Make Mine Marvel Age

 

Marvel Age took fans on an unprecedented, day-long tour of the Marvel bullpen and editorial offices in issue #35, promoted on the cover as "A Day in the Life of Marvel Comics." Hardcover "day in the life of" coffee table books were all the rage in the 1980s, and this was Marvel's chance to jump on the bandwagon of this popular publishing trend. 

A dozen reporters were assembled to follow the editors around and take notes for a day -- I stuck like glue to Mike Carlin and tried to keep up with his nonstop jokes. It was a typical day in a comic book editorial office: editors arrived early, on time, or late; freelancers called in to discuss stories; packages arrived; corrections were made; people discussed how to handle any number of questions, from spelling to coloring; artists visited the office to drop off pages (this was long before scanning boards at home); forms were filled out; excuses were made; assignments were confirmed; and finally, at the end of the day, exhausted editors went home...except for one or two who stayed late to get a few more things done.

The reporters are listed below, but the story, which takes up 20 pages of the issue, was compiled and organized by Kurt Busiek, who was among the reporters on hand for that fateful July 2 day. The cover depicted the editorial staff, John Romita and his Raiders, and a few of the Marvel Age staff. Here's a key to the cover: 

Inker Andy Mushynsky served as the day's photographer...unfortunately, flexographic printing struck once more, and most of the pictures looked washed out, grainy, or weirdly distorted. 

Fearless Fred Hembeck got in the act, too, with his own "day in the life" profile of the relatively quiet life Marvel Age's cartoonist in residence. 

Marvel Age #35

Price: $0.35 US 

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)

On sale: November 5, 1985

Cover date: February, 1986

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

• Jim Shooter: Editor in Chief

• Jim Salicrup: Editor and Design Director

• Adam Philips: Assistant Editor

• Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Coming Attractions

• Craig Anderson, Adam Blaustein, Nancy Brown, Bob Budiansky, Mike Carlin, Bobbie Chase, Margaret Clark, Don Daley, Tom DeFalco, Jo Duffy, Archie Goodwin, Mark Gruenwald, Bob Harras, Larry Hama, Mike Higgins, Sid Jacobson, Terry Kavanagh, Ralph Macchio, Howard Mackie, Rosemary McCormick-Lowy, Al Milgrom, Margie Neville, Ann Nocenti, Denny O'Neil, Jim Owsley, Carl Potts, Pat Redding, and Louise Simonson: Consulting Editors

• Janet Jackson and Aggie Kelley: Designers

• John Romita: Art Director

• James W. Fry, Mark McKenna, and Tom Morgan: Romita's Raiders

• Jim Novak: Art/Production Coordinator

• Brenda Mings : Typesetters

• Adam Philips and George Roussos: Colorists

• John Morelli: Assistant Art/Production Coordinator 

• Harry Candelario, Rob Carosella, Phil Felix, Dawn Geiger Barbara Johnston, Aggie Kelley, Miriam Larsson, Ken Lopez, Bill Oakley, Barry Shapiro, Bruce N. Solomon, and Bill Vallely: Production

• Virginia Romita: Traffic Manager

• Christine Aurilia, Lynn Cohen, and Shoshana Mallet: Friendly Assistance 

• James W. Fry and Tom Morgan: Cover 

• Sally Pomeroy: Rights and Permissions Editor

• Carol Kalish: Director of Specialty Sales

• Peter David: Direct Sales Manager Administrative

• Steve Saffel: Assistant Promotions Manager for Direct Sales

• Irving Forbush: Called in sick

Front cover 

• Characters: "All your Bullpen favorites!" 

 Inside front cover

• Salicrup's Section

• Marvel Agenda (contents) 

• Masthead 

• Indicia 

• The Top Ten

August 1985

• X-Men #200
• Secret Wars II #6
• Marvel Heroes for Hope #1
• X-Men/Alpha Flight #1
• Marvel Universe #1
• New Mutants Special #1
• Fantastic Four #285
• Nightcrawler #2
• West Coast Avengers #3
• Alpha Flight #29 

Pages 1 - 5

Marvel Coming Attractions

Titles on sale November 26

• The Thing #33
• Daredevil #228
• Planet Terry #12
• Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham #6
• Web of Spider-Man #12
• West Coast Avengers #6
• The New Mutants #37 -- A Secret Wars II tie-in
• Cloak and Dagger #5
• Squadron Supreme #7
• Conan the King #33
• The Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #4
• Swords of the Swashbucklers #5
• Moonshadow #6
• Starstruck #6

Titles on sale December 3

• Wally the Wizard #12
• Ewoks #6
• The Amazing Spider-Man #274 -- A Secret Wars II tie-in
• Captain America #315
• Power Pack #20
• Micronauts #18
• Alpha Flight #32
• The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #34
• Dazzler #42
• Groo #13
• The Vision and Scarlet Witch #6
• Firestar #1
• The Official Marvel Comics Index to the Fantastic Four #4
• Savage Sword of Conan #121
• The One #4

Titles on sale December 10

• Marvel Age Magazine #36
• Royal Roy #6
• Muppet Babies #6
• Getalong Gang #6
• The Incredible Hulk #317
• Conan #180
• The Avengers #265 -- A Secret Wars II tie-in
• Marvel Tales #185
• X-Men #203
• Power Man and Iron Fist #122
• The Sword of Solomon Kane #4
• G.I. Joe #45
• The Eternals #6
• The Punisher #3
• Balder the Brave #3
• Marvel Saga #4
• Marvel Fanfare #25

Titles on sale December 17

• Care Bears #3
• Fantastic Four #288
• Iron Man #204
• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #112
• Star Wars #104
• Thor #365
• X-Factor #2
• The Transformers #14
• Elfquest #8
• Secret Wars II #9
• Sectaurs #5
• The Official Marvel Comics Index to Marvel Team-Up #3
• Doctor Who #18
• Six from Sirius II #2
• Coyote #16
• Savage Tales #3
• Timespirits #8
• Epic Illustrated #34

Pages 6 - 7

More Coming Attractions

Titles shipping in December

• Fraggle Rock #7
• Strawberry Shortcake #7
• Thundercats #3
• Misty #3
• The Thing #34
• Daredevil #229
• The New Mutants #38
• Web of Spider-Man #13
• West Coast Avengers #7
• Squadron Supreme #8
• Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #5
• Top Dog #7
• Heathcliff #7
• The Amazing Spider-Man #275
• Captain America #316
• Power Pack #21
• Micronauts #19
• Alpha Flight #33
• Doctor Strange #76
• Groo the Wanderer #14
• The Vision and Scarlet Witch #7
• Firestar #2
• The Official Marvel Index to the Fantastic Four #5
• Savage Sword of Conan #122
• The Sisterhood of Steel #8
• Bozz Chronicles #2
• Marvel Age Magazine #37
• The Avengers #266
• Conan #181
• Marvel Tales #186
• X-Men #204
• G.I. Joe #46
• The Eternals #7
• The Punisher #4
• Marvel Saga #5
• Dreadstar #23
• Fantastic Four #289
• X-Factor #3
• The Transformers #15
• Elfquest #9
• The Official Marvel Index to Marvel Team-Up #4
• Doctor Who #19
• Alien Legion #12
• Six from Sirius II #3

Titles shipping in January 

• The Thing #35
• Daredevil #230
• The New Mutants #39
• Web of Spider-Man #14
• West Coast Avengers #8
• Planet Terry #13
• Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #7
• Cloak and Dagger #6
• Red Sonja #13
• Squadron Supreme #9
• Conan the King #34
• Moonshadow #7
• Swords of the Swashbucklers #6
• The Amazing Spider-Man #276
• Captain America #317
• Power Pack #22
• Micronauts #20
• Alpha Flight #34
• Wally the Wizard #13
• The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #35
• Ewoks #7
• Groo the Wanderer #15
• Firestar #3
• The Vision and Scarlet Witch #8
• The Official Marvel Index to the Fantastic Four #6
• Savage Sword of Conan #123
• The One #5
• Marvel Age Magazine #38
• The Incredible Hulk #319
• The Avengers #267
• Conan #182
• Marvel Tales #187
• X-Men #205
• Power Man and Iron Fist #123
• Royal Roy #7
• Muppet Babies #7
• Getalong Gang #7
• The Sword of Solomon Kane #5
• G.I. Joe #47
• The Punisher #5
• Balder the Brave #4
• Marvel Fanfare #6
• Fantastic Four #290
• Iron Man #206
• Peter Parker (sic) #114
• Thor #367
• X-Factor #4
• Star Wars #105
• Care Bears #4
• Transformers #10
• Sectaurs #6
• Doctor Who #20
• Savage Tales #4
• Six from Sirius II #4

Pages 8 - 15

Behind the Lines: A Day in the Life of Marvel Comics 

Compiled by Kurt Busiek, with reports by Christine Aurilia, Richard Bensam, Wendy Berger, Charlie Boatner, Kurt Busiek, Sholly Fisch, Steven Freitag, Len Kaminsky, Adam Philips, Mike Raub, Peter Sanderson, and Dwight Jon Zimmerman 

Pages 16 - 17

Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age

Pages 18 - 20

The Mutant Report: "Firestar: New Mutant on the Horizon," by Bill Slavicsek

Page 20

The Mutant Report sidebar

Mutant Extras: X-Factor #3 spotlights the Beast in "Regression Obsession"; The New Mutants guest star in Power Pack #20; New Mutants #37 is a Secret Wars II tie-in

Mutant Notes: Could Dark Phoenix make a return? Find out in X-Men #203 and Secret Wars II #9

Pages 21 - 32

Behind the Lines: A Day in the Life of Marvel Comics (continued) 

Inside back cover

Ad for Thundercats, Meet Misty, and Care Bears

Back cover

The Marvel Age 1985 Calendar -- November

Jim Salicrup -- writer

Ron Zalme -- artist

Adam Philips -- colorist