in a battle with Superboy of Earth-Prime, Kal-L , and Alexander Luthor Jr., with help from New Gods adversary Darkseid . In this final battle the Anti-Monitor, reduced to a flaming head, crashes into a star and is killed by Kal-L. Before the star explodes, Alex sends Kal-L, Earth-Two Lois Lane , Earth-Prime Superboy and himself to a pocket "paradise" dimension while Wonder Woman of Earth-Two
2236-536: 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
2408-494: 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
2580-505: 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
2752-668: A collection of English-language newspaper inserts originally published in Europe as the 1837 book Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois by Rodolphe Töpffer . The G. W. Dillingham Company published the first known proto-comic-book magazine in the US, The Yellow Kid in McFadden's Flats , in 1897. A hardcover book, it reprinted material—primarily the October 18, 1896, to January 10, 1897, sequence titled "McFadden's Row of Flats"—from cartoonist Richard F. Outcault 's newspaper comic strip Hogan's Alley , starring
2924-498: 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
3096-440: A converter, powered by stellar energy, used to destroy the last five Earths; the injured Anti-Monitor retreats and Supergirl dies from his attacks after a distraction from Doctor Light . The Anti-Monitor creates a new body for himself and tries to use an antimatter cannon to penetrate the limbo universe and destroy the five partially merged Earths. The Flash dies stopping this attempt by using his speed to channel energy. During
3268-506: 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
3440-510: 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
3612-528: 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
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#17328545497703784-521: A desperate attempt to stop the upcoming onslaught. In 2022, a new DC Comics Crisis event occurred, named Dark Crisis On Infinite Earths which began in June 2022 and ended in December 2022. This series was written by Joshua Williamson and art by Daniel Sampere and Alejandro Sanchez. Following the death of the Justice League in issue #75 Pariah has tasked Deathstroke and the Secret Society of Supervillains to start
3956-481: A disaster for DC. Plotting became easier once a beginning and an ending had been determined and when Pérez became involved. Crisis on Infinite Earths was DC's first mainstream maxiseries , which was still a relatively new concept. Early in planning for Crisis on Infinite Earths , a list was made of characters that were part of the DCU; characters from other universes, such as those that formerly belonged to Charlton Comics , also were used. According to Wolfman, one of
4128-590: A gradual decline, due to a shift away from print media in the wake of television and the impact of the Comics Code Authority . The late 1950s and the 1960s saw a superhero revival and superheroes remained the dominant character archetype throughout the late 20th century into the 21st century. Some fans collect comic books, helping drive up their value. Some have sold for more than US$ 1 million. Comic shops cater to fans, selling comic books, plastic sleeves ("bags") and cardboard backing ("boards") to protect
4300-442: 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 ,
4472-466: A lull in the war, the villains unite under Brainiac . He kills Earth-Two's Alexei Luthor while recruiting the Earth-One Lex Luthor to conquer the remaining Earths. A furious Anti-Monitor absorbs the energy of millions of worlds and vows to travel back through time to prevent the creation of the multiverse. The Spectre unites the heroes and villains by warning them about the Anti-Monitor's plan;
4644-684: A machine and used it to look back into the beginning of time. A cosmic being from the beginning known as the Monitor catalogues these realities, but he has an evil counterpart, the Anti-Monitor , who comes from an antimatter universe. After Pariah causes an accident with antimatter in his universe, the Anti-Monitor is released and begins destroying many of the realities with a wave of antimatter, planning on becoming sole ruler of all realities. On Earth-Three , Alexander Luthor and Lois Lane teleport their son Alexander Luthor Jr. to another reality as Earth-Three
4816-781: A map. An exclusive variant, based on the Sinestro Corps , was available at San Diego Comic-Con and Gen Con Indy conventions that year. DC Collectibles (then called DC Direct) released three series of action figures between 2005 and 2006. Based on the George Pérez artwork, the figures had a base with the logo of the series and certain figures included an accessory. The first series included Earth 2 Robin, Harbinger, Monitor, Psycho-Pirate, and Supergirl. Later series included Anti Monitor, Earth 2 Superman, Flash, Battle Armor Lex Luthor, Brainiac, Earth 1 Batman, Doctor Light, Earth Prime Superboy, Earth 2 Huntress, and Weaponer of Qward. Though it
4988-548: A meeting attended by president Jenette Kahn , Paul Levitz , vice president and executive editor Dick Giordano and DC's editors. In 1982, DC hired a researcher to go through their library and read every comic the company had published, a task that took two years. The series was delayed to 1983 due to the time for research, and again to 1985 when it was still not ready for 1983 and to coincide with DC's fiftieth anniversary. As an event like Crisis on Infinite Earths had never happened before, those working on it met for around two hours
5160-596: A million copies a month each; comics provided very popular cheap entertainment during World War II especially among soldiers, but with erratic quality in stories, art, and printing. In the early 1940s, over 90 percent of girls and boys from seven to seventeen read comic books. In 1941, H. G. Peter and William Moulton Marston , created the female superhero character Wonder Woman , who debuted in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941) and Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman in 1942. MLJ 's Pep Comics debuted as
5332-584: 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
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5504-529: 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
5676-465: 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
5848-428: A new character: the shadowy, potentially villainous Monitor ; this laid the foundation for Crisis on Infinite Earths . In 1981, Wolfman was editing Green Lantern . He got a letter from a fan asking why a character did not recognize Green Lantern in a recent issue despite the two having had worked together in an issue three years earlier. Soon afterward, Wolfman pitched Crisis on Infinite Earths as The History of
6020-525: 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
6192-449: A profound impact upon the American comic-book industry. Their popularity, along with mainstream media attention and critical acclaim, combined with changing social tastes, led to a considerably darker tone in comic books during the 1990s nicknamed by fans as the "grim-and-gritty" era. The growing popularity of antiheroes such as Wolverine and the Punisher exemplified this change, as did
6364-442: A promotional item to consumers who mailed in coupons clipped from Procter & Gamble soap and toiletries products. The company printed 10,000 copies. The promotion proved a success, and Eastern Color that year produced similar periodicals for Canada Dry soft drinks , Kinney Shoes , Wheatena cereal and others, with print runs of from 100,000 to 250,000. Also in 1933, Gaines and Wildenberg collaborated with Dell to publish
6536-543: 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
6708-455: A sequel to Crisis on Infinite Earths . DC Comics is an American comic book publisher best known for its superhero stories featuring characters including Batman , Superman , and Wonder Woman . The company debuted in February 1935 with New Fun: The Big Comic Magazine . Most of DC's comic books (as well as some published under its imprints Vertigo and Young Animal ) take place within
6880-404: 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
7052-533: 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
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7224-520: A superhero, science-fiction and adventure anthology, but after the title introduced the teen-humor feature "Archie" in 1942, the feature's popularity would soon eclipse all other MLJ properties, leading the publisher to rename itself Archie Comics . Following the end of World War II, the popularity of superheroes greatly diminished, while the comic-book industry itself expanded. A few well-established characters such as Superman , Batman and Wonder Woman continued to sell, but DC canceled series starring
7396-494: A ten-cent pricetag [ sic ] on the comic books". When Delacorte declined to continue with Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , Eastern Color on its own published Famous Funnies #1 (cover-dated July 1934), a 68-page giant selling for 10¢. Distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company , it proved a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression , selling 90 percent of its 200,000 print, although putting Eastern Color more than $ 4,000 in
7568-402: A third of all North American sales in the early 1950s. Its 90 titles averaged a circulation of 800,000 copies per title for every issue, with Walt Disney's Comics and Stories peaking at a circulation of three million a month in 1953. Eleven of the top 25 bestselling comic books at the time were Dell titles. Out of 40 publishers active in 1954, Dell, Atlas (i.e. Marvel), DC, and Archie were
7740-560: 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
7912-503: A true comic book. But it did offer all original material and was sold on newsstands ". The Funnies ran for 36 issues, published Saturdays through October 16, 1930. In 1933, salesperson Maxwell Gaines , sales manager Harry I. Wildenberg , and owner George Janosik of the Waterbury, Connecticut , company Eastern Color Printing —which printed, among other things, Sunday-paper comic-strip sections – produced Funnies on Parade as
8084-751: A way to keep their presses running. Like The Funnies , but only eight pages, this appeared as a newsprint magazine. Rather than using original material, however, it reprinted in color several comic strips licensed from the McNaught Syndicate , the Ledger Syndicate , and the Bell-McClure Syndicate . These included such popular strips as cartoonist Al Smith 's Mutt and Jeff , Ham Fisher 's Joe Palooka , and Percy Crosby 's Skippy . Eastern Color neither sold this periodical nor made it available on newsstands , but rather sent it out free as
8256-447: A way to make the character seem more interesting and hopefully spare him. Wolfman wanted to make the series unforgettable; he said that many writers had expressed interest in simplifying DC's continuity and he wanted to be the one to do so. Pérez says he was not the intended artist for Crisis on Infinite Earths , but was excited when he learned about it, seeing it as an opportunity for "revenge" against Marvel, which he blamed for blocking
8428-400: A week, which was uncommon at the time. The groundwork for the series was laid the year before it was published. One of the greatest challenges for Wolfman and Giordano was coming up with a story. Wolfman cited making use of every DC character and creating a plot that was fun to read and filled with surprises as difficulties, as the series needed to sell well; if it did not, it could have caused
8600-456: A year. In 1929, Dell Publishing (founded by George T. Delacorte, Jr. ) published The Funnies , described by the Library of Congress as "a short-lived newspaper tabloid insert" and not to be confused with Dell's 1936 comic-book series of the same name. Historian Ron Goulart describes the 16-page, four-color periodical as "more a Sunday comic section without the rest of the newspaper than
8772-631: 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
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#17328545497708944-440: Is consumed by the antimatter wave. To combat this, the Monitor recruits heroes and villains from across time and space to set up five towers, to help merge the multiverse back into one to make it stronger. The Monitor dispatches a team of heroes across time and space to defend mysterious machines that could be the key to saving the remaining universes. Meanwhile, we learn Flash didn't disappear after his trial, but rather traveled to
9116-426: Is murdered by Harbinger who is possessed by one of the Anti-Monitor's shadow demons. However, the Monitor knew this would happen and his death releases enough energy to project two of the last five parallel Earths into a protective limbo that nullifies the wave. The Anti-Monitor recruits Psycho-Pirate to his cause, infusing him with part of his power to manipulate the heroes of Earth-4, Earth-S and Earth-X against
9288-401: Is not present are told from a third-person perspective. It also added some details, including internal monologue and updates to make the story more modern, such as characters having cell phones. In 2008, WizKids issued a toy pack centered around the Anti-Monitor as a part of its DC HeroClix toy line. The pack came with a large Anti-Monitor figure with LED-lit eyes, several smaller figures, and
9460-460: Is taken symbolically as the beginning of a new era, although his success was not immediate. It took two years for the Flash to receive his own title, and Showcase itself was only a bimonthly book, though one which was to introduce a large number of enduring characters. By 1959, the slowly building superhero revival had become clear to DC's competitors. Archie jumped on board that year, and Charlton joined
9632-519: Is taken to Mount Olympus by Zeus . This leaves the heroes of the remaining Earth, none of whom remember the original past, to sort out the aftermath of this crisis. Only Psycho-Pirate, who is locked up in Arkham Asylum , remembers the multiverse. After the Anti-Monitor's defeat, it was the Justice League who were forever trapped fighting in Ragnarok. The Justice Society/All-Star Squadron came in to rescue
9804-504: The History of the DC Universe limited series to summarize the DCU's new history. In the post-Crisis history, during the "Crisis" many heroes fought the Anti-Monitor's army. He attempted to collapse the positive universe's past and future into a single point in time to destroy it, leaving only the antimatter universe. Many of DC's characters had their histories rebooted . Wonder Woman's comic
9976-473: The JLA/Avengers crossover he had been working on. He enjoyed working with Wolfman again, and took a leave of absence from The New Teen Titans to draw the series. DC initially did not know Pérez would want to work on it. According to Pérez, he was motivated by the fact that DC did not know if the series was going to be a success. He also wanted "to draw everybody I could get my hands on" and called illustrating
10148-565: 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 ",
10320-498: 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
10492-607: 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
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#173285454977010664-566: The DC Extended Universe and the Marvel Cinematic Universe , said "We look at it as the multiverse. We have our TV universe and our film universe, but they all co-exist. For us, creatively, it's about allowing everyone to make the best possible product, to tell the best story, to do the best world. Everyone has a vision and you really want to let the visions shine through ... It's just a different approach." The storyline inspired
10836-509: 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
11008-599: The Flash and Green Lantern and converted All-American Comics and All Star Comics to Western titles, and Star Spangled Comics to a war title. The publisher also launched such science-fiction titles as Strange Adventures and Mystery in Space . Martin Goodman 's Timely Comics , also known as Atlas, canceled its three formerly high-selling superhero titles starring Captain America (created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby ),
11180-601: The Human Torch , and the Sub-Mariner , briefly reviving the characters in 1954 only to cancel them again shortly thereafter to focus on horror, science fiction, teen humor, romance and Western genres. Romance comics became strongly established, with Prize Comics ' Young Romance and with Young Love , the latter written and drawn by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby; those two titles' popularity led to an explosion of romance comics from many publishers. Dell 's comic books accounted for
11352-616: The Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency held hearings on comic book indecency from April to June 1954. In the wake of these troubles, a group of comics publishers, led by National and Archie, founded the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the Comics Code, intended as "the most stringent code in existence for any communications media". A Comic Code Seal of Approval soon appeared on virtually every comic book carried on newsstands. EC, after experimenting with less controversial comic books, dropped its comics line to focus on
11524-627: 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
11696-571: The Spectre ; the series concludes with Kal-L , Superboy-Prime and Alexander Luthor Jr. defeating the Anti-Monitor and the creation of a single Earth in place of the Multiverse. Crisis on Infinite Earths is noted for its high death count; hundreds of characters died, including DC icons Kara Zor-El (the original Supergirl) and Barry Allen (the Flash of the Silver Age ). The story's events resulted in
11868-479: 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
12040-657: The Yellow Kid . The 196-page, square-bound, black-and-white publication, which also includes introductory text by E. W. Townsend , measured 5 by 7 inches (130 mm × 180 mm) and sold for 50 cents. The neologism "comic book" appears on the back cover. Despite the publication of a series of related Hearst comics soon afterward, the first monthly proto-comic book, Embee Distributing Company's Comic Monthly , did not appear until 1922. Produced in an 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 -by-9-inch (220 mm × 230 mm) format, it reprinted black-and-white newspaper comic strips and lasted
12212-520: The 1960s, DC, and then Marvel, began to include writer and artist credits on the comics that they published. Other notable companies publishing comics during the Silver Age included the American Comics Group (ACG), Charlton , Dell , Gold Key , Harvey Comics , and Tower . Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll were featured, as the anti-authoritarian underground comix made waves in 1968, following
12384-457: The 1970s coincided with the appearance of comic-book specialty stores across North America. These specialty stores were a haven for more distinct voices and stories, but they also marginalized comics in the public eye. Serialized comic stories became longer and more complex, requiring readers to buy more issues to finish a story. In the mid-to-late 1980s, two series published by DC Comics , Batman: The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen , had
12556-542: The 1990s changing the format and distribution of their comic books to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The " minicomics " form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing , arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s, despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small presses. The development of the modern American comic book happened in stages. Publishers had collected comic strips in hardcover book form as early as 1842, with The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck ,
12728-754: The 2019 Arrowverse crossover, also titled " Crisis on Infinite Earths ", with the original date seen in the pilot episode of The Flash having been moved up by five years as a side effect of time travel. The comic book series was adapted as a novel by the original writer, Marv Wolfman. This novelization was then performed as an audio drama marketed as a "Movie in Your Mind" by publisher GraphicAudio. The story serves as inspiration for " Crisis on Infinite Earths ", an Arrowverse crossover event consisting of an episode each of Arrow , The Flash , Supergirl , Legends of Tomorrow and Batwoman . An animated film adaptation, Justice League: Crisis on Infinite Earths ,
12900-515: The 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics , which historians consider the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing". Distribution took place through the Woolworth's department-store chain, though it remains unclear whether it was sold or given away; the cover displays no price, but Goulart refers, either metaphorically or literally, to "sticking
13072-580: The American comic book has been adapted periodically outside the United States, especially in Canada and the United Kingdom . While comics can be the work of a single creator, the labor of creating them is frequently divided between a number of specialists. There may be a separate writer and artist , or there may be separate artists for the characters and backgrounds. Particularly in superhero comic books,
13244-516: 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,
13416-557: 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
13588-563: 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
13760-675: The CCA) stopped publishing crime and horror titles, which was their entire business, and were forced out of the market altogether, turning to magazine publishing instead. By 1960, output had stabilized at about 1,500 releases per year (representing a greater than fifty percent decline since 1952). The dominant comic book genres of the post-CCA 1950s were funny animals, humor, romance , television properties, and Westerns . Detective, fantasy , teen, and war comics were also popular, but adventure, superheroes, and comic strip reprints were in decline, with Famous Funnies seeing its last issue in 1955. In
13932-433: The DC Universe , seeing it as a way to simplify the DCU and attract new readers. The History of the DC Universe ' s title was changed to Crisis on Infinite Earths because its premise, involving the destruction of entire worlds, sounded more like a crisis. Wolfman said when he pitched the series to DC, he realized it was going to be a completely new beginning for the DCU. "I knew up front, and they did too, how big this
14104-400: The Flash on the show, has said he thinks the goal of the series is to reach "Crisis on Infinite Earths": "Obviously we'd have to go, I think 10 years to reach that, so there's a possibility for sure. It'll be fun to get there." The concept of a multiverse has been explored several times throughout the history of the franchise. Talking in 2014, Geoff Johns , when discussing the difference between
14276-460: The Flash, the Justice League's roster was changed, and characters DC acquired from other companies, such as Fawcett Publications and Charlton Comics, were integrated into the DCU. The practice of re-envisioning characters in the new DCU lasted well into 1989, with properties such as Green Lantern , Hawkman , Black Orchid , and the Suicide Squad all being rebooted. The revamp raised sales 22% in
14448-783: 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
14620-459: 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
14792-587: The Modern Horror age. But as of 2009 historians and fans use " Bronze Age " to describe the period of American mainstream comics history that began with the period of concentrated changes to comic books in 1970. Unlike the Golden/Silver Age transition, the Silver/Bronze transition involves many continuing books, making the transition less sharp. The development of the " direct market " distribution system in
14964-732: 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,
15136-511: 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
15308-407: The angsty and irreverent nature of characters like Spider-Man , Hulk , X-Men and Fantastic Four . This was a time of social upheaval, giving birth to a new generation of hip and more counter-cultural youngsters, who found a voice in these books. Because Marvel's books were distributed by its rival, National, from 1957 until 1968 Marvel were restricted to publishing only eight titles a month. This
15480-408: The art may be divided between: The process begins with the writer (often in collaboration with one or more others, who may include the editor and/or the penciller) coming up with a story idea or concept, then working it up into a plot and storyline , finalizing it with a script . After the art is prepared, the dialogue and captions are lettered onto the page from the script, and an editor may have
15652-415: The bandwagon in 1960. In 1961, at the demand of publisher Martin Goodman (who was reacting to a surge in sales of National's newest superhero title The Justice League of America ), writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby created the Fantastic Four for Atlas, which now re-named itself Marvel Comics . With an innovation that changed the comic-book industry, Fantastic Four #1 initiated
15824-512: 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
15996-494: The comic books. An American comic book is also known as a floppy comic . It is typically thin and stapled, unlike traditional books . American comic books are one of the three major comic book industries globally, along with Japanese manga and the Franco-Belgian comic books . The typical size and page count of comics have varied over the decades, generally tending toward smaller formats and fewer pages. Historically,
16168-529: The comic-book debut of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster , the future creators of Superman . The two began their careers with the musketeer swashbuckler "Henri Duval", doing the first two installments before turning it over to others and, under the pseudonyms "Leger and Reuths", they created the supernatural -crimefighter adventure Doctor Occult . In 1938, after Wheeler-Nicholson's partner Harry Donenfeld had ousted him, National Allied editor Vin Sullivan pulled
16340-524: The company "wonderful stepping-stones" for new characters and comics. The series was marketed with the tagline "Worlds will live, worlds will die and nothing will ever be the same". The series began in January 1985 and lasted for twelve issues, ending in December 1985 (issues cover dated April 1985 through March 1986). The close spacing of Crisis on Infinite Earths and Marvel's similar crossover Secret Wars caused some fans to create conspiracy theories about idea theft . According to writer Steve Gerber ,
16512-584: 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
16684-653: 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
16856-442: 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
17028-565: 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
17200-477: The continuity established by decades' worth of stories to weave together a cohesive, metatextual tapestry that both appealed to long-time readers and brought in massive amounts of money". The series' success inspired DC to begin a tradition of "summer crossovers"; some of these include Invasion! (1988–1989), Armageddon 2001 (1991), Zero Hour: Crisis in Time ! (1994), and Identity Crisis (2004), and some mention
17372-432: The countercultural era. Legal issues and paper shortages led to a decline in underground comix output from its 1972 peak. In 1974 the passage of anti-paraphernalia laws in the US led to the closing of most head shops, which throttled underground comix distribution. Its readership also dried up as the hippie movement itself petered out in the mid-1970s. Wizard originally used the phrase "Bronze Age", in 1995, to denote
17544-459: The country. Some cities passed laws banning comic books entirely. In 1954, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham published his book Seduction of the Innocent , where he discussed what he perceived as sadistic and homosexual undertones in horror comics and superhero comics respectively, and singled out EC Comics due to its success as a publisher of these genres. In response to growing public anxiety,
17716-534: 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
17888-468: The crossover. The following comic book issues were labeled as part of the crossover; their covers contained a banner that read "Special Crisis Cross-Over", along with the logo for DC's fiftieth anniversary. The conflicting stories of the DCU are explained as a Multiverse, containing many parallel universes and alternate versions of the characters, with the primary DC continuity referred to as Earth-One. They were created after renegade scientist Krona built
18060-564: The darker tone of some independent publishers such as First Comics , Dark Horse Comics , and (founded in the 1990s) Image Comics . This tendency towards darkness and nihilism was manifested in DC's production of heavily promoted comic book stories such as " A Death in the Family " in the Batman series (in which The Joker brutally murdered Batman's sidekick Robin ), while at Marvel the continuing popularity of
18232-497: 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
18404-471: The early days of comic books, this practice had all but vanished during the 1940s and 1950s. Comic books were produced by comic book companies rather than by individual creators (EC being a notable exception, a company that not only credited its creative teams but also featured creators' biographies). Even comic books by revered and collectible artists like Carl Barks were not known by their creator's name— Disney comics by Barks were signed " Walt Disney ". In
18576-531: The entire DCU being rebooted , dividing the fictional universe's timeline into "pre-Crisis" and "post-Crisis" eras. The series was a bestseller for DC. The story is credited with popularizing the idea of a large-scale crossover in comics. Crisis on Infinite Earths is the first installment in what became known as the Crisis trilogy. It was followed by Infinite Crisis (2005–2006) and Final Crisis (2008–2009). Dark Crisis on Infinite Earths (2022) also served as
18748-500: The events of Crisis on Infinite Earths . The second part of one of DC's later crossovers, Convergence (2015), heavily references the series and sees DC's superheroes travel back to its era. The writers of Convergence all had fun writing stories set during Crisis on Infinite Earths , calling the series an exciting time for DC. The series had an immediate effect on DC, dividing the company's history into two eras: "Pre-Crisis" and "Post-Crisis". Wolfman and Pérez teamed again to produce
18920-444: The final say (but, once ready for printing, it is difficult and expensive to make any major changes), before the comic is sent to the printer. The creative team, the writer and artist(s), may work for a comic book publisher who handles the marketing, advertising, and other logistics. A wholesale distributor, such as Diamond Comic Distributors , the largest in the US, distributes the printed product to retailers. Another aspect of
19092-461: 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
19264-592: The first year, and DC beat Marvel in direct market sales for the first time in August and September 1987. The Man of Steel #1 was the bestselling comic book issue of 1986. Crisis on Infinite Earths has been referenced several times in the various television series that comprise the Arrowverse , starting with the first episode of The Flash which aired in October 2014. It features a newspaper from 2024 that reads "Flash Missing, Vanishes in Crisis". Grant Gustin , who plays
19436-402: 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
19608-506: 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
19780-449: The form originated in 1933, American comic books first gained popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics , which included the debut of the superhero Superman . This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II . After the war, while superheroes were marginalized, the comic book industry rapidly expanded and genres such as horror, crime, science fiction and romance became popular. The 1950s saw
19952-611: The future, and Pariah, constantly witnessing the destruction of worlds, arrives on the doomed Earth-1. Barry Allen of Earth-One encounters the Antimatter wave before being captured by the Anti Monitor. On Earth 1, various heroes attempt to save people from the approaching Anti Matter wave. During WWII, The Monitor's towers appear during a battle which Sgt. Rock , Haunted Tank , and the Losers are fighting together against Nazis. The Monitor
20124-401: The heroes travel back in time to stop the Anti-Monitor, while the villains travel back in time to the ancient planet Oa to prevent Krona from creating the technology necessary for the Anti-Monitor's plan to succeed. The villains fail, and Krona continues his experiment. The Anti-Monitor waits for Alexander Luthor Jr. to reopen the portal between the positive and antimatter universes, capturing
20296-644: The heroes, but a magically empowered Spectre creates an energy overload which shatters space and time. The five Earths merge into a single shared universe, and the superheroes return to the present; only those present at the dawn of time remember the original realities. A cosmically empowered Anti-Monitor attacks again, transporting the new Earth to the antimatter universe and summoning a horde of shadow demons. There are casualties ranging from Dove , Lori Lemaris , Green Arrow of Earth-Two, Prince Ra-Man, Clayface II, Bug-Eyed Bandit , Kole , Huntress of Earth-Two, Robin of Earth-Two, Sunburst, and Ten-Eyed Man . He falls in
20468-567: The inking to Jerry Ordway despite Giordano's objections. The idea for Crisis on Infinite Earths was first noted in the December 1981 issue of The Comics Journal , which mentioned a twelve-part maxiseries scheduled for 1982. The series was announced in Giordano's "Meanwhile..." column DC ran in its titles cover dated June 1984. Giordano warned readers that "odd occurrences" would begin to happen throughout DC's comics. He also clarified it would commemorate DC's fiftieth anniversary and would provide
20640-483: The introduction of the Comics Code Authority in the wake of Senate hearings on juvenile delinquency , which, ignoring the social problems caused by the wars of 1939–45 and 1950–52, sought to blame those problems solely on comics. While there was only a 9% drop in the number of releases between 1952 and 1953, circulation plummeted by an estimated 30–40%. The cause of the decrease is not entirely clear. Television had begun to provide competition with comic books, but there
20812-623: The late 1940s and early 1950s horror and true-crime comics flourished, many containing graphic violence and gore. Due to such content, moral crusaders became concerned with the impact of comics on the youth, and were blaming comic books for everything from poor grades to juvenile delinquency to drug abuse. This perceived indecency resulted in the collection and public burning of comic books in Spencer, West Virginia and Binghamton, New York in 1948, which received national attention and triggered other public burnings by schools and parent groups across
20984-433: The major players in volume of sales. By this point, former big-time players Fawcett and Fiction House had ceased publishing. Circulation peaked in 1952 when 3,161 issues of various comics were published with a total circulation of about one billion copies. After 1952, the number of individual releases dropped every year for the rest of the decade, with the biggest falls occurring in 1955–56. The rapid decline followed
21156-495: 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
21328-461: 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,
21500-482: The multiverse using the Anti-Monitor's remains as a generator. Meanwhile, Superboy-Prime, having become disillusioned with the surviving Earth, engages in a destructive rampage after confronting the modern Superboy, Connor Kent. The battle culminates in the two Superboys colliding with Luthor's multiverse generator, restoring the Earth (with slight alterations to continuity) and recreating the lost multiverse. The conclusion to
21672-416: 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
21844-501: 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
22016-452: The other hand, felt contemporary and when you stack them up against each other, there's one difference that sticks out above anything else: Marvel feels unified." Writer Marv Wolfman became popular among DC's readers for his work on Weird War Tales and The New Teen Titans . George Pérez , who illustrated The New Teen Titans , also began to rise to prominence in this era. In 1984, Pérez entered into an exclusive contract with DC, which
22188-410: 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
22360-403: 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
22532-494: 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
22704-406: 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
22876-559: The process involved in successful comics is the interaction between the readers/fans and the creator(s). Fan art and letters to the editor were commonly printed in the back of the book, until, in the early 21st century, various Internet forums started to replace this tradition. The growth of comic specialty stores helped permit several waves of independently-produced comics, beginning in the mid-1970s. Some early examples of these – generally referred to as "independent" or "alternative" comics – such as Big Apple Comix , continued somewhat in
23048-505: The publication of Robert Crumb 's irregularly published Zap Comix . Frank Stack had published The Adventures of Jesus as far back as 1962, and there had been a trickle of such publications until Crumb's success. What had started as a self-publishing scene soon grew into a minor industry, with Print Mint , Kitchen Sink , Last Gasp and Apex Novelties among the more well-known publishers. These comix were often extremely graphic, and largely distributed in head shops that flourished in
23220-406: The purposes of Crisis on Infinite Earths was to showcase all the characters DC had. The series is infamous for its high death count. Hundreds of characters died; among the most noted was Barry Allen's. Wolfman has said he did not want to kill Allen, but DC ordered him to because it perceived the character as dull. Therefore, he conceived Allen's death—in which he runs through time before vanishing—as
23392-650: The red. That quickly changed, with the book turning a $ 30,000 profit each issue starting with #12. Famous Funnies would eventually run 218 issues, inspire imitators, and largely launch a new mass medium . When the supply of available existing comic strips began to dwindle, early comic books began to include a small amount of new, original material in comic-strip format. Inevitably, a comic book of all-original material, with no comic-strip reprints, debuted. Fledgling publisher Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson founded National Allied Publications, which would evolve into DC Comics , to release New Fun #1 (Feb. 1935). This came out as
23564-410: The rest; this fails when all five Earths enter the limbo universe. Harbinger then recruits heroes from the remaining Earths to lead an assault on the Anti-Monitor in the antimatter universe, using the powers of Alexander Luthor Jr. , the last survivor of Earth-Three , to open a portal between the limbo and antimatter universes. Pariah tracks down the Anti-Monitor at his fortress, and the heroes destroy
23736-438: 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
23908-573: The satirical Mad —a former comic book which was now converted to a magazine format in order to circumvent the Code. DC started a revival in superhero comics in 1956 with the October 1956 revival of its former golden age top-seller The Flash in Showcase #4. Many comics historians peg this as the beginning of the Silver Age of American comic books, although Marvel (at this point still known variously as both Timely and Atlas ) had started reviving some of its old superheroes as early as 1954. The new Flash
24080-428: The series "got virtually no promotion ... How many handouts did you see? How many posters did you see in people's windows? How much information was really distributed to the press and how much was gotten just by individual reporters going to Marv Wolfman and [ Crisis artist] George Pérez?" Elements to set up Crisis on Infinite Earths were put in DC's comics years before the crossover took place; an example of this
24252-401: The series as "a crucial turning point for DC Comics" and credited it with saving the company. Goldstein called Wolfman's idea to simplify the DCU bold and unprecedented, noting the story's exceptional size and saying the story was "unbelievable", if somewhat aged. He also praised Pérez's detailed artwork, saying no other artist could have possibly illustrated it as well as he did and gave the book
24424-438: The series for exploring the entire DCU and felt it was a fitting event for DC's fiftieth anniversary. Nerdist News noted that many of the series' central events—such as the deaths of Supergirl and Barry Allen—have become iconic moments in DC's history. Not all reviewers have been as positive. Chris Sims wrote the series was messy and built awkwardly, describing it as "a textbook definition of style over substance". Sims said it
24596-642: The series has been reprinted in various formats and editions. The idea for the series stemmed from Wolfman's desire to abandon the DC Multiverse depicted in the company's comics—which he thought was unfriendly to readers—and create a single, unified DC Universe (DCU). The foundation of Crisis on Infinite Earths developed through a character called the Monitor , introduced in Wolfman's The New Teen Titans in July 1982 before
24768-491: The series itself started. At the start of Crisis on Infinite Earths , the Anti-Monitor (the Monitor's evil counterpart) is unleashed on the DC Multiverse and begins to destroy the various Earths that it comprises. The Monitor tries to recruit heroes from around the Multiverse but is murdered, while Brainiac collaborates with the villains to conquer the remaining Earths. Eventually, both the heroes and villains are united by
24940-575: The series some of the most fun he ever had. Pérez was excited because not only did he get to draw the Teen Titans again, but also obscure characters he was not familiar with, saying he could possibly have never gotten another chance. Wolfman has said one panel in Crisis on Infinite Earths shows the Marvel Universe being destroyed. When Giordano (the series' initial inker ) had difficulty meeting deadlines while continuing as DC vice president and executive editor, editorial coordinator Pat Bastienne reassigned
25112-469: The series. When Wolfman and Giordano reiterated this in a 1984 meeting, some editors were not pleased; one was so miffed he did not speak for the rest of the meeting. Tie-ins for Crisis on Infinite Earths were published in DC's ongoing series . Unlike the 1991 Marvel crossover storyline The Infinity Gauntlet , where Marvel only published tie-ins in titles that needed a boost in sales, the vast majority of DC's comics featured events that directly tied to
25284-408: The size was derived from folding one sheet of Quarter Imperial paper (15 in × 11 in or 380 mm × 280 mm), to print 4 pages which were each 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 by 11 inches (190 mm × 280 mm). This also meant that the page count had to be some multiple of 4. In recent decades, standard comics have been trimmed at about 6.625 x 10.25 inches. The format of
25456-729: The success of Superman in Action Comics prompted editors at National Comics Publications (the future DC Comics) to request more superheroes for its titles. In response, Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman , who debuted in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939). The period from the late 1930s through roughly the end of the 1940s is referred to by comic book experts as the Golden Age of comic books . It featured extremely large print-runs, with Action Comics and Captain Marvel selling over half
25628-597: 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
25800-465: The team but were outmatched by Surtur. Alan Scott then sacrificed himself by becoming the pawn of Surtur known as the Dread Lantern, leading Surtur to other worlds in exchange for his promise that he will always spare Earth. Despite relatively limited marketing and DC being unsure if the series would be successful, Crisis on Infinite Earths was a bestseller. IGN ' s Hilary Goldstein summarized
25972-433: 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
26144-439: 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
26316-417: The tradition of the earlier underground comics , while others, such as Star Reach , resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre but were published by smaller artist-owned ventures or by a single artist. This so-called " small press " scene (a term derived from the limited quantity of comics printed in each press-run) continued to grow and diversify, with a number of small publishers in
26488-446: The trilogy, Final Crisis , began in May 2008 and ended in January 2009. The series was written by Grant Morrison , with art by J. G. Jones , Carlos Pacheco , Marco Rudy, and Doug Mahnke . In Final Crisis , Darkseid arrives on Earth and begins a conquest to overthrow reality, as part of a plan by Libra to conquer the Multiverse. The Justice League and Green Lantern Corps join forces in
26660-425: The trilogy, the seven-part Infinite Crisis , was written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Phil Jimenez , Pérez, Ivan Reis , and Jerry Ordway . It was published from October 2005 to June 2006, with a number of tie-in issues. In the series, Kal-L, Alexander Luthor, and Superboy-Prime escape from the pocket dimension they were left in at the end of the original series; Luthor, having gone insane, attempts to recreate
26832-458: The various X-Men books led to storylines involving the genocide of superpowered "mutants" in allegorical stories about religious and ethnic persecution. In addition, published formats like the graphic novel and the related trade paperback enabled the comic book to gain some respectability as literature. As a result, these formats are now common in book retail and the collections of US public libraries . Marvel Comics Marvel Comics
27004-472: 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
27176-573: 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
27348-419: 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
27520-405: The years, various writers took liberties creating additional parallel Earths as plot devices and to house characters DC had acquired from other companies, making the DC Multiverse a "convoluted mess". DC's comic book sales were also far below those of their competitor Marvel Comics . According to ComicsAlliance journalist Chris Sims, "the [DC] multiverse . . . felt old-fashioned. . . . Marvel, on
27692-610: 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
27864-408: Was a cloud with a silver lining, and proved the making of Marvel, allowing the company to concentrate its brightest and best talent on a small number of titles, at a time when its rivals were spreading their creative talents very thin across a huge number of monthly titles. The quality of Marvel's product soared in consequence, and sales soared with it. While the creators of comics were given credit in
28036-464: Was also a rise in conservative values with the election in 1952 of Dwight Eisenhower . The Comics Code Authority, a self-censoring body founded to curb the juvenile delinquency alleged to be due to the crime and horror comics, has often been targeted as the culprit, but sales had begun to drop the year before it was founded. The major publishers were not seriously harmed by the drop in sales, but smaller publishers were killed off: EC (the prime target of
28208-463: Was far from the best work of Wolfman and Pérez; however, he still thought it was groundbreaking, saying, "It's the first time in comics history that EVERYTHING was in danger". A novelization of Crisis on Infinite Earths was written by Wolfman and published by iBooks in 2005, with cover art by Pérez and Alex Ross . The book follows the events of the original series; most of the story is presented from Barry Allen's point of view , while parts where he
28380-416: Was going to be," he said. "But, no-one knew how well it would sell, or whether it would sell at all. It was a risk DC was willing to take, because my thoughts were that DC needed a lot of help at that time, and they did too." Wolfman also said he saw it as an attempt to improve DC's reputation for storytelling which many readers at the time saw as old-fashioned. The crossover was fleshed out and coordinated at
28552-482: 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
28724-452: Was later extended one year. Although The New Teen Titans was a major success for DC, the company's comic book sales were still below Marvel's. Wolfman began to attribute this to the DC Multiverse, feeling "The Flash of Two Worlds" had created a "nightmare": it was not reader-friendly for new readers to be able to keep track of and writers struggled with the continuity errors it caused. In The New Teen Titans #21 (July 1982), Wolfman introduced
28896-405: Was not the first large-scale comic book crossover, Crisis on Infinite Earths is generally credited with popularizing the idea. Comics historian Matthew K. Manning wrote that Crisis on Infinite Earths paved way for all future crossovers of similar scale, and Andrew J. Friedenthal said " Crisis showed the two major superhero comic book publishers (DC Comics and Marvel Comics) how they could utilize
29068-454: Was relaunched entirely by Pérez, Wein, and Greg Potter . Superman was first re-envisioned in the limited series The Man of Steel by John Byrne ; his comic was retitled The Adventures of Superman to make way for a new Superman series . Batman was minimally affected by the reboot, and his comic was not relaunched. However, he was still given an updated origin , courtesy of Frank Miller . In addition, Wally West replaced Barry Allen as
29240-408: Was released in three parts during 2024, beginning with Part One on January 9. Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! is a follow-up to Crisis on Infinite Earths , and Identity Crisis also adheres to the continuity changes of Crisis on Infinite Earths and Zero Hour: Crisis in Time! . Crisis on Infinite Earths is the first installment in what became known as the Crisis trilogy. The second part of
29412-496: Was the Monitor's appearance in The New Teen Titans . In a January 3, 1983 memo, Giordano, Wolfman, and Len Wein instructed editors and writers to use the Monitor twice in the coming year but not to show him: "Because this series involves the entire DC Universe we do ask that each Editor and writer cooperate with the project by using a character called The Monitor in their books twice during the next year". This served to set up
29584-475: Was the first DC comic to suggest that the DCU was a part of a multiverse . The DC Multiverse concept was expanded in later years with the DCU having infinite Earths; for example, the Golden Age versions of DC heroes resided on Earth-Two, while DC's Silver Age heroes were from Earth-One. Since "Crisis on Earth-One!" (1963), DC has used the word "Crisis" to describe important crossovers within the DC Multiverse. Over
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