There was a special on yesterday about the history of Marvel Comics.

It was good. Fun and educational.

One thing I learned was that comics used to be blamed for youth delinquency. Just like movies and video games today. I suppose something in popular culture is always going to be responsible for youthful delinquency. So comics had some sort of approval board.

The second thing I learned was that Stan Lee was the verge of quitting the comics business when he created the Fantastic Four. He didn’t like what he was creating. I think the movie even said that he was ashamed of working in comics and that makes no sense at all. So good wife advised him to write the comics of his dreams, something he would want to read. So the Fantastic Four was born.

The third thing I learned was that once upon a time (after Stan Lee) Marvel Comics was bankrupt. Somehow they went from bankruptcy to creating Marvel Studios and I’m not clear on how that happened. I mean, a movie studio is expensive, right?

I could have wished they spent more time on the darker superheroes period in the eighties, on their first venture into TV. Apparently the first Marvel TV shows did not do well. I don’t know anything about that. I loved the Spiderman and Fantastic Four cartoons. I really loved X-Men, too. Really. And I first loved them on TV.

All in all, a good show. Even if I’ve never actually read a Marvel comic.