Let’s Look At T he C ase of Marvel

• Comic Book

• Moviemaking – Marvel Studio

• Comic Book

Marvel originally was a comic book - only firm. Marvel has seen a cast of heroes, villains, and events that rival anything found in its comic books. Over a few decades, Marvel created over 8,000 characters in what became arguably an American version of Homer’s The Odyssey and The Iliad . Most of Marvel’s characters start as ordinary people and are transformed, oftentimes by accident, into reluctant superheroes. During the 1940s, the comic book industry thrived, filling the entertainment space. By the end of 1965, Marvel circulated 35 million comic books per year and inspired 500 fan letters per day. By 1967 Marvel sold six million comic books per month. Marvel’s flagship comic book business produced direct revenue and vast intangible assets: intellectual property, decades of characters, storylines, brand, customer goodwill, and institutional knowledge about how to weave its IP into great stories. The overall comic book market was estimated to be valued at just under $300 million in 1998.