Marville is a comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 limited series

Limited series

A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....

 published by Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics

Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...

 in 2002. The series was written by Bill Jemas

Bill Jemas

Bill Jemas is an American media entrepreneur, writer and editor. He is a former vice president of Marvel Comics, and a founding partner at 360ep, a media management firm.-Early life:...

, and the stories generally involved satirical comment on comic book

Comic book

A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...

 industry conventions and trends.

The title was a reference to the TV series Smallville

Smallville (TV series)

Smallville is an American television series developed by writers/producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar based on the DC Comics character Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The television series was initially broadcast by The WB Television Network , premiering on October...

; the cover of issue #1 featured the main character tied up as a scarecrow

Scarecrow

A scarecrow is, essentially, a decoy, though traditionally, a human figure dressed in old clothes and placed in fields by farmers to discourage birds such as crows or sparrows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.-History:In Kojiki, the oldest surviving book in Japan...

 with a red 'M' painted on his chest, much as Tom Welling

Tom Welling

Thomas John Patrick "Tom" Welling is an American actor, director, producer, and former model, best known for his portrayal of Clark Kent in the WB/CW series Smallville....

 was in the first episode of Smallville and in related publicity material.

The series revisited several existing points of Marvel continuity in a completely irreverent and contradictory manner. For example, the issue titled "Originville" (referencing Origin

Origin (comics)

Origin is a six-issue comic book limited series published by Marvel Comics from November 2001 to March 2002, written by Bill Jemas, Joe Quesada and Paul Jenkins, and illustrated by Andy Kubert and Richard Isanove ....

) visited a prehistoric setting in which Wolverine

Wolverine (comics)

Wolverine is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Born as James Howlett and commonly known as Logan, Wolverine is a mutant, possessing animal-keen senses, enhanced physical capabilities, three retracting bone claws on each hand and a healing...

 was a mutant Neanderthal

Neanderthal

The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...

. Despite this, the series' main character, The Marvel (Kal-AOL Turner, the son of Ted Turner

Ted Turner

Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...

, who came from the future) made a cameo appearance in the Marvel Universe

Marvel Universe

The Marvel Universe is the shared fictional universe where most comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Entertainment take place, including those featuring Marvel's most familiar characters, such as Spider-Man, the Hulk, the X-Men, and the Avengers.The Marvel Universe is further...

 series GLA

Great Lakes Avengers

The Great Lakes Initiative, originally known as The Great Lakes Avengers , are a fictional superhero team that appear in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The characters were first introduced in West Coast Avengers vol. 2, #46 , and were created by John Byrne.-Publication history:The team...

and received a profile in The All-New Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe

The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe is an encyclopedic guide which details the fictional universe featured in Marvel Comics publications...

.

Issue #3 consisted entirely of art with the separations, with the script superimposed over it.

The final issue of Marville, issue #7, did not actually contain a story; instead, it contained the submissions guidelines to Marvel's new Epic Comics

Epic Comics

Epic Comics was a creator-owned imprint of Marvel Comics started in 1982, lasting through the mid-1990s, and being briefly revived on a small scale in the mid-2000s.- Origins :...

 imprint.

U-Decide

Marville was created as part of Marvel's U-Decide event, in which fans would decide which of three books would survive. The event involved one existing book (Peter David

Peter David

Peter Allen David , often abbreviated PAD, is an American writer of comic books, novels, television, movies and video games...

's Captain Marvel

Captain Marvel (Marvel Comics)

Captain Marvel is the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Most of these versions exist in Marvel's main shared universe, known as the Marvel Universe.- Publication history :...

, whose numbering was restarted at issue #1) and two new books (Marville and Ron Zimmerman's Ultimate Adventures

Ultimate Adventures

Ultimate Adventures was a six-issue comic book, written by Ron Zimmerman and drawn by Duncan Fegredo, and published by Marvel Comics. It starred Hawk-Owl and Woody, two characters who were purposefully designed as blatant parodies of Batman and Robin...

), and was based around a bet between David and Jemas, of which Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada

Joe Quesada

Joseph "Joe" Quesada is an American comic book editor, writer and artist. He became known in the 1990s for his work on various Valiant Comics books, such as Ninjak and Solar, Man of the Atom...

later became a part. Jemas changed the stakes of the bet a few issues into Marville, stating that the loser would take a pie in the face for charity. Despite this, both Marville and Ultimate Adventures ended fairly quickly, while the rebooted Captain Marvel would last three more years and 25 more issues, for a total of 60 issues when combined with the first run.