Continuing Slow Robot's occasional series of supplements to the epic superhero slam-jam.
As mentioned in previous entries, the new trade paperback edition of (MARVEL SUPERHERO) SECRET WARS includes the MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE article that accompanied the launch of the limited series. But it conspicuously (but not inexplicably) omits this piece of extended self-congratulation (concocted on the flimsy premise that the series itself lacked a letters page) that appeared in a later issue.
This Jim Shooter puff-piece was much derided by fandom who were less impressed with his commercially-minded (it sold bucket-loads) penmanship but also wanted to portray him as the great villain in Jack Kirby's war with Marvel over the return of his artwork.
Marvel has a dirty little secret. And we don't just mean the original SPIDER-MAN movie trilogy (see yesterday). Before the two underwhelming noughties big-screen incarnations of the FANTASTIC FOUR (2005 and the 2007 sequel RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER), there was ANOTHER FF movie.
Legend has it that the results were deemed so bad (and, remember, this is the comic book company that unleashed some real screen stinkers) that Marvel buried the train wreck.
That's partially true. It is pretty bad (although, as you'll see, some of the costume and make-up design was actually top-notch) but it was really an elaborate (and not altogether cheap) piece of business sleight-of-hand by the producers who needed to get something into production by a set deadline or loose the rights back to Marvel. What to do. Their ingenious (and not altogether honest) solution was to rush out a low-budget quickie, which they had no intention of widely distributing, to buy time to secure the funds necessary to make the blockbuster they really wanted.
That scam didn't work but it obviously suited everyone to keep this semi-stinker secret. Which means copies have sneaked online and into the hands of convention bootleggers. Hurrah.
FILM THREAT (issue 12, October 1993) magazine did a really nice, and lengthy, article on the making of the film. Here it is:
Here's the movie trailer... in all its low-fi, bargain-basement glory. Remember: they pick the best bits for the trail!
It's the Chinese Year of the Dragon! Happy New Year!
In the late 1970s, the SPIDER-MAN live-action TV show (starring Nicholas Hammond) decamped to Hong Kong to shoot its final two-part episode (The Deadly Dust). Such largess wasn't just a last-ditch effort to boost the ratings, it was also a canny plan to bolster production standards to pass-off the TV productions as the third (yup, third!) SM feature film in overseas markets.
Presumably these were the sort of movies that made ideal half term holiday fodder for undemanding pre-teen cinema-goers. It's hard to believe anyone the other side of puberty would deprive much pleasure from their low-fi action.
The poster emphasises the kung-fu factor but, truth-be-told, there isn't much in the show itself. The stunts are the usual low-fi TV fodder viewers would have become accustomed too but the Far East locations are certainly more fun.
The show's producers were clearly out-of-their-depth, manfully struggling to translate the action of the comic book to the screen on a TV budget. Possibly fearful of evoking the campy traditions of sixties BATMAN, the show also suffered a humour bypass, jettisoning all the comic's natural humour.
The three faux feature films (SPIDER-MAN; SPIDER-MAN STRIKES BACK and THE DRAGON'S CHALLENGE) were mainstays of the VHS era (the Video Collection sleeve is above) but Marvel/ Sony successfully buried them in the DVD era, presumably to avoid any confusion with the new features. The TV show has also been conspicuous in its absence, giving bootleggers a field day.
Unfortunately Slow Robot can't find a trailer (did they ever bother to make one?) so here if a kung fu-tastic clip:
While the UK awaits the belated release of the new MUPPET movie, here's a magical no-CGI clip from THE GREAT MUPPET CAPER, the second of the original Muppet feature films.
SLOW ROBOT has been back to the vaults to unearth more additional material to supplement last year's trade paperback re-release of Jim Shooter and Mike Zeck's epic MARVEL SUPERHEROES SECRET WARS.
Here is a contemporary AMAZING HEROES interview with Zeck from 1984, where he discusses the Secret Wars along with other projects.
"Once upon a time... there were three little girls..."
SLOW ROBOT started the week with a spider on a skateboard, so it only seems right to close week one with a Farrah (Fawcett-Majors) and, quite possibly, the greatest screen chase (involving a skateboard) ever committed to film.
Maybe if the new show had pulled the same trick (they did try an 'Angels in Chains' wannabe prison show... the week they were cancelled!) then the Townsend Agency would still be in business!
THE WONDER YEARS really deserves a DVD/ Blu-Ray release but the complexities and costs of music licensing have prevented it. Above is the cover of the 1991 UK VHS release of the first four episodes, re-edited into a movie format.
The series, which debuted in the prized post-Superbowl slot, won the 1988 Emmy Award for best comedy series and a Peabody Award in 1989.
Here's the memorable theme, by Joe Cocker, and titles:
Here's the introduction to episode one:
And... here's the poignant final moments of the final episode (with the original music intact! When the UK's Channel Five aired a rerun, the track was replaced and an ending ruined!)
BIO/ THE BIOGRAPHY CHANNEL aired an excellent documentary about the making of the series:
"Elvira is outstanding... well two bits of her anyway!"
Barry Norman. BBC FILM '89
ELVIRA
MISTRESS OF THE DARK
NBC PRODUCTIONS/ NEW WORLD
1988
The ample charms of Elvira need no introduction but the eighties were her decade. Oft-overlooked, but once-seen, never-forgotten, is her low-budget ($7.5 million) theatrical mis-fire (it grossed a paltry $5.5 million domestically).
New World Entertainment purchased Marvel Comics Group for $50 million in 1985 so, inevitably, Marvel churned out a comic book version (other New World tie-ups included HOUSE 2 (1987); CAPTAIN JUSTICE/ ONCE A HERO (1988); SLEDGE HAMMER! (1988)).
ELVIRA
MISTRESS OF THE DARK
MARVEL US
1988
Marvel's adaptation was a one-shot in a black and white magazine format. It's never been reprinted and there was no UK edition.
MARVEL AGE MAGAZINE (issue 68, November 1988) ran a tie-in feature to promote it.
Here's the movie trailer. It's got all the - ahem - stand-out moments in it.
And here's a remix of the best scene from the movie intercut with other scenes. It exposes Elvira's real talents.
Here is the video sleeve for the first UK VHS sell-through release.
FANGORIA 77 ran an article on the making of the movie:
Elvria's Marvel one-shot wasn't her first (or last) comic book encounter. DC Comics had already nabbed her to front their 1986 revival of horror anthology HOUSE OF MYSTERY (previously 1951-1983). ELVIRA'S HOUSE OF MYSTERY ran for 11 issues (1986-1987) and a special.
And the hostess of horror would go on to enjoy considerable longevity in Claypool Comics' ELVIRA MISTRESS OF THE DARK (166 issues, 1993-2007).
SLOW ROBOT BONUS FEATURE
Elvira also starred in her own, unfortunately unsold, TV pilot. The 1993 production for CBS never aired. But here it is:
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.
