History

Martin Goodman founded Marvel Comics, formerly known as Timely Publications, in 1939 in New York. He released his first publication, Marvel Comics #1, in October 1939. In the 1940s, Timely Publications teamed up with Jack Kirby to create Captain America, one of a series of pro-American superheroes.

Following the Second World War, Timely dropped its patriotic superheroes in favor of comical and more realistic characters. By the 1960s, most of the company’s characters, both heroes and villains, exhibited strengths and weaknesses. Some its characters, including Spider Man and the Hulk, suffered from depression and low self-esteem.

In 1968, founder Goodman sold his publishing house to the Perfect Film and Chemical Corporation, which renamed it, Marvel Comics Group. It was later sold to New World Entertainment, which within three years sold it to MacAndrews and Forbes.

In the 1990s, Marvel Group established Marvel Studios, which began producing the cartoons and movies you saw during your youth.

Three weeks ago, Walt Disney acquired Marvel for $4 billion.

Yes, its history is a little dizzying.

Score: 10

Characters

It’s true that they’re only cartoon characters, but Marvel’s heroes and villains are intrinsically human. Unlike Disney’s perfect good and bad guys, the lines are blurred in the Marvel’s comics. A journalist for the Associated Press described them as “reluctant superheroes transformed by radioactive spider bites and weird cosmic rays, costumed avengers who are in therapy, struggle to pay the bills and grouse about their superhuman lot. Shades of ambiguous gray, drawn in color-drenched shadows.”

The characters are dark, morose and essentially unhappy who do good (and bad) deeds because they’re programmed to. It’s a hard life being a superhero (we wouldn’t know).

Score: 10

Theme parks

Marvel has licensed its characters for theme-parks around the world, including at the Universal Orlando Resort’s Islands of Adventure, in Orlando, Florida, California and Japan. In 2007, Marvel and UAE developer Al Ahli Group announced a partnership to build Marvel’s first full theme park in Dubai. The project was set to open in 2011 and boasted a direct investment of over $1 billion.

There have been no updates regarding the theme park in Dubai, although we’ve read reports that it may have been postponed to 2012. We need information.

Score: 7

Final score: 27

ArabianBusiness.com (AB)

Download time

ArabianBusiness.com is part of the Arabian Business Group, which is run by Dubai-based ITP. We can appreciate that the internet connection in Dubai is terrible, but compared with other Dubai-based websites, AB does poorly. Whereas AME Info takes between four to six seconds to open, ArabianBusiness.com takes 15 to 20 second to open. There’s no excuse for that. Score: 2

Scoops

AB is well known for its scoops. AB Group’s editorial director, Anil Bhoyrul, has an enviable list of contacts in the region, which explains some of the scoops. However, even without Bhoyrul’s little black book, AB journalists know what they’re doing. It’s too bad that they’re told to tone down their stories; but any journalist who’s worked in the region knows that censorship is a given. Score: 9

Editorial variety

With blogs, slideshows and special reports featured regularly on AB, there’s plenty of editorial variety on the website. Score: 8

Overall impression

AB looks old. With all the money ITP’s got, you’d expect a more interactive, stylized website. It is poorly organized and text heavy. It could use an upgrade. Score: 3

Final Score: 22

Career

The king of Bollywood began his acting career in television; in 1988, he landed the role of Abhimanyu Rai in a popular series called Fauji, and in 1989, he acted as Senior in In Which Annie Gives It Those Ones, among others.

In 1992, he made his film debut in as Raj Mathur Raju Ban Gaya Gentleman. He has since made over 70 movies, many of which have been successful. One of his films, the 1995 hit Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, remained in cinemas across India for over 10 years.

His latest project, My Name is Khan, is about racial profiling, making the incident at Newark airport last week ironic. He was travelling to the US to promote his movie, but was detained for questioning as part of routine security checks. Neither Khan nor his estimated 3.5 billion fans reacted well to the incident.

Score: 9

Accolades

Aside from his 11 Filmfare awards and his numerous nominations, Khan was listed on Newsweek’s list of the world’s most powerful people. He was number 41.

He has also been awarded a number of titles over the years, including India’s Padma Shri in 2005, one of the government’s highest civilian awards.

Score: 10

Looks

This category nearly started a riot in Kipp’s headquarters, leaving one journalist foaming at the mouth, and an editor with a suspicious lump on her arm.

Clearly, Khan’s looks don’t appeal to everyone.

But let’s just say it as it is: the man has a substantial schnozzle, and his open shirt policy isn’t sexy. It’s cheesy. So is his my-hair-and-open-shirt-are-blowing-in-the-wind look.

Score: 5

Fan base

It’s impossible to tell exactly how many people idolize Khan, but according to Time magazine, the king’s got over 3.5 billion fans worldwide. 3.5 billion! He’s the world’s biggest star.

Score: 10

Life in the media

He loves it. He’s been quoted as saying that he loves being mobbed when he’s walking down the street.

It’s only fitting, therefore, that he is featured regularly in Indian gossip magazines. However, Khan insists he is a happily married man (with two kids), and most of the stories published about him are untrue.

Score: 7

Final score: 41