Marvel Comics 1990′s

Marvel earned a great deal of money and recognition 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 the creatively daring though commercially unsuccessful Razorline imprint of superhero comics created by novelist and filmmaker Clive Barker. Yet by the middle of the decade, the industry had slumped, and in December 1996 Marvel filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Marvel suffered a major blow in early 1992, when seven of its most 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—left to form the successful company Image Comics.

Marvel’s logo, circa 1990sIn 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.  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.

Creatively and commercially, the ’90s were dominated by the use of gimmickry to boost sales, such as variant covers, cover enhancements, swimsuit issues. In 1991 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.

Another common Marvel practice of this period was regular company-wide crossovers that threw the universe’s continuity into disarray. In 1996, Marvel had almost all its titles participate in the “Onslaught Saga”, a crossover that allowed Marvel to relaunch some of its flagship characters, such as the Avengers and the Fantastic Four, in the Heroes Reborn universe, in which Marvel defectors (and now Image Comics stars) Jim Lee and Rob Liefeld were given permission to revamp the properties from scratch. After an initial sales bump, sales quickly declined below expected levels, and Marvel discontinued the experiment after a one-year run; the characters soon returned to the Marvel Universe proper. In 1998, the company launched the imprint Marvel Knights, taking place within Marvel continuity; helmed by soon-to-become editor-in-chief Joe Quesada, it featured tough, gritty stories showcasing such characters as the Inhumans, Black Panther and Daredevil.

In 1991 Ronald Perelman, whose company, Andrews Group, had purchased Marvel Comic’s Parent corporation, Marvel Entertainment Group (MEG) in 1986, took the company public in a New York Stock Exchange stock-offering underwritten by Merrill Lynch and First Boston Corporation. Following the rapid rise of this popular stock, Perleman issued a series of junk bonds that he used to acquire other children’s entertainment companies secured by MEG stock. In 1997, Toy Biz and MEG merged 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, Perlmutter helped revitalize the comics line.

Marvel Comics in the New Millennium

With the new millennium, Marvel Comics escaped from bankruptcy and again began diversifying its offerings. In 2001, Marvel withdrew from the Comics Code Authority and established its own Marvel Rating System for comics. The first title from this era to not have the code was X-Force #119 (October 2001).

Marvel also created new imprints, such as MAX (a line intended for mature readers) and Marvel Age (developed for younger audiences). In addition, the company created an alternate universe imprint, Ultimate Marvel, that allowed the company to reboot their major titles by revising and updating its characters to introduce to a new generation. As of 2010[update], Marvel remains a key comics publisher, even as the industry has dwindled to a fraction of its peak size decades earlier.[citation needed] Some of its characters have been turned into successful film franchises, the highest-grossing being the X-Men movie series, starting in 2000, and the Spider-Man series, beginning in 2002.

In a cross-promotion, the November 1, 2006, episode of the CBS soap opera The Guiding Light, titled “She’s a Marvel”, featured 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 an online initiative, announcing Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, a digital archive of over 2,500 back issues available for viewing, for a monthly or annual subscription fee.

In 2009 Marvel Comics closed its Open Submissions Policy, in which the company had accepted unsolicited samples from aspiring comic book artists, saying 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 a deal to acquire Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, with Marvel shareholders to receive $30 and 0.745 Disney shares for each share of Marvel they own.