true identity: Marvel Comics, taken from the name of the first Timely publication.

Superman was first to introduce the superhero age in 1938, and Goodman wanted to cash in on the popularity of the new genre. Americans were looking for escapism, and Goodman was determined to give it to them.

Once America entered World War II, it was only natural for the comic book industry’s heroes to lend a hand to the effort, enter the services of Captain America. Timely writer Joe Simon and artist Jack Kirby concocted the larger-than-life character out of their intense feelings of patriotism. They quickly put Captain America to work beating up Axis soldiers and even taking on Adolf Hitler himself.

Simon and Kirby departed from Timely late in 1941, but they left the company in the very capable hands of Stanley Lieber, Goodman’s nephew. It was Lieber who took what the duo had started and propelled it to greater heights. He even adopted a “secret identity” of sorts: the pseudonym Stan Lee, which became the name that most people associate with Marvel Comics. To this day, in fact, most of the company’s comic books say “Stan Lee Presents…” above the title on the first page.

Timely eventually became Atlas Comics, and Lee became Goodman’s sole writer, churning out reams of stories in the superhero, science-fiction, western, and monster genres. The comic book industry evolved rapidly during the post-World War II years, only to come to a screeching halt when Congressional hearings during 1954 pointed to comic books as the cause of juvenile delinquency. The industry, desperate to avoid Congressional oversight, adopted a strict content code that forced many publishers to stop producing crime and horror comics, which were popular at the time.

This actually turned out to be a good thing for Atlas. Its first issue of The Fantastic Four, in 1961, ushered in the new name, Marvel Comics Group, and continued to churn out the superhero fare. Lee created the superhero team with Jack Kirby, who had returned to the company, and in the process, the two laid the groundwork for what would become known as “the Marvel way”: over-the-top stories full of colorful superheroes, bombastic villains, and fantastic technology.

Lee became notorious for starting a story in the middle of a huge fight—sometimes between two or more superheroes, with nary a villain in sight—and telling readers “Hold tight, true believers! All will be revealed soon enough!” He signed his editorials “Excelsior!” and encouraged Marvel’s growing legion of fans to join the Merry Marvel Marching Society.

His new stable of characters – such as the X-Men, Spider-Man, the Hulk, the Silver Surfer and others – used vivid, diverse vocabularies and often faced problems that mirrored those of many adolescents of the time. What child couldn’t identify with Peter Parker’s teenage angst or the rebellious attitude of the Fantastic Four’s Johnny Storm?

And when the comic book industry slumped again in the late 1960s, Marvel used its counterculture reputation to pick up older readers. Silver Surfer’s trippy outer space adventures became popular on college campuses. Rolling Stone featured the Hulk on the cover of its Sept. 30, 1971, issue. And Peter Parker joined the student protests at the fictional Empire State University.

In 1972, Martin Goodman, who had sold Marvel to the Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation during the 1960s, retired, and Stan Lee took over the position of publisher. Lee helped Marvel become a brand to be reckoned with as the company cut deals for toys, games, and other merchandise, and its characters made their way into live-action and animated TV shows.

In 1991, Marvel decided to let others in on its success. Ron Perelman, who had purchased the company in 1989, took Marvel Comics public, offering stock in 40 percent of the company. Shares opened in the US$ 14 to 16 range and quickly tripled in value. Marvel later became the first Wall Street company to issue its earnings reports in comic book form. Spider-Man even showed up to ring the opening bell one day.

That summer, Marvel set a record that still stands when it sold 8.2 million copies of the first issue of a new X-Men comic book. The company was flying high, and Perelman envisioned it becoming another Disney, but the comic book industry went through another down cycle, and by 1996, Marvel was faced with a villain it couldn’t defeat: enormous debt. That December the company filed for Chapter 11 (to seek protection from creditors while reorganizing) and investor Carl Icahn stepped in and wrested control from Perelman in a highly publicized power play.

The industry eventually bottomed out, and Marvel entered the new millennium on an upswing after drastically cutting costs. The company recovered from the near bankruptcy, as did its stock price (although it has yet to come close to the previous high), and its motion picture and TV production machine once more rumbled to life. In 1999, Spider-Man even starred in a Broadway-style British musical.

During the summer of 2000, a live-action X-Men movie grossed almost US$ 300 million worldwide and a sequel was immediately put in development. In May 2002, a highly-anticipated Spider-Man film will swing into US theaters, with a deal for a sequel already in place, and two more Marvel films began shooting earlier this year: a Daredevil movie starring Ben Affleck and an Incredible Hulk project directed by Ang Lee (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). To cap off its comeback, the company posted its first profit in a long time for the first quarter of 2002, and expects profitability for the rest of 2002 and well into 2003.

Like many of its superheroes, Marvel Comics is now older and wiser, having learned much about its own limitations during the last few decades. It may never become another Disney, but it has captured the hearts and imaginations of several generations of children worldwide.

Brad Cook is a freelance writer based in Sunnyvale, CA. He has published over 120 articles in a variety of print and online media since 1995.