The decision to launch the line was made in late 1979, after strong sales reports for the summer. Marvel editor-in-chief
Jim Shooter envisioned the "books as being in the format of European albums, with cardboard covers, full-color, slick pages". In September 1980, Shooter indicated the line was delayed because of complications in putting together the contracts, which he was drafting in consultation with Marvel attorneys. In early 1981, Marvel hired
Michael Z. Hobson away from Scholastic Books to be Vice-President/Publishing. His expertise in writing author contracts, which was greater than Shooter's, was a key reason. A few months later, contracts with writer/artist
Jim Starlin were finalized for
The Death of Captain Marvel and
Dreadstar.
The Death of Captain Marvel, the first book in the line, was published in January 1982. Marvel numbered stories through 1985 up to number 20, but released many other stories in the same format that are considered unnumbered parts of the series according to the
Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.
Overstreet continued numbering beyond the original "official" numbering, following a Marvel-published list of graphic novels. When the list stopped being published,
Overstreet stopped trying to number the issues, halting at number 38, although they list 29 more issues published from 1983 through 1991, although the list is known not to include every graphic novel from this period. The line was divided evenly between author-owned and company-owned titles. Several characters were featured in an issue of
Marvel Graphic Novel before receiving their own
miniseries or ongoing series. The most successful of these was
The New Mutants, which ran for 100 issues. Other series which were spun-off from a
Marvel Graphic Novel are
Dreadstar,
Void Indigo,
Starstruck, and
Swords of the Swashbucklers. In addition,
Star Slammers had a miniseries published by
Malibu Comics and
Futurians was a short-lived title published by
Lodestone Comics. ==List of graphic novels in the
Marvel Graphic Novel line==