Friday, April 23, 2021


Return of the Jedi hit theaters on May 25, 1983, and with that, the original Star Wars movie trilogy was complete -- but the monthly Star Wars comic series continued with new adventures. The cast of the comic is pictured on the cover of Marvel Age #10, drawn by Ron Frenz (who only ended up drawing a handful of issues) with inks by frequent M.A. contributor Jack Abel. (Frenz is also the third Ron to draw a Marvel Age cover, after Ron Zalme and Ron Wilson. Sounds like...a Ronspiracy!) 

This is also one of the only times -- maybe THE only time -- the original Marvel Age logo was changed to go with the property on the cover. 

As you can see, the cast of the comic expanded on the movie's cast considerably! This issue features an interview with Star Wars writer Jo Duffy and editor Louise Simonson, who talk about what's coming up for Luke, Leia, Han and the rest of the cast without giving much away. 

Writer Archie Goodwin reveals the secret behind his return to Power Man and Iron Fist, a series that he wrote when it began in 1972 under the title Hero for Hire. Says Archie, "Well, Denny O'Neil had mentioned that he was looking for a writer to fill in while he as searching for a regular writer for the book, so I volunteered." Legendary, right? The planned three-issue run only ended up running two issues, #103-104, and then it was back to frequent fill-ins until Christopher Priest took over with issue #111. 

There's also an article on the long-gestating Alien Legion, with writer/creator Carl Potts talking about the series' beginnings eight years earlier. 

The New Talent Department spotlights inker Kathy Orlando, who seems not to have ultimately done much work in comics

And in this month's untitled letters page, readers voted on letter column titles including "Marvel Post-Age," "Marvel Mail Bagg-Age," "Age Page," and "Marvel Page." (Side note: not exactly sure when this practice started, but Marvel Age was always deluged with mail because they received all the letters addressed to Marvel Comics, as opposed to a specific comic or editor.) 

Four dollars for 12 issues? What a bargain! 


Marvel Age #10

Price: $0.25 US 
Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)
On sale: October 10, 1983
Cover date: January, 1984
Copyright © 1983 Marvel Comics Group, a division of Cadence Industries Corporation. 

• Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter
• Editor and Design Director: Jim Salicrup
• Editorial Assistant: Mark Lerer
• Art/Production Coordinator: Dan Crespi
• Assistant Art/Production Coordinator: Ron Zalme
• Production: Joe Albelo, Harry Candelario, Rob Carosella, Morrie Kuramoto, Ken Lopez, John 
  Morelli, and Barry Shapiro
• Typesetters: Nancy Dodaro, Brenda Mings, and Jay Zilber
• Colorists: Paul Becton, George Roussos, and Glynis Wein
• Proofreader: Alice Roth
• Friendly Assistance: Lynn Cohen and Margaret Clark
• Cover Artists: Ron Frenz and Jack Abel
• Direct Sales Manager: Carol Kalish
• Assistant Direct Sales Managers: Peter David and Lea Sapp
• Corner Symbol who thinks he's a droid: Irving Forbush 

Front cover 
• Characters: All the Star Wars

 Inside front cover
• Subscription ad for Marvel Age
 
Page 1
• Contents
• Masthead 
• Indicia 

Editorial: "And the Beat Goes On..." by Jim Salicrup 

Pages 2 – 5
Marvel Comics Coming Attactions 

Comics on sale December 27
The Thing #10
Daredevil #205
New Mutants #14
Ka-Zar #31
Hercules #3
The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #15 - special "Book of Weapons" issue
Six from Serius #1 (sic)

Comics on sale January 3
Amazing Spider-Man #251 -- Spidey mysteriously disappears! 
Captain America #292
Thor #342
Indiana Jones #16 (sic)
Savage Sword of Conan #98
Dr. Strange #64
U.S. 1 #9
X-Men/Micronauts #4
The Generic Comic #1
Tarzan of the Apes #1

Comics on sale January 10
Incredible Hulk #294 -- the Hulk mysteriously disappears! 
Avengers #242
Conan #157
Marvel Tales #162
X-Men #180
Rom #53
Power Man and Iron Fist #104
G.I. Joe #22
Marvel Age Magazine #13

Comics on sale January 17
Fantastic Four #265 -- more on these mysterious disappearances! 
Marvel Team-Up #140
• Iron Man #181
Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #89
Defenders #130
Star Wars #82
Alpha Flight #9
Coyote #5
What If #44
Jack of Hearts #4
Micronauts Special Edition #5

Page 5
Note -- What If #43 gets a content update 

Special Note on heroes mysteriously vanishing in this month's Coming Attractions. 

Page 6
Newswatch
Announcing Marvel Press, which will publish posters and portfolios

Page 7
Behind the Lines
"Ideas," written and illustrated by Archie Goodwin 


Pages 8 - 11
Article: "Beyond Star Wars," by Patrick Daniel O'Neill
Interview with editor Louise Jones and writer Jo Duffy

Pages 12 - 13
Article: "The Elektra Saga," by D. Jon Zimmerman

Pages 14 - 16
Article: "Who Are the Futurians," by Sandy Hausler

Pages 17 - 19
Article: "Archie Goodwin Returns to Power Man and Iron Fist," by Robert J. Sodaro

Pages 20 - 22
Article: "Beauty and the Beast," by Mark Lerer
Interview with writer Ann Nocenti

Pages 23 - 25
Article: "The Alien Legion," by Mark Lerer

Pages 26 - 28
New Talent Department
Spotlight on inker Kathy Orlando 

Page 29
Marvel Wants You 

Page 30
Ad for the Jack of Hearts miniseries

Pages 31 - 32
Untitled letters page

Inside back cover
Ad for Beauty and the Beast

Back cover
Ad for Conan the King #20 

No comments:

Post a Comment

  Three hundred issues of the Man without Fear, and Marvel Age jumps in with a big retrospective including interviews with Ann Nocenti, Lee ...