Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars was, of course, a comics industry sensation in 1984 -- and Marvel lost no time in hyping their success! This issue of Marvel Age puts the spotlight squarely on Secret Wars, with Marvel Editor in Chief Jim Shooter appearing on the cover for the second time in a year -- with no Stan Lee this time. 

The issue gets started on what could have been a sad note, as editor Jim Salicrup writes in his editorial that assistant editor Mark Lerer is leaving his role at Marvel Age -- but Jim celebrates Mark's part in Marvel Age's popularity, complete with the ever-popular Salicrup sketch. 

Back to Secret Wars, which has two articles in this issue: first, one that gathers some of the best letters to Secret Wars, printed here because S.W. does not have a letters column of its own. The three pages of letters include one from comics writer/artist Henry Kujawa, as well as one from letterhack Rick S. Jones, who also provides the title for this month's regular letters column. 

The second Secret Wars article takes readers behind the scenes to writer Jim Shooter's office, where he is quoted at length praising his collaborators, including not just the artists on the series but also the support team behind the series. Naturally, Jim also drops some hints at what's to come in Secret Wars, with sneak peek art. 

In the Behind the Lines column, editor Carl Potts offers tips to would-be comics artist on how to improve their skills and accept criticism from comics professionals. And Fred Hembeck shines a spotlight on two of Marvel's goofier characters -- Brother Voodoo and the Hulk's long-haired therapist, Doc Samson. 

Marvel Age #20

Price: $0.35 US 

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)

On sale: August 7, 1984

Cover date: November, 1984

Copyright © 1984 Marvel Comics Group, a division of Cadence Industries Corporation. 

• Jim Shooter: Editor in Chief

• Jim Salicrup: Editor and Design Director

• Mark Lerer: Assistant Editor and 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, Ken Lopez, John Morelli, 

  and Barry Shapiro: Production

• Brenda Mings: Typesetter

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

• Craig Anderson and Lynn Cohen: Friendly Assistance 

• Mike Zeck and John Beatty: Cover 

• Carol Kalish: Direct Sales Manager

• Peter David: Assistant Direct Sales Manager

• Steve Saffel: Assistant Promotions Manager for Direct Sales

• Irving Forbush: Secret Mailman

Front cover 

• Characters: Jim Shooter and various Marvel heroes

 Inside front cover

• Ad for Epic Illustrated #26 featuring "The Last Galactus Story" 

 

Page 1

• Marvel Agenda (contents) 

• Masthead 

• Indicia 

Editorial: "What's an Editor to Do? ," by Jim Salicrup

Pages 2 – 5

Marvel Comics Coming Attractions

Titles on sale August 28

• The Thing #18

• Daredevil #213

• New Mutants #20

• Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #8

• West Coast Avengers #4

• Machine Man #3

• Iceman #1

• Beauty and the Beast #1

• Spider-Man Annual #18

• Dreadstar #14

• Crash Ryan #1

Titles on sale September 4

• Amazing Spider-Man #259

• Indiana Jones #24

• Power Pack #5

• Micronauts #3

• Alpha Flight #17

• Doctor Strange #68

• Kull #7

• Sub-Mariner #4

• Captain America #300

• Rom Annual #3

• Savage Sword of Conan #106

• Alien Legion #4

• Marvel Super Special #35: Conan II (sic)

Titles on sale September 11

• Incredible Hulk #302

• Conan (sic) #165

• Marvel Tales #170

• X-Men #188

• Rom #61

• Power Man and Iron Fist #112

• G.I. Joe #30

• Avengers #250

• Marvel Graphic Novel #13: Starstruck

Titles on sale September 18

• Fantastic Four #273

• Marvel Team-Up #148

• Iron Man #189

• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #97

• Defenders #138

• Star Wars #90

• Thor #350

• Starriors #2

• Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #2

• Conan Annual #9

• What If #48

• X-Men Annual #8

• Dr. Who #3

• Six from Sirius #4

• Time Spirits #1

Page 6 - 7

More Coming Attractions

Shipping in September

• The Thing #197 (sic)

• Daredevil #214

• New Mutants #23

• Dazzler #35

• Red Sonja #5

• Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #9

• Machine Man #4

• Iceman #2

• Beauty and the Beast #2

• Conan the King #26

• Crash Ryan #2

Shipping in October

• Amazing Spider-Man #260

• Captain America #301

• Indiana Jones #25

• Power Pack #6

• Micronauts #4

• Planet Terry #1

• Fraggle Rock #1

• Heathcliff #1

• Transformers #3

• New Mutants Annual #1

• Savage Sword of Conan #107

• Sisterhood of Steel #1

• Incredible Hulk #303

• Avengers #251

• Conan #166

• X-Men #189

• Rom #62

• Power Man and Iron Fist #113

• G.I. Joe #31

• Marvel Age Magazine #22

• Marvel Fanfare #18

• Dreadstar #15

• Void Indigo #1

• Fantastic Four #274

• Iron Man #190

• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #98

• Star Wars #91

• Wally the Wizard #1

• Top Dog #1

• Strawberry Shortcake #1

• Starriors #1

• Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #3

• Coyote #9

• Beauty and the Beast #3

• Marvel Graphic Novel #14: Swashbucklers (sic)

• New Mutants #24

• Captain America #302

• Alien Legion #5

• Crash Ryan #3

Page 8 

Newswatch

Item: Announcing the new series, The Web of Spider-Man

Item: Fallout from the Dazzler graphic novel will spill over into the Beauty and the Beast miniseries

Item: The "Dire Wraith War" will end in Rom #65; Black Knight will join the Avengers; Bob Hall will pencil Avengers #251-253; Mike Carlin will take over writing Captain America with issue #301; the "Casket of Ancient Winters" story in Thor will affect other Marvel titles; David Mazzucchelli will continue pencilling Daredevil and will take over inking as well; Questprobe #2 will feature a Spider-Man story written and drawn by Al Milgrom. 

Special note on the passing of longtime Marvel staff Sol Brodsky. 

Page 9 

Behind the Lines: "A Few Quick Random Thoughts to Would-Be Comic Artists," by Carl Potts

Pages 10 - 12

Article: "Letters to Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars" 

Pages 13 - 15

Article: "Postscript: A Visit with Jim Shooter" 

Pages 16 - 17 

Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age

Pages 18 - 20

Article: "A Special Hero -- Black Panther," by Peter B. Gillis

Pages 21 - 23

Article: "G.I. Joe Update," by Dwight Jon Zimmerman

Pages 25 - 28

Article: "The Marvel Age -- 1966 (Part III)," by Warren Reece

Page 29

Bullpen Bulletins

Pages 30 - 32

Letters page: "I Was a Teenage Letter Column!," suggested by Rick S. Jones

Inside back cover

Ad for The Official Marvel Comics Try-Out Book

Back cover

Ad for Time Spirits 

 

In a strange case of time-travel corporate synergy, this issue of Marvel Age promotes Marvel's comics adaptation of The Muppets Take Manhattan -- and surely, no one could have guessed back in 1984 that one day both Marvel and the Muppets would both answer to the same corporate overlords at Disney. 

The issue begins with "An Important Message" from Jim Salicrup, in which Jim writes that starting with Marvel Age #18 the "Coming Attractions" section will hype comics on sale in one month rather than those on sale in three months, thus making them more accurate. Makes sense, right?

Editor Jim Salicrup himself is the subject of this issue's "Behind the Lines," written by Jim Shooter, who describes Salicrup rather strangely -- but compliments him as a visionary who led the way in deluxe format reprints and other new ideas. Here's Salicrup as described by Shooter, illustrated by Ron Zalme. 

John Romita Jr. talks about his upcoming run on the X-Men in the "Marvel Age Interview," saying that he has his own approach that won't look like anything that came before under artists Dave Cockrum, John Byrne, or Paul Smith. The interview opens with a drawing of John, the X-Men, Iron Man, and Spider-Man by Jack Abel, and includes pencil art and sneak peeks finished art from an upcoming issue. 

"Hembeck's Page in Marvel Age" looks at some of the more questionable costume choices from Marvel history. My favorite might be the miniskirt costume Hawkeye wore for 20 issues or so.

And this month's "New Talent Department" spotlights inker Jerry Acerno, whose work is critiqued by legendary inker Joe Rubinstein. 

The issue wraps up with an ad for Epic Illustrated #25, which touts a new story by Bernie Wrightson but does not show the issue's cover by Wrightson's former studio mate, Jeffrey Catherine Jones, followed by an ad...for Marvel Age! (I always love when a comic runs an ad for itself.) 

Marvel Age #17

Price: $0.35 US 

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)

On sale: May 8, 1984

Cover date: August, 1984

Copyright © 1984 Marvel Comics Group, a division of Cadence Industries Corporation. 

• Jim Shooter: Editor in Chief

• Jim Salicrup: Editor and Design Director

• Mark Lerer: Assistant Editor

• Bob Kessel: Designer

• Jim Massara: Coming Attractions

• Dan Crespi: Art/Production Coordinator

• Ron Zalme: Assistant Art/Production Coordinator

• Joe Albelo, Harry Candelario, Rob Carosella, Morrie Kuramoto, Ken Lopez, John Morelli, 

  and Barry Shapiro: Production

• Brenda Mings: Typesetter

• Paul Becton and George Roussos: Colorists

• Craig Anderson and Lynn Cohen: Friendly Assistance

• Warren Kremer: Cover 

• Carol Kalish: Direct Sales Manager

• Peter David: Assistant Direct Sales Manager

• Marsha Rosenberg: Sales Manager for Special Events

• Steve Saffel: Assistant Promotions Manager for Direct Sales

• Irving Forbush: Mutated Muppet

Front cover 

• Characters: The Muppets

 Inside front cover

• Ad for The Sub-Mariner

 

Page 1

• Marvel Agenda (contents) 

• Masthead 

• Indicia 

Editorial: "An Important Message from Jim Salicrup," by Jim Salicrup

Pages 2 – 5

Marvel Comics Coming Attractions 

Titles on sale July 24

• The Thing #17

• Daredevil #212

• New Mutants #21

• The Muppets Take Manhattan #1, 2, and 3

• Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars #7

• West Coast Avengers #3

• Machine Man #3

• Conan the King #25

• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #4

Titles on sale July 31

• Amazing Spider-Man #258

• Captain America #299

• Thor #349

• Indiana Jones #23

• Power Pack #4

• Micronauts #2

• Crystar #10

• Sub-Mariner #3

• Fantastic Four Annual #18

• Savage Sword of Conan #105

Titles on sale August 7

• Incredible Hulk #301

• Avengers #249

• Conan the Barbarian #164

• Marvel Tales #169

• X-Men #187

• Rom #60

• Power Man and Iron Fist #111

• G.I. Joe #29

• Temple of Doom (sic) #3

• The Last Star Fighters (sic) #2

• Marvel Age Magazine #20

• Thor Annual #12

• Marvel Fanfare #17

Titles on sale August 14

• Fantastic Four #272

• Marvel Team-Up #147

• Iron Man #188

• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #96

• The New Defenders #137

• Star Wars #89

• Alpha Flight #16

• Kitty and Wolverine #1

• Hulk Annual #13

• Epic Illustrated #26

Page 6

Newswatch

• Item: Mike Carlin has been promoted to editor, and will handle the Fantastic Four, Rom, Dazzler, The Thing, and more. Editor Bob Budiansky will shift toward special projects. 

• Item: Statement regarding a lawsuit between a comic book printer, First Comics, and Marvel. 

• Item: Jim Owsley is the new writer on Power Man and Iron Fist.

• Item: The Machine Man limited series is coming soon.

• Item: Kevin Nowlan has designed the logos for Solomon Kane, Gargoyle, and The Punisher, while Walter Simonson designed the logo for Alien Legion.

• Item: The Magneto limited series is scheduled for November. Red Sonja will have four monthly issues in 1984, then continue bimonthly in 1985. The following annuals will ship from June through October: Iron Man Annual #7, Spider-Man Annual #18, Fantastic Four Annual #18, Thor Annual #12, Hulk Annual # 13, Peter Parker Annual (sic) #1, Rom Annual #3, Marvel Team-Up Annual #7, Conan Annual #9, X-Men Annual #8, New Mutants Annual #1, and Star Wars Annual #4. Shipping changes for these Super Specials: Temple of Doom (sic) #30, The Last Star Fighters (sic) #31, and The Muppets Take Manhattan #32. Coyote will continue past its initial six-issues on a bimonthly schedule. Questprobe #1 will ship in April. Six from Sirius #1 will ship in May with a $1.50 cover price. Dr. Who #1 will ship in June. 

Page 7 

Behind the Lines: "Editorial Directions," by Jim Shooter

Pages 8 - 10

Article: "The Transformers," by Dwight Jon Zimmerman

Pages 11 - 15

Article: "The Marvel Age Interview: John Romita Jr.," by Mark Lerer

Pages 16 - 17

Hembeck's Pages, focusing on questionable costume designs. 

Pages 18 - 20

Article: "The Muppets Come to Marvel," by Andrew Coe

Pages 21 - 22

Article: "Secret Wars Update," by Andrew Coe

Pages 23 - 25

Article: "The Marvel Age: 1965," by Warren Reece

Page 26

Bullpen Bulletins

Pages 27 - 29

The New Talent Department

Pages 30 - 32

Letters column: "The Marvel Age Sage Page," art by Rick Parker 

Inside back cover

Ad for Epic Illustrated #25, featuring a new story written and illustrated by Bernie Wrightson entitled "The Potty's Over." 

Back cover

Ad for Marvel Age 

Just two issues after a Dreadstar cover, Marvel Age is back on the Epic Comics bandwagon with this cover featuring legendary writer/editor Archie Goodwin surrounded by a host of characters from that line, including several that only appeared in the pages of Epic Illustrated. This cover also marks the first major contribution to Marvel Age by cartoonist and letterer Rick Parker, who would soon make his mark as the artist of the hit Beavis and Butt-head series. 

In his interview, Archie talks about the entire Epic line, which causes him to lose his head. 

This issue's editorial takes on a subject you rarely hear about: tipping your favorite comics creators for a job well done. Fortunately, a note laid over the editorial says that the pressure of editing a monthly magazine is clearly getting to Jim Salicrup, and that we should ignore him. 

This issue also credits the writer of the "Coming Attractions" column for the first time, as well as shining a spotlight on the unforgettable demon bear of New Mutants fame. 

The "Behind the Lines" column is dedicated to an open letter from EIC Jim Shooter to DC VP and Executive Editor Dick Giordano, in which he writes (in the most polite terms possible) that DC was mistaken when a staffer wrote on a letters page that Marvel was about to raise its prices, and that DC owed Marvel a retraction. Whether that appeared I have no idea. 

 In Fred Hembeck's second Marvel Age comic, he refers to himself as "the Sage of Marvel Age," a title I thought I had invented! Well, since Fred isn't using it these days, I see no reason to give it up... 

The "New Talent Department" takes on the difficult task of looking at the work of a would-be comics writer -- in this case, it's Marvel Age assistant editor Mark Lerer, whose plot for a story involving a new character is critiqued by Jim Shooter. 

Marvel Age #15

Price: $0.35 US 

Pages: 36 (32 interior plus four covers)

On sale: March 3, 1984

Cover date: June, 1984

Copyright © 1984 Marvel Comics Group, a division of Cadence Industries Corporation. 

• Jim Shooter: Editor in Chief

• Jim Salicrup: Editor and Design Director

• Mark Lerer: Assistant Editor

• Jim Massara: Coming Attractions

• Bob Kessel: Designer

• Dan Crespi: Art/Production Coordinator

• Ron Zalme: Assistant Art/Production Coordinator

• Joe Albelo, Harry Candelario, Rob Carosella, Donald Hudson, Morrie Kuramoto, 

    Ken Lopez, John Morelli, and Barry Shapiro: Production

• Brenda Mings: Typesetter

• Paul Becton and George Roussos: Colorists

• Craig Anderson and Lynn Cohen: Friendly Assistance

• Rick Parker: Cover 

• Carol Kalish: Direct Sales Representative

• Peter David, Marsha Rosenberg, and Steve Saffel: Assistant Direct Sales Managers

• Irving Forbush: Back in the Saddle Again

Front cover 

• Characters: Archie Goodwin and various characters from Epic Comics titles 

 Inside front cover

• Subscription ad for Power Pack #1

 

Page 1

• Marvel Agenda (contents) 

• Masthead 

• Indicia 

Editorial: "Money Talks!" by Jim Salicrup

Pages 2 – 5

Marvel Comics Coming Attractions 

Comics on sale May 22

• The Thing #15

• Daredevil #210

• New Mutants #19

• Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars #5

• Conan the King #24

Comics on sale May 29

• Amazing Spider-Man #256

• Captain America #297

• Thor #347

• Indiana Jones #21

• Power Pack #2

• Crystar #9

• Savage Sword of Conan #103

Comics on sale June 5

• Incredible Hulk #299

• Avengers #247

• Conan the Barbarian #162

• Marvel Tales #167

• X-Men #185

• Rom #58

• Power Man and Iron Fist #109

• G.I. Joe #27

• Marvel Fanfare #16

• Dreadstar #12

• Epic Illustrated #25

Comics on sale June 12

• Fantastic Four #270

• Marvel Team-Up #145

• Iron Man #186

• Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #94

• The New Defenders #135

• Star Wars #87

• Alpha Flight #14 

Page 6 

Newswatch

• Item: Mike Carlin takes over as writer of The Thing

• Item: Marvel will publish a series of Marvel index books

• Item: Daredevil #108 and 109 will be co-written by science fiction authors Harlan Ellison and Arthur Byron Cover

• Item: Shipping changes for Elektra Saga #4, Coyote #5, and Micronauts #59

• Item: Ka-Zar will end with issue #34, Moon Knight with issue #38, and Micronauts with issue #59

• Item: Moon Knight and Micronauts will relaunch with new #1 issues

• Item: There will be a Hulk Annual this year (#13), and Power Pack #1 will be a 48-page issue with a $1.00 cover price. 

Note on the passing of cartoonist Lennie Herman, writer of Richie Rich and contributor to Crazy magazine. 

Marvel's Top Ten

Top sellers for June 1983:

1 - X-Men #170

2 - New Mutants #4

3 - Fantastic Four #255

4 - Amazing Spider-Man #241

5 - Avengers #231

6 - X-Men Classics #2

7 - Daredevil #195

8 - Dark Crystal #2

9 - Incredible Hulk #284

10 - Super-Villain Classics #1

Page 7

Behind the Lines 

Pages 8 - 11

Article: "The G.I. Joe File," by Dwight Jon Zimmerman

Pages 12 - 15

Article: "Marvel Age - 1963," by Warren Reece

Pages 16 - 17

"The Sage of Marvel Age," by Fred Hembeck

Pages 18 - 22

Article: "Marvel Age Talks to Archie Goodwin," by Mark Lerer 

Pages 23 - 26

Article: "Spotlight on Marvel Fanfare," by Sandy Hausler and Mark Lerer 

Pages 27 - 28 

The New Talent Department 

Page 29

Bullpen Bulletins 

Pages 30 - 32

Letters page: "The Marvel Age Rage Page!"

Inside back cover

Ad for The Official Marvel Comics Try-Out Book

Back cover 

Subscription ad for Epic Illustrated