1993: GHOST RIDER AND THE MIDNIGHT SONS MAGAZINE: A MARVEL AGE SPECIAL (MARVEL COMICS)

From December 1993: More Halloween scarefare... GHOST RIDER AND THE MIDNIGHT SONS MAGAZINE, a behind-the-scenes/ promotional one-shot mag spun off from the pages of MARVEL AGE.

It's a reminder of a time when Marvel's horror and supernatural books were briefly in the ascendance in the early 1990s boom times. The Bullpen, on a mission to flood the market, quickly built a family of horror books to max out reader interest in the genre sparked by the initial success of the Ghost Rider revival. Once interest waned, the line was once again slimmed down to the core books.

1983: THE MARVEL BULLPEN from MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE (Marvel Comics)

From October 1983: A (no doubt highly stylized) floor plan for Marvel's Manhattan Bullpen, as published in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE issue 7.  

Clearly Candence Industries hadn't embraced the world of cubicles and open-plan offices.

1983: THE X-MEN AND THE MICRONAUTS in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE (Marvel Comics)

 

From 1983: A behind-the-scenes feature (and exclusive cover) devoted to THE X-MEN AND THE MICRONAUTS four-parter from the pages of in-house puff-piece producer MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE.  

The cover was a special MARVEL AGE commission.  

See the previous post for the cover gallery.  

This, incidentally, was the first issue of MA to boast 32 pages (for a mere 35 cents compared with 60 cents for a regular Marvel title... and they contained external advertising but, of course, cost a lot more to make) rather than the initial 16 pages (for a quarter). 

1985: ROM in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE (Marvel Comics)

From February 1985: ROM snags the cover feature slot in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE issue 23. 

1985: THE REAL ROM THE SPACEKNIGHT (Marvel Comics)

From February 1985: The real ROM makes a rare photographic appearance in the pages of MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE issue 23.

1984: BEFORE SECRET WARS: COSMIC CHAMPIONS (Marvel US)

Before it was the MARVEL SUPER HEROES SECRET WARS it was COSMIC CHAMPIONS!

This news page from Marvel's in-house plugzine MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE shows how late in the day, at the behest of toy manufacturer Mattel, Marvel switched titles for Jim Shooter's sprawling (some might say rambling, although I think that's a comment better suited to the ramshackle sequel) twelve-issue game-changer.

This page comes from MARVEL AGE issue 8, cover-dated February 1984.

1990: STAR WARS: DARK EMPIRE at MARVEL COMICS

WHAT IF.... Marvel had never surrendered the Star Wars license?

Now that Disney have bought Lucasfilm and announced an (over?) ambitious slate of new movies and TV STAR WARS projects, speculation is inevitably circulating that the comics license, long-held by Dark Horse Comics, will be shuffled to fellow Disney subsidiary Marvel.  I must confess, that was one of the first things that crossed my mind (see here) when I heard the news.

But - things could have been very different.  Marvel ditched the Star Wars license in 1986 on both sides of the Atlantic.  Although apparently still a moderate seller (but the long-term prognosis couldn't have been too healthy), the decision was made because working with the Lucasfilm licensing department had become so fraught it was no-longer worth the publisher's time.

Fast-forward to the 1990 MARVEL AGE PREVIEW (successor to the MARVEL AGE ANNUALS) and a sudden announcement that the Wars was back at Marvel.  STAR WARS: DARK EMPIRE was touted as a three-issue bookshelf format limited series to appear before the end of the year.

Someone - somewhere - was a little premature as the project passed from Marvel and settled at Dark Horse where it kick-started their SW publishing programme... and helped resuscitate interest in the moribund franchise.  The rest - as they say - is history.

1987: STAN LESS ANNOUNCES THE SALE OF MARVEL COMICS (Marvel Age Magazine)

"Marvel's gonna be a big-time player in the movie biz"

Turns out Stan was right... albeit a little premature.  With IRON MAN 3 going great guns at the international box office (and, at the time of writing, its not opened in the big US and Chinese markets yet) I thought it would be fun to unearth Stan's column from MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE issue 51 (June 1987) announcing the sale of Marvel Comics (including the branch offices in London and Los Angeles) to New World Pictures.

Marvel's first dalliance with Hollywood didn't go so well.  Despite owning Marvel, and producing a good slate of TV shows, the studio never seemed to get a grasp on the characters and only managed to churn-out a few underwhelming efforts (three reunions of the Hulk TV cast and the first Punisher movie) before the cash ran out and New World had to put the business back up for sale.

Marvel's post-NWwoes are the stuff of legend but now - finally - they're the Hollywood players Stan always dreamed they would become.

I've posted about New World and the purchase of Marvel before, notably here and here.

1986: MARVEL PRODUCTIONS in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE

This is a great little article from the pages of MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE issue 49: a tour of Marvel's West Coast animation house MARVEL PRODUCTIONS.

The whole thing reads like a breathless school report (which may have been the idea) but it's still a nice little behind-the-scenes piece accompanied by some artwork from the big shows of the time (notably none of them derived from Marvel characters or properties).

This article was published before Marvel, including Marvel Productions, was sold to New World Pictures briefly raising hopes that both would become series Hollywood players.  More on that in a mo...

I ran another post on Marvel Productions last year.  You can read it here.

1984: STAR WARS in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE

Here's the brand-new STAR WARS cover, and accompanying four-part article, from the tenth issue (Cover-dated January 1984) of in-house plugzine MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE.  The article sets out Marvel's immediate post-JEDI plans for the monthly book.

All of the strips discussed here, of course, also saw print in Marvel UK's RETURN OF THE JEDI weekly.

1983: BUTCH GUICE TALKS MICRONAUTS IN MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE

Ahhh MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE, Mighty Marvel's very own in-house fanzine and purveyor of the perpetually positive press release!

Back in the eighties (MA continued until 1994 although I'd long-since stopped reading it) Marvel Age was a one-stop shop to find out what was happening across the Marvel line (with occasional updates from non-comics activities like Marvel Books and Marvel Productions) without having to actually buy all the comics.  Now, decades later, it makes for a nostalgic reference source and I've built-up a complete collection.

Here's an exclusive cover and article from the third issue (June 1993) with MICRONAUTS artist Butch Guice.

As far as I know, done of his work on the core 'nauts book was ever reprinted by Marvel UK although THE X-MEN AND THE MICRONAUTS limited series appeared across four issues of THE MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL in what would be their British swan song.

1987: SLEDGE HAMMER! (Marvel US)

TRUST ME... I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!

He's another in the surprisingly small number of examples of corporate synergy between Marvel Comics and their mid-eighties Hollywood owner New World Pictures: SLEDGE HAMMER! the comic book.

I've covered some of their other tie-ups in previous posts (most notably ONCE A HERO/ CAPTAIN JUSTICE) and I've been meaning to cover Sledge (surely the greatest show, amongst several great shows, to emerge from the New World TV factory) since I started but never quite got around to it... until today.

SLEDGE HAMMER!, a Dirty Harry/ Hunter spoof from the hilarious mind of Alan Spencer, wasn't an obvious choice for a four colour adaptation (and - arguably - the end results aren't much -ahem - cop) but Marvel New York must have been desperate to impress their new corporate paymasters.  

This two-issue limited series (although the covers don't mention that, suggesting that Marvel might have been prepared to plough-on with more if sales had been more stellar) appeared in the Fall of 1987, coinciding with the low-rated show's unexpected second season on ABC.  

Fair to say, it seems everyone involved with the show expected it to be canned after its inaugural season (it bowed-out with one of TV's all-time great OTT cliffhangers) and renewal came as something of a surprise.  New World, already beginning to experience the cash-flow problems that would cause it to sell Marvel, cut budgets on Year Two to the bone.  Generally, the second season seldom reaches the heady heights of the first year... but there is still plenty to enjoy.

Marvel's first issue spoofs the sort of low-budget horror flicks that New World's theatrical and VHS divisions were churning out whilst the second issue turns its attention to Marvel's own heroes, possibly in a desperate attempt to gain some traction in comic book stores.

MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE (issue 60, cover-dated March 1988) bundled in with the inevitable puff-piece, which you'll also find below.

In my experience, very few copies reached the UK at the time (as a young Sledge fan, thanks to ITV running the show as part of their overnight schedules, I wanted anything Hammer-related I could get my hands on... and this was about the only thing on offer) although they do occasionally turn-up in the 50p bins.  If you see them: grab them.

The two seasons, with a nice selection of extras (including a warm tribute to recurrent second season director Bill - Hulk - Bixby), were released on DVD (although they may now be deleted on both sides of the Atlantic) and I recommend them without reservation.

ISSUE 1

February 1988

ISSUE 2

March 1988

1993: FRONTIER COMICS from MARVEL UK (Marvel Age Magazine)

FRONTIER COMICS is a long-forgotten Marvel Comics (UK branch) imprint, briefly inaugurated during the last splutters of the speculator-fueled boom years of the early 1990s... and amongst the first to be canned when the collapse came.

Unlike the main Marvel UK line, these comics were to be set outside the main Marvel Universe (cynics might argue that, actually, the entire M-UK line was set outside the main universe) and have a look-and-feel that placed them somewhere between 2000AD and DC's Vertigo line.

Frontier Comics, edited out of Arundel House by Michael Bennent, consisted of the four limited series covered in this MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE (issue 126) and FRONTIER COMICS SPECIAL, one-shot that was originally announced as the ongoing anthology FRONTIER COMICS UNLIMITED before the title was cancelled.

As the market collapsed around them in late 93/ early 94, Marvel London started to retrench their operation and delay certain new launches.  The Frontier imprint was culled completely, although all the limited series reached their natural conclusions.

As with the main M-UK line-up, Marvel have ignored the Frontier characters for the past twenty-odd years and none of the material has ever been reprinted or collected.  None of the Frontier strips were published in OVERKILL.  

1993: MARVEL UK'S MyS-TECH WARS in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE

MARVEL UK looks to the future... just not too far into the future.

Here's another MARVEL AGE puff-piece (issue 121, February 1993) plugging the wares of the Annex of Ideas.

Like most (all?) of their romps in the greater Marvel Universe, the MyS-TECH WARS was one of those sprawling crossover events, roping in numerous established characters, which had no lasting impact whatsoever on the US line.

It does, however, boast some fine Bryan Hitch artwork.

1992: DIGITEK in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE

This is another article, on Marvel UK's US-line, from MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE (issue 115, cover-dated August 1992).  It's the four-issue DIGITEK limited series that's under the spotlight.

The strip was also part of the inaugural line-up of the UK's OVERKILL.

1992: MARVEL UK in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE

Here's an article from MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE 113 (cover-dated June 1992) ushering the beginnings of the Marvel UK sub-universe AKA GENESIS 1992.

It's an interview with Marvel UK head honcho Pual Neary outlining his early plans for the line.  Before the short-lived speculator boom sent the Annex of Ideas crazy, cranking out numerous ongoing and limited series (most somehow connected with Death's Head II) until the British line was the first to be sacrificed when the over-extended market went into free fall.

Long-time purveyors of British newsagents will recognise these titles as also forming the basis of the British fortnightly OVERKILL, Marvel UK's first attempt to really challenge the dominance of Tharg.  Overkill also - before too long - succumbed to the dubious charms of Death's Head II and - rather too swiftly - collapsed with the rest of the sub-universe.  In the piece, Neary states that there's no direct link between DH II and the G92 line.  Unfortunately, that didn't last.

Despite Overkill running the same strips simultaneously (albeit axing the pages - at least at first - that featured US characters), the individual G92 titles were available from British comic stores.  early issues were polybagged with a sticker plugging Overkill although this practice was soon dropped.