Today you could fill a bookshelf with books about Stan Lee -- but back in 1986, profiles of Stan Lee weren't all that common, and this special Stan (The Man) Lee issue of Marvel Age featured one of the earliest Stan mini-biographies anywhere, written by Kurt Busiek. The issue has an unusual cover, too -- a black and white portrait of Marvel's fearless leader by designer Janet Jackson, against a colorful collage of Marvel covers and characters.
This issue featured several other changes -- for starters, the cover price jumped from $0.35 to $0.50 -- still cheap, though. And the aforementioned Ms. Jackson had shifted from designing the full issues to handling just the covers, with Barbara Johnston taking over designing the interiors every month.
Along with "The Stan Lee Story," this issue heralded the return of Stan's Soapbox, written by Stan from an outline drafted by editor Jim Salicrup, who then asked me to call Stan and tell him what to write. This was, of course, the days before email or even faxes -- so i got to hear Stan on the other end of the phone chuckling and saying "Sure thing, kid, whatever you say."
Along with all this Stansational coverage, Fabian Nicieza provided an article on the Amazing Spider-Man comic strip, with several sample strips drawn by John Romita and Fred Kida included for good measure.
Price: $0.50 US
Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)
On sale: May 6, 1986
Cover date: August, 1986
Copyright © 1986 Marvel Comics Group, a division of Cadence Industries Corporation.
• Jim Shooter: Editor in Chief
• Jim Salicrup: Editor and Design Director
• Adam Philips: Assistant Editor
• Janet Jackson and Barbara Johnston: Designers
• Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Coming Attractions
• Bill Slaviscek: Mutant Reporter
• Fred Hembeck: Sage of Marvel Age
• Craig Anderson, Adam Blaustein, Eliot Brown, Nancy Brown, Bob Budiansky, Mike Carlin, Bobbie Chase, Daniel Chichester, Margaret Clark, Don Daley, Tom DeFalco, Jo Duffy, Danny Fingeroth, Archie Goodwin, Mark Gruenwald, Bob Harras, Larry Hama, Mike Higgins, Sid Jacobson, Hillary Joseph, Terry Kavanagh, Ralph Macchio, Howard Mackie, Rosemary McCormick-Lowy, Al Milgrom, Margie Neville, Ann Nocenti, Jim Owsley, Carl Potts, Pat Redding, and Louise Simonson: Consulting Editors
• John Romita: Art Director
• Tom Morgan: Assistant Art Director
• Kevin Maguire, Jose Marzan and Mark McKenna: Romita's Raiders
• Anita Duncan: Art/Production Coordinator
• Phil Felix: Assistant Production Coordinator
• Brenda Mings: Typesetter
• Jack Abel: Proofreader
• George Roussos and Adam Philips: Colorists
• Jim Salicrup: Cover concept
• Janet Jackson: Cover art
• Paul Becton, Harry Candelario, Rob Carosella, Dawn Geiger, Barbara Johnston, Veronica Lawlor, Ken Lopez, Michael Maier, Bill Oakley, and Bill Vallely: Production
• Virginia Romita: Traffic Manager
• Christine Aurilia and Lynn Cohen: Friendly Assistance
• 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: Way-Out Wonder
Front cover
• Character: Stan Lee
Inside front cover
• Salicrup's Section (continued on inside back cover)
• Marvel Agenda (contents)
• Masthead
• Indicia
Pages 1 - 5
Marvel Coming Attractions
Titles on sale May 27
- Cloak and Dagger #8
- Daredevil #234
- Fraggle Rock #8
- Masters of the Universe #3
- The New Mutants #43
- Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #10
- Web of Spider-Man #18
- West Coast Avengers #12
- Conan the King #36
- Swords of the Swashbucklers #8
- Marvel Super Special #40 -- Labyrinth
Titles on sale June 3
- Alpha Flight #38
- Captain America #321
- Ewoks #9
- Groo the Wanderer #19
- Heathcliff #10
- The Amazing Spider-Man #280
- The Official Marvel Comics Index to the Fantastic Four #10
- The Vision and the Scarlet Witch #12
- The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #10
- Savage Sword of Conan #127
Titles on sale June 10
- Marvel Age Magazine #42
- The Avengers #271
- Savage Tales #6
- Steelgrip Starkey #1
- Doctor Strange Graphic Novel (sic)
- Conan the Barbarian #186
- G.I. Joe #51
- The Incredible Hulk #323
- Muppet Babies #9
- X-Men #209
- The Marvel Saga #10
- The Eternals #12
- Captain America Annual #8
- Power Man and Iron Fist #125
- Web of Spider-Man Annual #2
- Marvel Fanfare #28
- Marvel Tales #191
Titles on sale June 17
- Care Bears #6
- Elfquest #14
- Iron Man #210
- Madballs #1
- Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #118
- Sectaurs #8
- Star Wars #107
- Thor #371
- The Transformers #20
- X-Factor 38
- Alpha Flight Annual #1
- The Official Marvel Index to Marvel Team-Up #5
Pages 6 - 7
More Coming Attractions
Titles shipping in June
- Marvel Age Annual #2
- Dakota North #3
- Daredevil #235
- G.I. Joe Special Missions #1
- Labyrinth #1
- Meet Misty #6
- The New Mutants #44
- Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #11
- Thundercats #6
- Web of Spider-Man #19
- West Coast Avengers #13
- The Incredible Hulk and Wolverine #1
- Alpha Flight #39
- Captain America #322
- Doctor Strange #79
- Groo the Wanderer #20
- Heathcliff #11
- Power Pack #26
- The Amazing Spider-Man #281
- The Official Marvel Comics Index to the Fantastic Four #11
- Savage Sword of Conan #128
- Marvel Age Magazine #43
- The Avengers #272
- Conan the Barbarian #187
- G.I. Joe #52
- The Incredible Hulk #324
- The Nam #1
- X-Men #210
- The Marvel Saga #11
- The Avengers Annual #15
- Marvel Tales #192
- Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #6
- Dreadstar #26
- Elektra (sic) #1
- Droids #4
- Elfquest #15
- Fantastic Four #295
- Iron Man #211
- Madballs #2
- Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #119
- Thor #372
- The Transformers #21
- X-Factor #9
- The New Mutants Annual #2
- West Coast Avengers Annual #1
- Alien Legion #15
- Steelgrip Starkey #2
Titles shipping in July
- Cloak and Dagger #9
- Daredevil #236
- He-Man #4
- Labyrinth #2
- The New Mutants #45
- Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham #12
- Web of Spider-Man #20
- West Coast Avengers #14
- Conan the King #37
- Swords of the Swashbucklers #9
- Alpha Flight #40
- Captain America #323
- Ewoks #10
- Groo the Wanderer #21
- Heathcliff #12
- The Amazing Spider-Man #282
- The Official Marvel Comics Index to the Fantastic Four #12
- Bozz Chronicles #5
- the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Deluxe Edition #12
- Savage Sword of Conan #129
- Marvel Age Magazine #44
- The Avengers #273
- Conan the Barbarian #188
- G.I. Joe #53
- The Incredible Hulk #325
- Marvel Tales #193
- Muppet Babies #10
- The Nam #2
- X-Men #211
- The Marvel Saga #12
- The Amazing Spider-Man Annual #20
- Elektra (sic) #2
- Marvel Fanfare #29
- Care Bears #7
- Elfquest #16
- Iron Man #212
- Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #120
- Thor #373
- The Transformers #22
- Madballs #3
- X-Factor #10
- The Official Marvel Comics Index to Marvel Team-Up #6
- Fantastic Four #296
- Savage Tales #7
- Steelgrip Starkey #3
Page 8
Newswatch
Item: Bob Harras has been promoted to Editor, working on G.I. Joe, The Incredible Hulk, Power Man and Iron Fist, Sectaurs, G.I. Joe Special Missions, and X-Factor, as well as writing an upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. miniseries.
Item: Andrew Perry joins Marvel in a special program from Antioch College. He will assist in Bob Budiansky's office.
Bullpen Birthdays
The Top Ten
February, 1986
- X-Factor #5
- X-Men #206
- Marvel Universe #7
- Alpha Flight #35
- Fantastic Four #291
- New Mutants #40
- West Coast Avengers #9
- Amazing Spider-Man #277
- Web of Spider-Man #15
- Firestar #4
Pages 9 - 10
Newswatch Extra: "The Vision and the Scarlet Witch Double-Sized Climax," by Bill Slavicsek
Pages 11 - 13
The Mutant Report by Bill Slavicsek
"Barry Windsor-Smith, Jackson Guice and Bob Wiacek Join Mutant Artists'
"Old and New Combine in Classic X-Men"
"Mutant Madness Invades Canada?"
"X-Factor X-Clusive"
"Cap Meets Wolverine"
Pages 14 - 15
Article: "Marvel Team-Up Breaks into Marvel Tales," by Sholly Fisch
Pages 16 - 17
Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age
Page 18
Stan's Soapbox
Sidebar: "Stan Lee Returns for Fantastic Four Anniversary Bash"
Pages 19 - 22
Article: "The Stan Lee Story," by Kurt Busiek
Pages 23 - 25
Article: "A Daily Dose of Spidey," by Fabian Nicieza
Pages 26 - 29
The Marvel Age: 1972 (Part I), by Sholly Fisch
Page 29
A Marvel Comics Price Guide
Pages 30 - 32
Letters column: "This End Up," suggested by P.M. Apple
Inside back cover
Ad for Alpha Flight
Back cover
