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Guess which comic book company is turning 70? You guessed it, Marvel Comics. 

It happened 70 years ago. A small publishing company known as Timely Comics started printing their first issues. The comics had some characters and stories that we would be familiar with, but overall the types of stories they printed share very little in common with the books Marvel Comics is producing. Yep, that’s right Marvel Comics was started 70 years ago. Marvel has hit the big 7-0, and boy have they done a lot, let’s take a small look back at the history of Marvel.

Marvel Comics wasn’t the company’s original name it was originally titled Timely Comics and didn’t have a lot of super-heroes in the book. It did have the Human Torch, the android created by a scientist, not the current one we know today. Both Namor and Captain America were soon to follow the Human Torch. But the biggest thing to happen to Timely Comics was the hiring of an office assistant from the family of the editor, a man known as Stanley Lieber. We all know him today as Stan Lee.

Stan Lee became the interim-editor in 1941 but it wasn’t until the 1960’s when he and an artist named Jack Kirby launched a book under the Marvel Comics banner. Together they brought “The Fantastic Four” to print. The popularity of these characters paved the way for characters that we know today, Spider-man, Thor, Iron-Man, Ant-Man, the X-men, etc. All of these heroes never had it easy. They all shared some sort of personal dilemma that became a common theme amongst all of Marvel’s characters. Iron Man was an alcoholic; Spider-man was teenager with teenage problems along with his super-hero problems. This tradition still carries on today and has become a staple of all of Marvel’s characters.

This is not an in-depth look at the history of Marvel Comics. You can’t expect me to cover all of the company’s history in this column. Marvel Comics is a big piece of comic’s history in this country. As it rolls into its 70th birthday I can only stand back and marvel (I know bad pun) at what has been accomplished and what is yet to come. Who knew the Human Torch would be the character to kick off the start of this company. Who knew a wise cracking guy in a spider costume would be so popular? Who knew that Stan Lee would still be a great guy? Either way, I’m glad that Marvel is here and still publishing comics. Happy Birthday Marvel Comics!!!