Make Mine Marvel Age

Hercules does his Hercules thing by showing off on this cover, lifting a giant cement block and the Amazing Spider-Man in art by Bob Layton. In an interview, Layton discusses a Spider-Man graphic novel he was working on at the time, which as far as I can see never came out. The plot would have included Peter Parker having an affair with a married wife of a mobster, who then shoots Peter nine times! Here's a taste of the art: 

And speaking of projects that never saw the light of day, this issue's Coming Attractions includes a note about the legendary Avengers/Justice League of America crossover... 

Issue #1 was not mentioned in Marvel Age #3, although the miniseries may have been planned to toggle back and forth between Marvel and DC each month. 

There's also an article that juxtaposes Rock & Rule and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, two movies that have achieved similar levels of success and immortality...I kid, I kid! 

Marvel Age #4

Price: $0.25 US 

Pages: 20 (16 interior plus four covers)

On sale: July 1983 

Copyright © 1983 Marvel Comics Group, a division of Cadence Industries Corporation. 

• Editor: Carol Kalish 

• Assistant Editor: Peter David 

• Designer: Lea Sapp

• Production: Danny Crespi and Ron Zalme 

• Typesetters: Nancy Dodaro and Wendy Cooper Fitzgerald

• Photostats: Rob Carosella and Harry Candelario

• Colorists: Stan Goldberg, Paul Becton and George Roussos 

• Letterer: Rick Parker

• Logo: John Morelli 

• Guiding light: Jim Shooter

Front cover 

• Pencils/inks: Bob Layton

• Characters: Hercules, Spider-Man, the Recorder, and Skyppi the Skrull

 Inside front cover 

• Ad for Moon Knight #33 with art by Bill Sienkiewicz (Any Moon Knight experts out there know if this image is an unused cover?) 

 

Page 1

• Contents

• Masthead 

• Indicia 

Pages 2 – 5

• Marvel Comics Coming Attactions (no writing credits) 

Comics on sale June 7, 1983 - June 28, 1983

    Summaries of: 

    • The Thing #4

    • Ka-Zar #28

    • Red Sonja #2

    • New Mutants #8

    • Daredevil #199

    • Rom Annual #2

    • Amazing Spider-Man #245

    • Captain America #286

    • Thor #336

    • Indiana Jones #10

    • U.S. 1 #6

    • Hawkeye #2

    • Dr. Strange #61

    • Return to the Jedi #1

    • Illyana & Storm #1

    • Marvel/DC Presents #2: The Justice League & The Avengers (Well, that never made it to the stores!) 

    • Marvel Team-Up Annual #6

    • Incredible Hulk #288

    • Avengers #236

    • Rom #47

    • Conan the Barbarian #151

    • Marvel Tales #156

    • Power Man/Iron Fist #98    

    • G.I. Joe #16

    • X-Men #174

    • Cloak & Dagger #1

    • Fantastic Four #259

    • Marvel Team-Up #134

    • Iron Man #175

    • Peter Parker #83 (sic)

    • Defenders #124

    • Star Wars #76

    • Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #10

    • Alpha Flight #3

    • What If #41

    • Captain America Annual #7

    • Marvel Super Special #28: Krull 

    • Savage Sword of Conan #92

    • Blip #7

    • Bizarre Adventures #36

    • Marvel Age #7

    • Coyote #3

Page 5

• Marvel Coming Retractions

        Corrections on previous listings on:

        • The cover of Marvel Age #6 now will feature Cloak and Dagger

        • The story for New Mutants #7 now will appear in issue #8

• Less than one-third page ad for retailers to be listed in the Marvel Comics Super Mart 

• Disclaimer in tiny type: "While we never knowingly print inaccurate information in these pages, Marvel Comics reserves the right to make any changes that become necessary. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may cause. -- The Bullpen"  

Page 6

• Newswatch

    Items on:

    • Stan Lee and several Marvel editors visit the Marvel West Coast offices for top-secret meetings

    • Ka-Zar, Micronauts and Moon Knight all getting upgraded to Mando paper

    • Newcomer William Johnson replaces Klaus Janson as penciller on Daredevil

    • Laurie Sutton joins the Epic Comics group as assistant editor

    • Carl Potts will still replace Al Milgrom on the editorial staff (didn't they announce this before?) 

    • Writer Bruce Jones is leaving Ka-Zar, to be replaced by Michael Carlin. Mike comes on board with issue #28, and the series would end with #34.

    • Surprise! U.S. 1 is a maxiseries, not an ongoing series. Fandom breathes a collective sigh of relief. 

    • The adaptations of Fire and Ice, Return of the Jedi and Octopussy are swapping positions in Marvel Super Special due when the respective movies are coming out. 

    • Walter Simonson redesigns the Dire Wraiths, arch-foes of Rom, Spaceknight, to be creepier than ever. 

Pages 7-11

• Article: "Babyfaced Bob Layton," by Steve Ringgenberg. Interview with Bob Layton on a Spider-Man graphic novel (was this ever published?), Hercules, and more, with drawings of Red Woof, Hercules and the Recorder, and more

Pages 12-13

Behind the Lines

Items:

    • Carl Potts on joining the Marvel staff

    • Mark Gruenwald and Mike Carlin on the photo cover to Spider-Woman #50. 

    • Eliot Brown on taking photos for the Marvel staff 

    • Tom DeFalco on how he discovered Marvel comics

Pages 14-15

    • Article: "Rock & Rule / Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" by Peter David

    Article on the adaptations of these movies.

Pages 16 - inside back cover

    • Untitled letters page (that would change!) with header art featuring the Defenders by John Romita Jr. 

Inside back cover: 

    • Half-page about what's coming in Marvel Age #5

Back cover 

    House ad for Alpha Flight