Make Mine Marvel Age: December 2024

Thursday, December 19, 2024

Marvel Age #109 salutes comic book inkers - at least two of them! - in issue #109. Ernie Chan and Joe Sinnott both get their due, and those pages include art they pencilled and inked - because like many of the very best inkers in the field, these guys are great pencil artists as well.

Also in this issue, Mark's Remarks continues to cover New Talent Department submissions, in this case a plot by Jean-Jacques Dzialowski, with some art by Gerald Teon Walker.

And this is the final Christmas issue of Marvel Age to feature a Groo cover by Sergio Aragones (or anyone else, for that matter). Sad!

Marvel Age #109

Price: $1.00 US

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)

On sale: December 17, 1991

Cover date: February 1992

Inside front cover

Masthead

• Tom DeFalco: Editor in Chief

• Mark Gruenwald: Executive Editor

• Carl Potts: Epic Executive Editor

• Bob Budiansky, Executive Editor, Special Projects

• Renée Witterstaeter: Editor

• Mike Lackey: Associate Editor

• Steve Alexandrov: Designer

• Fred Hembeck: Sage of Marvel Age

• Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Contributing Editors

• Craig Anderson, Richard Ashford, Tom Brevoort, Joey Cavalieri, Bobbie Chase, Chris Cooper, Kelly Corvese, Dan Cuddy, Don Daley, Tom Daning, Barry Dutter, Eric Fein, Danny Fingeroth, Suzanne Gaffney, Pat Garrahy, Bob Harras, Glenn Herdling, Marie Javins, Len Kaminski, Terry Kavanagh, Kevin Kobasic, John Lewandowski, Marc McLaurin, Al Milgrom, Sarra Mossoff, Mindy Newell, Fabian Nicieza, Mark Powers, Mike Rockwitz, Evan Skolnick, Rob Tokar, David Wohl, and Nel Yomtov: Consulting Editors

• John Romita: Art Director

• Steve Geiger: Managing Art Director

• John Kalisz, Bud LaRosa, and Kevin Tinsley: The Raiders

• Virginia Romita: Traffic/Production Manager

• Dawn Geiger: Assistant Production Manager

• Daniel Carr, Maria Parwulski: Typesetter

• Jack Abel: World's Toughest Proofreader

• Dahlia Aponte, Darren Auck, John Babcock, Paul Becton, Steve Bunche, Joe Caponsacco, Rob Carosella, Steve Dutro, Cindy Emmert, Vince Evans, Jesus Gonzalez, Jim Hoston, Michael Kraiger, Ed Lazellari, Ariane Lenshoek, Edward Murr, Jared Osborn, George Roberts, Joe Rosas, George Roussos, and Davide Sharpe: Production

• Sergio Aragones: Cover artist

• Christopher Ebel: Manufacturing Coordinator

• Christine Aurilia, Al Bensew, Paul Curtis, Joe Kaufman, Josie McCain, Tony Matias, Anna Mazzarelli, Mary "Mac" McPherson, Stu Schwartzberg, Dan Slott, and Christine Slusarz: Friendly Assistance

• Karen Corbo, Carol Platt, and Vivian O'Brien: Rights and Permissions

• Skip Dietz: Co-op Field Rep Coordinator

• Victoria Schodowski: Administrative Assistant/Direct Market

• Lou Bank: Director of Sales/Direct Market

• Sven Larsen: Direct Sales Manager/Distributor Liaison

• Bruce G. Costa: Direct Sales Manager

• Craig Kunaschk: Publications Editor

• Kevin Tang: Publications Assistant Editor

• Steve Saffel: Promotion Manager

• Dana Moreshead: Advertising Manager

• Irving Forbush: Fool of Xmas Past

• Ralph Macchio: Senior Editor

Witterstaeter's Witticisms

Pages 1 - 5

Mondo Marvel Comics

Item: Coming soon, it's the Marvel Holiday Special!

Item: Stan Lee made an appearance at a Manhattan bookstore to sign Marvel: Five Fabulous Decades of the World's Greatest Comics.

Item: Fans sent in clippings about Marvel from Interview Magazine and USA Today.

Item: WAM! membership kits are shipping now!

Item: Horizon Hobbies has super hero models, including the new one of Iron Man.

Item: The Marvel Halloween party was held on October 25.

Item: Marvel Age will have a full report on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, including the Spider-Man balloon, next issue.

Item: Remember Jim Salicrup's ant farm? No? Well, sadly, the ants all died.

Item: Coming soon:

• Operation Galactic Storm starts in Captain America #398

• Rocky and Bullwinkle TPB

• Hawkeye TPB

• Spider-Man Vs. Venom TPB

• Spider-Man: Torment TPB

• X-Men: From the Ashes TPB

• The Punisher: Return to Big Nothing original graphic novel

• Fantastic Four bookshelf edition reprinting issues #347 - 349

• Punisher: War Zone, a new series

• Emperor Doom original graphic novel

• Rick Mason, Secret Agent original graphic novel

• Boys' Ranch by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby hardcover

Item: Marvel Tales now features new covers by folks like Klaus Janson and George Pérez

Item: Marvel recently celebrated Joe Sinnott's 65th birthday with a lunch at the America Café.

Page 6

Stan's Soapbox

Willie Lumpkin, by Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo

Page 7

Marvel Trivia Quiz

Pages 8 - 11

"The Amazing Chan," interview by Barry Dutter

Pages 12 - 14

Article: "Orchestrating Chaos: Developing Operation Galactic Storm," by Nel Yomtov

Page 15

Great Moments in Marvel History

Pages 16 - 17

Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age

Page 18 - 20

Mark's Remarks

Page 21 - 25

"The Joe Sinnott Interview," by Mike Lackey

Pages 26 - 27

Andy Mangel's Reel Marvel

Pages 28 - 29

The Marvel Age of Comics: 1985 Part IV

Pages 30 - 31

Letters page: "Shinny Shan Tobby!"

Page 32

Assistant Editor Cards - Batch the First!

Inside back cover

The Marvel Checklist

Back cover

The 1992 Marvel Age Calendar: January

By Mike Lackey and Darren Auck

Thursday, December 12, 2024

There's never a bad time to celebrate the comics career of John Romita Jr., and this issue of Marvel Age features a great cover by JR JR (pencils and inks!) with both him, his partner, and his parents.

"Great" Moments in Marvel history lives up to its name as it spotlights some of Marvel's goofier moments, including the Hulk dressed as a clown and juggling animals at a circus (Avengers #1), Daredevil putting on some serious weight (Foggy Nelson dressing as DD in Daredevil #18), and Spidey doing his laundry at the local laundromat while wearing a paper bag over his head in Amazing Spider-Man #82.

On a more sombre note, this issue commemorates the untimely and unexpected passing of Carol Kalish, whose impact on the comics industry cannot be overstated, and who was a friend of mine.

Marvel Age #108

Price: $1.00 US

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)

On sale: November 19, 1991

Cover date: January 1992

Inside front cover

Masthead

• Tom DeFalco: Editor in Chief

• Mark Gruenwald: Executive Editor

• Carl Potts: Epic Executive Editor

• Bob Budiansky, Executive Editor, Special Projects

• Renée Witterstaeter: Editor

• Mike Lackey: Assistant Editor

• Dawn Geiger: Designer

• Fred Hembeck: Sage of Marvel Age

• Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Contributing Editors

• John Romita: Art Director

• Steve Geiger: Managing Art Director

• John Kalisz and Kevin Tinsley: The Raiders

• Virginia Romita: Traffic/Production Manager

• Dawn Geiger: Assistant Production Manager

• Daniel Carr, Maria Parwulski: Typesetter

• Jack Abel: World's Toughest Proofreader

• Dahlia Aponte, Darren Auck, John Babcock, Paul Becton, Steve Bunche, Joe Caponsacco, Rob Carosella, Steve Dutro, Cindy Emmert, Vince Evans, Jesus Gonzalez, Jim Hoston, Michael Kraiger, Ed Lazellari, Ariane Lenshoek, Gabrielle Macari, Edward Murr, Jared Osborn, George Roberts, Joe Rosas, George Roussos, and Davide Sharpe: Production

• John Romita Jr.: Cover artist

• Renée Witterstaeter: Colorist

• Christopher Ebel: Manufacturing Coordinator

• Christine Aurilia, Al Bensew, Paul Curtis, Arthur Parris Jackson, Joe Kaufman, Josie McCain, Tony Matias, Anna Mazzarelli, Mary "Mac" McPherson, Stu Schwartzberg, Dan Slott, and Christine Slusarz: Friendly Assistance

• Karen Corbo, Carol Platt, and Vivian O'Brien: Rights and Permissions

• Skip Dietz: Co-op Field Rep Coordinator

• Victoria Schodowski: Administrative Assistant/Direct Market

• Lou Bank: Director of Sales/Direct Market

• Sven Larsen: Direct Sales Manager/Distributor Liaison

• Bruce G. Costa: Direct Sales Manager

• Craig Kunaschk: Publications Editor

• Kevin Tang: Publications Assistant Editor

• Steve Saffel: Promotion Manager

• Dana Moreshead: Advertising Manager

• Irving Forbush: Ghost Mascot

• Ralph Macchio: Senior Editor

Witterstaeter's Witticisms

Pages 1 - 5

Mondo Marvel Comics

Item: The upcoming Excalibur Special Edition will be an artist jam issue, with art by Ron Lim, Erik Larsen, Sam Kieth, Rick Leonardi and more.

Item: Results of the 1991 Marvel Summer Annuals Report Card.

Item: New Talent Department update - we've got the writer, Jean-Jacques Dzialowski, and the penciller, Gerald Ton Walker, but we still need an inker, letterer, and colorist.

Item: Entertainment Weekly featured an item on the upcoming X-Men series.

Item: Horizon Hobbies has a new Silver Surfer model available.

Item: More upcoming specials include the Excalibur: Mojo Mayhem, a Ka-Zar graphic novel, a Power Pack special, a Punisher trade paperback, a Punisher portfolio by Mike Zeck, the Marvel Year in Review special, Kid N' Play #1, Hellraiser #10 with a painted cover by Bill Sienkiewicz, two new Groo collections, and Harvey Kurtzman's Strange Adventures is back in print.

Item: As of issue #85, Groo won't be available on newsstands anymore - so make sure your local comics shop knows you want it!

Marvel Top Ten List

Who's work has been on the most Marvel Age covers as of now:

Paul Ryan, 3 covers

Tom Palmer, 4 covers

Al Milgrom, 4 covers

Jackson Guice, 4 covers

Ron Frenz, 5 cover

Terry Austin, 5 covers

Bill Sienkiewicz, 5 covers

Bob Layton, 6 covers

John Byrne, 9 covers

Ron Zalme - 83 covers, since he draws the corner box on every issue!

Pages 5 - 10

Article: "John Romita Jr. Interview," by Mike Lackey

Pages 11 - 15

Preview: "Hearts of Darkness"

Pages 16 - 17

Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age

Page 18

Marvel Trivia Quiz

Page 19

"Great" Moments in Marvel History

Page 20

Carol Kalish, 1955 - 1991

Page 21

Stan's Soapbox

Willie Lumpkin, by Stan Lee and Dan DeCarlo

Page 22

Advertisement for WAM

Page 23

Marvel Licensing, by Dwight John Zimmerman

Pages 24 - 25

Mark's Remarks

Pages 26 - 27

Andy Mangel's Reel Marvel

Pages 28 - 29

The Marvel Age of Comics: 1985 Part III

Pages 30 - 31

Letters page: "Is It Live? Or Is It Marvel?"

Page 32

Yes, More Marvel Trading Cards

Inside back cover

The Marvel Checklist

Back cover

The 1991 Marvel Age Calendar: Decembrrr!

Writer: Mike Lackey

Artist: Ron Zalme

Colorist: Renee Witterstaetter

Thursday, December 5, 2024

Could this be the strangest cover ever to run on Marvel Age Magazine? It sure could! Of course, this was the era of peak Clive Barker, so it makes sense to spotlight him this way. The accompanying article features seven more pieces of Barker's artwork, and focuses not only on his Hellraiser comic anthology series, but also talks about his novels and movies.

Also in this issue, Marvel pulled back the curtain on a request from the Comics Code Authority to not show Juggernaut experiencing the "classic injury to the eye motif."

And I dig the "Great Moments in Marvel History" feature, which spotlights recurring themes on covers - in this case, the many times Iron Man got all melted!

Marvel Age #107

Price: $1.00 US

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)

On sale: October 15, 1991

Cover date: December 1991

Inside front cover

Masthead

• Tom DeFalco: Editor in Chief

• Mark Gruenwald: Executive Editor

• Carl Potts: Epic Executive Editor

• Bob Budiansky, Executive Editor, Special Projects

• Ralph Macchio: Senior Editor

• Renée Witterstaeter: Editor

• Mike Lackey: Assistant Editor

• Steve Alexandrov: Designer

• Fred Hembeck: Sage of Marvel Age

• Dwight Jon Zimmerman: Contributing Editors

• Craig Anderson, Richard Ashford, Tom Brevoort, Bobbie Chase, Chris Cooper, Kelly Corvese, Dan Cuddy, Don Daley, Tom Daning, Barry Dutter, Eric Fein, Danny Fingeroth, Suzanne Gaffney, Pat Garrahy, Bob Harras, Glenn Herdling, Marie Javins, Len Kaminski, Terry Kavanagh, Kevin Kobasic, John Lewandowski, Marc McLaurin, Al Milgrom, Sarra Mossoff, Mindy Newell, Fabian Nicieza, Mark Powers, Mike Rockwitz, Evan Skolnick, Rob Tokar, David Wohl, and Nel Yomtov: Consulting Editors

• John Romita: Art Director

• Steve Geiger: Managing Art Director

• Bud LaRosa, Kevin Tinsley, and Joel Zulueta: The Raiders

• Virginia Romita: Traffic/Production Manager

• Dawn Geiger: Assistant Production Manager

• Daniel Carr, Maria Parwulski: Typesetter

• Jack Abel: World's Toughest Proofreader

• Dahlia Aponte, Darren Auck, John Babcock, Paul Becton, Steve Bunche, Rob Carosella, Steve Dutro, Cindy Emmert, Vince Evans, Jesus Gonzalez, Jim Hoston, Michael Kraiger, Ed Lazellari, Ariane Lenshoek, Gabrielle Macari, Edward Murr, Jared Osborn, George Roberts, Joe Rosas, George Roussos, and Davide Sharpe: Production

• Clive Barker: Cover artist

• Renée Witterstaeter: Colorist

• Christopher Ebel: Manufacturing Coordinator

• Karen Corbo, Carol Platt, and Vivian O'Brien: Rights and Permissions

• Carol Kalish: V.P./New Product Development

• Skip Dietz: Direct Sales Publications Editor

• Victoria Schodowski: Administrative Assistant

• Lou Bank: Director of Sales/Direct Market

• Sven Larsen: Direct Sales Manager/Distributor Liaison

• Bruce G. Costa: Direct Sales Manager

• Craig Kunaschk: Publications Editor

• Kevin Tang: Publications Assistant Editor

• Steve Saffel: Promotion Manager

• Dana Moreshead: Advertising Manager

• Irving Forbush: Heckraiser

Witterstaeter's Witticisms

Pages 1 - 5

Mondo Marvel Comics

Item: To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Fantastic Four #1, the issue will be reprinted as a Marvel Milestones edition.

Item: The Captain America movie will be playing in Los Angeles in Spanish.

Item: Marvel staffer Bonnie Berryman was on her way to the Paul Simon concert in Central Park when she witnessed an accident and performed first aid on the victim.

Item: Alf #50 is coming soon!

Item: Where's Jim Salicrup? He's moved over to become Marvel's New Projects editor.

Item: The Bullpen compiled their own list of the worst songs in the world, and the winner was "We Built This City."

Item: Marvel's internal newsletter will be called MarvelUs, as suggested by Evan Skolnick.

Item: Coming soon, it's a batch of new Marvel Masterworks, an adaptation of the movie Hook, a Punisher graphic novel, X-Men toys, and an adaptation of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.

Item: Coming soon, it's the Marvel Christmas Special, featuring art by Arthur Adams, Dave Cockrum, Sal Buscema and others.

Item: Coming soon, it's Captain America: The Classic Years, reprinting early 1940s tales by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. (And yes, that should be Joe Simon, not Stan Lee.)

Item: Daredevil & Punisher: Child's Play reprints Daredevil #182 - 184.

Item: Charles Vess has two new projects coming soon besides the Hook adaption: the graphic novels The Raven Banner and Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth.

Item: Just in time for Halloween, Marvel has two Hellraiser projects, plus the new Tomb of Dracula.

Item: Here's the ballot for the 1991 Forbie Awards!

Item: In a recent issue of Spider-Man by Todd McFarlane, the Comics Code Authority asked for a panel to be changed - here's the before and after look: