Context: Regulation/Institution

In 1961, Stanley Martin Lieber, closing in on 40, working for Management Company magazine. Writing corny lines for “Golfers anonymous”, not using his real name, signed them Stan Lee. A golf game between Martin Goodman and Jack Liebowitz (rival publisher of DC comics) told Stan Lee of a popular comic publication which had been a big hit consisting of “The Justice League” Characters i.e. Wonderwoman, Superman, Batman, Green Lantern. He gave Stan Lee a mandate to steal his idea and create a team of superheroes. This is where The Fantastic Four concept was created. (Marvel Comics, 2013)

The success of the first issue of The Fantastic Four, and first Marvel comic ever to be distributed in 1961, came from the distinct personalities Stan Lee had created within the characters with “The Thing” being described as “a heavy – not really a good guy” of whom could go rogue any second. This was a strong juxtaposition from the patriotic upstanding characters of the DC comics ‘Justice League’ such as the Green Lantern.

A main popular contender to the rival DC comics was X-Men, which again was not based on patriotic characters, but a “gang of ostracised mutant schoolchildren”. The Marvel comics creations are based on a variety of phantasmagoria dimensions of which are explored by both mutant/superhero characters as well as the more mortal choices.

“There are stories that can be told in the modern idiom that simply would not have been possible under the commercial and standards considerations of those formative years,”  said Marvel Senior VP - Executive Editor Tom Brevoort.(marvel.com, 2014)

Even after the growing success of the comic industry which sat in Stan Lee’s hands, the industry was still subject to cyclical downturns. What soon turned into a new decade, the 1970s saw in a new generation of creators. Being previous admirers of the growing franchise, they continued to develop the company as it changed hands from Goodman, however placing Lee in charge, giving Lee the scope he needed to pursue TV and Film deals to try and break from the precipitous industry he was currently involved in.