Doug: You know the drill...
Martinex1: It’s yet again time for “If I Had A Buck”, the spending game we play here on
the Bronze Age Babies site. If you,
with a small amount of money in your pocket, enter an imaginary comic store
that has only nine comics on the rack, what would you buy and why? Feel free to talk about the specific comics,
the covers, the series, the writers, the artists, the characters, the motif, or
anything else that catches your fancy.
The theme this time around is Marvel comics based on
licensed properties. Marvel has had a
long, varied, and complex history of producing comics based on other companies’
trend setting and creative assets. Over
the course of decades, it is surprising just how many licensing ventures Marvel
has embarked on. Novels and television
shows and toys and movies and celebrities have all been represented in four
color grandeur under the Marvel banner. The list includes but is not limited to: Conan, Gullivar Jones, Elric, John Carter, Tarzan, Soloman Kane, The Man From Atlantis, The Wizard of Oz,
Planet of the Apes, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Logan’s Run, Star Wars, KISS, Star
Trek, Alf, Battlestar Galactica, Indiana Jones, James Bond, G.I. Joe, Barbie,
Muppets, Robocop, and countless others.
Today the shop has comics with characters that were licensed
that also tied directly into the Marvel Universe. To my knowledge, series like Star Wars existed in their own
universe; Luke Skywalker never fought Kang or teamed up with the Starjammers. Likewise, the Mandrill, Red Ghost, and the
Gibbon never ended up on The Planet of
the Apes. And perhaps surprisingly
Captain America, S.H.I.E.L.D, and the Black Widow (nor any other Marvel
character) showed up in G.I. Joe. But many other licensed characters
interacted freely and openly with the Marvel superheroes to the point of being
part of a shared universe. That caused
some headaches for the publisher later, particularly for reprints starring a
character for which the license was no longer held. But back in the late 70’s and early 80’s it
was common to see the spandex crew interacting with lifesize toys, movie
creatures, and logo baring entities. The
comics and covers below demonstrate that interaction very clearly.
Here are the comics to consider with some of the details
around the specific titles and issues. Have fun, share your thoughts, and pray for the day that Iron Man takes
his armor war to Boba Fett and the Stormtroopers!
MICRONAUTS #20 Guest
Starring Ant-Man. Aug 1980. $0.40. Cover (one of my favorites of all time) by
Michael Golden. Written by Bill
Mantlo. Interior art by Pat Broderick
and Armando Gill. The warriors from Innerspace
find themselves battling mutated bugs and a mutated Bug in a suburban grocery store. Scott Lang makes an early appearance and puts
his spring boots to use. Silver age in
its feel; far ranging in its appeal!
Fits all sizes!
The Micronauts, based on the Mego toyline, would go on to
meet many Marvel characters in their career including starring alongside the X
Men in a 4 issue limited series. The
characters that were based on the action figures such as Acroyear, Baron Karza,
and Biotron went on to appear in Image and Devil’s Due comics when those
companies held the licenses. Meanwhile,
Commander Arcturus Rann, Marionette, and Bug continued on in the Marvel
Universe as the Microns.
TEAM AMERICA #9 Guest
Starring Iron Man. Feb 1983. $0.60. Cover by Dave Simons. Written by Bill Mantlo (you will see a lot
of him in this post). Interior art by
Mark Bright and Vince Colletta. The
motorcycle team and the mysterious Marauder face Iron Man In what is surely
some great misunderstanding! Putting
pedal to the metal!
The Team America toyline created by Ideal was a revamp of
Evel Knievel’s cycles and figures following some legal trouble. The rather bland and archetypal color coded
team would later meet Ghost Rider and Captain America. Most astonishingly they were revealed to be
mutants (on an off day for Cerebro I assume). And later Honcho, Reddy, Wulf, Wrench, and Cowboy teamed with the Thing
(yes, Ben Grimm) as the Thunderiders, but Ben quit before it was well
known. Phew!
ROM #18 Guest
Starring the X-Men. May 1981. $0.50. Cover by Frank Miller and Terry Austin.
Written by Bill Mantlo. Interior
art by Sal Buscema and Al Milgrom. Creep
fest galore as Hybrid, an offspring of a Dire Wraith and a human, wreaks havoc
on a Virginia farm community. The all
new all different crew show up because a new mutant was detected (there is a
lot of that going around). The
spacefaring toaster has his hands full and his neutralizer charged. Galactic!
ROM was a lowly reviewed toy in Time Magazine for its
inarticulation and limited LED attributes.
But under Mantlo’s and Buscema’s guidance, the Marvel series lasted a
whopping 75 issues and featured some horror and suspense styling as the
Galadorian finished a long standing battle with his evil shape shifting enemies. The Spaceknight teamed up with the likes of
Jack of Hearts, Power Man and Iron Fist, Torpedo, Nova, and the ever side
kicking Rick Jones over the course of his career.
SHOGUN WARRIORS #20
Guest Starring the Fantastic Four. Sept
1980. $0.50. Cover by Herb Trimpe. Written
by Doug Moench with interior art by Trimpe. The giant robots reach the finale of their series. Karen and Doug had reviewed their
penultimate chapter previously on the BAB site, and this story continues the
tale. If a giant robot falls in the
city, can you hear the recyclers stripping the copper parts? Electric!
The giant 24-inch Shogun Warrior toys by Mattel were fairly
short lived on the market. It didn’t
help that there was controversy around children getting hurt by toy projectiles
and small parts. The Warriors launched
their spring loaded hands and fists to take out enemies.
HUMAN FLY #2 Guest
Starring Ghost Rider. Oct 1977. $0.35. Cover by Carmen Infantino and Al
Milgrom. Written by Bill Mantlo. Interior art by Infantino and Dan Green. In a rigged motorcycle race across the
desert, Johnny Blaze and the mysterious Human Fly have to outwit and outlast a
scheming promoter. Flaming skulls and
amazing stunts the Marvel way!
The Human Fly was a fictional embellishment of real life stuntman
Rick Rojatt, who once appeared at the Marvel offices in full costume. And that costume sure was fantastic and one
of the better designs of the era with its striking red and white contrast. Rojatt was known for jumping 27 buses on a
super charged Harley, besting an Evel Knievel record. The comic character was an aerialist who had
a large amount of his skeleton replaced with steel bones following a car
accident; this allowed him to perform great feats and fight for the
underprivileged while being pursued by an investigator intent on knowing his
identity.
GODZILLA #23 Guest
Starring the Avengers. June 1979. $0.40. Cover by Herb Trimpe and Dan Green. Written by Doug Moench. Interior art by Trimpe and Green. The king of the monsters is back to full size
and is running amok in New York City. Can the combined might of the FF and Avengers stop the behemoth in his
own book? Can Thor withstand the
creature’s atomic breath? Can Dum Dum
Dugan keep his hat on? Answers to all
that and more, true believers!
The Marvel version of the great movie monster had some
quirky storylines and plot beats in its run, including the creature being
reduced to the size of a canary and then growing back to its towering self over
the course of many issues. One of the
most hilarious scenes ever in comic book history is when Godzilla at human size
is disguised in a trenchcoat and fedora. I kid you not! The series played
on a fugitive theme with a sympathetic Dum Dum Dugan doggedly pursuing the
creature.The art was actually quite good throughout from my recollection. But it is rumored Toho increased the
licensing fee so Marvel ended the series, but not before Godzilla battled the
Champions, Fantastic Four, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Avengers while Spidey snapped
some pictures for the Bugle.
NFL SUPERPRO #1 Guest
Starring Spider Man. Oct 1991. $1.00. Cover by Ron Frenz and Joe Sinnott. Written by Fabian Nicieza. Interior art by Jose Delbo and Mike DeCarlo. The hard hitting 1st Issue of NFL
Superpro! Nuff Said!
Okay… it is not enough said. The hero of the story is a football player who suffers a knee injury,
but gains super powers as the result of exposure to rare NFL memorabilia and
chemicals burning in a fire. That
combined with a supersuit designed to protect running backs and we may have the
most convoluted and bizarre introduction of a character ever. And believe me that I am not even getting
into the nuances of his origin story which include a genius scientist NFL fan,
a child saved from a fall, and a band of thieves determined to cash in on
sports collectibles (but who inexplicably set them all on fire). Hard to believe this debacle lasted 12 issues
with a guest appearance by Captain America along the way. Buy the first issue for the unintended
humor value as the NFL superhero teams up with a Marvel icon, but be aware that
there is a risk of concussion.
MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #21
With Doc Savage. Nov 1976. $0.30. Cover
by Ron Wilson and Joe Sinnott. Written
by Bill Mantlo. Interior art by Wilson
and Pablo Marcos. The Man of Bronze
teams with the Thing in a battle across eras with Blacksun, the living black
hole! They will pound you to a pulp!
The adventurous hero from the 30’s had his own eight issue
series with Marvel in the early 70’s and this was his first crossover; he also
appeared in Marvel magazines. The art
in this issue is solid and the split page approach to the different timelines
is clever. Clark Savage Jr’s character
and intellect are fairly well on display here in the Marvel mold. The villain’s name may be a nice nod to the
pulp baddy John Sunlight; and Blacksun (Thomas Lightner) would go on to play a
pivotal role in the Project Pegasus Saga as the Nth Man. Unfortunately, Doc has had a spotty comic
history with additional stints at Gold Key, DC, Millenium, Dark Horse, and
Dynamite.
TRANSFORMERS #3 Guest
Starring Spider Man. Jan 1985. $0.75. Cover by Mike Zeck. Written by Jim Salicrup. Interior art by Frank Springer and Kim De
Mulder. Optimus Prime! Autobots! Peter Parker in a new disguise! Until the Skrulls and Decepticons team up to
make a BJ and the Bear movie, make
mine Marvel!
This 4-issue limited series based on the Hasbro line of toys
was so popular that it became an ongoing that lasted 80 issues. And from what I understand the weekly Marvel
UK series ran more than 300 issues. As
far as I can tell, this Spider-Man one shot may be the robot’s only direct link
to the Marvel Universe and hit newsstands about eight months after Spidey’s
black costume debut. I found it
interesting that some of the ideas and names, including the human character’s
surname Witwicky, made it into the Transformers feature film.
