Marvel Comics: The Mid to Late '60s
Daredevil, New Talent, and the Silver Surfer Join Marvel's Rise
Aug 25, 2008
Marvel Comics was doing extremely well by the spring of 1964. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had created a stable of characters that seemed to grow in popularity daily. Never one to rest on his achievements (and with publisher Martin Goodman still following his philosophy of flooding the market with whatever sells) Stan continued to craft new and different heroes for the Marvel Universe.
The Man Without Fear Arrives
One common thread that was quickly becoming apparent among the Marvel characters was that they each had some sort of adversity in their life that they had to overcome. Stan used this trope to make them seem more realistic. So, when he decided to craft his next hero he wanted to give him the hardest of challenges to overcome. Thus he created Daredevil, the world’s first blind superhero.
The debut issue of Daredevil did more than just introduce a new character; though, it helped Stan to lure comics veteran and creator of the Sub-Mariner Bill Everett back to Marvel. Everett began an influx of new creative talent that would help Lee and Kirby keep their universe fresh.
Pairing Up and Slimming Down
Marvel had so many successful characters by this point that the eight titles a month distribution cap their distributor and rival, DC Comics, had placed on them began to chaff. Lee’s solution was to pair characters up, dividing books like Tales of Suspense and Strange Tales between two heroes. The idea worked well, allowing the double dose of star power in each issue to attract greater and more diverse fans.
Marvel began to hire new artists, bringing in such talents as John Buscema, Gene Colan, and John Romita. This influx of talent allowed Jack Kirby to concentrate on the three books he most wanted to draw. He chose to do the stories of his creation Captain America in Tales of Suspense, Fantastic Four, and Thor. The result was Kirby growing as an artist to even greater levels and those three books growing with him.
Stan Gets a Hand
Like Jack Kirby, Stan Lee had been doing almost all of the books that Marvel was producing. He had tried a variety of secondary writers, but none seemed to have what it took. Then in 1965 a young, 25 year old, writer by the name of Roy Thomas came to Marvel.
Thomas was a new breed in comics, because he had grown up reading them. He had a genuine affection for the characters whose stories he wrote, and it showed. Soon Stan had the luxury of leaving the writing chores on a book to a man he knew would do him proud.
And There Shall Come a Surfer
When Fantastic Four #48 hit the stands Marvel changed the face of the comic book once again. The comic introduced Galactus, a near omnipotent being whose amoral existence required him to feed on the energies of entire planets. The character was on such a cosmic level that it introduced an entirely new and more philosophical element to comic books. The space ships and green men of old gave way before the near godlike menace of Galactus.
While the story of Galactus came from the mind of Stan Lee it was the minor character that Jack Kirby added who ended up being the most important. Lee had given Kirby the basic plot for the story, but when he received Jack’s art there was an odd silver man on a flying surfboard.
Kirby explained that he felt a being like Galactus would have a herald, and Lee was so struck by Kirby’s art that he decided to make the character an outlet for philosophical wonderings. The character, the Silver Surfer, would go on to his own book, one that met with little commercial success, but he would provide an entirely new and more mature voice in comics.
Eight Is Not Enough
Marvel was producing the top selling books in the industry by 1968 and the cry was going out for more. With sales of around 50,000,000 copies annually Marvel finally had the commercial status to renegotiate its distribution deal with DC Comics. With the publication cap lifted, Stan gave all of his paired up superheroes books of their own.
Marvel had never seen a boom like it was experiencing, and the future seemed like it would be even better.
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Marvel Comics: The End Crash of the '60s
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