Marvel Comics got a new logo, but a brand-new logo this is not.
The company pulled a page from its branding playbook when redesigning the logo for its comics division—effectively giving Comics the same logo as Marvel Studios and Marvel Animation. All feature Marvel’s iconic “red brick” followed by the division’s title sandwiched between two horizontal lines.
The new mark gives Marvel a family of logos with a similar look, designed for corporate synergy versus creative individuality. To put it in comic book terms, the logo is more like X-Men in the early 1960s, when every member wore a similar outfit, than the 1970s version of the team, in which every mutant got their own unique costume.
History of Marvel’s logo
Marvel Comics once had a distinctive logo of its own. From 1990 to 2000 it used a red logo that spelled out “Marvel” over an MTV-style M, with “Comics” written out in yellow type designed to look like it came from inside a comic book speech bubble. Then the company pivoted from being primarily a comic book publisher to becoming an entertainment company with larger ambitions. A version of its “red brick” logo, introduced in 2000, has been used ever since and forms the basis of its media-specific sub-brands today.
While Marvel Comics’ new logo won’t likely be as beloved as its ’90s version, it does include an Easter egg: It spells out “Comics” in Compacta, a sans serif that’s as old as the X-Men themselves. Designed by Fred Lambert, the typeface was released in 1963, the same year as the debut issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, X-Men, and The Avengers.