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So a couple of years ago I posted some of the classic Marvel Solicits around here. I recently was thumbing through some back issues in the Original Collection and stumbled on some more that brought memories crashing back. Like this one from The Thing #1, cover dated July 1983. I would have been 12 when this hit the corner convenience store’s spinner rack, and I remember immediately taking advantage of the very deals offered in the ad.
“The more titles you order, the more you save” says to me “if I order one title, I save x. If I order two titles, I save x+1. If I order three titles, I save x+2.” And so on. While the ad copy is somewhat suspect, I guess it’s logical from a certain point of view... if you order one title, you save 30% off the cover price. If you order three titles, you’re getting 30% off three titles. So, the “more” you save is referring to more titles at the same discount, not an incremental savings based on the number of titles ordered.
There is no denying Wolverine has always been a fan favorite, so the classic brown costumed Canadian is an obvious choice to help bring in readers. A quick look at the titles offered and it’s clear I was completely entrenched in the Marvel Universe at the time of this ad. There were subscriptions to G.I. Joe, X-Men, Alpha Flight, and The Thing showing up in my family’s mailbox. I was supplementing my regular Avengers, Marvel Team-Up, and Amazing Spider-Man newsstand reading with large helpings of Daredevil, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man, and some Defenders among others.
Oh, and don’t be fooled by the copy that says the “Offer Expires May 31, 1983!” Remember, although the book’s cover dated July 1983, it actually was on the newsstands a few months prior to that, thanks to the wacky world of comic book publishing.
Talk about no-frills. This subscription solicit from late summer 1983 finds Marvel taking a stingier approach than what we have seen in other offers. Not only is there a lack of character art to grab you, but the deal isn’t all that great either. In order to get the extra four issues, you have to get your friends to place subscription orders on the coupon provided. And, the way it reads, your friends only get a 12 issue subscription for their trouble. That’s hard-core, man.
And, again, there’s that reference to US1 in the listing of available books. I’m taking this as a sign that I need to do some digging through the quarter bins for some first-hand exposure to this elusive title.
This time around Marvel is touting a 14 issue subscription for six bucks. But the big deal is that when you order two titles at that rate you can subscribe to a third book for just $5 more!
Regardless of the deal, though, this is one weird looking Hulk. His head is frighteningly small for the body it's resting atop, and his face is kind of a caricature of itself -- looking more Cro-Magnon than gamma-irradiated. That same theme seems to be carried throughout the rest of the figure because based on the perspective of the drawing, his knuckles must drag on the ground when his arms rest at his sides. And what about his feet?! Good lord! His feet are as big as his legs are long!
This is the third subscription solicit I've featured so far that's signed by the artist (here next to Hulk's left foot). It looks like an "SEV" but I'm not certain. I'm guessing that Marvel had an intern in late 1983 who was the nephew of Jim Shooter, and he was able to convince his then-editor-in-chief uncle that he could draw. ("Listen Uncle Jim, I swear, I've been practicing! I can do this!") And in a moment of weakness, nepotism carried the day, "SEV" got his shot at the big time, and we got Baby New Year Hulk.
Giant diaper? Check.Oversized safety pin? Check.
Year-emblazoned sash? Check.
Happy New Year!
Even today, Aurora from Alpha Flight still makes me a little uncomfortable in that "adolescent boy just discovering girls" kind of way. But if there was any sure-fire way to get me to pony up for a Marvel Comics subscription as an early teenager, I suppose the tingly hint of four-color sex was the way to do it. And late summer 1984 would have been right around the time I was re-upping my subscriptions to titles like G.I. Joe and Uncanny X-Men.
There is something to be said for the way Marvel has always positioned itself in relation to its customers. Just like the Bullpen Bulletins used to make us feel like insiders wandering the hallowed House of Ideas halls, using a quartet from the pages of John Byrne's Canadian team to frame this as a "Special Subscriber's Club" is well within the grand tradition of all things Marvel. Here, your 26 quarters and the completed "Enrollment Certificate" will practically buy you a membership into the greatest comic book club on the planet along with that 16 issue subscription!
I came across this Byrne-drawn ad (signed just below Sasquatch's right shin) in the back of issue #2 of Tom DeFalco's Machine Man four-issue limited series (and run again in the December 1984 issue #3). Around the time of this subscription solicit, Sasquatch and Aurora were struggling to find their way in a relationship while dealing with Aurora's multiple personality disorder, but it's obvious from that grin on Sasquatch's mug that things are good here as he hoists his best girl and teammate Marrina above his head. And check out that authentic Canadian flair the ad copy gives Puck. Good stuff all around, eh?
March 1984 was a great time to be a comic book fan. We'd just survived Assistant Editors' Month in January, G.I. Joe was just finishing its second year of publication, John Byrne was hitting on all cylinders with Alpha Flight, Fantastic Four, and The Thing, The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe was wrapping up, and limited series were everywhere: X-Men/Micronauts, Magik: Storm and Illyana, and Jack of Hearts.And, remember, because of the timing of these books' release, we were in the throes of the holiday season. And my most favorite Marvel subscription ad of this era shows up here: the Inhumans' Black Bolt, Medusa, and Lockjaw hawking the yuletide savings from the House of Ideas. This is one of the few solicit ads I've come across from back in the day that's actually signed (just to the right of the chimney), but unfortunately I can't discern whose signature it is.
The Inhumans were one of those groups that were sort of on the fringes of the Marvel Universe, always there but rarely front-and-center. They showed up on the pages of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, and The Thing, both Vision and the Scarlet Witch miniseries, and even in "The Origin of the Vision" Marvel Illustrated Book I had. But in 1984, Black Bolt and Medusa got married in Fantastic Four Annual #18. I was reading FF at the time because She-Hulk was filling in for The Thing, and I have always been a fan of that line-up. So it was cool of Marvel to put the newlyweds out in front of their holiday subscription campaign.
Happy Holidays!
Comic books are released with cover dates that are months in advance. For example, last week I picked up Mighty Avengers #20, dated February 2009. This was the case even back in the days of the Original Collection. Case in point: the February 1985 issue of Fantastic Four (#275, my all-time favorite) contains a holiday festive subscription solicitation because it would have been at my corner convenience store in December 1984.
The deal here is less robust than others I've highlighted. Here we are only offered a baker's dozen for the discounted price of admission, but they do try to work the gift-giving angle with the postscript by telling us to "Give Marvel comics as a gift." The available title list reveals this was really in my heyday of comic book reading: Alpha Flight, Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, G.I. Joe, Marvel Team-Up, The Thing, X-Men.This is another one of those ads that has stuck with me over the years. I remember wondering why Iron Man's Santa getup was obviously made of metal... rivets and all! I think it's great that whoever drew it took the time to include joint-like details at the elbows, shoulders, and along the lapel so that Santa Shellhead could enjoy some flexibility in the jacket. I do wonder who is under that armor, though. After all, in his own title at this time (Iron Man #191, February 1985), James "Rhodey" Rhodes was sporting the iron hardware and Tony Stark had just recreated his original Iron Man suit. Regardless of who's under that mask, though, it's still a pretty memorable ad.
Continuing my look at the Marvel subscription solicits of the '80s, I came across this one in issues cover dated December 1983: Doctor Strange summoned to spread the word of the return of the "4 Extra Issues" promo seen a little over a year earlier. And, by the Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth! Even though the cost of an individual issue didn't change between '82 and '83, the subscription price has gone up by 50 cents, but the benefits and terms of the deal remain.I like the idea that with his right hand he is magically unfurling the newspaper of choice for Marvel's Sorcerer Supreme: Conjurer's Courier (wonder how often that goes to press?). Notice how he is promoting this limited time offer with his words, but he also seems to be actually communicating through the mystic arts with his other hand as well.
In the list of titles Marvel was publishing at the time, US 1 is the only one I didn't recognize. After some interweb digging, here's what I was able to find out about it: It was a 12-issue series created by Al Milgrom and G.I. Joe's Herb Trimpe. If not cut from the same cloth, it certainly seems to be a spiritual brother to Marvel's motorcycle themed Team America that ended its 12-issue run the same month US 1 debuted. Other than that, the title seems pretty forgettable to all except those whose corner convenience stores carried it.
I have been doubling back on the Original Collection lately and reading a lot of the old Marvel Comics miniseries from the '80s. Stuff like X-Men and the Micronauts, Magik, the Hercules sagas, and the Falcon. They take me back to my youth, but what really makes me feel like I'm 12 years-old again is all the peripheral noise around the stories. Rereading these as they were originally presented -- with all the great ads and Bullpen Bulletins and solicits -- kicks wide open the doors of childhood, replacing the stale air of memory with a fresh breeze of nostalgia. The Marvel subscription solicits are particularly fun. And I thought I'd scan and share some of them here in the coming days and weeks.
First up is Doctor Doom. This one from the first issue of the Bob Layton Hercules: Prince of Power limited series, cover dated September 1982. It holds particular sentimental value to me because the first comic book subscription I ever purchased was using one of the Doctor Doom solicits. I got 16 glorious issues of G.I. Joe for the price of 12, starting with issue #7 and running through issue #22. I didn’t need Doom to convince me that was a good deal, but I’m sure it didn’t hurt.
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