Posted in: Collectibles, Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Ike Perlmutter, Marvel Comics, Marvel Legends, Spider-Man | Tagged: avi arad, isaac perlmutter, ToyBiz, Wall Street journal

Ike Perlmutter Didn't Know Spider-Man When He Got Marvel's Toy Rights

The Wall Street Journal's podcast looks at the rise of Marvel from the nineties bankruptcy, including executives Avi Arad and Ike Perlmutter.

Back in July, The Wall Street Journal's podcast, The Journal, hosted by Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson, ran a series of episodes by Ben Fritz looking at the rise of Marvel Studios from comic book publisher to film studio to Disney purchase and the executive and creator battles within. It made a few headlines, but there are lots of gems that seemed to be missed, such as Marvel's initial relationship with Sony Pictures, led by our favourite Marvel executives, Avi Arad, and Ike Perlmutter, two toy manufacturers who took over the comic book company and made it profitable again. Catch up on more of our coverage with this tag.

The Journal spoke to Avi Arad, who talked about coming to the USA to study at Hofstra University in Long Island to study industrial management. On graduation in the nineties, started to work in the toy business. "I'm starting to design toys for these different people, and a friend of mine who was a media guy said to me, "I want you to meet someone." And that was Ike Perlmutter. Ike came here; he had nothing, zero. He was walking in the street, going to a funeral to sing the Kadisha, and then started selling things in the street and then from a car. I come to his office, and it's dog food, Revlon; he was a liquidator, but he was very, very wealthy by then already."

Ike Perlmutter had gained the rights to the toy manufacturer Toy Biz as part of one of his liquidation deals, which included the rights to make Marvel toys. "This company had the rights because Marvel had zero value then. No one wanted Marvel; It was worthless. No one wanted to do anything with it. He says to me, "So what do you want to do?" I want to make these toys. "They made these toys. No one wants it. No one cares." What about Spider-Man? "What's Spider-Man?"

That's right, folks. The man who would end up owning and selling Marvel to Disney, and at this stage owned the Marvel toy rights, didn't know who Spider-Man was. "He really is agnostic to culture. Never had kids, and yeah, don't go to movies."

ToyBiz did very well with Marvel-licensed toys under Arad and Perlmutter, and Marvel would end up buying ToyBiz, putting them both on the board. The bankruptcy of Marvel Comics would see them put in charge of Marvel, with a mission for Marvel to recover from the crash. And that meant selling more toys. Avi told Ike they had to make television shows to advertise their toys, and that's how we got a new push to animation, TV shows and films… "It was all about toys initially, because he understood. He knew how to do these things and was very successful, and we had a deal. I do the creative. I gave myself a title. I became Chief Creative Officer, and I said, "You stay out of it because you'll get a heart attack every time we move."

More to come, and you can listen to the Journal podcast here.

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