Product Description

From the coauthor of the New York Times bestseller Every Spy a Prince comes the colorful true story of the business superheroes who rescued Marvel Comics from bankruptcy. In the mid-1990s, Marvel Entertainment became embroiled in a crisis as strange as one of its comic book stories. Locked in a battle for control of the half-century-old company were two Goliath-style corporate raiders and two virtually unknown Davids: Israeli immigrants with a passion for the toy business. This was a test of wills that led to a unique Wall Street showdown. Combining hard-hitting journalism with entertaining storytelling, Comic Wars takes readers behind the scenes of America's most bitter bankruptcy and captures the high-stakes, often hilarious twists and turns of this financial fiasco. The unforgettable cast of characters ranges from tycoon Ron Perelman (who bankrupted Marvel through overexpansion) and Carl Icahn (who then launched a hostile takeover of Marvel) to Ike Perlmutter and Avi Arad, scrappy owners of Toy Biz and the duo who ingeniously outmaneuvered the moguls. Culminating with Ike and Avi's triumphant launch of the blockbuster movie X-Men, and published just in time for the Spider-Man live-action movie, this is a marvelous must-read for the business world and all admirers of true grit.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #596833 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-04
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Raviv, coauthor of several books on Israeli politics (Every Spy a Prince; Behind the Uprising), turns to high-stakes finance for his first solo effort, a feisty account of Marvel Comics' meltdown in the 1990s (and slow resurrection, thanks to the success of the movie X-Men and the buzz over this summer's Spider-Man flick). When Ron Perelman bought Marvel in 1989, he described the company, home to heroes like Captain America and the Fantastic Four, as "a mini-Disney in terms of intellectual property." His junk bonds and grandiose expansion plans swiftly raised Marvel's market value to over $3 billion, but also brought its debt past $600 million, at which point corporate raider Carl Icahn smelled blood. He managed to wrest control of the company from Perelman, but the takeover process dragged Marvel through bankruptcy court for years. Raviv's depiction of this clash of the titans is rooted in the perspective of Marvel investors Ike Perlmutter and Avi Arad, whose other company, Toy Biz, made action figures based on Marvel heroes. Their underdog efforts to rescue the company from the Perelman-Icahn conflict, then get movies made to sell comics and action figures, are viewed with sympathy perhaps, in fact, too much sympathy; outlandish claims like Spider-Man is "maybe the best known intellectual property character, on a worldwide basis" routinely pass unchallenged. Fans of the cutthroat finance genre will find much to enjoy in the boardroom confrontations, but those unfamiliar with Marvel may wonder what all the fuss is about, as Raviv's overview of the comics and the characters tends to treat their popularity as a given without exploring the nuances of their success.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Raviv, coauthor of Every Spy a Prince and a national correspondent for CBS news, recounts a Wall Street story of greed, pure and simple, in this "fly on the wall" view of the takeover and eventual bankruptcy of Marvel Entertainment. This book has all the makings of a great screenplay "Spiderman Meets Wall Street in Bankruptcy Court." The major story is of the battle for control waged by Ronald Perelman, who bought Marvel in the late 1980s, and Carl Icahn, who began buying Marvel bonds in an effort to take over the company. Ironically, neither Perelman nor Ichan was ever interested in comics (both bragged that they never looked at the product); rather, they were obsessed with profit and personal vendetta. A parallel story deals with Ike Perlmutter and Avi Arad, two entrepreneurs with Toy Biz who had a significant interest in Marvel, its characters, and further sustaining the enterprise over the long term. While the era and the situations differ, Comic Wars is in the vein of The White Sharks of Wall Street. This chilling tale of corporate infighting is recommended for business collections, although the subject matter may give the book wider appeal. Steven Silkunas, North Wales, PA
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover
"Dan Raviv is a wizard. Though Comic Wars is a factual account of the origins and aftermath of a corporate bankruptcy, he's managed to make it as suspenseful and exciting as the superhero thrillers over which most of the battle was fought. Even though I've lived through those harrowing days, thanks to Dan's book, I've gained a new understanding of the whole incredible event." –Stan Lee

"Who'd have thought that the battle over a comic book would produce such an incredible story. A page-turning delight." -Larry King

"Dan Raviv turns his well-known investigative skills to something new: the hidden story of the bankruptcy that had all us comic fans worried. So dramatic and true-to-life that I couldn't put it down." –Steve Geppi, President, Diamond Comic Distributors

"A page-turner that is both a valuable cautionary tale about shaky junk bonds and other unwise investments, and a rollicking good read." –Marshall Loeb, Marketwatch.com, former editor of Fortune and Money

"Raviv reveals the tragic consequences of financiers with supersized personas on a collision course with creativity. Moguls, wannabe moguls, and the countless victims of moguls will appreciate this mythic tale that really happened."
–Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Associate Dean, Yale University School of Management

"This is a great book. It tells an incredible story that will keep you on the edge of your chair." –Wolf Blitzer, CNN anchor

Customer Reviews

Hardball Business Tale Colorfully Told
At first glance, Dan Raviv's book might seem irrelevant to readers of intrigue novels. Despite the flashy title and cool cover, reading about two rich businessmen fighting for the control of a publishing company might not seem all that exciting.

It is exciting.

Like in any theatrical drama, Raviv begins his book with an annotated list of players. Most names will be unknowns outside of the industry. Stan Lee is here, as you might expect, but so is Isaac Perlmutter and numerous lesser executives. Their parts in this drama are crucial and understanding who they are from the beginning will help keep the plot clear.

This is, in some ways, a history of Marvel Comics, beginning in 1939 with Captain America, the Sub-Mariner and the Human Torch. Raviv walks us through Marvel's troubled times under various owners.

We get the play-by-play debacle hindering the X-Men and Spiderman from the silver screen, and the intense personalities behind it all.

The cynicism of loyal comic readers is told, as Marvel aimed for the financial speculator and played games with collectors (remember the many covers and bags of certain Spiderman issues?). When the quality of the Marvel Universe stunk up the magazine racks in the 1990s, it seemed if Spiderman would weave his last web.

Letters, trial notes and other details fill in this adventurous tale of the struggle for power, money and egos. We find out how Spiderman was finally able to make the bigtime.

I fully recommend "Comic Wars: How Two Tycoons Battled over the Marvel Comics Empire--And Both Lost" by Dan Raviv.

Anthony Trendl

Business for Comic Book Fans
Comic Wars is a sprightly, fast-paced book about the bankruptcy and hostile takeover troubles Marvel Comics faced in the mid-1990's, when billionaire financiers Ronald O. Perelman and Carl Icahn engaged in a tug-of-war for control of the company that almost killed it and eventually left it in the control of neither man. Instead, toy company owner Ike Perlmutter scooped them both. Comic Wars's main strengths are propulsive narration that makes it a fast and compelling read, and the simplicity with which author Dan Raviv explains the hideous complexities of the bankruptcy process. This is a book about business that a business dilettante can read and understand. Its descriptions of the way junk bond financing and overextension got Marvel into trouble and of the various types of deals the bankruptcy parties thought of to get it out of trouble contain useful general business knowledge. Its combination of simple narration and simple explanations made it an educational experience that I also enjoyed.

On the other side of the ledger, Raviv borrows from comic books a habit of making his characters larger than life and designating them good guys or bad guys. The good guy in Raviv's version of this true story is Isaac "Ike" Perlmutter, and we know we are supposed to identify best with him because, unlike the other major parties, Raviv always refers to Ike by his first name. Meanwhile, Perelman and Icahn are referred to by their last names, except in chapter titles, which refer to them by the names of Marvel Comics villains Dr. Doom and The Vulture. The good guy versus bad guy idea makes this a simple book to read, and that makes the business education go down more easily, but it undoubtedly grossly oversimplifies the true situation. Late in the book we see that good old Ike, who's worth half a billion dollars, won't spring twelve hundred bucks for an office Christmas party to improve Marvel's wounded morale -- he's no super-hero, and I imagine Perelman and Icahn aren't quite super-villains, either.

I still recommend the book. It's fun to read, and that's something it'd be hard to say about anything else that contains as much useful information on high finance and business bankruptcy. Given our present economy, it behooves us all to learn a bit about both.

Money well spent
Here's the great thing about this book: it's a fast read. The bad thing: it's not easy to follow. I found it tough to keep up with the cast of characters, and felt that the author is a bit predisposed to pointing out everyone's Jewish faith, religious observances etc. As a result, many of the characters blended together. A lot of focus on the heritage of the characters here, almost to the point of distraction. Bottom line though, as a shareholder, this book made a hell of a lot more sense to me than did the quarterly and annual reports. In all, a good book about a sad story that is well priced. The author has done his homework. I would have loved about another 100 pages of detail here and there though to help with the transitions. And again, a little less focus on the faith of everyone involved.