Marvel Solicits - November 1983

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.

Marvel-y Goodness from ComicBookDB

Special thanks to Chris over at Comic Book Database for the great Marvel-centric widget over on the right (just like the one on the Marvel Noise site). Refresh your browser to see a new pair of Marvel comic books with each page load, and click on the cover image and title to go directly to that issue's entry in the database!

Marvel Solicits - May 1984

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!

Book List 2008

I have kept a Word document called "Book List" since 2002 where I track what I've been reading by year. I log every book I read on that list in the order I read them (although I did separate the list by type for clarity here). I tend to read more non-fiction than fiction, and this year was no exception. Only three books this year were fiction, and all of them were read in the last half of the year. But combined, I averaged about a book-and-a-half per month.

The list doesn't include all the monthly comic books I read in a year, but the number of comic book trade paperbacks and hardcover collected editions are the most numerous. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I averaged one collection per week, but seeing it laid out like this is still kind of amazing. I discovered a lot of great new stuff thanks to John (Invincible), Matt (a lot of the Batman and DC stuff), and others. In all, a good, fun year of reading.

Non-Fiction

1. Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography - David Michaelis
2. The Grizzly Maze: Timothy Treadwell's Fatal Obsession with Alaskan Bears - Nick Jans
3. The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star - Nikki Sixx
4. Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life - Steve Martin
5. The Franchise: LeBron James and the Remaking of the Cleveland Cavaliers - Terry Pluto and Brian Windhorst
6. DisneyWar - James B. Stewart
7. All the Way Home: Building a Family in a Falling-Down House - David Giffels
8. Silent Bob Speaks: The Collected Writings of Kevin Smith - Kevin Smith
9. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft - Stephen King (Can't believe I'd never read this before! What a fantastic book for writers of every stripe.)
10. Collect All 21! Memoirs of a Star Wars Geek - The First 30 Years - John Booth
11. 13 Seconds: A Look Back at the Kent State Shootings - Philip Caputo
12. The Marvel Comics Guide to New York City - Peter Sanderson
13. My Incredibly Wonderful, Miserable Life: An Anti-Memoir - Adam Nimoy
14. The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula - Eric Nuzum (So disappointed I missed Eric's talk at the Akron Summit County Public Library in October.)

Fiction

1. The Book of Lies - Brad Meltzer
2. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Sean Williams (Fun read. But I'll likely skip the video game.)
3. Devil May Care - Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming (Sort of the opposite approach of the new Bond movies where they have updated the character and set him in the present day. This new book puts 007 firmly back in the '60s with entertaining success.)

Trade Paperbacks and Hardcover Collected Editions

1. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Vol. 1 - Larry Hama
2. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Vol. 2 - Larry Hama
3. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Vol. 3 - Larry Hama
4. G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Vol. 4 - Larry Hama
5. G.I. Joe: Declassified - Larry Hama
6. Invincible: Ultimate Collection, Vol. 1 - Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker
7. Secret War - Brian Michael Bendis
8. Invincible: Ultimate Collection, Vol. 2 - Robert Kirkman, Cory Walker
9. Daredevil - Visionaries: Frank Miller, Volume 1 - Frank Miller
10. Thor - Visionaries: Walter Simonson, Volume 1 - Walter Simonson
11. Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 - David Petersen (Read with the kiddo. Good stuff!)
12. Sub-Mariner: Revolution - Matt Cherniss and Peter Johnson
13. Powers: The Definitive Hardcover Collection, Volume 1 - Brian Michael Bendis, Mike Avon Oeming
14. Giant-Size Marvel - Various
15. Marvels - Kurt Buseik, Alex Ross
16. Star Wars: A Long Time Ago... Volume 3 - Resurrection of Evil - Various
    
17. Pride of Baghdad - Brian K. Vaughan
18. Runaways, Volume 1 - Brian K. Vaughan
19. Ares: God of War - Mike Avon Oeming
20. Iron Man: Extremis - Warren Ellis
21. Captain America Omnibus - Ed Brubaker, Steve Epting, Mike Perkins (Simply stunning.)
22. Star Wars: Heir to the Empire - Mike Baron (Meh. Skip these and stick to the Timothy Zahn books.)
23. Star Wars: Dark Force Rising - Mike Baron
24. Star Wars: The Last Command - Mike Baron
25. Star Wars: Mara Jade - By the Emperor's Hand - Timothy Zahn, Michael A. Stackpole
26. WE3 - Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely (Interesting, graphic, sad little tale.)
27. Mystic Arcana - David Sexton, Louise Simonson, Roy Thomas, Jeff Parker, C.B. Cebulski
28. Classic Transformers, Volume 1 - Various
29. Marvel 1602 - Neil Gaiman
30. Doctor Strange: The Oath - Brian K. Vaughan (Can BKV do no wrong?!)
31. Runaways, Volume 2 - Brian K. Vaughan
32. The Hood: Blod from Stones - Brian K. Vaughan
33. Fantastic Four - Visionaries: John Byrne, Volume 2 - John Byrne
34. Wolverine - Chris Claremont, Frank Miller
35. Kitty Pryde and Wolverine - Chris Claremont
36. Fantastic Four - Visionaries: John Byrne, Volume 3 - John Byrne
37. The Sensational She-Hulk - John Byrne
38. The Death of Captain Marvel - Jim Starlin
39. Avengers: Defenders War - Steve Englehart
40. Civil War: Front Line, Volume 1 - Paul Jenkins
41. Civil War: Front Line, Volume 2 - Paul Jenkins
42. The Immortal Iron Fist: The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven - Ed Brubaker, Matt Fraction
43. Annihilation, Book One - various
44. Young Avengers, Volume 1: Sidekicks - Allan Heinberg, Jim Cheung
45. Annihilation, Book Two - Various
46. Annihilation, Book Three - Various
47. Civil War: Young Avengers & Runaways - Zeb Wells, Stefano Caselli
48. Power Pack & Cloak and Dagger: Shelter from the Storm - Bill Mantlo
49. Fantastic Four: Books of Doom - Ed Brubaker
50. DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore - Alan Moore (In this collection are the first two Batman comics I've ever read: 1987 Annual #11, "Mortal Clay" and the legendary "Killing Joke" story.)
51. Batman: The Long Halloween - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale (This would then, I guess, be the third Batman story I've ever read, and it blew me away.)
52. Runaways, Volume 3 - Brian K. Vaughan

Marvel Solicits - November 1984

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?

Jack of Hearts Revisited

Jack of Hearts is one of those characters that snuck up on me back in the day. In my original collecting window, he could be seen in the background on a couple of panels in the January 1983 "Everybody Loves a Parade, Right?" story on the pages of Incredible Hulk #279, and then co-featured with Spidey in the "The Boy's Night Out!" story from October 1983 for Marvel Team-Up #134. Then came the Jack of Hearts four-issue limited series in 1984. I remember loving this saga as a 13-year-old then, and I had a blast rereading it 25 years later. According to Comic Book Database, the character then sort of fell off the Marvel Universe map until the '90s.

I rediscovered him when I read the trade paperback of Avengers Disassembled, where he is the catalyst Wanda Maximoff uses to signal the beginning of the end for her sanity and the Avengers. I don't know what happened to Jack Hart between 1984 and Avengers Disassembled, but the Bill Mantlo limited series holds up fantastic.

I love the way the first issue of the miniseries is so firmly rooted in and interwoven with the Marvel Universe. Mantlo does a great job taking a somewhat fringe character and making him a part of the mainstream continuity by immediately involving S.H.E.I.L.D. and Nick Fury. Series editor Bob Budiansky calls out references to Spectacular Spider-Man and that great Marvel Team-Up, along with the Vision and the Scarlet Witch miniseries in the first issue alone! And that issue sets the table for some great origin story retcon for Jack, turning him from a hero-by-accident into a Cosmic Marvel character.

Turns out Jack Hart's mom was a Contraxian who was sent out into the universe to find a habitable planet that doesn't currently have life on it. You see, Contraxia's sun is a dying star, so they have to find a new home, but their honor code forbids them from displacing or destroying an existing life to save their own. Hart's mother came to Earth and was monitoring Hart's father's work on the Zero-Fluid in the hopes that it might save her planet's dying sun. She fell in love with him and they had Jack. Years later, Jack falls into a vat of Zero-Fluid giving him his powers, or so we thought. In this version, though, the Zero-Fluid doesn't grant him his powers, but rather activates his dormant Contraxian abilities.

Now as an adult, not only is the Jack of Hearts being unknowingly monitored by Kaina, a Contraxian love interest in the human form of Marcy Kane, but also by the morally ambiguous Survivalist sect of Contraxia. This sets up some great lessons on right and wrong, the good of the many versus the good of one, a redemption arc for one of the villains, and a heartbreaking ending.

I love that Marvel was granting characters like the Jack of Hearts, Rocket Raccoon, Machine Man, and others a chance to shine in their own limited series back in the day. I don't know what's happened to Jack since Avengers Disassembled, but it was worth digging this limited series out of my collection for some Retconned Cosmic Marvel '80s fun!

"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."