Marvelman Family

After being forced to create Marvelman and Young Marvelman as replacements for Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jr. respectively as a result of DC Comics' legal action against Fawcett Publications in 1954, publisher L. Miller & Son had seen their superhero sales go from strength to strength,[1] with both characters running in successful weekly comics and growing fan clubs.[2] In order to further exploit the success Miller added a third monthly title to their portfolio, under the name Marvelman Family.[3][4] Mick Anglo's Gower Street Studios were again engaged to provide the contents for the new title,[5] with Don Lawrence eventually providing most of the artwork for the title[6] but leaving shortly before its cancellation after a disagreement with Anglo.[7]

Marvelman and Young Marvelman were joined in the lead strip of Marvelman Family by a third superpowered character. While the Marvel Family the characters were based on had featured the female Mary Marvel as a third member, the new addition was another male in the form of Kid Marvelman[8] - recently introduced in Marvelman #102, ahead of a stint as a back-up feature in that magazine building up to the publication of Marvelman Family.[9][10] Both Alan Moore[11] and Denis Gifford[12] would later speculate that this was due to the book's target audience of young boys being uninterested in a female character.

Unlike Marvelman and Young Marvelman, Marvelman Family was a monthly title.[1] However, it used the same dimensions as its weekly relatives - and was actually a penny cheaper at 6d an issue. Despite being monthly no editions were released in December or January for the three years it was published, meaning a total of 30 issues over 36 months.[5]

Marvelman Family was short-lived compared to its companion titles, as by 1959 the ban on imported American comics that had allowed Miller's publications to prosper was lifted, while the title faced increased competition from the anthology-style weekly comics of rivals Fleetway Publications and DC Thomson.[13][14] With sales falling, the November 1959 issue was the title's last.[5] While Marvelman and Young Marvelman would continue to have adventures in their respective comics, the cancellation of Marvelman Family effectively ended Kid Marvelman's adventures until the 1982 revival. While the Marvelman Family name was briefly revived for a 1961 annual the team was only featured in a single story, a reprint from one of the monthly comics.[5]

Each issue featured three strips - one starring all three characters and one solo strip apiece for Marvelman and Young Marvelman.[13] No clear rationale was provided for why Marvelman would decide to round up his younger comrades for particular crises and not for his adventures in his own weekly comic. Among the threats the Family battled against were Garrer and his army of time-travelling renegades,[15] a combined alliance of Marvelman's arch-enemy Doctor Gargunza and his nephew, Young Marvelman rogue Young Gargunza,[16] the King of Vegetableland[17] invaders from the planet Vardica,[18] would-be dictator Professor Batts and his speech-scramber,[19] a crime boss intent on sinking Pacific City below the ocean,[20] the cruel, slave-driving King Snop of Atlantis (which the story revealed would eventually become Australia),[21][22] an attempt by Gargunza to declare himself King of the Universe,[23] cruel 14th century knight Simon de Carton (and clearing the name of Amadis of Gaul in the process),[24] a monster accidentally collected from the planet Droon[25] and Professor Wosmine's shrinking ray[26]

• Marvelman Family at the Grand Comics Database
• Marvelman Family Annual at the Grand Comics Database