Age: 84yrs (Died June 6^th 1992)

Birth Place: Brooklyn, New York, USA

Industry: Publishing

Biggest Hold Back: Finances and Homelessness

Net Worth: $125 million

Company Website: www.marvel.com

During the 1920s Martin Goodman, was homeless, walking around New York City, without money or shelter, he would often stay in “hobo camps”. His luck changed when he managed to convince/land a job with a publishing company as a salesperson. He enjoyed his work but wanted more, he wanted to be a publisher not a pen pusher. He and his new found friends Louis Silberkleit and Maurice Coyne, started the Columbia Publications Company. Goodman decided to leave in 1932 as he wanted to work truly for himself with no one to push him around. Then in the same year, after borrowing some money for capital, he started the company Western Fiction Publishing. His very first publication was the Western Supernovel Magazine, which was published in 1933. However after the first copy had gone out he decided to change the name to the Complete Western Book Magazine, hoping to attract more buyers.

Goodman decided to try and use a strategy to gain more customers, he did this by using various corporate names to brand his publications one of them being the Marvel Science Stories. In 1939 after many failed attempts at gaining the following he desired he created a comic book in a bid to jump on the new trend of publications. He named the test book Marvel Comics. The first ever copy featured the human torch and the Sub-Mariner. He quickly sold 80,000 copies his largest quantity to date. He was amazed by the sudden rush just for a comic book, he created more characters and with his second serving of the comic, he sold over 800,000 copies! Goodman carried on creating comic book hearos and characters for another 40yrs. At the time of his death in 1992 he was worth an estimated $125 million.