Panini Comics

Panini Comics is an Italian comic book publisher. A division of Panini Group, which also produces collectible stickers, it is headquartered in Modena, Italy. The company publishes comic books in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Peru, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom, as well as manga in several non-English-speaking countries through the Planet Manga publishing division.

In the United Kingdom, Panini Comics prints its Collectors' Edition (CE) line, which consists of reprints of American Marvel Comics. These are usually 76 pages long (with occasional 100-page specials). Each comic is published every 28 days, with the exception of Astonishing Spider-Man which has been published fortnightly since volume 2.

Since 2013, Panini Comics has been publishing digest size comics magazines featuring Disney characters.

Panini Comics started as an evolution of Marvel Italia, an Italian division of Marvel Comics created in 1994 to publish Marvel titles in Italy, the rights to which had been previously held by different publishers (Star Comics, Comic Art, Play Press and Max Bunker Press). In December 1994, Marvel Italia was absorbed by Edizioni Panini of Modena, following the acquisition of the latter by Marvel Comics. Panini Comics in Italy has since evolved to encompass a series of sub-divisions:

Subsequently, Marvel Comics sold Panini to a group of investors including Indesit Company. Currently, Panini Comics also publishes in Brazil, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal and Hungary. In Germany and Brazil, it also publishes translations of DC Comics series.

Panini obtained the Marvel UK license in 1995, enabling it to publish reprinted American Marvel Comics titles. They also began publishing the Doctor Who Magazine. Panini Comics had been part of Marvel Europe, and had already been reprinting American material across the continent for several years.

Thanks to this licensing deal, reprints of American Marvel Comics material were continued in the UK by Panini from the mid-1990s. Each issue of their 'Marvel Collector's Editions' series contained approximately two or three Marvel US strips in one issue with possibly a "classic" comic printed as a substitute for an installment in the current run, whilst being priced at a reasonable level. Initially the lineup consisted of only Astonishing Spider-Man and Essential X-Men and followed the continuity of the US comics, however it was approximately two to three years behind the current run in America.

In addition to reprinting the mainstream US comics, Panini also published a monthly (later every three weeks) oversized comic, entitled The Spectacular Spider-Man, for younger readers to accompany Spider-Man: The Animated Series, which began broadcasting in the UK in the mid-90s. Initially, the stories were simply reprints of the US comics based on the series, but eventually the title moved to all-new UK-originated stories, marking the first Marvel UK material featuring classic Marvel characters to be produced since early 1994.