1983: COMICS FEATURE INTERVIEWS MARVEL'S JIM SHOOTER

Here's a vintage COMICS FEATURE interview with Marvel's controversial guvnor "Jolly" Jim Shooter from 1983 (issue 23/24).

Cover by Mike Harris

1982: COMICS FEATURE 15 (January 1982) NEWS PAGES

What was happening in the world of comic books at the end of 1981?  Here's the news pages from COMICS FEATURE issue 15 (cover-dated January 1982) to reveal all.  The big story is that Starlog's planned COMIC WORLD spin-off is mired in a legal dispute.  A swift name-change to COMICS SCENE fixed the problem.

In other news: Marvel announce plans for comics based on G.I. JOE, INDIANA JONES and - err - TEAM AMERICA.  And their STAR TREK title beams out after its 18th issue.

1982: COMICS FEATURE - STAR WARS COMICS

Here's a STAR WARS comics article from US fanzine COMICS FEATURE issue 15 (January 1982). It includes artwork, specifically the pages from The Day After The Death Star, specifically created for the UK's STAR WARS WEEKLY.

1984: MARVEL PRODUCTIONS IN 1984/85

COMICS FEATURE 33

JANUARY-FEBRUARY 1985

Throughout the 1980s, Marvel's West Coast animation off-shoot MARVEL PRODUCTIONS was responsible for many familiar animated series (and several long-forgotten).  The studio was previously DePatie-Freleng (of PINK PANTHER fame) and was acquired by Marvel in 1980 to spearhead their expansion into areas seen as being more 'future-proof' than the core comics business.

Stan Lee, of course, departed Marvel's New York offices to relocate to California to become MP's creative director, chief pitch-man and sometime TV show narrator.

Principally created to exploit Marvel's own creations (the company's remit always included live-action film, TV and theatre but it never seemed to expand out of animation), it enjoyed its greatest success in partnership with Hasbro's marketing agency Sunbow as a producer of toy-based animation.

Former Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter (dismissed from Marvel mid-decade.  More on that from Slow Robot in future) has claimed in his excellent blog that Marvel Productions only appeared profitable because the accountants budgeted the shows on the assumption that Marvel would enjoy a regular revenue stream from reruns and, eventually, go into profit once the initial costs of making the shows was covered.  But, according to Shooter, Marvel's deals were on a work-for-hire basis and the company had no profit participation.  So, if Marvel didn't cover all its costs up-front (and Shooter claims they didn't), they had no further income to push them into profit.

With no apologies for running a second Marvel-themed COMICS FEATURE article so soon, Slow Robot presents this excellent article from early 1985 (which would have been penned sometime in 1984).  Some notes follow.

SLOW ROBOT NOTES:

SPIDER FRIENDS (which sounds awfully like DC's rival, and more successful SUPER FRIENDS) was the working title for SPIDER-MAN AND HIS AMAZING FRIENDS.  Heatwave, obviously, became Firestar.

MEATBALL AND SPAGHETTI really did exist although it appears to have never run in the UK.  Here's the title sequence:

THE TRANSFORMERS.  According to Jim Shooter's blog (here again), Marvel Productions had a very different plan for how to realise the Robots in Disguise.  Hasbro opted to use the ideas concocted by the comics creatives across all media.  The pitch artwork shown below the box artwork presumably reflected MP's thinking (with kids as 'pilots').

PANDOMONIUM appears to have never gone into production.

MUFFY IN CAR AND CABLE.  The Transformer-a-like Bumblebee-wannabe, which has something of the GOBOTS about it, never happened.

DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS.  The artwork contains a few differences in design and colouring compared to the finished series, which ran on CBS and BBC ONE.  And never had an official first or last episode.

The pitch artwork for IRON MAN, ANT MAN and (new creations) THE MONSTRESS and THE ALIENS didn't sell.

HOWARD THE DUCK never became an animated hero but did become an infamous George Lucas live-action mis-fire.

HULK HOUND and TEEN HULK, unsurprisingly, went nowhere.  

DAREDEVIL AND LIGHTNING THE SUPERDOG did sell to ABC after Mark Evanier wrote a series bible and pilot script.  But according to his account, an executive at Marvel Productions pissed-off someone at ABC and the project was swiftly dumped.

And, finally, here is the memorable MARVEL PRODUCTIONS logo that appeared (unless the BBC faded it too soon or cut it off) at the end of their shows after Marvel were acquired by New World Entertainment in 1985.  It contains similar design elements to New World's own logo.

1984: SECRET WARS EXTRA 1

COMICS FEATURE 29

Cover dated: May 1984

At the end of 2011, Marvel issued (yet another) collected edition of MARVEL SUPERHERO SECRET WARS (written by Marvel's Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter with art, mostly, by Mike Zeck).  As with the previous trade paperbacks, it collects the full 12-issue limited series.  This version also includes more detailed accounts of how the various participants gathered at the Beyonder's Central Park 'fly trap' and several text features.

The best of these extras is a detailed article on the Mattel Secret Wars action figure line, the licensing deal that kick-started the comic book.  Briefly: Mattel's arch-rival Kenner signed a deal with DC Comics (whose characters had a far higher mainstream profile, thanks to movies and TV) to create the (superior) SUPER POWERS COLLECTION and Mattel, fearing that it was missing the next best thing, turned up at Marvel's Park Avenue South door.  Unfortunately, Mattel's efforts were so poor that failure was assured from the start and the toy line shuttered after two releases (with the final figures dumped onto the European market... to the benefit of local collectors).

The new edition also reprints the (familiar... yet different) cover and article from MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE 12 (March 1984).  But, there was a lot of other interviews and coverage in the fan press at the time... and Slow Robot has it!

Marvel also (finally) released Shooter's shoddy sequel SECRET WARS II (albeit the core 9-issue limited series and none of the boggling number of official and unofficial tie-ins) in an affordable trade paperback format (the full saga is available in a hefty shelf-busting hardback volume).  Which gives Slow Robot an excuse to run some SW II material in future too!

COMICS FEATURE ran for 57 issues, beginning in 1980, published by New Media Publishing.  It also spawned six specials.

Marvel UK, after a slight delay, also published SECRET WARS, followed by the sequel, as a fortnightly/ weekly.  Reprints of the first limited series (along with ALPHA FLIGHT, the ICE MAN limited series and the first regular home for the UK-originated ZOIDS strip) filled the first 31 issues before switching to SECRET WARS II (and sundry tie-in's and unrelated reprints) for the remaining of its 80 issues.  The UK also saw a hardback annual and three specials.