It may not be noted on your calendar, and Hallmark may not have a specialized card for it (yet), but today is Marvel Comics' birthday. Although the company name 'Marvel Comics' didn't become a thing until the '60s, its first actual comic, the anthology Marvel Comics #1, hit stands August 31, 1939.
(Well, roughly - as distribution then was spotty and getting a periodical such as a comic to debut across the continent on the same day everywhere was too much to ask for. But this is the day Marvel celebrates as the release date).
While Marvel is celebrating big, round-number anniversaries this year of some of its characters, it is also planning something today - August 31, 2021.
The publisher low-key teased its plans when it recently announced that the upcoming Daredevil #36 would be the last issue before a hiatus of some kind. Towards the end of the announcement, Marvel slipped in that news on the future of Daredevil "along with additional new projects" would be announced on August 31, 2021.
What could these "new projects" be? Well, if they're going all-in on 82nd birthdays, several notable Marvel characters debuted as part of that original 1939 Marvel Comics #1 anthology. Both Namor the Submariner and the recently revived-revamped Mask Raider got their start there, as did the original versions of the Human Torch (the android version, before the Fantastic Four version), Angel (before and unrelated to the X-Men version), and the original version of Ka-Zar from prose stories.
We suspect however that they won't be that literal - at least for all the new projects. Daredevil writer Chip Zdarsky has already teased some sort of special project during his Daredevil hiatus but hasn't given any idea if it's Daredevil-related or not.
Stay tuned to Newsarama for that Daredevil news and whatever else Marvel is planning.
And go tell Marvel happy birthday. They look good for being 82.
While you wait, make sure you've read the best Marvel Comics of all time.
