paragraph_text: Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine, with funding from Grosset & Dunlap and Curtis Publishing Company. It has since been purchased several times by companies including National General, Carl Lindner's American Financial and, most recently, Bertelsmann; it became part of Random House in 1998, when Bertelsmann purchased it to form Bantam Doubleday Dell. It began as a mass market publisher, mostly of reprints of hardcover books, with some original paperbacks as well. It expanded into both trade paperback and hardcover books, including original works, often reprinted in house as mass-market editions.

paragraph_text: Marvel's Spider - Man, or simply Spider - Man, is an action - adventure game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4, based on the Marvel Comics superhero Spider - Man. Released worldwide on September 7, 2018, it is the first licensed game developed by Insomniac. The game tells a new story about Spider - Man that is not tied to an existing comic book, video game, or film, and covers both the Peter Parker and Spider - Man aspects of the character.

paragraph_text: Captain America is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in Captain America Comics # 1 (cover dated March 1941) from Timely Comics, a predecessor of Marvel Comics. Captain America was designed as a patriotic supersoldier who often fought the Axis powers of World War II and was Timely Comics' most popular character during the wartime period. The popularity of superheroes waned following the war and the Captain America comic book was discontinued in 1950, with a short - lived revival in 1953. Since Marvel Comics revived the character in 1964, Captain America has remained in publication.

paragraph_text: Neal McDonough appeared as the character in the 2011 Marvel Studios film Captain America: The First Avenger, the 2013 Marvel Studios short film Agent Carter (post-credits) and also in 2015 in the fifth episode of Marvel's Agent Carter.

paragraph_text: Event Comics was an American independent comic book publisher founded by veteran artists Jimmy Palmiotti and Joe Quesada. The company published during the years 1994 to 1999, at which point it was contracted to form the Marvel Knights imprint for Marvel Comics.

paragraph_text: KOLU (90.1 FM) is a radio station broadcasting a Christian radio format. Licensed to Pasco, Washington, United States, the station is currently owned by First Baptist Church of Riverview.

paragraph_text: The Brighter Buccaneer is a collection of short stories by Leslie Charteris, first published in the United Kingdom by Hodder and Stoughton in June 1933. This was the eleventh book to feature the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint". It was the first volume to make use of the short story format; previously Charteris had written either short novels (a.k.a. novellas) or full-length novels featuring the character. This format would dominate the series during the late 1940s and through the 1950s.

paragraph_text: Marvel first licensed two prose novels to Bantam Books, who printed The Avengers Battle the Earth Wrecker by Otto Binder (1967) and Captain America: The Great Gold Steal by Ted White (1968). Various publishers took up the licenses from 1978 to 2002. Also, with the various licensed films being released beginning in 1997, various publishers put out movie novelizations. In 2003, following publication of the prose young adult novel Mary Jane, starring Mary Jane Watson from the Spider-Man mythos, Marvel announced the formation of the publishing imprint Marvel Press. However, Marvel moved back to licensing with Pocket Books from 2005 to 2008. With few books issued under the imprint, Marvel and Disney Books Group relaunched Marvel Press in 2011 with the Marvel Origin Storybooks line.

paragraph_text: The Saint on TV is a collection of two mystery novellas by Fleming Lee, continuing the adventures of the sleuth Simon Templar a.k.a. "The Saint", created by Leslie Charteris. This book was first published in the United States in 1968 by The Crime Club, and in the United Kingdom later that year by Hodder and Stoughton. This is the first time since 1948's "Call for the Saint" that the novella format had been used in the series; with a few exceptions where full-length novels were published, the novella format would remain the norm until the series concluded in the early 1980s. It is the first of three Saint books to first see publication in 1968, which was also the 40th anniversary of the character's introduction.

paragraph_text: Galactus () is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, Galactus is a cosmic entity who originally consumed planets to sustain his life force, and serves a functional role in the upkeep of the primary Marvel continuity. Galactus was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in the comic book "Fantastic Four" #48, published in March 1966.

paragraph_text: The Secret Servant is a third person narrative novel by English author Gavin Lyall, first published in 1980, and the first of his series of novels with the character “Harry Maxim” as the protagonist.

paragraph_text: "The Black Crusade" was first published in Australia in January 2004 by Chimaera Publications in trade paperback format. It won the 2004 Aurealis Award for best horror novel and the 2004 Golden Aurealis for best novel.

paragraph_text: The Wizard of Lemuria is a fantasy novel by American writer Lin Carter, the first book of his "Thongor series" set on the fictional ancient lost continent of Lemuria. The author's first published novel, it was initially issued in paperback by Ace Books in 1965. The author afterwards revised and expanded the text, in which form it was reissued as Thongor and the Wizard of Lemuria, first published in paperback by Berkley Books in 1969. This retitled and revised edition became the standard edition for later reprintings. The novel was also adapted into comic form, appearing in eight issues of Marvel's "Creatures on the Loose".

paragraph_text: Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial is Random House's Spanish-language division, targeting markets in Spain and South and Central America. It is headquartered in Barcelona with locations in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, and the United States. From 2001 until November 2012, it was a joint venture with Italian publisher Mondadori (Random House Mondadori). Upon Bertelsmann's acquisition of Mondadori's stake in the JV, the name was kept temporarily four months. Some authors published by Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial include Dr. César Lozano, Yordi Rosado, Dr. Nancy Alvarez and Alberto Sardiñas.

paragraph_text: KXIC (800 AM) is a radio station licensed to serve Iowa City, Iowa and the greater Johnson County area. The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. and licensed to Citicasters Licenses, Inc. It airs a News/Talk radio format.

paragraph_text: With the new millennium, Marvel Comics emerged from bankruptcy and again began diversifying its offerings. In 2001, Marvel withdrew from the Comics Code Authority and established its own Marvel Rating System for comics. The first title from this era to not have the code was X-Force #119 (October 2001). Marvel also created new imprints, such as MAX (an explicit-content line) and Marvel Adventures (developed for child audiences). In addition, the company created an alternate universe imprint, Ultimate Marvel, that allowed the company to reboot its major titles by revising and updating its characters to introduce to a new generation.

paragraph_text: The Fifth Witness is the 23rd novel by American author Michael Connelly and features the fourth starring appearance of Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Michael "Mickey" Haller. "The Fifth Witness" was published in the United States on April 5, 2011.

paragraph_text: Jigsaw (William ``Billy ''Russo, also known as Billy`` The Beaut'' Russo before his disfigurement) is a fictional character, gangster, and supervillain appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Len Wein and Ross Andru, the character made his first full appearance in The Amazing Spider - Man # 162 (November 1976).

paragraph_text: "The Next Witness" is a Nero Wolfe mystery novella by Rex Stout, first published as "The Last Witness" in the May 1955 issue of "The American Magazine". It first appeared in book form in the short-story collection "Three Witnesses", published by the Viking Press in 1956.

paragraph_text: KONI (104.7 FM) is a radio station licensed to serve Lanai City, Hawaii. The station is owned by Hochman Hawaii Publishing, Inc. It airs an Oldies music format.

Question: In what year was formed the company that owns the publisher to whom Marvel first licensed its characters for novelization?
Answer: 2001