From 1979: Stan Lee talks HULK for MARVEL UK's RAMPAGE MONTHLY issue 11 (May).
It looks like this might be an original piece for the UK. Or, at least, an amended American interview with new copy added to plug the UK release of the pilot episode as a faux feature film. Although, it actually happened the following year (see: here).
From 1975: Smooth, sophisticated, Seventies super-salesman Stan Lee cranks-up the MARVEL UK hype machine to announce the impending launch of a new weekly!
Such announcements (along with anything that hinted at a new look, format change, relaunch or free gift) were also most welcome and, in those pre-internet days, usually the first hint that something new was about to land on the shelves of the local newsagent.
Stan was, of course, hawking the new TITANS weekly, which used the new fangled landscape technology to cram two US pages side-by-side on one A4 page.
The checklist below includes Marvel's adaptation of ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES, which includes a whole pre-title sequence which isn't in the film version (and may... or may not... have been filmed).
From late 1992: Stan "The Man" Lee turns his monthly plug machine to selling the wares of MARVEL UK across the US Marvel line.
Marvel's output was growing so fast (and, some may argue, indiscriminately) during this period that securing such a lengthy bit of hard sell in BULLPEN BULLETINS must have been quite an achievement. However, it's unlikely that Stan, firmly ensconced on the West Coast trying to convince someone (anyone!) to produce movies and TV shows based on the Marvel pantheon, ever actually read any of the British books.
There a few titles there that must have been changed before the books went ahead: Team Helix (possibly published as Genetix), Death Rattle and Gene Machine. Night Raven (or Nightraven according to Stan) presumably refers to the second edition of the House of Cards graphic novel (which I've covered in previous posts).
I've already published details, from the MARVEL UK weeklies, of STAN LEE's October 1975 sojourn to the UK, including the ICA exhibition and his one-night-only outing at the Roundhouse, but Stan was making annual (or more) transatlantic trips throughout the seventies.
Here's a full page account (published 25 January 1975) of his 1974 trip including a TV appearance on PEBBLE MILL AT ONE, presumably now purged from the BBC archives.
In October 1975, Merry ol' London Town went Marvel Mad!
Not only were the ICA hosting an exhibition of original Marvel art but Stan himself was in town for one of his periodic trips across the Atlantic to spread the word of The Man (and plug, through numerous media appearances, the British weeklies).
The centre-piece of the visit was a one-night-only talk (tickets a snip at 60p!) at Camden's Roundhouse.
This is a Marvel UK house ad - from April 1975 - giving British Marvel fans the chance to order (because they DEMANDED it!) Stan Lee's ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS direct from Mighty Marvel's Holborn headquarters.
ONCE A HERO was a Fall 1987 action/ adventure/ comedy, with a comic book twist, from ABC and New World Television.
The to-smart-for-TV premise revolved around a superhero (Captain Justice) who crosses over from the pages of a comic book into the "real" world.
The show was produced by New World Television so, dutifully, sister company Marvel Comics issued a comic book version: a two-issue limited series (although its not identified as one) adapting the TV pilot under the title CAPTAIN JUSTICE.
The show was plagued by a number of pre-launch problems. Stan Lee's Hollywood-focused column in MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE (see below) detailed several name changes, network-dictated recasting and reshoots (unfortunately he doesn't go into too much detail) and deleted scenes (including his own).
Lee was meant to make a cameo in the pilot episode but his scene was left on the cutting room floor. A transcript of his scene (a faux interview) appears on the first page of the first Marvel issue.
The show's various working titles were, according to Lee: Believers; True Believers; True Believer (this may be a typo of True Believers); True Colors and - eventually - Once a Hero.
Ironically, because of publishing deadlines and lead times, the show would have been cancelled before either of Lee's in-print plugs appeared.
Stan regularly used his soapbox pages to plug New World's TV, film and home video activity.
Only the first issue of the Marvel adaptation mentions its TV origins on the cover, presumably being associated with a defunct-for-months TV show had no perceived sales benefits for the second.
The adaptation was written by J.M. DeMatteis (based on Dusty Kaye's TV screenplay) with art by Steve Leialoha. Unsurprisingly, it has never been reprinted (although copies still turn up in back issue bargain bins) and there was no UK edition.
Seven episodes of Once a Hero were completed when the show was cancelled, although ABC aired only three (the feature-length pilot and two one-hour shows. The remaining episodes (including one guest starring Adam West) never aired in the States but - presumably - aired in overseas markets.
Once a Hero was a ratings bomb and the first show of the 1987-88 season to be axed. Its poor performance was compounded by a number of ABC affiliates which, sensing a stinker, pre-empted the pilot for the double-length debut of STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Some affiliates continued to substitute Trek for subsequent episodes.
Television production operated under a deficit-funded model which meant ABC would only have contributed a percentage of Once a Hero's production costs. New World only had a real chance of recovering the true cost of shooting the series if it accumulated enough episodes (usually 75-100) for a successful afterlife in reruns and overseas sales. It's cancellation left New World considerably out-of-pocket and contributed to its increasingly perilous financial situation (the Los Angeles Times reported, in an article published 6 March 1988, that the company had debts of $304 million and 1987-88 third-quarter losses of $6.4 million).
New World Video released the pilot episode as a direct-to-video movie in 1988 (VHS art below). The rental-only release was never followed by a sell-through edition. The video was promoted by a video store poster, using the same artwork as the tape.
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.
