Marvel Age gained 26 new contributors with issue #28 -- consulting editors who worked down the hall and provided story details, behind the scenes art, and other vital information for every issue of what was now touted on the cover as "The Official Marvel News Magazine." There were other publications around that provided fans with inside info on upcoming comics, but none that with mastheads including industry legends like Archie Goodwin or Denny O'Neil. 

This issue went on sale April 9, and in keeping with the fun atmosphere at Marvel at the time, it opened with a section called "Not the Marvel Coming Attractions, which mixed fanciful descriptions for regular upcoming issues (Captain America #309 -- "Steve Rogers fails the Famous Artists's art talent test!") with titles that...no, they can't really be planning a Jarvis the Butler miniseries, right? But some are convincing, too, like new miniseries for Ariel, Havok and Polaris, the Sentinels, or Silver Surfer. Like, why not, right? 

This section also feature the famous Barry Windsor-Smith Daredevil cover guest-starring Spiny Norman of Monty Python fame. 

Also in this issue, I interview editor Mike Carlin and writer Archie Goodwin about Dazzler...an article I have no memory of writing! Plus, the Rawhide Kid returns, Elfquest comes to Marvel for a reprint series (with Cutter scaring Irving Forbush on the cover), and more. 

Oh, and fans learned why Spider-Man makes a great urban hero, but isn't as successful in the 'burbs. No tall buildings around to thwipp to! 

Marvel Age #28

Price: $0.35 US 

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)

On sale: April 9, 1985

Cover date: July, 1985

Copyright © 1985 Marvel Comics Group, a division of Cadence Industries Corporation. 

• Jim Shooter: Editor in Chief

• Jim Salicrup: Editor and Design Director

• Kurt Busiek: Assistant Editor

• Craig Anderson, Pat Blevins, Nancy Brown, Bob Budiansky, Mike Carlin, Margaret Clark, Don Daley, Tom DeFalco, Jo Duffy, Archie Goodwin, Mark Gruenwald, Bob Harras, Larry Hama, Mike Higgins, Sid Jacobson, Ralph Macchio, Howard Mackie, Al Milgrom, Ann Nocenti, Denny O'Neil, Jim Owsley, Carl Potts, Pat Redding, Louise Simonson, Laurie Sutton, and Keith Williams: Consulting Editors

• Janet Jackson: Designer

• Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Coming Attractions

• Dan Crespi: Art/Production Coordinator

• Ron Zalme: Assistant Art/Production Coordinator

• Harry Candelario, Rob Carosella, Phil Felix, Morrie Kuramoto, John Morelli, Miriam Larsson, and Barry Shapiro: Production

• Brenda Mings: Typesetter

• Adam Philips and George Roussos: Colorists

• Lynn Cohen and Chantee Foster: Friendly Assistance 

• Bill Sienkiewicz: Cover 

• Carol Kalish: Director of Specialty Sales

• Peter David: Direct Sales Manager Administrative

• Steve Saffel: Assistant Promotions Manager for Direct Sales

• Irving Forbush: Dim Bulb

Front cover 

• Character: The Dazzler

 Inside front cover

• Marvel Agenda (contents) 

• Masthead 

• Indicia 

Editorial: "It All Started..." by Jim Salicrup 

 

Pages 1 - 3

Not the Marvel Coming Attractions

Titles not shipping now or ever

• Daredevil #222
• New Mutants #31
• The Mutant Muppets #1
• The Thing #27
• Dial "D" for Dead Hero #1
• Marvel Super Special #40: Friday the 13th Part Six 
• Captain America #309
• Silver Smurfer #1
• The Amazing Spider-Man #268
• Alpha Flight #25

Titles not shipping now or ever

• Dennis the Menace #1
• Two Wild and Crazy Mutants #1
• Friday the 13th Part Six #1
• The Mighty Thor #359
• Avengers #259
• Professor X #1
• Colossus #4
• Not Brand Echh Special Edition #1
• MTV #1
• X-Men and the A-Team #1

Titles not shipping now or ever

• The Micronauts #10
• The Incredible Hulk #311
• Conan the Barbarian #174
• Storm #3
• Rom #68
• Ariel #1
• X-Men #197
• Skull the Slayer Special Edition #2
• Havok and Polaris #1
• Marvel Super Special #41: Odin the Movie
• The New Defenders #147
• Jarvis the Butler #2

Titles not shipping now or ever

• X-Men and Michael Jackson #1
• Iron Man #198
• Odin the Movie #1
• Fantastic Four #282
• The Web of Spider-Man #7
• Sentinels #1
• Old Mutants #1
• Silver Surfer #1
• Aunt May #1

Pages 4 - 8

Marvel Comics Coming Attractions

Titles on sale April 23

• The Thing #26
• Daredevil #221
• New Mutants #30 - Secret Wars II tie-in
• Web of Spider-Man #5
• Planet Terry #5
• Fraggle Rock #3
• Strawberry Shortcake #3
• Red Sonja #10
• Dreadstar and Company #2
• The Gargoyle #3
• Rawhide Kid #1
• The Sectaurs #2
• Starstruck #3
• The Life of Captain Marvel #1

Titles on sale April 30 

• The Amazing Spider-Man #267
• Captain America #308 - Secret Wars II tie-in
• Power Pack #13
• The Micronauts #11
• Alpha Flight #25
• Wally the Wizard #5
• Top Dog #3
• Heathcliff #3
• Doctor Strange #72
• Groo the Wanderer #6
• Savage Sword of Conan #114
• Black Dragon #2
• The Sisterhood of Steel #4

Titles on sale May 7

• Marvel Age Magazine #29
• The Incredible Hulk #310
• The Avengers #258
• Conan #173
• Marvel Tales #178
• X-Men #196 - Secret Wars II tie-in
• Rom #69
• Moon Knight #3
• G.I. Joe #38
• Dreadstar #19

Titles on sale May 14

• Fantastic Four #281 - Secret Wars II tie-in
• Iron Man #197 - Secret Wars II tie-in
• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #105
• The New Defenders #146
• Star Wars #98
• Thor #358
• The Transformers #7
• Elfquest #1
• Secret Wars II #2
• Rocket Raccoon #2
• Spider-Man Index #5
• Doctor Who #11
• Alien Legion #8 

Pages 9 - 10

More Coming Attractions

• Titles shipping in May
• The Thing #27
• Daredevil #222
• New Mutants #31
• Web of Spider-Man #6
• Planet Terry #6
• Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #3
• Ewoks #3
• Cloak and Dagger #2
• Dreadstar and Company #3
• The Gargoyle #4
• Rawhide Kid #2
• Squadron Supreme #1
• Swords of the Swashbucklers #2
• Conan the King #30
• Moonshadow #3
• The Life of Captain Marvel #2
• Power Pack #14
• Micronauts #12
• Alpha Flight #26
• Wally the Wizard #6
• The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #31
• Dazzler #39
• Groo the Wanderer #7
• Longshot #1
• Savage Sword of Conan #115
• Black Dragon #3
• The One #1
• Timespirits #5
• Marvel Age #30
• The Incredible Hulk #311
• The Avengers #259
• Conan #174
• Marvel Tales #179
• X-Men #197
• Rom #70
• Moon Knight #4
• Power Man and Iron Fist #119
• Royal Roy #3
• Muppet Babies #3
• Get Along Gang #3
• Solomon Kane #1
• G.I. Joe #39
• Web of Spider-Man Annual #1
• Marvel Fanfare #22
• Fantastic Four #282
• Iron Man #198
• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #106
• The New Defenders #147
• Star Wars #99
• Thor #359
• Elfquest #2
• Secret Wars II #3
• Transformers #8
• Spider-Man Index #6
• Doctor Who #12
• Coyote #13
• Epic Illustrated #31

Titles shipping in June 

• The Thing #28
• Daredevil #223
• New Mutants #32
• Web of Spider-Man #7
• Planet Terry #7
• Fraggle Rock #4
• Strawberry Shortcake #4
• Dreadstar and Company #4
• Rawhide Kid #3
• Squadron Supreme #2
• The Sectaurs #3
• Starstruck #4
• The Life of Captain Marvel #3
• The Amazing Spider-Man #269 
• Captain America #310
• Power Pack #15
• Micronauts #13
• Alpha Flight #27
• Wally the Wizard #7
• Top Dog #4
• Heathcliff #4
• Doctor Strange #73
• Groo the Wanderer #8
• Longshot #2
• The Specactular Spider-Man Annual (sic) #5
• The Fantastic Four Index #1
• Savage Sword of Conan #116
• Black Dragon #4
• The One #2
• Sisterhood of Steel #5
• Marvel Age Magazine #31
• The Incredible Hulk #312
• The Avengers #260
• Conan #175
• Marvel Tales #180
• X-Men #198
• Rom #71
• Moon Knight #5
• G.I. Joe #40
• The Eternals #1
• Dreadstar #20
• Fantastic Four #283
• Iron Man #199
• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #107
• The New Defenders #148
• Thor #360
• Elfquest #3
• Secret Wars II #4
• Transformers #9
• Star Wars #100
• Marvel Team-Up Index #1
• Doctor Who #13
• Alien Legion #9

Page 11

Newswatch 

Item: Assistant Editor Peter Sanderson has left staff to do freelance work on the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe and other projects; Assistant Editor Pat Blevins has moved to Editor Ann Nocenti's office; Editor Carl Potts has hired Rosemary McCormack-Lowy as his new Assistant Editor. 

Item: The editorial team of Mark Gruenwald and Howard Mackie has unveiled the official Marvel Comics Editorial Uniform, seen below in art by James Fry and Tom Morgan, with patented 1980s-style design by Janet Jackson: 

Item: Walter Simonson will write a Balder and Karnilla miniseries, with art by Sal Buscema. (This was published under the name Balder the Brave.) 

Marvel Top Ten 

Titles for February 1985 (direct sales rankings only)

1. X-Men #194
2. Cloak and Dagger #1
3. Web of Spider-Man #3
4. Alpha Flight #23
5. New Mutants #28
6. Amazing Spider-Man #265
7. Fantastic Four #279
8. Moon Knight #1
9. Iceman #4
10. Beauty and the Beast #4

Pages 12 - 14

Article: "Michael Carlin and Archie Goodwin Talk about Dazzler," by Adam Philips

Page 15

Article: "Star Spotlight on Ewoks," by Sandy Hausler 

Pages 16 - 17

Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age

Pages 18 - 19

Article: "The Rawhide Kid," by Sholly Fisch

Pages 20 - 22

Article: "The Marvel Age Interview: Bill Sienkiewicz," by Mark Lerer

Pages 23 - 25

Article: "Say Hello to Elfquest," by Peter Sanderson

Pages 26 - 27

Article: "The Life of Captain Marvel," by Dwight Jon Zimmerman

Pages 28 - 29

Article: "The Marvel Age -- 1968 (Part I)," by Adam Philips

Pages 30 - 31

Letters column: "Oh! Look at All This Mail!", suggested by Alex Wai

Inside back cover

Unused New Mutants art by Bill Sienkiewicz -- it got lost in the mail. 

Back cover 

The Marvel Age 1985 Calendar for April

Jim Salicrup - Writer

Ron Zalme - Artist

George Roussos - Colorist

 

Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars may be over -- but Secret Wars II is on the way! So promises the cover to Marvel Age #27, in which Editori-Al Milgrom is surrounded by Marvel's greatest heroes. The cover goes with an interview with writer and editor in chief Jim Shooter, who reveals that Al took the place of the earlier announced artist Sal Buscema -- only because Sal lives in Virginia, while Al was in the New York Area.

Irving Forbush has the month off, as this is a rare Marvel Age cover with no Irv in the corner box. In his place is a mysterious lad called Billy, who appears in this issue's Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age claiming to be the Beyonder. His mom might have something to say about that. 

Legendary artist Kelley Jones is the subject of this month's New Talent Department, back when he was just getting fans' attentions for the first time as a penciller and inker on Micronauts. Kelley started out as an inker over Butch Guice's pencils, among others, but quickly moved on to pencilling. 

Also in this issue, my own contributions to Marvel Age expanded as I started to do some coloring as well as co-writing an article on Planet Terry. 

Marvel Age #27

Price: $0.35 US 

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)

On sale: March 12, 1985

Cover date: June, 1985

Copyright © 1985 Marvel Comics Group, a division of Cadence Industries Corporation. 

• Jim Shooter: Editor in Chief

• Jim Salicrup: Editor and Design Director

• Kurt Busiek: Assistant Editor

• Janet Jackson: Designer

• Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Coming Attractions

• Dan Crespi: Art/Production Coordinator

• Ron Zalme: Assistant Art/Production Coordinator

• Harry Candelario, Rob Carosella, Phil Felix, Morrie Kuramoto, John Morelli, Miriam Larsson, and Barry Shapiro: Production

• Brenda Mings: Typesetter

• Adam Philips and George Roussos: Colorists

• Lynn Cohen and Chantee Foster: Friendly Assistance 

• Al Milgrom: Cover 

• Carol Kalish: Director of Specialty Sales

• Peter David: Direct Sales Manager Administrative

• Steve Saffel: Assistant Promotions Manager for Direct Sales

• Irving Forbush: Marvel Super Heroes Secret Mascot II 

Front cover 

• Characters: Al Milgrom and the heroes of Secret Wars II 

 Inside front cover

• Marvel Agenda (contents) 

• Masthead 

• Indicia 

Editorial by Jim Salicrup 

 

Pages 1 - 5

Marvel Comics Coming Attractions

Titles on sale March 26

• The Thing #25

• New Mutants #29

• Daredevil #220

• Web of Spider-Man #4

• Planet Terry #4

• Cloak and Dagger #1

• Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #2

• Dreadstar and Company #1

• The Gargoyle #2

• Conan the King #29

• Swords of the Swashbucklers #1

• Moonshadow #2

Titles on sale April 2

• The Amazing Spider-Man #266

• Captain America #307

• Power Pack #12

• The Micronauts #10

• Wally the Wizard #4

• The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #30

• Dazzler #38

• Ewoks #2

• Groo the Wanderer #5

• Alpha Flight #24

• Savage Sword of Conan #113

• Black Dragon #1

• Time Spirits #4

Titles on sale April 9

• Marvel Age Magazine #28

• The Incredible Hulk #309

• The Avengers #257

• Conan #172

• Marvel Tales #177

• X-Men #195

• Rom #68

• Moon Knight #2

• Power Man and Iron Fist #118

• Royal Roy #2

• Muppet Babies #2

• The Get Along Gang #2

• G.I. Joe #37

• Marvel Fanfare #21

Titles on April 16

• Fantastic Four #280

• Iron Man #196

• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #104

• The New Defenders #145

• Star Wars #97

• Thor #357

• Transformers #6

• Secret Wars II #1

• Rocket Raccoon #3

• Spider-Man Index #4

• Fred Hembeck Destroys the Marvel Universe #1

• Doctor Who #10

• Coyote #12

• Epic Illustrated #30

Pages 6 - 7

More Coming Attractions 

Titles shipping in April

• The Thing #26

• Daredevil #221

• New Mutants #30

• Web of Spider-Man #5

• Planet Terry #5

• Fraggle Rock #3

• Strawberry Shortcake #3

• Red Sonja #10

• Dreadstar and Company #2

• The Gargoyle #3

• Rawhide Kid #1

• Sectaurs #1

• Starstruck #3

• Life of Captain Marvel #1

• The Amazing Spider-Man #267

• Captain America #308

• Power Pack #13

• Micronauts #11

• Alpha Flight #25

• Wally the Wizard #5

• Top Dog #3

• Heathcliff #3

• Doctor Strange #3

• Groo (sic) #6

• Savage Sword of Conan #114

• Black Dragon #2

• Sisterhood of Steel #4

• Marvel Age #29

• The Incredible Hulk #310

• The Avengers #258

• Conan #173

• Marvel Tales #178

• X-Men #196

• Rom #69

• Moon Knight #3

• G.I. Joe #38

• Dreadstar #19

• Fantastic Four #281

• Iron Man #197

• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #105

• The New Defenders #146

• Star Wars #96

• Thor #358

• Transformers #7

• Elfquest #1

• Secret Wars II #2

• Rocket Raccoon #4

• The Spider-Man Index #5

• Doctor Who #11

• Alien Legion #8

Titles shipping in May

• The Thing #27

• Daredevil #222

• New Mutants #31

• Web of Spider-Man #6

• Planet Terry #6

• Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #3

• Ewoks #3

• Cloak and Dagger #3

• The Gargoyle #4

• Rawhide Kid #2

• The Revenge of the Living Monolith #1

• The Squadron Supreme #1

• Conan the King #30

• Moonshadow #3

• The Life of Captain Marvel #2

• The Amazing Spider-Man #268

• Captain America #309

• Power Pack #14

• Micronauts #12

• Alpha Flight #26

• Wally the Wizard #6

• The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #31

• Dazzler #39

• Groo the Wanderer #7

• Longshot #1

• Savage Sword of Conan #115

• Black Dragon #3

• The One #1

• Timespirits #5

• Marvel Age #30

• The Incredible Hulk #311

• The Avengers #259

• Conan #174

• Marvel Tales #179

• X-Men #197

• Rom #70

• Moon Knight #4

• Power Man and Iron Fist #119

• Royal Roy #3

• Muppet Babies #3

• Get Along Gang #3

• Solomon Kane #1

• G.I. Joe #39

• Web of Spider-Man Annual #1

• Marvel Fanfare #22

• Fantastic Four #282

• Iron Man #196

• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #106

• The New Defenders #147

• Star Wars #99

• Thor #359

• Elfquest #2

• Secret Wars II #3

• Transformers #8

• Spider-Man Index #6

• Doctor Who #12

• Swords of the Swashbucklers #2

• Coyote #13

• Epic Illustrated #31

Page 8 

Newswatch

Item: New series Dreadstar and Company will reprint Dreadstar from the beginning but will be available on newsstands as well as in comics shops. 

Item: John Byrne will draw covers for Power Man and Iron Fist #119, Iron Man #197, Captain America #308, and Secret Wars II #1. 

Item: A team of motorcycle stunt riders will appear in The Thing #27. (Spoiler: It's the Thunderriders.) 

Item: Scarlet Witch gets an updated costume in the Vision and Scarlet Witch #1, as does a returning villainess. (Spoiler: It's the Enchantress.)

Item: Assistant editor Bob Harras is moving from editor Ralph Macchio's office to editor Bob Budiansky's office. Former Traffic Department assistant Craig Anderson will become Macchio's new assistant editor. 

Page 9 

Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards for 1984 ballot

Pages 10 - 13

Article: "The Marvel Age Interview: Jim Shooter," by Dwight Jon Zimmerman 

Pages 14 - 15

Article: "Cynthia Martin, the New Star of Star Wars," by Dwight Jon Zimmerman 

Page 16 - 17

"Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age"

Page 18 

Article: "Star Spotlight on Planet Terry," by Sandy Hausler and Adam Philips

Pages 19 - 21

Article: "The Black Dragon," by Dwight Jon Zimmerman

Page 22

Ad for Secret Wars II

Page 23 - 25

Article: "The Marvel Age -- 1967 (Part II)," by Kurt Busiek

Pages 26 - 28

Article: "The New Talent Department: The Kelley Jones Story," by Peter Quinones

Page 29

Bullpen Bulletins

Pages 30 - 32

Letter column: "Does Anybody Really Have a Favorite Letter Column?", suggested by Randy Drexler 

Inside back cover

Ad for The Black Dragon

Back cover

The Marvel Age 1985 Calendar: March

Jim Salicrup, writer

Ron Zalme, artist

George Roussos, colorist 

The Epic Comics line added yet another new title with Starstruck, a miniseries by writer Elaine Lee and artist Michael Kaluta that made the cover of Marvel Age #26. The title spun out of Marvel Graphic Novel #13, and was inspire by a 1980 stage play of the same name. 

The success of The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe led to the one-shot Official Handbook of the Conan Universe, featured in this issue of Marvel Age in both an article and the Fred Hembeck comic. 

This is also the issue of Marvel Age in which I made my first contribution, writing the article "The World of the Sectaurs," about a miniseries based on the Sectaurs toy line from Coleco. I have to wonder if anyone remembers this particular project. 

Even more exciting than the Sectaurs, this issue of Marvel Age features the debut of a beloved feature -- the Marvel Age calendar, written by Jim Salicrup and illustrated by Ron Zalme. To play catch up, this issue features both the January and February 1985 calendar pages. 

Marvel Age #26

Price: $0.35 US 

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)

On sale: February 5, 1985

Cover date: May, 1985

Copyright © 1985 Marvel Comics Group, a division of Cadence Industries Corporation. 

• Jim Shooter: Editor in Chief

• Jim Salicrup: Editor and Design Director

• Kurt Busiek: Assistant Editor

• Janet Jackson: Designer

• Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Coming Attractions

• Dan Crespi: Art/Production Coordinator

• Ron Zalme: Assistant Art/Production Coordinator

• Harry Candelario, Rob Carosella, Phil Felix, Morrie Kuramoto, John Morelli, Miriam Larsson, and Barry Shapiro: Production

• Brenda Mings: Typesetter

• Paul Becton, Ken Feduniewicz, and George Roussos: Colorists

• Lynn Cohen and Chantee Foster: Friendly Assistance 

• Michael Wm. Kaluta: Cover 

• Carol Kalish: Direct Sales Manager

• Peter David: Assistant Direct Sales Manager

• Steve Saffel: Assistant Promotions Manager for Direct Sales

• Irving Forbush: Awestruck, Stagestruck, and Dumbstruck 

Front cover 

• Characters: Starstruck

 Inside front cover

• Marvel Agenda (contents) 

• Masthead 

• Indicia 

Editorial by Jim Salicrup (continues on page 8)

 

Pages 1 - 5

Marvel Comics Coming Attractions

Titles on sale February 26

• The Thing #24

• Daredevil #219

• New Mutants #28

• Web of Spider-Man #3

• Planet Terry #3

• Fraggle Rock #2

• Strawberry Shortcake #2

• Gargoyle #1

• Iceman #4

• Sectaurs #1

• Beauty and the Beast #4

• Starstruck #2

Titles on sale March 

• The Amazing Spider-Man #265

• Captain America #306

• Power Pack #11

• Micronauts #9

• Alpha Flight #23

• Wally the Wizard #3

• Top Dog #2

• Heathcliff #2

• Doctor Strange #71

• Dune #3

• Groo the Wanderer #4

• Savage Sword of Conan #112

• Sisterhood of Steel #3

Titles on sale March 12

• Marvel Age Magazine #27

• The Incredible Hulk #308

• The Avengers #258

• Conan #171

• Marvel Tales #171

• X-Men #194

• Rom #67

• Moon Knight #1

• Kull the Conqueror #10

• G.I. Joe #36

• Alien Legion #7

• Dreadstar #18

Titles on sale March 19 

• Fantastic Four #279

• Iron Man #195

• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #103

• The New Defenders #144

• Star Wars #96

• Thor #356

• The Transformers #6

• Rocket Raccoon #2

• Spider-Man Index #3

• Doctor Who #9

Pages 6 - 7

More Coming Attractions

Titles shipping in March

• The Thing #25

• The New Mutants #29

• Daredevil #220

• Web of Spider-Man #4

• Planet Terry #4

• Cloak and Dagger #2

• Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #2

• Dreadstar and Company #1

• Gargoyle #2

• Conan the King #29

• Moonshadow #2

• The Amazing Spider-Man #260

• Captain America #307

• Power Pack #12

• Micronauts #10

• Wally the Wizard #4

• The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #30

• Dazzler #38

• Ewoks #2

• Groo the Wanderer #5

• Alpha Flight #24

• Savage Sword of Conan #113

• Black Dragon #1

• Marvel Age Magazine #28

• The Incredible Hulk #309

• The Avengers #257

• Conan #172

• Marvel Tales #177

• X-Men #195

• Rom #68

• Moon Knight #2

• Power Man and Iron Fist #118

• Royal Roy #2

• Muppet Babies #2

• Get Along Gang #2

• G.I. Joe #37

• Marvel Fanfare #21

• Fantastic Four #280

• Iron Man #196

• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #104

• The New Defenders #145

• Star Wars #97

• Thor #357

• Transformers #6

• Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars II #1

• Rocket Raccoon #3

• Spider-Man Index #4

• Doctor Who #10

• Swords of the Swashbucklers #2

• Epic Illustrated #30

Titles shipping in April 

• The Thing #26

• Daredevil #221

• New Mutants #30

• Web of Spider-Man #5

• Planet Terry #5

• Fraggle Rock #3

• Strawberry Shortcake #3

• Red Sonja #10

• Dreadstar and Company #2

• Gargoyle #3

• Rawhide Kid #1

• Sectaurs #2

• Starstruck #3

• The Life of Captain Marvel #1

• The Amazing Spider-Man #267

• Captain America #308

• Power Pack #13

• Micronauts #11

• Alpha Flight #25

• Wally the Wizard #5

• Top Doc #3

• Heathcliff #3

• Doctor Strange #72

• Groo the Wanderer #6

• Savage Sword of Conan #114

• Black Dragon #2

• Alien Legion #8

• Sisterhood of Steel #4

• Marvel Age #29

• The Incredible Hulk #310

• The Avengers #258

• Conan #173

• Marvel Tales #178

• X-Men #196

• Rom #69

• Moon Knight #3

• G.I. Joe #38

• Dreadstar #19

• Fantastic Four #281

• Iron Man #197

• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #105

• The New Defenders #146

• Star Wars #98

• Thor #358

• Transformers #7

• Elfquest #1

• Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars II #2

• Rocket Raccoon #4

• Spider-Man Index #5

• Doctor Who #11

• Time Spirits #5

Pages 9 

Newswatch 

Item: Hulk writer Bill Mantlo and artist Mike Mignola will take over as the creative team on Alpha Flight with issue #29; John Byrne will leave Alpha Flight to become writer/artist on the Hulk with issue #314.

Item: Rick Buckler has returned to Marvel to pencil Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man and Iron Man. Al Milgrom will move from Spectacular Spider-Man to West Coast Avengers; Iron Man artist Luke McDonnell is drawing a three-part story for Spectacular Spider-Man. 

Item: Marvel Tales is about to move from the Lee/Ditko era of Amazing Spider-Man to the Lee/ Romita era. 

Item: Archie Goodwin and Paul Chadwick will be the new creative team on The Dazzler. 

Item: Secret Wars II, the sequel to the smash-hit Marvel Super Secret Wars, is coming soon from writer Jim Shooter and artists Sal Buscema and Steve Leialoha. (The comic would actually be pencilled by Al Milgrom, not Sal Buscema.) 

Pages 10 - 11

Article: "Starstruck by Starstruck," by Sandy Hausler

Pages 14 - 15 

Article: "The Official Handbook of the Conan Universe," by Dwight Jon Zimmerman 

Pages 16 - 17 

Hembeck's page in Marvel Age

Pages 18 - 20

Article: "Unfurling the Raven Banner," by Steve Ringgenberg

Pages 21 - 24 

Article: "The World of the Sectaurs," by Adam Philips

Page 25

Article: "Star Spotlight on Wally," by Sandy Hausler

Pages 26 - 28

Article: "The Marvel Age -- 1967 (Part 1)," by Kurt Busiek

Pages 29

Bullpen Bulletins

Pages 30 - 32

Letters column: "Call Me Age-Mail" or "A Whale of a Letters Page," suggested by designer Janet Jackson and inker Andy Mushynsky

Inside back cover

The Marvel Age Calendar for January 1985, written by Jim Salicrup with art by Ron Zalme

Back cover

The Marvel Age Calendar for February 1985, written by Jim Salicrup with art by Ron Zalme