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Marvel Of Comics : Marvel Comics

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Marvel Comics
Luke Gerrard
Sam Hojat
Jimmy Mick
John Seibert
Andrew Cox Introduction
At the beginning of the 20th century, comic books emerged as a popular entertainment medium for the American public. Though initially composed of many different genres, American comic books would come to be dominated by the superhero genre. Today, the comic book industry is dominated by two companies: DC Comics and Marvel Comics.
Though DC Comics was arguably the progenitor of the superhero genre by creating Superman and Batman, Marvel Comics would refine the genre through innovations in storytelling and art in the 1960s, publishing titles such as The Avengers, X-Men, Fantastic Four, and, most notably, Spider-Man. As time progressed, however, the comic industry changed. Readers became older and a collector’s submarket emerged. Marvel attempted to take advantage of this by expanding into the trading card and distribution business, but the expansion was ill-conceived and this, in addition to other market pressures, caused Marvel to declare bankruptcy in 1996. Marvel emerged from the crisis wiser. After merging with Toy Biz, Marvel began licensing more of its properties out to Hollywood, beginning with Blade in 1996 and followed up with X-Men and Spider-Man in the early 2000s. Going strong in 2009 with the smash hit success of Iron Man, Marvel was bought out by Disney at the end of 2009.
Industry Analysis and Its Implications The comic industry has been around for over a century and

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