Lotzman 1

Markets & History: Marvel’s Competition and Brand History

By Alex Lotzman

Comic book characters are an integral part of American society. Marvel Comics is a big

part of this. They are one of the largest comic book companies in the industry and for good

reason. Characters such as Spiderman, The Incredible Hulk, and the Fantastic Four are some of

the most cherished characters of all time in American pop culture. However, they have always

been in competition with others. Their major rival over the past fifty years has been Detective

Comics, better known as DC Comics. DC was initially the biggest comic book company in

America during the 1940s and 1950s until Marvel came along. There have also been other

competitors in the comic book industry with Archie Comics, who have been battling with Marvel

and DC since the 1940s. A newer company named Dark Horse Comics has been giving the other

companies a run for their money when they burst onto the scene in the 1980s.

The battle for supremacy over the comic book market between Marvel and DC also

known as The Big Two, has been going on for over fifty years now. The competition between

Marvel and DC has created innovations throughout the comic book industry. Addressing what

these innovations were is a large part of this discussion on Marvel. Branding is another aspect of

Marvel’s history and it is important to trace the changes in branding Marvel took in order to

compete with DC. Seeing how both Archie and Dark Horse Comics fit into the industry’s history

is also significant since they represent competition of new and old to Marvel. Competition that

Marvel started with DC has improved the industry of comic books and other companies such as

Archie Comics and Dark Horse Comics have made their own impacts by pushing the Big Two to

step up their game.

 Lotzman 2

Although Marvel has competed with DC for over half a century, Marvel appeared much

later in the comic industry. During most of the 1960s, the market was dominated by two comic

companies but instead of Marvel and DC, it was DC and Archie Comics. The reasoning behind

the success of DC’s comics was due to their family-friendly content.1 Characters such as

Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman were very clean and had superpowers which made

them perfect beings. Archie had the same kind of style to their characters with Archie Andrews,

Betty Cooper, and Jughead Jones. These teenage characters were perfect and everything they did

was perfect.2 After some time, readers became bored of these kinds of characters. The fact that

the superheroes and teenagers had no flaws made them unrelatable and thus, created disinterest

and lead to a decline in sales.3 This lead to the injection of Marvel into the comic book industry.

Marvel did not start as a direct competitor to DC and Archie. In fact, it began as an

independent that was distributed through DC. Competition played a great role in the growth of

Marvel. They were seen as the underdog compared to DC and Archie with more relatable

characters and edgier content.4 Characters such as Spider-man, The Fantastic Four, and The

Incredible Hulk brought new life to the comic book industry with their vices and vulnerability.

These two components created a niche for Marvel and industry began to change as a result of it.

The readers wanted characters who were were less godlike and more quirky and relatable.

However, DC was very stubborn in adjusting to the trends Marvel was setting and began to fall

1
Reed Tucker, Slugfest: Inside the Epic Fifty-Year Battle Between Marvel and DC (New York: Da Capo
Press, 2017): 8.
2
Bob Greene, “Opinion: Why We Still Love Archie”, CNN , Sept. 23, 2013. Accessed February 24, 2019.
https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/29/opinion/greene-archie-comics/index.html
3
Reed Tucker, Slugfest, 20.
4
Ibid, 28.
 Lotzman 3

behind.5 DC in particular suffered more than Archie since Archie was a comic of a different

genre and therefore, not in direct competition with Marvel.

The late 1950s and early 1960s allowed for DC to remain the same until absolutely

necessary. With a lack of competition, and as time grew on, readers saw little innovation of their

comics which caused the industry to become stale. Another reason behind the faltering of DC to

Marvel was DC’s failure to actually follow the content their competitors were making.6 This lead

to DC garnering an image of an out of touch, old timey comic company while Marvel was the

trendy and cool comic company that related and understood what readers wanted. Ever since the

late 1960s this is was the state of comics. DC and Marvel became The Big Two with DC and

Marvel taking turns playing copy cat with one another. However, the difference between this

duopoly and the one of the 1950s and early 1960s is that the Marvel vs DC rivalry brought out

the best in both companies.7

Going forward, each comic companies’ brand became an integral part of the comic

industry. It began to really start with the establishment of comic conventions. These began in the

1960s and would create the perfect breeding ground for fans express themselves and to take sides

between Marvel and DC.8 People felt they needed to decide which comic book company was

best by becoming a Marvel reader or a DC reader.9 Thus, conventions played a large role in

establishing the brands of both Marvel and DC as well as creating deeper connections with their

customers which in turn, drove each company to be the best.

5
Ibid, 43.
6
Ibid, 52.
7
Ibid, 53.
8
Ibid, 57.
9
Ibid, 66.
 Lotzman 4

Branding would help maintain the success of Marvel going into the 1970s. At this point,

Marvel had taken a commanding lead over DC in every aspect of sales. However, the

competition between the two was not enough to keep readers entertained.10 Building their brands

was the best way of responding to this decline in readership, and what better way to expand

Marvel’s brand than collaboration. Collaboration opened up Marvel as well as DC to expand

their brands with crossovers between movie characters, and even between Marvel and DC

characters. The best example of this was found in the first issue of Superman vs The Amazing

Spider-man in 1976. The issue was a moderate success, but the importance of this comic series

was that it benefitted the brand of both Marvel and DC.11 There had never been a crossover of

this magnitude before in comics and it changed the way the industry could operate. It helped

bring old and new fans back into comics which both Marvel and DC would use to further their

brands in the coming decades.

Going into the 1980s, the Big Two of Marvel and DC would see a new competitor

emerge to rival their grip on the comic book industry. That competitor is Dark Horse Comics.

Dark Horse began in 1986 as a small independent comic book company that was made famous

thanks to their adaptation of famous film franchises into comics such as The Terminator and

Alien.12 Dark Horse’s work in adapting films into comics created a role for them in the comic

industry that allowed for them to become a direct challenger to both Marvel as well as DC. 13 It

drew people who had never read comics before because of the brand recognition of the Alien and

Terminator films. The comics took the collaboration seen before with Marvel and DC and took it

10
Ibid, 87.
11
Ibid, 93.
12
Kerry Gough. “Translation Creativity and Alien Econ(c)omics: From Hollywoood Blockbuster to Dark
Horse Comic Book” In Film and Comic Books edited by Gordon Ian, Mark Jancovich, and Matthew P.
McAllister (Oxford: University Press of Mississippi, 2007): 39.
13
Ibid, 44.
 Lotzman 5

to another level. The Alien and Terminator served as free advertising for both companies

involved which were Dark Horse and Twentieth Century Fox, the creator of these films. This

collaboration would result in Dark Horse ultimately changing the landscape of comics with the

specialization in licensing films into comics.14

The increase in competition pushed Marvel and DC to step their game up. DC fired the

first shot with the emergence adapting their characters into films. DC was light years ahead of

Marvel and Dark Horse when it came to this.15 With the release of Superman in 1978 and

Batman in 1989, DC had discovered two things that would change the comic book industry

forever. One being that there was a large audience that would pay to go see comic book

characters in movies. The other, and most important, merchandising. While Dark Horse may

have opened the door to licensing with comic adaptations, DC had created their own advantage.

The merchandising campaign of the 1989 Batman movie saw that comics could make major

profits with DC grossing over $750 million in merchandising sales.16 After the release of

Batman, Dark Horse comics recognized the potential money there was to be made in movies by

adapting their characters into films such as The Mask (1994) and Timecop (1994).17

Marvel saw what Dark Horse and DC were doing and decided to carve their own path.18

Rather than creating film adaptations, Marvel saw the best course of action for their company

and their brand was to increase the quantity and price of their comics. Changing the price of their

comics from 75 cents to $1 and doubling down on the amount of mainline and spin off comics

they could produce, Marvel saw their profits exponentially increase by the early 1990s. 19 The

14
Ibid, 48.
15
Reed Tucker, Slugfest, 162.
16
Ibid, 163.
17
Kerry Gough, “Translation Creativity and Alien Econ(c)omics”, 61.
18
Reed Tucker, Slugfest, 165.
19
Ibid, 166.
 Lotzman 6

comic industry greatly shifted due to the success that Marvel was having. This would have

negative repercussions on the industry as a whole since comic companies were partaking in this

practice of quantity of quality.20 It was great from a short term standpoint, but it put the long

term existence of Marvel and DC in jeopardy.

The 1990s were not a kind to the comic book industry and especially to Marvel. While

the company in the early 90s saw a boost in revenue as mentioned before, the success would not

last long.21 The comic book industry, like many other industries, faced booms and busts in its

history. With comics, peak decades were the 60s and 80 which were followed by busts in the 70s

and 90s. The 90s saw the biggest bust in the industries history as sales reached a radical decline

as seen in Figure 1.4.22 The decade plagued Marvel so bad that it had to file bankruptcy in

1996.23 As shocking as it was to hear that the industry’s biggest comic book company had to

close shop, there were signs that lead to their bitter defeat.

One of the biggest mistakes Marvel made was purchasing The Heroes World in an

attempt to increase their profits and the popularity of their brand. Heroes World was distribution

company that was bought by Marvel in 1994 and was the third largest distributor of comics in

the United States at the time.24 The buyout altered how the comic book industry operated.

Before, comic book shops around the country had the choice of distributors that sold Marvel

comics. Now that Marvel had made The Heroes World as their exclusive distributor, it meant

that Marvel could charge comic book stores whatever price Marvel wanted.25 Ultimately, the

buyout backfired and did major harm to Marvel’s brand as the move came off as an forceful

20
Ibid, 177.
21
Ibid, 180.
22
Ibid, 182.
23
Ibid.
24
Ibid, 185.
25
Ibid, 191.
 Lotzman 7

attempt to outdo their competitors in an greedy way. To make matters worse, DC made an

exclusive deal Diamond Comic Distributors in 1995. Since Marvel now had no distributor, it had

no choice but to work with Diamond. The DC-Diamond deal destroyed any competing

distribution companies of the time which created a monopoly for Diamond in the distribution of

comics.26 The control of Diamond over the distribution of comics to this day has been bad for

both producers and consumers in the comic book market such as Archie and Dark Horse with

Marvel taking a greatest hit of them all.27

The failure that was the acquirement of The Heroes World Distribution Company was the

major contributor to the bankruptcy of Marvel, but there were other factors in play. More

competition caused for a large decline in sales for Marvel. While competition is typically good

for an industry such as comics, there had been more serious competition in the 1990s than ever

before. It was no longer just Marvel and DC as the kings of comics. As seen in both Figures 1.3

and 1.4, Archie Comics was still around despite remaining in third place for much of the last 40

years and farther behind by the 1990s.28 However, newer comic companies from the 1980s and

90s such as Dark Horse, Image, and Viz Comics all became major players in the comic game as

seen in Figure 1.2.29 The amount of competition reached new heights which meant that Marvel

as well as DC losing a good amount of their sales to these new companies and this had a large

role in the later bankruptcy of Marvel.

When Marvel declared bankruptcy in 1996, this was not the end for the company. In fact,

Marvel continued to publish even while going through rough times. The massive debt that

26
Ibid, 195.
27
http://zak-site.com/Great-American-Novel/comic_sales.html ;
https://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/1997.html
28
https://www.comichron.com/vitalstatistics/marketsharesyearly.html ;
https://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/1997.html
29
https://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/1997.html
 Lotzman 8

Marvel had amounted however limited their ability to function as a company especially with the

changes that were made after Marvel was bought by a new owner later in 1996.30 Due to this

limited capacity, other companies such as DC and Dark Horse got larger percentages as shown in

Figure 1.5.31 Within four years of Marvel’s bankruptcy, DC had finally eclipsed Marvel’s comic

sales for the first time in nearly 50 years. Despite this achievement, DC went into the 2000s by

not taking the chance to keep Marvel down for good. In fact, DC made the decision of doing

what it had done the last time they were at the top which was maintain the status quo.32 The

comic book industry needed the competition Marvel was giving to DC. Without a serious threat,

it allowed for DC to take a breather rather than continue to reinvent itself like it had been the past

few decades.

Conclusion

Although Marvel had to rebuild itself after the major hit from bankruptcy, it only took a

few years into the 2000s for the comic giant to get back on its feet. The company would finally

decide to do what DC had done in the 70s and 80s and that was to invest into adapting their

characters onto the big screen. The success of movie franchises such as Blade (1998-2004),

Spiderman (2002-2007), and X-Men (2000-Present) proved that Marvel could compete with DC

in the movie industry as seen in Figure 1.6. However, Marvel would be purchased by Disney in

2009. This deal would change the landscape of movies and comics with the establishment of the

Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008.33 Comic universes had existed with both Marvel, DC, and

others partaking in them, but never before had there been a comic book universe in film. This

30
Tucker Reed, Slugfest, 199.
31
https://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2000.html
32
Tucker Reed, Slugfest, 193.
33
Robert Reiss, “How Marvel Became a Business Superhero.” Forbes, 2010, Accessed February
10, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/2010/02/01/peter-cuneo-marvel-leadership-managing-
turnaround.html#2a203ca76fa1
 Lotzman 9

would propel Marvel back to the top where we see them at the end of the 2010s. The success of

Marvel in film would allow the company to extend its brand into new forms of merchandising

and tie ins. This would include advertisements with companies such as Ford and Coca Cola as

well as adaptations of their characters to YouTube and video games.34 Licensing in essence was

what saved Marvel from closing shop and would go on to drive their success for the 2000s and

2010s.

Competition that Marvel started with DC has improved the industry of comic books.

Branding was an important aspect of comic companies as well. The 1960s saw Marvel overtake

previous leaders of comics DC and Archie Comics and became the trend setter of the industry

with its younger talent and relatable characters and with the popularity of comic conventions

created a space for Marvel and DC to extend their brands. The 1970s brought Marvel and DC

together in order to maintain their success and proved to be an effective way of expanding the

brand of Marvel as well as DC in order to reach new audiences. The 1980s and 90s revealed the

potential of new competition with Dark Horse, Image, and Viz Comics as well as the potential in

ties in with movies and comics. The 1990s proved to be rock bottom for Marvel and their brand

as the misstep with purchasing The Heroes World and too much competition led to the

bankruptcy of Marvel. In short, Marvel has made a tremendous impact on the comic book

industry. The continued rivalry between Marvel and DC shows thats competition is necessary for

the industry to survive and would not be the same without them.

34
Jeff Beer, “Heroes for Hire: How Brand Marketing Works in the Marvel Cinematic Universe,”
2017, Accessed February 9, 2019. ; https://www.fastcompany.com/40404757/brand-marketing-in-the-
marvel-universe ; Ben Kendrick, “Why the DC vs. Marvel Rivalry is Good for Superhero
Movies.” 2015, Accessed February 9, 2019. https://screenrant.com/dc-vs-marvel-movie-rivalry-
debate/
 Lotzman 10

Figures

Figure 1.1
 Lotzman 11

(Top 10 Best Selling Comics of 1968 by comichron.com)

Figure 1.2

(Chart of comic sales between 1950 and 1987 by zak-site.com)

Figure 1.3 Figure 1.4

 Lotzman 12

(Left: Market Shares in 1997 by Chromicron.com, Right: Comic Shares Chart by

comichron.com)

Figure 1.5
 Lotzman 13

(Market Shares in 2000 by chromicron.com)

Figure 1.6
 Lotzman 14

(Chart of box office sales of both Marvel and DC films between 2004 and 2012 created by

dayoneperspective.com; Marvel = Red, DC = Blue)

Bibliography
 Lotzman 15

Beer, Jeff. 2017. “Heroes for Hire: How Brand Marketing Works in the Marvel Cinematic

Universe.” Accessed February 9, 2019. https://www.fastcompany.com/40404757/brand-

marketing-in-the-marvel-universe

Cramer, Johnathon. 2017. “Marvel vs. DC: A Case Study.” Accessed February 9, 2019.

https://dayoneperspective.com/marvel-vs-dc-c90d56b982f8

Gough, Kerry. “Translation Creativity and Alien Econ(c)omics: From Hollywoood Blockbuster

to Dark Horse Comic Book” In Film and Comic Books edited by Gordon Ian, Mark Jancovich,

and Matthew P. McAllister (Oxford: University Press of Mississippi, 2007): 37-63.

http://www.jstor.org.proxy.library.cpp.edu/stable/j.ctt2tvg67.6.

Greene, Bob. “Why We Still Love Archie.” CNN. 2013. Accessed February 18, 2019.

https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/29/opinion/greene-archie-comics/index.html

Kendrick, Ben. 2015. “Why the DC vs. Marvel Rivalry is Good for Superhero Movies.”

Accessed February 9, 2019. https://screenrant.com/dc-vs-marvel-movie-rivalry-debate/

Tucker, Reed. Slugfest: Inside the Epic, 50-Year Battle Between Marvel and DC. Cambridge: Da

Capo Press, 2017.

Reiss, Robert. “How Marvel Became a Business Superhero.” Forbes. 2010. Accessed February

10, 2019. https://www.forbes.com/2010/02/01/peter-cuneo-marvel-leadership-managing-

turnaround.html#a27ccb96fa19

“Yearly Comic Sales 1968.” Comichron. Accessed February 10, 2019.

https://www.comichron.com/yearlycomicssales/postaldata/1968.html

“Monthly Comic Sales 1997.” Comichron. Accessed February 10, 2019.

https://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/1997.html (stats 1997)

 Lotzman 16

“Monthly Comic Sales 2000.” Comichron. Accessed February 10, 2019.

https://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2000.html (stats 2000)

“Comics Publisher Market Shares By Year, 1991-Present.” Comichron. Accessed February 10,

2019.

https://www.comichron.com/vitalstatistics/marketsharesyearly.html

“Marvel and DC Sales Figures.” Zak-Site.com. Accessed February 16, 2019.

http://zak-site.com/Great-American-Novel/comic_sales.html#better_numbers