Marvel Books refers to prose books licensed by Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC , formerly Marvel Enterprises and Toy Biz, Inc., is an American entertainment company formed from the merger of Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. and Toy Biz, Inc....

 or its division in the 1980s that published coloring books and sticker books. Marvel Publishing/Worldwide

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

 also twice launched twice its Marvel Press

Marvel Press

Marvel Press is the prose novel imprint for Marvel Comics jointly published with Disney Books.-History:In 2003, following publication of the prose young adult novel Mary Jane, starring Mary Jane Watson from the Spider-Man mythos, Marvel announced the formation of the publishing imprint Marvel...

 prose novel imprint, in 2004 and in 2011.

Licensed

Marvel first licensed two prose novels to Bantam Books

Bantam Books

Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...

, which published The Avengers

Avengers (comics)

The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers is a fictional team of superheroes, appearing in magazines published by Marvel Comics. The team made its debut in The Avengers #1 The Avengers...

 Battle the Earth Wrecker by Otto Binder

Otto Binder

Otto Oscar Binder was an American author of science fiction and non-fiction books and stories, and comic books...

 (1967) and Captain America: The Great Gold Steal by Ted White

Ted White (author)

Ted White is a Hugo Award-winning American writer, known as a science fiction author and editor and fan, as well as a music critic...

 (1968). Pocket Books

Pocket Books

Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.- History :Pocket produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in America in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry...

 pick up the license in 1978, publishing nine books. Beginning in 1994, Berkley Boulevard

Berkley Books

Berkley Books is an imprint of Penguin Group that began as an independent company in 1955. It was established by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein, who were working for Avon and formed "Chic News Company". They renamed it Berkley Publishing Co. in 1955. They soon found a niche in science fiction...

 and the since-defunct Byron Preiss Multimedia Company

Byron Preiss

Byron Preiss was an American writer, editor, and publisher. He founded and served as president of Byron Preiss Visual Publications, and later of iBooks.-Early life and career:...

 joined to publish Marvel prose novels until Byron Preiss' legal troubles caused a temporary halt to the line in June 1999. Berkley completed the line in 2000 with a total of 45 novels and seven anthologies. Byron Preiss also teamed with Pocket Books from 1996 to 1997 for a young adult books line, including two choose-your-own-adventure books. In 2000 Preiss' BP Books/iBooks launched a new book line, distributed by Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...

, that ended in 2002. This line compete author Adam-Troy Castro's "Sinister Six" trilogy and published 11 other novels. Also, with the various licensed films being released beginning in 1997, various publishers put out movie novelizations.

Division

A previous Marvel Books division was set up in 1982 to intially published coloring books and sticker sets, and was intended to also publish prose novels. In 1986, Marvel agreed with Fisher Price to launch a Fisher Price line with 15 books in 1986 and 32 books in 1987.

See also

• List of novels based on Marvel Comics
• Marvel Fireside Books
  Marvel Fireside Books
  The Marvel Fireside Books Series was a series of full-color trade paperbacks featuring Marvel Comics stories and characters co-published by Marvel and the Simon & Schuster division Fireside Books from 1974 to 1979....
  
  
• Marvel Press
  Marvel Press
  Marvel Press is the prose novel imprint for Marvel Comics jointly published with Disney Books.-History:In 2003, following publication of the prose young adult novel Mary Jane, starring Mary Jane Watson from the Spider-Man mythos, Marvel announced the formation of the publishing imprint Marvel...