Marvelman was born out of necessity on 3 February 1954 after Captain Marvel had lost his twelve year fight with Superman.
National Periodical Publications (now DC Comics) took out a lawsuit against Fawcett Comics in 1941 claiming that Captain Marvel was an infringement of copyrights and a direct copy of Superman despite the obvious differences between the characters, ie Superman was an alien from another planet whose secret identity was merely a change of clothes with his adventures ocurring in the 'real' world, whereas Captain Marvel's alter-ego was magical in changing him into a young boy and the storylines were in the realms of fantasy.
The fact that Captain Marvel was outselling Superman was more likely the reason, but it made no difference to the outcome and Fawcett were forced into hanging up the Shazam! cape in 1953 after an expensive 12 year battle.
It is interesting to note that even Mad Magazine was giving the lawsuit attention by having their spoof character Superduperman defeating Captain Marbles, who gave up fighting crime to become a mercenary.
In Britain, L Miller & Son were reprinting the Fawcett titles such as Bill Boyd, Bob Steele, Hopalong Cassidy, Ken Maynard, Lash Larue, Monty Hale, Rocky Lane, Rod Cameron, Six Gun Heroes, Tom Mix, Tex Ritter, Popeye, Spymaster and Captain Midnight as well as the Captain Marvel series including Adventures of Captain Marvel, Adventures of Captain Marvel Jnr, The Marvel Family and Mary Marvel, which were their best sellers-and which were being just a successful in the UK as in the United States in attracting a large young audience for two weeklies (Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jnr) and a 1 monthly comic (Marvel Family). Mary Marvel didnÕt survive beyond a few photogravure issues.
The largest circulation periodical in the Miller Library could not be allowed to die and so Mick Anglo was recruited and given the job of creating an alternative character because the Captain Marvel material was running out fast. Mick Anglo's previous work had been with Arthur Miller's Arnold Book Company. Arnold's were publishing comic titles such as Captain Valiant, Space Commando, Ace Malloy and Space Commander Kerry.
The injunction obtained in the United States had no jurisdiction over here in the UK but the same Captain Marvel stories could not continue for long. The first suggested and the most obvious name change was finally adopted with Captain Marvel becoming Marvelman, although other names were seriously considered including Miracleman and Captain Miracle, which were both registered as possibilities. Captain Marvel Jnr became Young Marvelman rather than Marvelman Jnr. (Note: Captain Miracle eventually made it to his own title in 1960 under Mick Anglo's guidance after he had left Millers and the Marvelman titles were on the decline. Captain Miracle was mainly reprinted Marvelman stories with subtle changes to the artwork to eliminate the bolnde hair and the MM logo. It ran for only 9 issues.)

The Costumes:
The uniform change was relatively easy. Captain Marvel's red suit became blue for Marvelman and Captain Marvel Jnr's blue suit became red for Young Marvelman. The capes disappeared (which made the artwork easier) and the dark hair became blonde. Mary Marvel suffered a sex change though when her character was eventually replaced by 'Kid Marvelman' in issue 102, who was given a yellow costume.

Aler-Egos:
The alter-ego's names changed but retained the familiar double initial: Billy Batson (Captain Marvel/Marvelman) became Micky Moran; Freddy Freeman (Captain Marvel Jnr/Young Marvelman) became Dicky Dauntless and Mary Batson became Johny Bates. The Whiz Radio station where Billy worked became the Daily Bugle for Micky.
Attention now came to the magical character of old 'Shazam' who gave Captain Marvel his powers (by shouting his name, of course). He became 'Guntag Barghelm', a reclusive scientist who had discovered the Keyword to the Universe - 'Kimota'! (Atomic backwards, with creative licence on the spelling). An atomic name for an Atomic here they boasted.
Guntag Barghelm, whilst seeking a young lad of Honesty and Integrity to use his powers only against evil, is saved from thugs by crew-cut Micky Moran, copy boy for the Daily Bugle. After treatment in an Atomic Machine, Micky only has to shout 'Kimota!' and at the magic keyword, Atomic Power crashes down and Micky immediately becomes 'Marvelman', mightiest man in the universe!
The change was almost complete.

The Villains:
The villains now needed attention and the main enemies of the Marvel Family had been Doctor Sivana and Sivana Jnr. Mick Anglo's brother came up with the name 'Gargunza';it sounded right and was accepted.
'Doctor Emil Gargunza' and 'Young Gargunza' arrived to appear in Marvelman and Young Marvelman respectively.
Doctor Gargunza remained with Marvelman right through the change to Miracleman under Alan Moore's guidance, proving to be the most dangerous opponent that Marvelman could ever imagine.
The dark side of Shazam history was not forgotten. Black Adam was transformed into Young Nastyman; he retained his black costume and battled with the Marvel Family on several occasions. The only characters who did not give birth to counterparts were Tawny the Tiger and Mr Mind the Worm, but that did not prevent other fantastic creatures and villains from appearing on occasions.

The Changeover:
The build up to the change over was quite blatant; the last series of Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jnr was appraoching issue 19, so an announcement was made on the Club Page in that issue, dated 23 December 1953, stating that Billy Batson and Freddy Freeman now wanted to lead normal lives and were giving their powers back to old Shazam, but two splendid chaps had been found to replace them. Issues 23 & 24 had the cover titles 'The Marvelman, Captain Marvel' and 'The Young Marvelman,Captain Marvel Jnr' and on 3 February 1954 the respective 25th issues were the first 'Marvelman' and 'Young Marvelman' titles to hit the stands.
The change was a complete success, the format and the price remained the same: 6d (sixpence) and sales actually increased.
Britain had its first Superhero.

Membership Club:
The popular Captain Marvel Club and Captain Marvel Jnr Clubs were adapted. with existing members automatically transferred to the new clubs; the membership badge was changed to portray the latest hero and new readers were encouraged to join.
The 'Special Message CodeÕ was retained so that special announcements could be made, only to be deciphered by the initiated members.
Later, the decision was made to send members Birthday cards from Marvelman and Young Marvelman. I had one when I was a child (but do not have it now and it would be interesting to know if any of these Birthday cards have survived–anybody out there got one?).

Extra title:
Due to popular demand, in October 1956 a new title was released as a Monthly alongside the other two Weeklies. It was called 'The Marvelman Family' and portrayed adventures of all three members including 'Kid Marvelman' who had made his debut in Marvelman 102 on 30 July 1955.
Although it was designated as a monthly, it actually ran as 10 issues a year (no issues for December or January) with a final run of 30 issues in 37 months. The last issue being October 1959 (which was a month late).

The artists:
Artists on all titles included:
Norman light, Charles Baker, James Bleach, John Whitlock, Stanley White, Denis gifford, George Parlett, Frank Daniels, Maurice Shapiro and Ron Embleton. There was also: Don Lawrence, Roy Parker and Leo Rawlings who provided most of the artwork for the Marvelman Family title which, in my opinion, has the best art of all (maybe the reason was because it was monthly?).
Mick Anglo himself provided most of the cover artwork.

Merchandise:
Special 'Magic' Painting Books were produced (2 Marvelman and 2 Young Marvelman), only water and a paintbrush being needed to colour the pictures as the paper was impregnated with dried water colour. It is surprising that marketing of the associated merchandise was not exploited better, especially with the successful 'Eagle' and 'Dan Dare' toys in stores in the same period.
Captain Marvel had been marketed very well here in the UK with sweatshirts, jigsaws, colouring books, toy lead figures and games and even better in the US with a wonderland of toys and a variety of merchandise and even a 15 episode serialised film starring Tom Tully as Captain Marvel.
Even the late, great comedian/magician Tommy Cooper was a fan of Marvelman comics, as can be seen in his autobiography 'Just like That!' in which an illustration is included of the splash page of Marvelman 267, where Marvelman has been transformed into a 'Cooperman' (showing that Russ Abbott did not create that name).

The Annuals:
Following on from the Captain Marvel and Captain Marvel Jnr Annuals released by L Miller's in 1952, the first 'Marvelman' and 'Young Marvelman' Annuals were released for Christmas 1954. The 1954 and 1955 Annuals were of a larger format than normal, being 10.5 inches high x 8 inches wide, with soft card covers and printed spines; 100 pages, price four shillings. The 1956, '57, '58, '59 and 1960 annuals were 10 inches high and 7.25 inches wide and were hard bound books with printed spines; 96 pages priced six shillings.1959 was the first annual that was printed with the year.
Two annuals were released each year from 1954 to 1963 making a total of 20 annuals but there was some confusion evident after Mick Anglo left in 1960 because the 1961 Annuals had Marvelman and Young Marvelman on their respective covers, but they had been drawn wearing Captain Marvel's and Captain Marvel Jnr's capes.
There were no Annuals dated 1962, the last 4 being dated 1963.
It is unlikely that the four were issued at the same time, and most probable that two were printed Christmas 1962 as a '63 Annual (which is normal today).
Tthe 1962 annuals were 'Marvelman' and 'Young Marvelman' as usual and the final two annuals for 1963 were 'Marvelman Family' and 'Marvelman Jnr'. (Showing that even at the end there was still some confusion over the characters names without Mick Anglo at the helm).
The annuals were the only time that the strips were published in colour.

Foreign shores:
Marvelman comics sold well abroad and all the titles were exported to from the UK to the English speaking shores of Australia and New Zealand; but in Australia, Marvelman and Young Marvelman were being reprinted by Young's Merchandising Co., Sydney using cheaper stock of paper and different artwork for the covers.
Other countries were translating the comics into their own languages. In Italy, Marvelman sold well under his own name and the issues were huge in comparison to the UK editions, nearly a full A3 in size making the artwork very detailed and pleasant to see. There were only 8 Italian issues but they were 48 pages long and 100% Marvelman; no filler stories. There were also two Italian Annuals, again nearly A3 in size, 96 pages and all Marvelman. In Brazil Marvelman was published as the Marvel Magazine and he was re-named Jack Marvel with the 'MM' logo removed from his chest.
There was a mix in each issue of 'Capitao [sic] Marvel' (plus Jnr)and Jack Marvel (plus Jnr, not Young).
(I'm not sure how many issues this ran for, but issue 61 is dated 1964 so it outdate''s the UK run which finished in 1963).

The End?
By the time comic issue 335 was published, sales were on the decline and at issue 336 (3 February 1960) both titles were changed from the weekly to monthly.
This was the same time that Mick Anglo left Millers and the re-printing of earlier strips began. Both titles coninued as monthlies until issue 370 which was the final issue, dated February 1963, meaning that the titles ran for exactly 9 years practically to the day.

Marvelman and Young Marvelman ran for a total of 346 issues, whilst Marvelman Family lasted a total of 30 issues.