Marvel Age

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Marvel Age 39

Posted by John Klein III on January 5, 2017
Posted in: Review, Websites. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Marvel Age 39

Cover Dated June 1986

After mistakenly buying Marvel Age 93, I rectify that with buying the issue I initially wanted.

http://uncannyxmen.net/secrets-behind-the-x-men/homesick-colossus

Before the story in Classic X-Men #29 appeared, Marvel Age #39 announced: “The big news this month is the upcoming Colossus Limited Series. Feeling somewhat guilty for not protecting his Soviet homeland, the armored X-Man (accompanied by his younger sister and New Mutant,  Illyana) will travel back to his native land for the first time since he joined the X-Men. This odyssey will give Peter the opportunity to question his role in the world, and to wonder whether he is actually accomplishing anything as a super hero. This six issue series is being written by Chris Claremont and pencilled by Rick Leonardi. Watch for it this summer (1986)!”

The Colossus mini-series never appeared, however.

I bought an entire issue just for a Magik reference in a text piece.  I know no limits.

Marvel Age 39 Colossus USSR Miniseries Magik

Here is the text piece, I would have totally bought that miniseries.  Heck, I would buy that now as the Rasputin siblings need to talk again.  Unless Mikhail shows up, then forget about it as that guy gave his little sister the Legacy Virus.  I’m sure the Michael that Kitty dreamed up in Astonishing X-Men, is named after Piotr’s older brother, which is horrible!  Though I think only us readers know about that.

Coming Attractions

March 25

Cloak & Dagger 7
He-Man 2
New Mutants 41
Peter Porker, Spectacular Spider-Man 8
Supreme Squadron 11
West Coast Avengers 10

April 1

Alpha Flight 36
Power Pack 24
Amazing Spider-Man 278
Vision and Scarlet Witch 10
Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition 8

April 8

Marvel Age 40
Avengers 269
X-MEN 207

April 15

Fantastic Four 292
X-Factor 6

Bullpen Birthdays

February 9 Jo Duffy
February 16 Ron Wilson
March 1 Tom Orzechowski
March 6 Al Milgrom

Top Ten

For December 1985

  1. X-Factor 3
  2. X-MEN 204
  3. Alpha Flight 33
  4. Marvel Universe 5
  5. Fantastic Four 289
  6. Avengers 266
  7. Firestar 2
  8. West Coast Avengers 7
  9. Amazing Spider-Man 245
  10. New Mutants 38

There are letters about how people are guessing who the fifth member of X-Factor are.

Fred Hembeck tries to promote a new Team-Up title, starring Brother Voodoo

Feature promoting Marvel Saga, that quits before the 1980s

Heathcliff spotlight

Marvel Age features part two of 1971

Marvel Age 48

Posted by John Klein III on November 11, 2015
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

Marvel Age 48

Cover Dated March 1987

Coming Attractions

December 23

Daredevil 241 by Ann Nocenti, Todd MacFarlane and Al Williamson
GI Joe Special Missions 4
Strikeforce : Morituri 5
New Mutants 50 – Xavier returns and the team fights Magus by Chris Claremont, Jackson Guice and John Beatty
Avengers vs X-Men 1

December 30

Alpha Flight 45 by Bill Mantlo, June Brigman and Whilce Portacio
GI Joe and the Transformers 4
Fallen Angels 1 by Jo Duffy, Kerry Gammill and Tom Palmer
Power Pack 29
Fantastic Four vs the X-Men 3 by Chris Claremont, Jon Bogdanove and Terry Austin.  I did not realize that the FF and Avengers versus minis came out at the same time, as the the X-Men are radically different, at this time.

January 6

Marvel Age 49
Uncanny X-Men 216 by Chris Claremont, Jackson Guice and Dan Green
GI Joe 58
The Nam 5
Elektra : Assassin 7

January 13

X-Factor 15 by Louise Simonson, Walter Simonson and Bob Wiacek
Classic X-Men 8 which reprints X-Men 100

Marvel Age 48 Magik 1

Magik is shown to promote New Mutants 50!

Bullpen Birthdays

December 6 – Frank Springer
December 8 – Mike Hobson
December 11 – John Buscema
December 13 – Kyle BakerDecember 15 – Marc DeMatteis
December 17 – Andy Mushynsky
December 19 – Peter Gillis
December 20 – Dave Simons
December 23 – Phil Felix
December 25 – Joe Rosen
December 27 – Mark Bright
December 28 – Stan Lee & Ralph Macchio
December 29 – Paul Becton

Top Ten – August 1986

  1. X-Men 212
  2. X-Factor 11
  3. GI Joe Special Missions 2
  4. Classic X-Men 4
  5. The Nam 1
  6. Elektra : Assassin 3
  7. GI Joe 54
  8. GI Joe Order of Battle 2
  9. Marvel Universe 13
  10. Strikeforce : Morituri 1

The Mutant Report features the X-Men versus Avengers miniseries.

There is a Fallen Angels feature.

Fred Hembeck does a classic What If Fantastic Four fought X-Men story.

There is an Alien Legion feature, whatever that is.

A second part of a New Universe look through

The Marvel Age looks by at 1973, Part IV.

Issue ends with a slew of letters!  From Richie Donato of Staten Island, NY / P. David Hunter of Sandy, UT / Scott Morse of Santa Clara, CA / Josie James of Waukega, IL // Rick Houston of Richman, VA.  Even Brent Anderson wrote a letter, explaining what happened with the issue of 45 of Marvel Age, and its description of his series “Strikeforce : Morituri” a series that gets mentioned a lot in this issue but I’ve never heard of it.  It even gets the back cover!

. . .

Happy Veterans’ Day, all of you who has ever served!  I really appreciate it!

Marvel Age 93

Posted by John Klein III on July 21, 2015
Posted in: Review, Websites. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Marvel Age 93

Cover Dated October 1990

I figured out what happened.  I wanted to buy Marvel Age 39 because of this :

http://uncannyxmen.net/secrets-behind-the-x-men/homesick-colossus

But must have had the numbers transposed.  I was going to just take the issue out of my collection and try to sell it through Lonestar Comics but then I saw the 1982 Feature.

Marvel Age 93 Kitty 1982

Funny how it is a blue version of the green outfit Kitty wears on the cover of Uncanny X-Men Annual 6.

Uncanny X-Men Annual 6

Art by Bill Sienkiewicz

So I guess I’ll just keep it.

1982 was a rough time for super teams.  That was the year the X-Men fought (and almost lost to) the Brood.  Later they had to fight Dracula, hence the image.

The Avengers, Pym was framed by Egghead and was getting a divorce from Wasp.

Fantastic Four, Human Torch breaks up with Lady Nova as she becomes Galactus’ new Herald.

Doctor Strange fought with Baron Mondo.

Titles that were on sale

September 25

Avengers West Coast 64 by Roy Thomas, Paul Ryan and Danny Bulanadi
X-Men 270, X-Tinction Agenda, Part One

October 2

Alf 35
Amazing Spider-Man 341
Barbie 1
New Mutants 95, X-Tinction Agenda, Part Two
Wolverine 33
X-Men versus Fantastic Four Trade, $9.95

October 9

Avengers 326 by Larry Hama, Paul Ryan and Tom Palmer
GI Joe 106
Guardians of the Galaxy 6
Incredible Hulk 375
Marvel Age 94
Punisher 42
What If 19, Vision Had Taken Over the World
Alpha Flight 90
Spider-Man 4, Todd McFarlane’s Torment
Doctor Who Magazine 165
Excalibur 31

October 16

Barbie Fashion 1
Count Duckula 14
New Warriors 5
X-Factor 60, X-Tinction Agenda, Part Three
X-Men Classic 53, reprinting Uncanny X-Men 149
Power Pack 60
Fantastic Four 3466

There is a Super-Villain Checklist

Top Ten – May 1990

  1. X-Men Annual 14
  2. X-Men 263
  3. X-Men 264
  4. Amazing Spider-Man 334
  5. Amazing Spider-Man 335
  6. Wolverine 26
  7. Wolverine 27
  8. X-Factor Annual 5
  9. X-Factor 56
  10. Punisher 35

There is an extensive Avengers feature in the issue, hence the cover.  Roy Thomas was taking over West Coast Avengers and Larry Hama (of Wolverine and GI Joe fame) took over Avengers, which I didn’t even know he had a run on the title.  That is what is up with the cover.  Hama wrote Avengers 326 through 333.  Thomas wrote Avengers West Coast 60 through 101.

Since we are celebrating Hank Pym month here at S&FwM :

Marvel Age 93 Hembeck Lil Avengers

Fred Hembeck provides a would be Lil Avengers title.

The Mutant Report covers the mutant members of both Alpha Flight and New Warriors.

Many Faces of Iron Man

A Zorro Story

September 1990 Birthdays / Back Cover

I did not know that Chris Eliopoulos co-wrote these back cover Birthdays, that’s pretty cool!

Writers Chris Eliopoulos and Barry Dutter
Artist Ron Zalme
Colorist Marie Javins

I gave Chris Eliopoulos a shoutout when I read this issue back on November 13, 2014 (when I’m typing this – a tad ahead of the schedule) and he mention how long ago.  I didn’t realize how long it was until I typed “May 1990” above for the Top Ten.  14 years ago.

He acts like it wasn’t a big deal for him to correspond with me but it totally was, to me.

I’m pretty sure I haven’t noticed if there are credits

Jesus “Whitey” Gonzalez’s birthday was last month

September 2, Walt Simonson
September 3, Michelle Gagnon, VP International Licensing
September 4, Kevin Lopez, Letterer
September 5, Sholly Fisch
September 6, Mike Zeck
September 7, Rob Tokar
September 13, Assistant Editor Gary Barnum
September 14, Letterer Jim Novak
September 16, Direct Sales Project Manager Kurt Busiek (amazing!) and Inker Keith Williams
September 17, Danny Fingeroth
September 23, Peter David
September 25, Assistant Production Manager Dawn Geiger
September 26, Louise Simonson
September 27, Colorist Bob Sharen
September 30 – Chris Eliopolous, which is what made me notice the credits – trying to figure out who this ‘Chris’ was.   Also Colorist Ken Feduniwicz’s Birthday.

 

Marvel Age 12

Posted by John Klein III on July 4, 2015
Posted in: Paul Smith, Review. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Marvel Age 12

Cover Dated March 1984

Cover by Mike Zeck

That is my favorite cover of Secret Wars, just because it has Kitty Pryde, who will not physically appear in the story itself.  Imagine how much better it would have been! She doesn’t made it, sadly, to the official cover.

Secret Wars 1

Which is a huge shame!  She isn’t even swapped out for anyone, we just get to see Nightcrawler’s heels!  Which means, whenever there is a Secret Wars 1 homage cover, Kitty is never represented.  Which yes, I would have gone insane buying all of those homage covers if she was included.

The Kitty image is also shown at the back of Fantastic Four 265, as an upcoming comic but since I own this issue, I don’t really need to keep that Fantastic Four issue for the exact same reason.

Comics on Sale

February 28

Daredevil 207
New Mutants 16
Kitty Pryde and Wolverine 2
Amazing Spider-Man 253
Indiana Jones 18

March 13

Incredible Hulk 296
Avengers 244
Conan 159
X-Men 182
Marvel Age 15
Alpha Flight 11
What If 45, Hulk went Berserk (as that never happened!?!)
Beauty and the Beast 2

March 20

Fantastic Four 267
Marvel Team-Up 142
Spectacular Spider-Man 91

Newswatch

Iron Man : Demon in a Bottle is coming to trade!  As is X-Men’s Phoenix trade.

Official Marvel Comics Personnel Pronunciation Guide

Byrne : burn
Buscema : byoo-SEM-ma
DeMatteis – de-MAT-is
Gice – gice
Janson – JON-sen
Macchio – MA-kee-o
Moench – mench
Nocenti – no-SEN-tee
Orzechowski – or-ze-COW-skee
Salicrup – SAL-i-krupp
Sienkiewicz – sin-KEY-ich
Wiacek – WY-a-check

Top Ten – March 1983

  1. X-Men 167 (Paul Smith!)
  2. Fantastic Four 252
  3. Amazing Spider-Man 238
  4. Avengers 229
  5. Daredevil 192
  6. Spectacular Spider-Man 76
  7. Conan 144
  8. Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe 3
  9. Marvel Team-Up 127
  10. Incredible Hulk 281

There is a Secret Wars feature, naturally.  Lockheed the Dragon, is mention as a participant.  There are preliminary sketches of Spider-Man’s new costume.  Mostly, instead of a white spider motif it would have been red.  Except for the eyes.  Kitty is not listed as a hero.

There is an A-Team story.

Marvel Age 12 Kitty Letters Page

On the Letters page, four X-Men’s heads are shown – Cyclops, Colossus, Kitty Pryde and Nightcrawler.  I like how, at the time the letters page, Notes from Nuts, was written, the miniseries was going to be titled – Ariel and Wolverine.  That wouldn’t have been as good.  I’m pretty certain those heads are drawn by Paul Smith.

No birthdays, sadly

. . .

Happy 4th of July, everybody!  Be careful out there!

Marvel Age Annual 2

Posted by John Klein III on April 6, 2015
Posted in: Lists, Review. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Marvel Age Annual 2 1963 Cover Marvel Age Annual 2 1986 Cover

Cover Dated 1986

I really adore the back cover (the left one) which is the cast of Marvel Characters circa 1963 and the front cover (right side) which is all of the characters circa 1986.  I really like how all the characters are in the same positions – except for that lousy Iceman forcing Angel to switch places with him.

Like the first Annual, Marvel goes out with the list of books, with various ones getting a full page showing off who the cast is and what is going on with that title.

The 1963 has a five page sequence where we all pretend what would it be like if Marvel Age existed in 1963.  Which is pretty cool to see how Marvel would have promoted both Avengers 1 and X-Men 1.  Imagine people buying those issues on newstands and having their minds blown?

The proper section starts with some high hyperbole, though they don’t know it at the time, that New Universe is going to change comics for all time.  As far as I know, it is a slight footnote in the failures of Marvel.

There is a five page Jack Kirby written and drawn section about the Marvel Bullpen.

There is an awesome 100 Highlights from the First 25 Years section.

  1. Fantastic Four 1
  2. Incredible Hulk 1
  3. Fantastic Four 4, with Namor
  4. Fantastic Four 5, with Doctor Doom
  5.  Amazing Fantasy 15
  6. Journey into Mystery 83, with Thor
  7. Journey into Mystery 85, with Loki
  8. Tales to Astonish 35, with Hank Pym
  9. Fantastic Four 10, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby first Marvel Appearance
  10. Fantastic Four 11, with Impossible Man
  11. Tales of Suspense 39, with Iron Man
  12. Fantastic Four 12, Thing v Hulk
  13. Fantastic Four 13, with Utau the Watcher
  14. Sgt. Fury and His Holwing Commandos 1
  15. Tales to Astonish 44, with Wasp
  16. Spider-Man 3, with Doctor Octopus
  17. Strange Tales 110, with Doctor Strange
  18. Avengers 1
  19. X-Men 1
  20. Fantastic Four Annual 1, the first annual
  21. Tales to Astonish, with Giant Man
  22. Tales of Suspense 50, with Mandarin
  23. Tales of Suspense 52, with Black Widow
  24. Avengers 4, with Captain America
  25. Daredevil 1
  26. Tales of Suspense 57, with Hawkeye
  27. Strange Tales 126, with Dormammu
  28. Tales to Astonish 63, with the Leader
  29. Avengers 16, first new lineup, with Captain America, Hawkeye, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch
  30. Strange Tales 135, with Nick Fury leads SHIELD
  31. Strange Tales 135, with Hydra
  32. Strange Tales 138, with Eternity
  33. Fantastic Four Annual 3, with the Richards Wedding
  34. Fantastic Four 44, with the Inhumans
  35. Fantastic Four 48, with the Silver Surfer
  36. Fantastic Four 48, with the coming of Galactus
  37. Avengers 28, with Goliath
  38. Fantastic Four 52, with Black Panther
  39. Daredevil 41, death of Matt Murdock’s fake brother Mike, to protect his secret identity
  40. Not Brand Ecch 1, with Forbush-Man
  41. Marvel Super Heroes 12, with Captain Mar-vell
  42. Avengers 48, with Black Knight
  43. Marvel Super Heroes 18, with the Guardians of the Galaxy
  44. Avengers 57, with Vision
  45. Fantastic Four Annual 6, with Franklin Richards
  46. Avengers 59, with Yellowjacket
  47. Avengers 60, the Pym Wedding
  48. Captain America 117, with the Falcon
  49. Conan 1
  50. Amazing Spider-Man 96, the drug issue that changes the Comic Code
  51. Avengers 85, with the Squadron Supreme
  52. Avengers 89, the start of the Kree-Skrull War
  53. Hulk 141, with Doc Samson
  54. Marvel Feature 1, with the Defenders
  55. Marvel Premiere, with Adam Warlock
  56. Tomb of Dracula 1
  57. Hero for Hire 1
  58. Captain America 154, Cap fights 50s Cap
  59. Iron Man 55, with Thanos
  60. Amazing Adventures 18, with Killraven
  61. Amazing Spider-Man 121, death of Gwen Stacey
  62. Avengers 116 & Defenders 8, Avengers / Defenders War
  63. Amazing Spider-Man 129, with the Punisher
  64. Marvel Premiere 15, with Iron Fist
  65. Astonishing Tales 25, with Deathlok
  66. Fantastic Four 150, Quicksilver / Crystal Wedding
  67. Hulk 180, with Wolverine
  68. Giant Size Avengers 4, Vision / Scarlet Witch Wedding and Mantis marries a tree
  69. Fear 19, with Howard the Duck
  70. Giant Size X-Men 1
  71. Werewolf by Night 32, with Moon Knight
  72. Champions 1
  73. Eternals 1
  74. Marvel Spotlight 32, with Spider-Woman
  75. Spectacular Spider-Man 17, Champions break up – the first hero team to do so
  76. Devil Dinosaur 1
  77. X-Men 120, with Alpha Flight
  78. She-Hulk 1
  79. Epic Illustrated 1
  80. X-Men 137, Death of Phoenix
  81. Dazzler 1
  82. Daredevil 168, death of Elektra
  83. Death of Captain Marvel
  84. Marvel Graphic Novel 4, with the New Mutants
  85. Spider-Man Annual 16, a new Captain Marvel
  86. Dreadstar 1
  87. Avengers 230, Hank Pym, no hero name
  88. Marvel Age 1
  89. Iron Man 170, Rhodey becomes iron Man
  90. GI Joe 1
  91. Secret Wars 1
  92. Power Pack 1
  93. West Coast Avengers 1, the Limited Series
  94. Secret Wars 7, with the new Spider-Woman
  95. Secret Wars 8, Spider-Man’s Black Costume
  96. Thor 353, Odin is lost
  97. Star Comics begins
  98. Thor 364, Frog Thor
  99. X-Factor 1
  100. New Universe

Pretty cool that they even made a list!

Next is the backbone of the issue, Marvel A to Z by Dwight Jon Zimmerman, where he breaks down all of the Marvel titles.  A few titles get a full page of art!

Alpha Flight

Amazing Spider-Man

AniMax

Marvel Age Annual 2 Daredevil

Since we are celebrating Daredevil Month, I’ve included that page.  Daredevil page brought to us by :
Writer – Steve Englehart
Penciler Louis Williams
Inker Al Williamson

Avengers

Avengers versus X-Men

Bozz Chronicles

Captain America

Care Bears

X-Factor

Marvel Age Annual 2 Uncanny X-Men

Uncanny X-Men by
Writer Louis Simonson
Penciler Alan Kupperberg
Inker Art Nichols

Marvel Age Annual 2 New Mutants

New Mutants by
Writer Louis Simonson
Artist Art Adams

Chuck Norris, Karate Kommandos

Classic X-Men

Cloak and Dagger

Comet Man

Conan the Barbarian

Conan the King

Dakota North Investigations

Daredevil

Doctor Strange

Star Wars Droids

Elektra

ElfQuest

Ewoks

Fallen Angels

Fantastic Four

Fantastic Four meet the X-Men

GI Joe

GI Joe Special Missions

Sergie Aragone’s Groo the Wanderer

Groo Graphic Novel

Grown-Up Thermonuclear Samurai Elephants

Heathcliff

Hugga Bunch

Incredible Hulk

Inhumanoids

Iron Man

Madballs

Marvel Fanfare

Marvel Saga

Marvel Tales

Masters of the Universe

Moonshadow

Moonshadow the Graphic Novel

Muppet Babies

The ‘Nam

New Mutants

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe

Official Marvel Index to – Uncanny X-Men, Avengers, Fantastic Four, Marvel Team-Up and Spectacular Spider-Man

Marvel Age Annual 2 Power Pack

Power Pack by
Writer Louis Simonson
Penciler Jon Bogdanove
Inker Art Nichols
Kitty made it to a panel!

Spectacular Spider-Man

Peter Porker, Spectacular Spider-Ham

Phoenix

Popples

Power Pack

Savage Sword of Conan

Savage Tales

Silver Surfer

Amazing Spider-Man versus Wolverine

Steelgrip Starkey and the All Purpose Power Tool

Strikeforce Morituri

Swords of the Swashbucklers

Mighty Thor

Thundercats

Secret Life of Top Dog

Transformers

Web of Spider-Man

West Coast Avengers

Wolfpack

X-Factor

Uncanny X-Men

I really like seeing all of the logos of these titles.

Marvel Age 33

Posted by John Klein III on January 7, 2015
Posted in: Homage, Review. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Marvel Age 33

Cover Dated December 1985

Cover by Bob Layton and Jackson Guice

Great homage cover to Giant Size X-Men 1.  I like the current team being replaced with the Original team, but they are X-Factor in this instance.

I really like Marvel Age, it works as a perfect time capsule of what was happening at Marvel.

This issue offers a lot of nice coverage.

Some comics coming out were :

September 24

Daredevil 226

New Mutants 35

Web of Spider-Man 10

West Coast Avengers 4

Peter Porker the Spectacular Spider-Ham 5

Cloak & Dagger 4

Squadron Supreme 5

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition 2

October 1

Power Pack 18

Micronauts 16

Alpha Flight 30

Dazzler 41

Longshot 5

Vision and Scarlet Witch 4

X-Men Annual 9

October 8

Marvel Age 34

Avengers 263

X-Men 201, the duel between Storm and Cyclops for leadership!  Imagine buying this off the spinner rack?

ROM 74

Nightcrawler 3

Punisher 1

X-Men and Alpha Flight 2

October 15

Fantastic Four 286

Secret Wars II 7

Doctor Who 16

Top Ten for June 1985

  1. Secret Wars II 4
  2. X-Men 198
  3. West Coast Avengers 1
  4. Alpha Flight 27
  5. Web of Spider-Man 7
  6. Avengers 260
  7. Vision and Scarlet Witch 1
  8. Fantastic Four 283
  9. New Mutants 32
  10. Daredevil 223

Mini Mutant Report – Mary Wilshire is the new artist on New Mutants, Bill Sienkiewski will be inking her.

There is a page regarding Flexography.

The first big feature is that the very first Spider-Conference has happened.  Which is crazy as we take that for granted now.  I remember when Wizard would have articles regarding the various Spider- and X-conferences and how the big stories would come from that.  I’m surprised it took until 1985 so Marvel could fly everyone to one spot and discuss the next year’s worth of stories.

Punisher is getting a limited series by Steven Grant and Mike Zeck with John Beatty.  This is the Circle of Blood storyline.

Fred Hembeck draws a goofy interview with Cyclops, where all of his answers to questions start with “X-” like “X-citing” and “X-pired” and such.

We get to the cover story, which is a multi-page / multi-part featurette on new series, X-Factor.  The initial art shows how Cyclops was originally going to be blue/red costume and Beast was going to have the blue/yellow but they switched it but all the interior art shows their costumes as the other way around.   Funny how, at one point, someone wanted to take Cyclops’ away from his yellow and blue color scheme and try something else.  It wasn’t until Astonishing X-Men with John Cassaday, that he got away from those colors and experimented with some black and red; which he has now.

There are six interviews – Mike Carlin / Bob Layton / Jackson Guice / Roger Stern / John Byrne / Jim Shooter

The fun aspect to the feature is that they are really trying to keep the secret fifth and lady member of the team.  Fans wouldn’t have thought it was Jwan, as that would require bringing her back from the dead.

As usual, there is a flashback feature, this time for – the final third of 1969.

Back Cover has the birthdays of September 1985, which is becoming a fast favorite of mine.

September 2 – Walt Simonson’s Birthday

September 3 – Pat Redding’s Birthday

September 4 – Paul Smith and Ken Lopez’s Birthday

September 6 – Mike Zeck’s Birthday

September 8 – Archie Goodwin’s Birthday

September 11 – Rod Whigham’s Birthday

September 13 – Lynn Cohen’s Birthday

September 14 – Jim Novak’s Birthday

September 16 – Kurt Busiek, Brenda Mings and Keith Williams’ Birthday

September 17 – Roger Stern and Danny Fingeroth’s Birthday

September 19 – Cynthia Martin and Brian Garvey’s Birthday

September 23 – Libra and Peter David’s Birthday

September 24 – Bill Vallely’s Birthday

September 25 – Bob Layton’s Birthday

September 26 – Louise Simonson’s Birthday

September 27 – Jim Shooter’s Birthday

September 30 – Ken Feduniewicz’s Birthday

 

Marvel Age Annual 1

Posted by John Klein III on June 3, 2014
Posted in: Review. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

90843_20100323012525_large

Cover by Kerry Gammill and Tom Morgan

Cover Dated 1985

The concept of the issue is that someone is calling all of the superheroes of Marvel circa 1985, and getting them to say their names, powers and upcoming villains.  The goal was to have each page done by the creative team, which the opening text piece states that they were successful for the most part.

The biggest omissions are Chris Claremont and John Romita Jr., both of whom were in Paris at the time doing research for Uncanny X-Men 200.  Google Images didn’t exist, and I imagine there were no photo books or something – or really what happened, Marvel offered to send them and they just said yes.

So Uncanny X-Men’s page is done by

Script Jo Duffy

Pencils Ron Frenz

Ink Dan Green

Magneto answers the phone, tells whoever is on the other end that he isn’t Magneto but Fred Xavier, Charles’ younger brother and that it is a simple school for the gifted.  Kurt teleports in.  Colossus comes charging in.  Storm and Cyclops both come in at the same time, claiming that if the caller wants to speak to the leader, they should answer it, then bicker over who the leader is.  Rachel comes in going on about how her past is terrible in the future.  Then Kitty comes in telling them that Wolverine is playing tag with Rogue and everyone goes outside.  Rachel hints that Nimrod might show up at one point.

Pretty decent way to show powers and the personalities of the team.

New Mutants

Script Jo Duffy

Art Steve Leialoha

Letterer Tom Orzechowski

So some time later, Dani picks up the phone.  Pretends that the school doesn’t have ‘new mutants’ but new students. Then that cast comes in, Doug speaking different languages, Karma, Cannonball speaking about her girlfriend Lila Cheney, Sunspot mentioning the Hellfire Club, Wolfsbane mentioning her father, Reverend Craig.  Magma is there, Magik comes in talking about the Hellions and lastly, Warlock talking about his father, Magus, is still out there trying to hunt him down.

In the back, they do a run down of upcoming plots or buzz

New Mutants is welcoming new artist Steve Leialoha starting with issue 36.

Uncanny X-Men 200 is the Trial of Magneto and issues 202 and 203 will be Secret Wars II tie in issues.

I really do enjoy how Marvel Age is a perfect time capsule for what Marvel was like at the time.

Marvel Age 32

Posted by John Klein III on January 5, 2014
Posted in: Paul Smith, Review. Tagged: , . 4 Comments

80736_20070113095057_large

Cover Dated November 1985

Look at that amazing Paul Smith cover!

Issue opens with the results of  the Comic Buyer’s Guide Awards for 1984 and boy are they interesting!

Favorite Editor : Jim Shooter

Favorite Writer : Chris Claremont – Runner Ups include Alan Moore and Walter Simonson

Favorite Artist : John Byrne – Runner Ups include George Perez, Bill Sienkiewicz, John Romita Jr. and Paul Smith

Favorite Cover : New Teen Titans 1 – Runner Ups include  Secret Wars 1 and New Mutants 18

Favorite Comic Book : X-Men – Runner Ups include New Teen Titans, Saga of the Swamp Thing and New Mutants.

Favorite Story : The Judas Contract by Marv Wolfman and George Perez, Tales of the Teen Titans 42 – 44 and Annual 3.  Runner Ups include Anatomy Lesson by Alan Moore in Swamp Thing, Lifedeath by Claremont and Barry Windsor-Smith in X-Men, Secret Wars by Shooter and Mike Zeck and the Kid Who Collects Spider-Man by Roger Stern, Ron Frenz and Terry Austin in Amazing Spider-Man.

Favorite Book : Marvel Graphic Novel 12 – Dazzler the Movie.

Favorite Character : Wolverine – Runner Ups include Spider-Man, Batman Cerebus and Swamp Thing.

Favorite Supporting Character : Raul the Cat – Runner Ups include Beta Ray Bill, Abigail Arcane, Mary Jane Watson, Ambush Bug and Wolverine.

Favorite Publication About Comics : Amazing Heroes – Runner Ups were Marvel Age, Comics Collector, the Comics Journal, Comics Interview, Comics Feature and the Comic Reader.

Favorite Writer About Comics : R.J. Jones

Favorite Fan Artist : Fred Hembeck

Favorite Direct-Sales Only Title : New Teen Titans

This is why I enjoy Marvel Age, such a great time capsule in what was happening at the time.  August 1985, just 1985 was the beginning of modern comics with what the industry was about to unleash.

Marvel Coming Attractions

On Sale August 27

The New Mutants 34 – The team is going to free Karma of the Shadow King.

Squadron Supreme 4

Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe 1

On Sale September 3

Marvel Heroes for Hope Starring the X-Men – The team fights hunger with the aid of 54 creators

The Vision and Scarlet Witch 3 – the mini that confirms Magneto is Wanda’s father.

On Sale September 16

Nightcrawler Limited Series 2

Uncanny X-Men 200 – Trial of Magneto

The X-Men and Alpha Flight Limited Series 1, that the cover is promoting.

On Sale September 17

Spectacular Spider-Man 109, the Death of Jean DeWolff is in full swing

Secret Wars II 6

Doctor Who 15, the 5th Doctor, Peter Davison makes his appearance!  By far, my favorite Doctor.

The New Mutants Special 1, the sequel of X-Men / Alpha Flight.

Packing in the Power

An article promoting Power Pack, included is issue 19, the Thanksgiving issue.  Issue 20 guest stars The new Mutants – Cannonball, Dani and Wolfsbane.

The Top Ten

1. Secret Wars II 3

2. X-Men 197

3. Web of Spider-Man 6

4. Fantastic Four 282

5. Cloak and Dagger 2

6. Amazing Spider-Man 268

7. Alpha Flight 26

8. New Mutants 31

9. Web of Spider-Man Annual 1

10. Squadron Supreme 1

When Teams Team Up : X-Men and Alpha Flight

Great article about the Paul Smith drawn, Chris Claremont written limited series.

200 Issues of Mutants

Another great article regarding the build up to Uncanny X-Men 200, and what will come afterwards.

Also, some great unused Art Adams designs for Kitty.

Marvel Heroes for Hope

So many famous writers and artists helped make this one shot happen.  This is another great article.  One of these days I will have to review it.

Kurt Busiek and the Letter Column of Doom

How great must it have been for people who follow Marvel Age, and then see Kurt Busiek’s career expand from there.

Back Cover has The Marvel Age August 1985 Calendar

August 9 is the birthday of Bob McLeod, Rick Leonardi and Alycce Gordon

August 10 is Christie Scheele’s birthday

August 13 is Jim Mooney’s birthday

August 17 is John Romita Jr.’s birthday

August 19 is Georg Roussos’ birthday

August 21 is Marie Severin’s birthday

August 23 is Terry Austin’s birthday

August 26 is Rick Parker’s birthday

August 27 is Don Perlin’s birthday

August 28 is Jack Kirby’s birthday

1985 is Marvel’s 24th birthday.

Happy Birthday to all above!

Marvel Age 72

Posted by John Klein III on October 17, 2013
Posted in: Review. Tagged: . Leave a comment

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I used to only buy issues of Marvel Age that had either Kitty or Magik on the cover.  Then UncannyXmen.net started doing these Secrets of the X-Men articles.

http://www.uncannyxmen.net/showarticle.asp?fldAuto=2885

Cosmic Comedy with Excalibur

Which from time to time, they will make a reference to Kitty in the Notes section of an Issue Summary, then I would naturally add that issue to my wishlist.  I will get around to buying that issue, notice it had nothing to do with Kitty and have to go back to UncannyXmen.net to figure out what happened.

It is rare, but it happens.

This issue has a Coming Attractions section.  In it, it hypes Excalibur issue 7, wherein Kitty has to go back to school.

That turns out to not happen, as issue 7 is the Inferno tie in, and that hyped storyline becomes 32 – 34, Girls’ School from Heck.

Which that storyline would have been amazing, if drawn by Alan Davis.   Ron Wagner did that storyline and I’ve enjoyed it, I just never knew we almost had another option.

Widget is on the Letters Page column and there is enough X-Men information, I figure I will keep this issue in the ol’ collection.

How great is that cover?  Turn to page 26, and get barely a paragraph hyping the film.  Which I sort of like the film, though even I knew as a kid, that those Punisher shirts only cost twenty dollars, so I am not sure why production couldn’t buy like five of those.  Would have added to the value of the film and would have taken away the one big gripe about it, at the same time.

This issue came out March 1989, I am seven at that point.

This is the sixth anniversary of Marvel Age, pretty impressive.

There are two Sister VooDoo and VooChile comic strips in the issue, both strike me more racist than cute, but who knows.

There is a Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo Willie Lumpkin strip that I don’t get.  I get the joke, I just don’t get why there was a strip for a young Willie Lumpkin, who is the Fantastic Four’s mailman, Stan Lee played him in the first FF film.

Did the research, the strip was only published in 1960, outside of Marvel, and then he makes his Marvel debut in Fantastic Four issue 11.

I know the character from that time he dated Aunt May, in Amazing Spider-Man 343.

The Marvel Graphic Novel Collection, it took me a few titles, but these are the the actual Graphic Novels such as The New Mutants’ first appearance and X-Men : God Loves, Man Kills.  I also own The Death of Captain Marvel and hopefully one day, Dazzler the Movie.

Ooooof, there is a VHS and VCR section, Pryde of the X-Men for $25.95, that is a bit much!

The Marvel Trade Paperback Collection.  Asgardian Wars, Dardevil : Born Again, Spider-Man : The Alien Suit, Wolverine mini, and they just call it X-Men, but history refers to it has The Dark Phoenix Saga.

The Top Ten for August (1985, I imagine)

All due to Inferno, from what the blurb implies.

Wolverine 2

X-Men 239

Excalibur 3

X-Factor 35

X-Terminators 3

Silver Surfer 1

The Punisher War Journal 2

Marvel Comics Presents 9

Marvel Comics Presents 8

The New Mutants 70

There is a look back at The Marvel Age of Comics 1978, Part III.

It covers these hallmark issues :

Black Panther 7 – 15

Captain Marvel 54 – 59

Godzilla 6 – 17

Machine Man 1 – 9

The Man from Atlantis 1 – 7

Marvel Premiere 40 – 45

Marvel Preview 13 – 16

Nova 17 – 22

Star Wars 7 – 18

There are two letters asking what an inker does, which is so much more than what a novice would think they do.

Those are the highlights, if you wanted to, you could have bought a Spider-Man jacket for $75 and had your choice of Black, Silver or Spidey Blue.