Feb 9, 2025
The Fantastic Four by Jim Lee with inks by Scott Williams from the cover of Fantastic Four #1 (1996)
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The Fantastic Four by Jim Lee with inks by Scott Williams from the cover of Fantastic Four #1 (1996)
The X-Men by Art Adams in a promotional poster from Chef Boyardee (1996)
X-Men Danger Room Battle Archives TPB featuring dazzling cover art by Alan Davis with inks by Mark Farmer (1996)
Venom: Carnage Unleashed TPB cover by Mark Texeira (1996)
Cyclops and Gambit by Joe Madureira with inks by Alex Gardner from the cover of Wizard #58 (1996)
Marvel house ad for the four-part Revelations story in which Peter Parker returns following the Clone Saga as the one true Spider-Man (1996)
Today marks the 30th anniversary of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc.'s initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. Marvel issued 4.2 million shares of common stock at $16.50 per share in a $69 million offering that valued the total company at approximately $240 million. The IPO would drive the company to chase accelerated growth - supercharging its comic publishing initiatives and aggressively pursuing licensing deals in trading cards, toys, television and film. The pursuit of growth would also lead to a series of disastrous acquisitions that would burden the company with $1.7 billion of debt and drive Marvel to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1996. Like a phoenix from the ashes, Marvel emerged from bankruptcy in 1998 and was ultimately acquired by Disney in 2009 for $4 billion. As they say, the rest is history!
Steve Rogers as Captain America by Rob Liefeld from a promo piece for Heroes Reborn (1996)