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101-532: Episodes featured the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man , provided to the Children's Television Workshop free of charge, and was played (always in costume) by puppeteer and dancer Danny Seagren. It premiered during the first show of The Electric Company's fourth season (1974–1975), which was given the production number 391. It predated the pilot film of the series The Amazing Spider-Man by three years, becoming

202-634: 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

303-414: 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

404-604: 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

505-658: A [yawn] select audience, to be sure". A variant of Thumper, an original character, makes a brief visual cameo in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse as a prisoner in the Spider-Society headquarters. A variant of The Wall was also supposed to appear, but was cut along with many other villains and Spider-Man/Woman variants. Spidey Super Stories also appeared as a special vinyl record in the 1970s licensed by Children's Television Workshop to Peter Pan Records . Included on

606-550: A book in German and later quoted by H. Krebs in a notes section in the journal Folk-Lore , also in 1883. His quote is as follows: Some time ago the question was raised how it came that, according to South German still prevailing folk-lore, the Hare is believed by children to lay the Easter-eggs. I venture now to offer a probable answer to it. Originally the hare seems to have been a bird which

707-580: 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

808-443: A bully stole their lunches. The duo dress in black suits and derbies and assault their victims: Conk with a large mallet to the head, Bonk with a boxing glove to the stomach, grabbing their victims' lunches before they can recuperate. With a good Samaritan's (Janina Matthews) help, Spidey uses a peanut butter and banana sandwich to set a trap. From 1974 to 1982, Marvel Comics published a comic book called Spidey Super Stories , which

909-536: 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

1010-453: A chance to star in the show as the villain. A college student (Skip Hinnant) who does not receive cheese on his Big Mac sandwich dons a giant mouse costume and steals cheese from other cheeseburgers and the tops of pizzas. He then abducts the judge of a large cheese contest (Morgan Freeman) and, stealing his clothes, takes his place at the contest, but before he can run off with the grand prize, Spider-Man snares him in his web. A burglar named

1111-494: 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

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1212-505: 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

1313-498: 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

1414-506: 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

1515-510: 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

1616-528: 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

1717-442: 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 ,

1818-561: A live-action Spider-Man) Stories involved the masked superhero foiling mischievous characters who were involved in petty criminal activities, although sometimes the crooks would commit more serious crimes such as assault or larceny. The cast of The Electric Company played the roles of the various characters in each story, with another serving as narrator. In many of these sketches, in keeping with Stan Lee 's writing style, viewers were addressed as "true believers". Unlike other live-action and cartoon productions of Spider-Man , this version of

1919-584: 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

2020-580: 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

2121-465: 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

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2222-525: 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

2323-438: A publication from 1874 German philologist Adolf Holtzmann stated "The Easter Hare is unintelligible to me, but probably the hare was the sacred animal of Ostara ". The connection between Easter and that goddess had been made by Jacob Grimm in his 1835 Deutsche Mythologie . This proposed association was repeated by other authors including Charles Isaac Elton and Charles J. Billson. In 1961 Christina Hole wrote, "The hare

2424-543: 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

2525-474: A routine fly ball. The umpire (Morgan Freeman) is also knocked down. Spidey catches the Wall, but is ejected from the ballpark because spectators are not allowed on the field. The opening screenshot shows the Wall bumping Spidey. Once an ordinary girl until a bully sat on her Easter basket, a woman dressed in an Easter Bunny costume (Judy Graubart) sets out to steal other children's Easter baskets. She plans to disrupt

2626-404: 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

2727-533: 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

2828-560: 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

2929-481: Is a bitter failed comedian. He dresses as legendary William Tell and pesters pedestrians with his bad jokes, tickling his helpless victims with feathers and robbing them when they laugh. Spidey corners the Tickler, but he runs out of web. The Tickler tells Spidey jokes, and Spidey pretends to laugh. He tells more jokes until he finds himself arrested. Conk (Jim Boyd) and Bonk (Luis Avalos) were ordinary third graders until

3030-412: Is a has-been actress who bemoans her inability to find suitable work, whereas in her youth she gained captive audiences. As revenge, she decides to "steal the show"--literally--by grabbing the props and costumes from an auditorium where a dress rehearsal is in progress. Spidey catches Winky before she can move the show too far off-Broadway. However, the cast remembers the former child star and they offer her

3131-513: Is no shred of evidence for this; Bede , the only writer to mention Ēostre , does not link her with any animal". A legend often encountered in contemporary times is that Eostre freed a frozen bird from a tree branch by turning it into a hare. It still continued to lay eggs but, having no use for them anymore and in gratitude to the goddess, gave them away. This has no basis in any authentic, pre-Christian folklore, myth or religion and only appears to date from 1883, first published by K. A. Oberle in

Spidey Super Stories - Misplaced Pages Continue

3232-565: 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 ",

3333-498: 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

3434-951: The Avengers , X-Men , Fantastic Four , and Guardians of 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

3535-564: The Christkind ) and Christmas by bringing gifts to children on the night before a holiday. The custom was first mentioned in Georg Franck von Franckenau 's De ovis paschalibus ("About Easter Eggs") in 1682, referring to a German tradition of an Easter Hare bringing eggs for the children. The hare was a popular motif in medieval church art. In ancient times, it was widely believed (as by Pliny , Plutarch , Philostratus , and Aelian ) that

3636-670: 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

3737-509: 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

3838-570: 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

3939-479: 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

4040-653: The empty tomb of Jesus , from which Jesus was resurrected . Eggs became associated with Easter specifically when eating them was prohibited during the fast of Lent , when believers abstaned from meat and animal products—a practice that continues in certain Christian denominations today, such as the Coptic Orthodox Church , and among Western Christians observing the Daniel Fast . A common practice in England during

4141-482: The "Easter Hare" originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behavior at the start of the season of Eastertide , similar to the "naughty or nice" list made by Santa Claus . As part of the legend, the creature carries colored eggs in its basket, as well as candy, and sometimes toys, to the homes of children. As such, the Easter Bunny again shows similarities to Santa (or

Spidey Super Stories - Misplaced Pages Continue

4242-516: 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,

4343-557: 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

4444-563: 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

4545-542: The Children's Television Workshop reviewed the stories to ensure they were faithful to the Electric Company and Marvel Comics casts, featured age-appropriate content and reading level and gave significant roles to female characters. Spider-Man signature artist John Romita, Sr. was the Marvel editor of the book and drew some of the covers. During the early years, a comic book version of one of The Electric Company Spidey skits

4646-705: The Easter celebrations. Eggs boiled with some flowers change their color, bringing the spring into the homes, and some over time added the custom of decorating the eggs . Many Christians of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Church to this day typically dye their Easter eggs red "in memory of the blood of Christ , shed as at that time of his crucifixion." The Ukrainian art of decorating eggs, known as pysanky . Similar variants of this form of artwork are seen among other eastern and central European cultures. The idea of an egg-giving hare went to

4747-562: 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

4848-471: The Sandman (Luis Avalos) dresses as sleepwalker Wee Willie Winkie . He sedates and robs his victims by sprinkling magic sand on them. The Sandman happens upon a grand gala with nearly the entire cast. He sprinkles sand on everyone. Spidey arrives and investigates a pile of sand and falls asleep. He awakens and tracks down the Sandman, nabbing him by using the Sandman's sand against him. The Tickler (Luis Avalos)

4949-733: The Short Circus, and Pedro and his guard-plant Maurice fighting the Mole Man in "20,000 Feet Under the Ground"; and the group tackling more traditional Marvel Comics villains in "Deadly is the Doctor Called Doom" and "Spidey Versus the Sandman". Due to the lack of a visual presentation, Spidey/Peter Parker would speak with audibly, as voiced by Jim Boyd. However, the album's artwork featured the traditional Spidey-talking technique of having his words in word balloons. Elements such as Spidey's spider-sense and

5050-732: 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,

5151-564: The U.S. in the 18th century. Protestant German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area told their children about the " Osterhase " (sometimes spelled " Oschter Haws " ). Hase means "hare", not rabbit, and in Northwest European folklore the "Easter Bunny" indeed is a hare . According to the legend, only good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and bonnets before Easter. In

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5252-511: 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

5353-502: The annual Easter Egg roll at the White House. Spidey is tipped off and sets a trap that catches her. Mr. Measles (Skip Hinnant), armed with a large bag of measles -causing spots, plans to spread a worldwide epidemic. He infects several people, but Spidey catches him before a large-scale outbreak happens. However, Spidey becomes ill with the measles himself. A half-human, half-bee mutant named The Queen Bee (Hattie Winston) plots to rule

5454-512: 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

5555-442: The comic series ever appeared on "Spidey Super Stories". The theme song that plays at the beginning and end of the shorts was written by Gary William Friedman . The lyrics are as follows: Approximately one dozen "Spidey Super Stories" segments were produced during The Electric Company's 1974–1975 season, with another twelve or so during the 1975–1976 season, and further episodes during the series' final season. A 4-DVD boxed set

5656-584: 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

5757-653: 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

5858-509: The company's characters prior to seeing Spider-Man on The Electric Company . Most of these stories would feature quick origins, usually taking up a single page or less, of both the featured hero and villain. Guest heroes included Iron Man , Captain America , Iceman , Doctor Strange , Spider-Woman , Nova , The Cat and Ms. Marvel . Guest villains included the Green Goblin , the Doctor Doom , Jack O'Lantern , and Thanos . Other stories in

5959-442: 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

6060-565: 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

6161-534: 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

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6262-497: 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

6363-529: The events of the company-wide crossover " Secret Wars " in 2015, a relaunched Marvel universe began in September 2015, called the All-New, All-Different Marvel . Easter Bunny The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare ) is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter , depicted as a rabbit —sometimes dressed with clothes—bringing Easter eggs . Originating among German Lutherans ,

6464-514: 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

6565-479: The first recorded live-action rendition of Spider-Man, and was the first recorded live-action rendition of a Marvel character in any medium since the Captain America serial of 1944. (There was a live stage show travelling the country in 1972/1973, "The Bullwinkle Show", produced by Jay Ward/Fun Time Productions, featuring costumed cartoon characters, including Spider-Man, which was the first entertainment featuring

6666-402: 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

6767-506: 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

6868-446: The hare was a hermaphrodite . The idea that a hare could reproduce without loss of virginity led to an association with the Virgin Mary , with hares sometimes occurring in illuminated manuscripts and Northern European paintings of the Virgin and Christ Child . It may also have been associated with the Holy Trinity , as in the three hares motif. In Christianity , for the celebration of Eastertide, Easter eggs symbolize

6969-427: The hive. The story ends with him still in pursuit of Queen Bee and Fang. Spidey is visiting the Short Circus at their elementary school when a mysterious series of practical jokes occur--music books are filled with jumping snake puppets, chocolate pies made in Home Economics class are swapped with mud, and the model phone in Secretarial Skills is covered in glue. Spidey decides to alert Principal Prescott (Jim Boyd) of

7070-435: The issue would feature regular characters from The Electric Company , such as Easy Reader and detective Fargo North, Decoder, with Spidey as a supporting character; conversely, The Electric Company characters would sometimes appear as supporting characters in the Spidey-centric stories. Supporting characters from other Spider-Man comics made regular appearances as well, such as Peter Parker's girlfriend, Mary Jane Watson , and

7171-538: 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 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

7272-515: The medieval Christian era was for children to go door-to-door begging for eggs on the Saturday before Lent began. People handed out eggs as special treats for children to enjoy prior to the Lenten fast; people then abstained from eggs throughout Lent and could enjoy them once again with the conclusion of Lent at the arrival of Easter Sunday. As a special dish, eggs have been decorated by Christians as part of

7373-495: 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

7474-461: 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,

7575-416: 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

7676-550: 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

7777-512: The other episodes, the Spider-Man segments were edited out to minimize the appearance of the character because of rights issues. Episode 60A, from season five, which featured a Spider-Man sketch as the sketch of the day, was altered drastically from the version that originally aired on television. Another DVD named The Best of the Best of Electric Company , a truncated version of the volume-one boxed set,

7878-410: 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

7979-403: 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

8080-583: The prank wave, and discovers snakes, the missing pies, and a bottle of paste in his office, proving that Prescott is the Prankster. After being snagged in Spidey's web, the principal confesses, explaining that the kids of the school have played a prank on him every day for years, and he wanted them to get a taste of their own medicine. The chastised students agree to stop their own practical joking, only to subject Prescott to another prank. Winky Goodyshoes (Hattie Winston)

8181-494: 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

8282-406: 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

8383-499: The record are two stories from The Electric Company : "Spidey Versus Mr. Measles" and "The Queen Bee". Other stories include Spidey versus an evil toy-wielding criminal called the Jester in "The Last Laugh", The Purple Pirates and Evil MacWeevil in "The Leader of the Pack" (which includes a cameo of Fargo North, Decoder), and Spidey's origin story. Three other stories feature Spidey with members of

8484-438: 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

8585-450: The spider-tracer are used in these stories as well. Marvel Comics Marvel Comics 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

8686-666: The staff of Parker's workplace, the Daily Bugle , most notably publisher and editor J. Jonah Jameson . Marvel parodied Spidey Super Stories in a humorous issue of What If...? For two pages, an alternate universe is shown where Marvel had instead teamed up with the National Endowment of the Arts to produce Spidey Intellectual Stories , where Spider-Man defeats the Mad Thinker by debating philosophy. The Watcher notes that it "is for

8787-597: 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

8888-433: 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

8989-439: 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

9090-520: The victory is bittersweet: a wall got spoiled when Spidey knocks the Spoiler through it. The opening shot cover features the Spoiler leaping at Spidey. Count Dracula (Morgan Freeman) plans to bite the neck of an unsuspecting moviegoer (Judy Graubart). Spidey is able to foil Dracula's plans. At a New York Mets baseball game, a mutated half-human, half-wall creature (Jim Boyd) sneaks up behind outfielder "Gumbo" Grace Ivy (Skip Hinnant) and causes him to miss

9191-519: 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

9292-449: The web-slinging hero did not speak out loud, instead communicating only with word balloons (having a similar role to Clarabell the Clown of Howdy Doody ), in order to encourage young viewers to practice their reading skills. Due to the series' budget limitations, comic book panels were interspersed through each skit in lieu of special effects. Aside from Spider-Man himself, no characters from

9393-573: 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

9494-546: The world. Her underlings are also mutated bee-humans (played by Skip Hinnant and Judy Graubart). She plots to release a deadly bee named Fang, which will sting to death whoever stands in her way. Spidey tracks Queen Bee down to her giant hive; there he webs her aide-de-camp, the Beekeeper (Luis Avalos). Her plans thwarted, "Queenie" releases Fang and then makes her escape...while the other mutated bee-humans sting Spider-Man repeatedly. Spidey, covered with sting marks, eventually escapes

9595-610: 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

9696-453: Was aimed at children ages 6–10. A total of 57 issues were produced, the first 15 of which were written by Jean Thomas (previously writer of Night Nurse ). Jim Salicrup succeeded her as the series writer, and most issues were drawn by Win Mortimer . Thomas and Salicrup remarked that the comic was subject to an exceptionally high level of editorial scrutiny, as staff from both Marvel Comics and

9797-482: 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

9898-547: Was included. A truncated version also appeared in The Electric Company Magazine . In contrast to the live-action segments on The Electric Company , Spidey often appeared out of costume as Peter Parker. Every issue of Spidey Super Stories featured at least one story where Spidey would team up with an established Marvel Comics superhero and/or fight an established Marvel villain. This served to introduce other Marvel characters to new readers who were unfamiliar with

9999-412: Was released by Shout! Factory and Sony BMG Music Entertainment on February 7, 2006, named The Best of Electric Company . It featured 20 episodes from 1971–1977 (D4D 34121), three of which contained Spidey segments. A second 4-DVD boxed set with 20 shows from 1971–1976 was released on November 14, 2006 (82666-31014). Two of the episodes in this boxed set featured Spidey segments; however, in several of

10100-418: Was released on March 7, 2006 (DD 31006). A number of episodes from season 1 (season 4 of The Electric Company ) featured Spidey battling the villain in the screenshot of the comic book cover. Others only had a stock picture of Spidey alone. The first "Spidey Super Stories" segment. Spidey links clues to the Spoiler (Skip Hinnant), a mischievous villain who aims to spoil people's fun. Spidey defeats him, but

10201-522: Was the sacred beast of Eastre (or Ēostre ), a Saxon goddess of Spring and of the dawn." The belief that Ēostre had a hare companion who became the Easter Bunny was popularized when it was presented as fact in the BBC documentary Shadow of the Hare (1993). The Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore however states "nowadays, many writers claim that hares were sacred to the Anglo-Saxon goddess Ēostre, but there

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