I was recently approached to run a one-off class on Narrative and the Marvel Universe. How bizarre and beautiful is that? A chance for me to get my geek on in the biggest way, showing off knowledge of Marvel Comics that I don’t normally have the chance to display, and ally it to what I’ve learned about stories and how they work.

Really, any consideration of Marvel’s fictional universe has to start with the means by which it was produced, and the reasons for some of the choices made. Rewind to the 1960s, and Stan Lee was one of a handful of creative titans in what was described to readers as the Marvel Bullpen, a legendary place where Stan ‘The Man’ Lee would hang out with artists Jack ‘The King’ Kirby and Johnny ‘Ring-A-Ding’ Romita.

Accounts from participants say that comics would be created as follows: Stan would have a rough idea for a plot, and act out some of the key scenes. The artist’s job was to turn that brief into a fully pencilled story. Then an inker would go over it so the art could be reproduced, and Stan would add dialogue and captions. It was a production line process, all about efficiency. And it meant that artists were fully co-creators of the material they drew, even if legally Marvel tried — and try — to claim otherwise.

Artists would embellish the stories with details that Stan hadn’t envisaged. Apparently The Silver Surfer came about when Kirby drew a character soaring through space on a cosmic surfboard, without Stan having asked for one. Quite where his cod-Shakespearean speaking style came from, I have no idea. Anyway, the point is that the production process itself created the characters and world(s) they inhabit. Add to that the audience’s desire to see characters fighting and chasing, and that accounts for much of the contents of the comic.

Stylistically, Marvel’s comics were very different from DC’s. Where DC stories happened in an imaginary world, Marvel’s most definitely occurred in New York. And that air of supposed realism applied to the characters too. Rather than being cut entirely from heroic cloth, Marvel’s heroes were tormented. Spider-Man had dear old Aunt May to look after, a college course to keep up with, and girl trouble. The X-Men were misfits and freaks brought together under the roof of what, for all the money that went into it, was a school like the one readers went to, with the same rivalries and traumas.

A few years into the publisher’s success, and new creators were needed to come up with new titles. These were often youngsters who were not only comics fans, but communicated in their work a wider appreciation of their culture and times than the first wave of comics creators. Steve Gerber and Doug Moench brought a fuzzy social awareness to the comics they worked on, and had a more distinctive personal style than the writers who came before them. They were a product of their time, influenced by underground comics and 70s American cinema. Just as much a product of his era, Jim Starlin took Marvel into the stars, creating stories on a truly epic scale — in their very different ways, Starlin and Gerber wrote about America’s personal growth movement.

The Marvel Universe has always been a pretty catholic place. It encompasses crime-ridden Hell’s Kitchen where blind martial artist Daredevil patrols the rooftops. The farflung reaches of the cosmos where the Guardians of the Galaxy fight alien evil. And the swamps where muckmonster Man-Thing trudges. Take a step back, and you’ll see what’s going on: Marvel doesn’t just publish superhero comics. It continues to this day with titles like The Punisher to draw on its pulp roots. And though the core titles might be the likes of The Avengers, there’s always room for science fiction and horror titles too.

Ultimately, it’s about satisfying fan demand, and finding new fans. Which is why there are initiatives like the Ultimate titles, a revamped Marvel universe suitable for 21st century novice readers. And why, from time to time, there’s been room for titles like Dracula and Master of Kung Fu when the market can support them.

The Marvel Universe is constantly evolving, through the interaction of forces including market size, success of films featuring Marvel characters, the rise and fall of fan favourite creators. You can’t look at the comics themselves without appreciating how they came to be that way.