In 1998, Marvel Comics was not in the best of shape but was starting to look better. Even if the Heroes Reborn publishing initiative had not been the expected success, as it was an expensive affair, the idea of contracting exterior talents to package comics for the company was still explored. This time, though, Marvel president Joe Calamari wanted to do it at a reasonable cost. He consulted Gareb Shamus (Wizard magazine publisher), who recommended his two friends, Joe Quesada and Jimmy Palmiotti.
At the time, the two men were the founders of the independent comic book publisher Event Comics (Ash, Painkiller Jane…) and took the contract as a way to make money for their company and try to promote their books by association with the popular Marvel Comics characters. Unlike what Image Comics had to do with Heroes Reborn, their deal was not to relaunch some of the biggest comics of the company but to take over some of the weakest and try to save them. And that’s how Marvel Knights came to be.
The Original Marvel Knights
When it all started, Quesada and Palmiotti had to negotiate with Marvel Comics to determine which series the Marvel Knights imprint was going to publish first. After some discussions, four were selected: Daredevil, Punisher, The Inhumans, and Black Panther.
Marvel Knights was different from the main line because it targeted a more mature audience and adopted what was described as a cinematic approach–the first story arc of the new Daredevil comics read like a blockbuster movie and, to write it, the duo of publishers contacted movie writer and director Kevin Smith–Quentin Tarantino, John Singleton, and Robert Rodriguez were also contacted but nothing came of it. At the time, Smith had not written any comic books, but he was known for being a fan of the medium, something he promoted in his films (Quesada and Palmiotti had met him when they were contacted to make promotional products for Mallrats), and Joe Quesada himself drew the book.
To work on their books, the publishers decided to only use people who were free at the time, and not in contract with Marvel Comics or DC Comics. They knew Paul Jenkins for his work on Hellblazer and contracted him to work with artist Jae Lee on The Inhumans. However, Garth Ennis was not available for The Punisher and they had to wait a couple of years to recruit him. Instead, they had Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski (who had worked with Palmiotti on Vampirella) with Bernie Wrightson on The Punisher. And Christopher Priest came on board to write Black Panther with artist Marl Texiera.
Each book took a different approach to make the stories feel unique. But the one element that made the comics stand out before anything else when you looked at them was the coloring. Marvel Comics decided to charge more for each comic book to compensate for what was invested in the coloring, something that was often neglected.
Among the four initial comics launched in 1998, Daredevil was an immediate success, overselling the rest of the line, but Black Panther ultimately found its audience and became one of the most celebrated runs on the character. The Inhumans was a critical success, unlike The Punisher which lasted for four issues with its supernatural take on Frank Castle that didn’t convince the readers. But overall, the selling numbers were satisfying and the one-year contract with Event Comics was extended.
Marvel Knights, From Success to Limited
As Jimmy Palmiotti explained it when interviewed by Danny Fingeroth in Write Now! #3, the editorial philosophy was “Don’t worry about how it was done in the past. Be loyal to the past, but aggressive and try something different.” This worked so well that in 2000 Joe Quesada was named editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics. Palmiotti who had joined the imprint with the hopes of promoting Event Comics, which didn’t really pay out, decided to go in a different direction and only kept working on Marvel Knights titles as an inker and editor.
But Marvel Knights kept on going. Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev had successfully taken over Daredevil while Garth Ennis’s Punisher became a stand-out, and a team comic book simply titled Marvel Knights was also launched–with Daredevil teaming up with Black Widow, The Punisher, Cloak and Dagger, Shang-Chi, Morbius, Elektra, Blade, Ghost Rider, Moon Knight, Black Knight, and Luke Cage.
In 2006, Joe Quesada revamped the line. But first, all the ongoing comics published under the “Marvel Knights” banner were moved to the main Marvel Universe line. Some had to be renamed like Marvel Knights Spider-Man which became with issue #23 The Sensational Spider-Man. Instead of publishing ongoing series, the imprint was to focus on limited series.
Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson’s Fury: Peacemaker was the first one, launched in February 2006, and was followed by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon’s Punisher vs. Bullseye, and more like J. Michael Straczynski and Esad Ribić’s Silver Surfer: Requiem, Kaare Andrews’s Spider-Man: Reign…
In 1998, Marvel Knights did its part in rehabilitating a financially and creatively weak Marvel Comics, helping to guide the company towards a renaissance. Once that was done, the imprint slowly lost its usefulness, and, in 2013, the Marvel Knights banner was officially put aside. Still, now part of the company’s history, it came back five years later to celebrate the 20th anniversary of its launch with the 6-issue limited Marvel Knights team-up series, and it is coming back this year with a new miniseries from Christopher Priest and Joe Quesada titled “Marvel Knights: The World to Come.”
The Must-Read Marvel Knights Comics
By existing for more than a decade, the Marvel Knights imprint offered a large number of comics–15 ongoing series and a lot more limited series, but also a few one-shots. If you want to explore some of those series, here is a list of the most talked-about MK comics:
- Daredevil by Bryan Bendis and Alex Maleev
- Black Panther by Christopher Priest and Mark Texiera
- Punisher: Welcome Back, Frank by Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon
- The Inhumans by Paul Jenkins and Jae Lee
- Marvel Knights: Black Widow by Devin Grayson and J.G. Jones
- Fantastic Four: 1234 by Grant Morrison and Jae Lee
- Silver Surfer: Requiem by J. Michael Straczynski and Esad Ribić
- Ghost Rider: The Road to Damnation by Garth Ennis and Clayton Crain
- Marvel Boy by Grant Morrison and Jeffrey G. Jones
- Fury: Peacemaker by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson
- Daredevil: Yellow/Spider-Man: Blue/Hulk: Gray by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
Of course, there is even more to discover, and if you want to recommend some Marvel Knight comics don’t hesitate to leave a comment!