Thursday, November 14, 2024

 

After 104 issues and four annuals, the editorial reins were handed off in this issue of Marvel Age from Jim Salicrup to Renée Witterstaeter. Reneé had been involved in the series for a few months as a writer and colorist, but she would only stick around for a handful of issues, and in that time would continue in the tradition of her predecessor. 

Like Jim Lee in issue #104, another artist dominated this issue - this time, it was Sam Kieth, who would be an early Image Comics contributor with his series The Maxx, but not one of the founders. 

This issue also includes one of the densest slabs of text I've ever seen in Marvel Age, as Mark's Remarks continues straight into the New Talent Department, which is a plot submission from Jean-Jacques Dzialowski and Louis DeRoys. 

And Marvel would resurrect the title "Tomb of Dracula" for the third and final time with a new miniseries previewed here. This time around, the classic ToD team of writer Marv Wolfman and penciller Gene Colan was joined by inker Al Williamson for fangs and fun. 

Marvel Age #105

Price: $1.00 US 

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)
On sale: August 20, 1991
Cover date: October 1991
Copyright © 1991 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. 

Inside front cover 

Masthead
• Tom DeFalco: Editor in Chief
• Mark Gruenwald: Executive Editor
• Carl Potts: Epic Executive Editor
• Bob Budiansky, Executive Editor, Special Projects
• Ralph Macchio: Senior Editor
• Renée Witterstaeter: Editor
• Mike Lackey: Assistant Editor
• Steve Alexandrov: Designer
• Fred Hembeck: Sage of Marvel Age
• Mindy Fisch, Sholly Fisch and Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Contributing Editors
• Craig Anderson, Richard Ashford, Tom Brevoort, Bobbie Chase, Chris Cooper, Kelly Corvese, Dan Cuddy, Don Daley, Tom Daning, Barry Dutter, Eric Fein, Danny Fingeroth, Suzanne Gaffney, Pat Garrahy, Bob Harras, Glenn Herdling, Marie Javins, Len Kaminski, Terry Kavanagh, Kevin Kobasic, John Lewandowski, Howard Mackie, Marc McLaurin, Al Milgrom, Sarra Mossoff, Fabian Nicieza, Mark Powers, Mike Rockwitz, Evan Skolnick, Rob Tokar, Renée Witterstaeter, and Nel Yomtov: Consulting Editors
• John Romita: Art Director
• Steve Geiger: Managing Art Director
• Bud LaRosa, Kevin Tinsley, and Joel Zulueta: The Raiders
• Virginia Romita: Traffic/Production Manager
• Dawn Geiger: Assistant Production Manager 
• Lynda Strunk: Typesetter
• Jack Abel: World's Toughest Proofreader
• Ron Aikens, Dahlia Aponte, Paul Becton, Steve Bunche, Rob Carosella, Cindy Emmert, Vince Evans, Jesus Gonzalez, Ed Lazellari, Ariane Lenshoek, Fung Ming Mă, Erica Moran, Edward Murr, George Roberts, Joe Rosas, George Roussos, and Davide Sharpe: Production
• Sam Kieth: Cover artist
• Renée Witterstaeter: Colorist
• Christopher Ebel: Manufacturing Coordinator
• Christine Aurilia, Al Bensew, Meg Brennan, Paula Butterworth, Paul Curtis, Arthur Parris Jackson, Joe Kaufman, Josie McCain, Tony Matias, Anna Mazzarelli, Mary "Mac" McPherson, Stu Schwartzberg, Dan Slott, and Christine Slusarz: Friendly Assistance
• Karen Corbo, Carol Platt, and Vivian O'Brien: Rights and Permissions
• Carol Kalish: V.P./New Product Development 
• Skip Dietz: Direct Sales Publications Editor
• Victoria Schodowski: Administrative Assistant 
• Lou Bank: Assistant Direct Sales Manager Customer Service
• Sven Larsen: Director of Direct Sales/Direct Market
• Bruce G. Costa: Direct Sales Manager/Retail Liaison 
• Steve Saffel: Promotion Manager 
• Dana Moreshead: Advertising Manager
• Irving Forbush: Tool of Dracula

Renée's Witticisms
Pages 1 - 4
Mondo Marvel Comics 
Item: Coming soon, it's Captain Planet and the Planeteers. 
Item: Coming soon from Epic Comics, it's the Hellraiser/Night Breed crossover. 
Item: Remo Williams, the Destroyer, returns in a new miniseries. 
Item: Lots of X-Men action figures coming soon from Toybiz.
Item: There's still time to join WAM! (Wild Agents of Marvel) and get early news from Marvel. 
Item: Spider-Man bites the dust in Spider-Man #17. 
Item: Entertainment Weekly ran an article on writers' favorite bookstores, including Village Comics, with a photo showing Marvel Age.
Item: Renée Witterstaeter is back from the Berlin Wall - here's a photo! 
Item: Marvel staffers are taking turns bringing in videotapes to watch during lunch, heavily favoring anime and wrestling. 
Item: Nightcat appeared on ABC's Into the Night, hosted by Rick Dees. 


Marvel Top 100 List
February 1991
  1. Spider-Man #12
  2. Infinity Gauntlet #1
  3. Ghost Rider #15
  4. Uncanny X-Men #278
  5. Deathlok #1
  6. Amazing Spider-Man #349
  7. Marvel Comics Presents #81
  8. Marvel Comics Presents #80
  9. X-Factor #68
  10. New Mutants Annual #11
Page 5 
Marvel Trivia Quiz 

Page 6
Article: "The Eternals: The Herod Factor," by Pat Garrahy

Page 7 
Stan's Soapbox

Willie Lumpkin, by Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo 


Pages 8 - 12
The Mutant Report: Sam Kieth Interview, by Mike Lackey 


Page 12
Sam Kieth Tour '91


Pages 13 - 15
Mark's Remarks 

New Talent Department 

Pages 16 - 17
Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age 

Page 18
Article: "Marvel Licensing," by Dwight Jon Zimmerman

Pages 19 - 20
Article: "The Tomb of Dracula," by Peter Sanderson 

Pages 21 - 25
Preview: "The Tomb of Dracula" 
Pages 26 - 27 
The Marvel Age of Comics: 1984 Part Five, by Brian Nelson 

Page 28
Article: "Weaveworld," by Tom Daning

Page 29
Article: "The Legion of Night," by Tony Matias

Pages 30 - 32
Letters column: "We Have Not Yet Begun To Write" 

Inside back cover
Marvel Age Super Shopper Gallery 

Back cover
The 1991 Marvel Age Calendar: September 
Writer: Mike Lackey
Artist: Ron Zalme
Colorist: Renée Witterstaetter


Thursday, October 24, 2024

 


Jim Lee grabbed the spotlight in this issue of Marvel Age, with a cover, an interview, and a Pro File feature on him. Also on this cover are Whilce Portacio (sleeping in green), and, I think, Scott Williams in the dark glasses. Not sure who the guy with coffee in the red shirt is, though. 

Also in this issue, Stan Lee writes about his first use of the term "mutant," in a tale he wrote and Steve Ditko illustrated for Amazing Adult Fantasy #14 called "The Man in the Sky" – just one issue before the debut of Spider-Man. 

This story also leads me to believe that it was Stan Lee, and (maybe) not Jack Kirby, who might have read the 1953 novel Mutant by Henry Kuttner, which seemed like a big influence on the original X-Men. 


Marvel Age #104

Price: $1.00 US 

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)
On sale: July 16, 1991
Cover date: September 1991
Copyright © 1991 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. 

Inside front cover 

Masthead
• Tom DeFalco: Editor in Chief
• Mark Gruenwald: Executive Editor
• Carl Potts: Epic Executive Editor
• Bob Budiansky, Executive Editor, Special Projects
• Jim Salicrup: Supreme Marvel Zombie
• Mike Lackey: Assistant Editor
• Cindy Emmett and Dawn Geiger: Designers
• Fred Hembeck: Sage of Marvel Age
• Mindy Fisch, Sholly Fisch and Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Contributing Editors
• Craig Anderson, Richard Ashford, Tom Brevoort, Bobbie Chase, Chris Cooper, Kelly Corvese, Dan Cuddy, Don Daley, Tom Daning, Barry Dutter, Eric Fein, Danny Fingeroth, Suzanne Gaffney, Bob Harras, Glenn Herdling, Marie Javins, Len Kaminski, Terry Kavanagh, Kevin Kobasic, John Lewandowski, Howard Mackie, Marc McLaurin, Al Milgrom, Sarra Mossoff, Fabian Nicieza, Mark Powers, Mike Rockwitz, Evan Skolnick, Rob Tokar, Renée Witterstaeter, and Nel Yomtov: Consulting Editors
• John Romita: Art Director
• Steve Geiger: Managing Art Director
• Bud LaRosa, Hope Perelman, Bob Petrecca, Kevin Tinsley, and Joel Zulueta: The Raiders
• Virginia Romita: Traffic/Production Manager
• Dawn Geiger: Assistant Production Manager 
• Lynda Strunk: Typesetter
• Jack Abel: World's Toughest Proofreader
• Ron Aikens, Steve Alexandrov, Dahlia Aponte, Paul Becton, Steve Bunche, Rob Carosella, Vince Evans, Jesus Gonzalez, Ed Lazellari, Ariane Lenshoek, Gabrielle Macari, Edward Murr, Bettie Ringma, George Roberts, George Roussos, and Davide Sharpe: Production
• Jim Lee and Scott Williams: Cover artists
• Renée Witterstaeter: Colorist
• Christopher Ebel: Manufacturing Coordinator
• Christine Aurilia, Al Bensew, Meg Brennan, Paula Butterworth, Paul Curtis, Patrick Garrahy, Arthur Parris Jackson, Joe Kaufman, Josie McCain, Tony Matias, Anna Mazzarelli, Mary "Mac" McPherson, Stu Schwartzberg, Dan Slott, and Christine Slusarz: Friendly Assistance
• Karen Corbo, Carol Platt, and Vivian O'Brien: Rights and Permissions
• Carol Kalish: V.P./New Product Development 
• Skip Dietz: Direct Sales Publications Editor
• Victoria Schodowski: Administrative Assistant 
• Lou Bank: Assistant Direct Sales Manager Customer Service
• Sven Larsen: Director of Direct Sales/Direct Market
• Bruce G. Costa: Direct Sales Manager/Retail Liaison 
• Steve Saffel: Promotion Manager 
• Dana Moreshead: Advertising Manager
• Irving Forbush: X-traneous
• Ralph Macchio: X-change student

Salicup's Section

Pages 1 - 3
Mondo Marvel Comics 
Item: More Marvel Masterworks coming soon, including new volumes of Amazing Spider-Man and Silver Surfer and debut volumes of Daredevil and The Mighty Thor. 
Item: Conan the Barbarian #250 is coming soon, with a sequel to the classic story "Black Colossus.
Item: Writer Scott Lobdell will take over on Alpha Flight with issue #102. 
Item: Full rosters of Marvel's two softball teams - they had to start a second team because so many people wanted to play. 
Item: Coming soon from Epic, it's Captain Confederacy, an alternate history tale. 
Item: For the 1990 Marvel Illustrated special, the editor needed a pair of puckered lips, so he auditioned lots of Marvel's female employees. 

Marvel Top 100 List
February 1991
  1. Spider-Man #10
  2. Uncanny X-Men #276
  3. Deadly Foes of Spider-Man #1
  4. Amazing Spider-Man #347
  5. Ghost Rider #13
  6. Punisher War Journal #30
  7. X-Factor #66
  8. Marvel Comics Presents #76
  9. Darkhawk #3
  10. Marvel Comics Presents #75
Page 4 - 5
Andy Mangels' Reel Marvel 

Page 6 
Marvel Trivia Quiz 

Pages 7 - 10 
The Mutant Report: Jim Lee Interview, by Peter Sanderson


Pages 11 - 12 
Pro File: Jim Lee

Pages 13 - 14
Article: "X-Men Preview," by Mike Lackey

Page 15
Article: "X-Men Action Figures," by Dwight Jon Zimmerman

Pages 16 - 17
Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age 

Page 18 
Stan's Soapbox

Willie Lumpkin, by Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo

Pages 19 - 23
Story: "The Man in the Sky," by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

Pages 24 - 25
Article: "The Pirates of Dark Water," by Barry Dutter 

Pages 26 - 27
Article: "The New Marvel Editors Trading Cards," by Mike Lackey

Pages 28 - 29
The Marvel Age of Comics: 1984 Part Four

Pages 30 - 32
Letters column: "It's Your Dime - Start Talkin'!" 

Inside back cover
Marvel Age Super Shopper Gallery 

Back cover
The 1991 Marvel Age Calendar: August 
Writer: Mike Lackey
Artist: Ron Zalme
Colorist: Renée Witterstaetter



Thursday, October 10, 2024


A mere 27 years after his debut in Avengers #9, Wonder Man finally got his own solo series in 1991. The series would go on to run 29 issues, with guest-appearances by Spider-Man, the Hulk, and others. And this would be the first – and only – issue of Marvel Age to feature a multi-panel cover, the result of four sketches that were all judged to be too good to not use! 

Even though there's a picture of Stan Lee with Ronald Reagan in this issue's Stan's Soapbox column, there's no mention of Rockin' Ronnie on the page, so we don't know what the occasion was. Too bad!  

And even though it's been eight months since Captain America graced the cover of Marvel Age for his big 50th anniversary, this new issue features an article about Cap's Sentinel of Liberty series, coming out at last. 

Marvel Age #103

Price: $1.00 US 

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)
On sale: June 18, 1991
Cover date: August 1991
Copyright © 1991 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. 

Inside front cover 

Masthead
• Tom DeFalco: Editor in Chief
• Mark Gruenwald: Executive Editor
• Carl Potts: Epic Executive Editor
• Jim Salicrup: Supreme Marvel Zombie
• Mike Lackey: Assistant Editor
• Cindy Emmett and Dawn Geiger: Designers
• Fred Hembeck: Sage of Marvel Age
• Mindy Fisch, Sholly Fisch and Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Contributing Editors
• Craig Anderson, Richard Ashford, Tom Brevoort, Bob Budiansky, Bobbie Chase, Chris Cooper, Kelly Corvese, Dan Cuddy, Don Daley, Tom Daning, Suzanne Dell'Orto, Barry Dutter, Eric Fein, Danny Fingeroth, Suzanne Gaffney, Bob Harras, Glenn Herdling, Marie Javins, Len Kaminski, Terry Kavanagh, Kevin Kobasic, John Lewandowski, Howard Mackie, Marc McLaurin, Al Milgrom, Sarra Mossoff, Fabian Nicieza, Mark Powers, Mike Rockwitz, Evan Skolnick, Rob Tokar, Renée Witterstaeter, and Nel Yomtov: Consulting Editors
• John Romita: Art Director
• Steve Geiger: Managing Art Director
• Bud LaRosa, Hope Perelman, Bob Petrecca, and Kevin Tinsley: The Raiders
• Virginia Romita: Traffic/Production Manager
• Dawn Geiger: Assistant Production Manager 
• Lynda Strunk: Typesetter
• Jack Abel: World's Toughest Proofreader
• Ron Aikens, Steve Alexandrov, Dahlia Aponte, Paul Becton, Steve Bunche, Rob Carosella, Chris Eliopoulos, Vince Evans, Jesus Gonzalez, Ed Lazellari, Ariane Lenshoek, Gabrielle Macari, Edward Murr, Bettie Ringma, George Roberts, George Roussos, and Davide Sharpe: Production
• Jeff Johnson and Terry Austin: Cover artists
• Renée Witterstaeter: Colorist
• Christopher Ebel: Manufacturing Coordinator
• Christine Aurilia, Al Bensew, Meg Brennan, Paula Butterworth, Paul Curtis, Arthur Parris Jackson, Josie McCain, Tony Matias, Anna Mazzarelli, Mary "Mac" McPherson, Stu Schwartzberg, Dan Scott, and Christine Slusarz: Friendly Assistance
• Karen Corbo, Carol Platt, and Vivian O'Brien: Rights and Permissions
• Carol Kalish: V.P./New Product Development 
• Skip Dietz: Direct Sales Publications Editor
• Victoria Schodowski: Administrative Assistant 
• Lou Bank: Assistant Direct Sales Manager Customer Service
• Sven Larsen: Director of Direct Sales/Direct Market
• Bruce G. Costa: Direct Sales Manager/Retail Liaison 
• Steve Saffel: Promotion Manager 
• Dana Moreshead: Advertising Manager
• Irving Forbush: Way Out Wonder, Man
• Ralph Macchio: Wonder Editor

Salicup's Section

Pages 1 - 3
Mondo Marvel Comics 
Item: Coming soon, it's the Marvel Illustrated Swimsuit Special. 
Item: Coming soon, it's the Impossible Man Summer Special. 
Item: Coming soon, it's The Best of Marvel Comics trade paperback. 
Item: The double-sized Alpha Flight #100 will feature lots of guest stars. 
Item: Deathtrap: The Vault is a new graphic novel that pits Freedom Force, the Rhino and Venom against each other.

Marvel Top 100 List
February 1991
  1. Spider-Man #9
  2. New Mutants #100 
  3. X-Men #275
  4. Amazing Spider-Man #346
  5. Marvel Comics Presents #73
  6. Punisher War Journal #29
  7. Darkhawk #2
  8. Marvel Comics Presents #74
  9. Ghost Rider #12
  10. X-Factor #13
Page 4
Epic-Grams

Art by Mike Kazaleh

Page 5
Article: "The Transmutation of Ike Garuda," by Charles S. Novinskie

Art by James Sherman

Pages 6 - 7
Article: "Alien Legion: Tenants of Hell," by Tom Daning

Pages 8 - 9
Article: "The Adventures of Captain America, Sentinel of Liberty," by Suzanne Gaffney 

Art by Kevin Maguire

Pages 10 - 11
Andy Mangels' Reel Marvel

Pages 12 - 13
Marvel Licensing: New PVCs and Porcelain Bisques

Wolverine, Storm, Gambit and Cable sketches by Ron Frenz and Rodney Ramos


Hulk sketch by John Romita Sr. 

Page 14
Stan's Soapbox

Willie Lumpkin by Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo


Page 15
The Many Faces of The Vision 

Pages 16 - 17
Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age 

Page 18 
Marvel Trivia Quiz

Pages 19 - 20 
Article: "Wonder Man," by Mike Lackey

Pages 21 - 25
Preview: Wonder Man #1

Pages 26 - 27
The Marvel Age of Comics: 1984 Part Three

Pages 28 - 29
Mark's Remarks 

Pages 30 - 32
Letters column: "It's Mailer Time" 

Inside back cover
Marvel Age Super Shopper Gallery 

Back cover
The 1991 Marvel Age Calendar: July 
Writer: Mike Lackey
Artist: Ron Zalme
Colorist: Renée Witterstaetter


Thursday, October 3, 2024

 


The rise of the pre-Image crowd continues with this Rob Liefeld cover on Marvel Age #102 - but he was hardly the only notable artist contributing to this issue. 

The two-part spotlight on The Official Trading Cards of the Marvel Super Heroes features some top notch art by Arthur Adams - and even though the Artists Checklist includes literally dozens of other artists, Adams is the only artist shown in these two features, excepting a little art by John Romita Jr. and Erik Larsen. 

The upcoming debut of the Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure comic book series (featuring awesome stories and art by the great Evan Dorkin) is covered in an article that's an interview with Bill S. Preston and Ted "Theodore" Logan. 

And Mark's Remarks takes over the New Talent Department, with Mark Gruenwald pulling back the curtain to explain that, unless your art is really, really good, editors just don't have the time to deal with it. The column goes on to look at a submitted Daredevil plot from two French writers. 

Marvel Age #102

Price: $1.00 US 

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)
On sale: May 21, 1991
Cover date: July 1991
Copyright © 1991 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. 

Inside front cover 

Masthead
• Tom DeFalco: Editor in Chief
• Mark Gruenwald: Executive Editor
• Carl Potts: Epic Executive Editor
• Jim Salicrup: Supreme Marvel Zombie
• Mike Lackey: Assistant Editor
• Cindy Emmett and Dawn Geiger: Designers
• Fred Hembeck: Sage of Marvel Age
• Mindy Fisch, Sholly Fisch and Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Contributing Editors
• Craig Anderson, Richard Ashford, Tom Brevoort, Bob Budiansky, Bobbie Chase, Chris Cooper, Kelly Corvese, Dan Cuddy, Don Daley, Tom Daning, Suzanne Dell'Orto, Barry Dutter, Eric Fein, Danny Fingeroth, Suzanne Gaffney, Bob Harras, Glenn Herdling, Marie Javins, Len Kaminski, Terry Kavanagh, Kevin Kobasic, John Lewandowski, Howard Mackie, Marc McLaurin, Al Milgrom, Sarra Mossoff, Fabian Nicieza, Mike Rockwitz, Evan Skolnick, Rob Tokar, Renée Witterstaeter, and Nel Yomtov: Consulting Editors
• John Romita: Art Director
• Steve Geiger: Managing Art Director
• Bud LaRosa, Hope Perelman, Bob Petrecca, and Kevin Tinsley: The Raiders
• Virginia Romita: Traffic/Production Manager
• Dawn Geiger: Assistant Production Manager 
• Lynda Strunk: Typesetter
• Jack Abel: World's Toughest Proofreader
• Ron Aikens, Steve Alexandrov, Dahlia Aponte, Paul Becton, Steve Bunche, Rob Carosella, Chris Eliopoulos, Vince Evans, Jesus Gonzalez, Ed Lazellari, Ariane Lenshoek, Gabrielle Macari, Edward Murr, Bettie Ringma, George Roberts, George Roussos, and Davide Sharpe: Production
• Rob Liefeld: Cover artist
• Renée Witterstaeter: Colorist
• Christopher Ebel: Manufacturing Coordinator
• Christine Aurilia, Al Benson, Paula Butterworth, Paul Curtis, Arthur Parris Jackson, Josie McCain, Anna Mazzarelli, Mary "Mac" McPherson, Mark Powers, Stu Schwartzberg, Dan Scott, and Christine Slusarz: Friendly Assistance
• Karen Corbo, Carol Platt, and Vivian O'Brien: Rights and Permissions Editor
• Jim Sokolowski: Director of Sales/Newsstand
• Bob Kerekes: National Key Account Manager
• Cindy Marenda: Sales Administrator
• Carol Kalish: V.P./New Product Development 
• Skip Dietz: Direct Sales Publications Editor
• Victoria Schodowski: Administrative Assistant 
• Lou Bank: Assistant Direct Sales Manager Customer Service
• Sven Larsen: Director of Direct Sales/Direct Market
• Bruce G. Costa: Direct Sales Manager/Retail Liaison 
• Steve Saffel: Promotion Manager 
• Dana Moreshead: Advertising Manager
• Irving Forbush: X-Farce 
• Ralph Macchio: Senior Editor

Salicup's Section

Pages 1 - 3
Mondo Marvel Comics 
Item: Amazing Spider-Man will hit issue #350 soon, with an epic battle against Doctor October. 
Item: Coming soon, it's a Punisher bisque. 
Item: The new "Marvel Talk Video" will be distributed on videotape to be shown at comics conventions this summer, with Marvel staff discussing new projects. 
Item: More detail on some annuals for this year, including X-Men Annual, Super Hero Annual, Spider-Man Annual. 
Item: From Marvel UK, there's the new Night Raven: House of Cards graphic novel as well as the Doctor Who Classic trade paperback. 
Item: Coming in July, it's The Incredible Hulk: Ground Zero, collecting the storyline by Peter David and Todd McFarlane. 

Marvel Top 100 List
November 1990
  1. Spider-Man #6
  2. Uncanny X-Men #272
  3. Fantastic Four #348
  4. Hulk #377
  5. X-Factor #62
  6. New Mutants #97
  7. Amazing Spider-Man #343
  8. Ghost Rider #9
  9. Wolverine #35
  10. Punisher War Journal #36
Page 4
Marvel Trivia Quiz

Page 5
Stan's Soapbox

Willie Lumpkin by Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo


Pages 6 - 7 
Andy Mangels's Reel Marvel 


Pages 8 - 12
Article: "Summer 1991 Annuals," by Peter Sanderson

Page 8
Article: "Terminator 2," by Christian Cooper

Pages 9 - 10
"The Official Trading Cards of the Marvel Super Heroes 1991," by Mike Lackey and Dwight Jon Zimmerman

Pages 11 - 12 
The Official Trading Cards of the Marvel Super Heroes checklist



Page 13
The Many Faces of Hawkeye

Pages 14 - 15
The Marvel Age of Comics 1984 Part Two by Brian Nelson

Pages 16 - 17
Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age 

Page 18 
Article: "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" 


Page 19
The Mutant Report
"X-Force," by Tom Daning"

Pages 20 - 25
Preview: X-Force #1

Page 26
Epic-Grams 

Pages 27 - 29
Mark's Remarks and New Talent Department


Pages 30 - 32
Letters column: "Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Minds of Fans? The Letters Page Knows!" 

Inside back cover
Marvel Age Super Shopper Gallery 

Back cover
The 1991 Marvel Age Calendar: June 
Writer: Mike Lackey
Artist: Ron Zalme
Colorist: Renée Witterstaetter



Thursday, September 26, 2024

 


Back in the day, the traditional wisdom in the comics biz was that publishers would put out their annuals in the summer, when the kids were out of school and had summer jobs that put a few more dollars in their pockets. In 1991, the year we're up to in our Marvel Age chronology, Marvel had 19 annuals on their schedule, priced at $2.00 each. So if a fan bought all of them, well, that's $38 spent. 

In this issue, Marvel Age ran its usual Summer Annuals Report Card, a move I always found weird. The available grades run from "Outstanding" down to "Awful," and it seems strange that a publisher would invite fans to grade their annuals this way. Oh well. 

The Reel Marvel column this month had info on two weird projects that I never heard of before: A Canadian-produced pilot for a Power Pack TV series, which you can watch here, and an animated adaptation of The Airtight Garage of Jerry Cornelius, which doesn't seem to have been made at all. 

And hey, has anyone noticed that the New Talent Department has recently featured a lot of wannabe artists that went on to actual comics careers? We recently saw entries from Leonard Kirk and Tom Raney, and this month we have Tomm Coker! 

Also, Marvel Age has run a bunch of the "The Many Faces of..." pages before, but I particularly like this month's page, which focuses on Doctor Strange. 

Marvel Age #101

Price: $1.00 US 

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)
On sale: April 16, 1990
Cover date: June 1991
Copyright © 1991 Marvel Entertainment Group, Inc. 

Inside front cover 

Masthead
• Tom DeFalco: Editor in Chief
• Mark Gruenwald: Executive Editor
• Carl Potts: Epic Executive Editor
• Jim Salicrup: Supreme Marvel Zombie
• Mike Lackey: Assistant Editor
• Cindy Emmett and Dawn Geiger: Designers
• Sholly Fisch and Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Contributing Editors
• Craig Anderson, Richard Ashford, Tom Brevoort, Bob Budiansky, Bobby Chase, Chris Cooper, Kelly Corvese, Dan Cuddy, Don Daley, Tom Daning, Suzanne Dell Orto, Barry Dutter, Eric Fein, Danny Fingeroth, Suzanne Gaffney, Bob Harras, Glenn Herdling, Marie Javins, Len Kaminski, Terry Kavanagh, Kevin Kobasic, John Lewandowski, Howard Mackie, Marc McLaurin, Al Milgrom, Sarra Mossoff, Fabian Nicieza, Mike Rockwitz, Evan Skolnick, Rob Tokar, Renée Witterstaeter, and Nel Yomtov: Consulting Editors
• John Romita: Art Director
• Steve Geiger: Managing Art Director
• Bud LaRosa, Bob Petrecca, and Kevin Tinsley: The Raiders
• Virginia Romita: Traffic/Production Manager
• Dawn Geiger: Assistant Production Manager 
• Lynda Strunk: Typesetter
• Jack Abel: World's Toughest Proofreader
• Ron Aikens, Steve Alexandrov, Dahlia Aponte, Darren Aucke, Paul Becton, Steve Bunche, Rob Carosella, Chris Eliopolous, Vince Evans, Jesus Gonzalez, Ed Lazellari, Ariane Lenshoek, Gabrielle Macari, Edward Murr, Bettie Ringma, George Roberts, George Roussos, and Davide Sharpe: Production
• Al Milagros: Cover artist
• Renée Witterstaeter: Colorist
• Glenn Herdling: Manufacturing Coordinator
• Greg Myers: Research
• Christine Aurilia, Paula Butterworth, Dwight Coye, Arthur Parris Jackson, Josie McCain, Mary "Mac" McPherson, Stu Schwartzberg, and Christine Slusarz: Friendly Assistance
• Karen Corbo, Carol Platt, and Vivian O'Brien: Rights and Permissions Editor
• Jim Sokolowski: Director of Sales/Newsstand
• Bob Kerekes: National Key Account Manager
• Cindy Marenda: Sales Administrator
• Carol Kalish: V.P./New Product Development 
• Skip Dietz: Direct Sales Publications Editor
• Victoria Schodowski: Administrative Assistant 
• Lou Bank: Assistant Direct Sales Manager Customer Service
• Sven Larsen: Direct Sales Assistant Manager
• Steve Saffel: Promotion Manager 
• Dana Moreshead: Advertising Manager
• Irving Forbush: More important than Ralph
• Ralph Macchio: Senior Editor

Salicup's Section

Pages 1 - 3
Mondo Marvel Comics 
Item: Look for the seven-issue limited series Original Ghost Rider Rides Again, reprinting issues #68 - 81 of the original series. 
Item: The Spider-Man Saga is a four-issue series detailing the history of Spidey, including stories from Marvel Team-Up, Web of Spider-Man, and more. 
Item: Renée Witterstaeter reports on her trip behind the Iron Curtain to East Germany. 
Item: Marvel Zorro series will feature new covers by Alex Toth on its final three issues. 
Item: Epic presents the new series The Olympians, written by Stephen Jewell with art by Gary Chaloner. 

Marvel Top 100 List
October 1990
  1. Spider-Man #5
  2. X-Men #271
  3. Punisher War Journal #25
  4. Fantastic Four #347
  5. Amazing Spider-Man #342
  6. X-Factor #61
  7. New Mutants #96
  8. Ghost Rider #8
  9. Wolverine #34
  10. Marvel Comics Presents #64
Page 4 - 5 
Andy Mangels' Reel Marvel
• NBC ordered a pilot based on Power Pack. 
• The Punisher is coming out on video. 
• Stan Lee has a cameo in the movie The Ambulance. 
• The TV movie The Rebirth of the Incredible Hulk is in the works. 
• It seems a She-Hulk project is in development, possibly to star Brigitte Nielsen.
• A script is being written by Stuart Gordon for an Iron Man movie. 
• An animated movie based on The Airtight Garage is in pre-production, as is a movie based on Lt. Blueberry. 

Page 6
Epic-Grams
The Epic humor line may be expanding soon. 
Groo the Wanderer becomes part of the Legend of Thaiis in issue #80. 
A new Groo TPB collects issues #4 - 7 of the series
Andy Lanning and John Carnell present the Sleeze Brothers in the miniseries Some Like It Fresh. 

Page 7
Stan's Soapbox

Willie Lumpkin by Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo


Pages 8 - 12
Article: "Summer 1991 Annuals," by Peter Sanderson


Page 13
Marvel Trivia Quiz

Page 14 
Convention Con-Fusion - A Conventional Summer 

Page 15
Mark's Remarks

Pages 16 - 17
Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age 

Page 18 
The Many Faces of Dr. Strange


Page 19
Article: "Wam! The New Marvel Fan Club," by Charles Novinskie 

Page 20
Article: "Punisher P.O.V.," by Barry Dutter

Pages 21 - 25
Preview of Punisher P.O.V. #1

Pages 26 - 27 
The Marvel Age of Comics: 1984 Part One

Pages 28 - 29
New Talent Department: Tomm Coker 


Pages 30 - 32
Letters column: "Say Goodnight, Gracie!" 

Inside back cover
Marvel Age Super Shopper Gallery 

Back cover
The 1991 Marvel Age Calendar: May 
Writer: Mike Lackey
Artist: Ron Zalme
Colorist: Renée Witterstaetter





  After 104 issues and four annuals, the editorial reins were handed off in this issue of Marvel Age from Jim Salicrup to  Renée Witterstaet...