Comic book collecting the popularity of superhero characters Superman, Batman, and Captain Marvel. Since the 1960s, two publishers have dominated the American comic book industry: Marvel Comics, publisher of such comics as "Spider-Man", "X-Men", and "Fantastic Four", and DC Comics, which publishes titles such as "Superman", "Batman", and "Wonder Woman". Other large non-manga publishers include Image Comics, IDW, and Dark Horse Comics. As comic books regained their popularity in the 1960s during the boom of the Silver Age, fans organized comic book conventions, where they could meet to discuss their favorite comics with each other and eventually with the creators themselves. , numerous
The Prisoner in other media series fascinated comic book artist Jack Kirby, who created a four-issue homage in 1969 in "Fantastic Four" #84-87, in which the superhero team finds itself in Doctor Doom's Latveria, a city like the Village in many respects. In the "Bullpen Bulletins" page in Marvel Comics cover-dated July 1976, Marvel announced a comic book based on "The Prisoner", to be written by Steve Englehart and drawn by a then-unchosen artist and scheduled to be "starting this summer". The artist assigned to the project would be Gil Kane. When Jack Kirby returned to Marvel in the mid-70s after a run at DC