PART TWO OF BARRY PEARL'S WORLD OF COMICS...

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In our previous post, celebrated Stateside guest-contributor BARRY PEARL was happily reminiscing about how he first got interested in comicbooks - particularly those of the MARVEL variety.  Having related the details of what led him to write The ESSENTIAL MARVEL AGE REFERENCE BOOK, he now continues with the rest of his story.  Over to you, Barry...

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I also sent a copy of the draft to the great and inspiring Tony Isabella, a total stranger, and asked him if I should continue and complete the book.  He took a lot of time and told me to finish it and suggested that I get involved with web-sites connected to comics.  I did, and met a lot of interesting people - and even got connected to Roy Thomas, now editor of the definitive history of comics, Alter Ego.

Well, I have every Marvel Comic from 1961-1977 and had all this other stuff, but I was a total unknown and people were slightly reticent to trust me.  I remember being with one researcher when he said he'd like to ask Stan a few questions, but didn’t know how to reach him.  I said: "Do you want me to email him and ask him?"  Startled, he said: "You have Stan’s email address?  Where have you been for 25 years?"

A few years ago, Stan asked Roy Thomas and me: "Where did the phrase, 'Make Mine Marvel' appear? We have a letter in Sgt. Fury from a fan who uses the phrase in 1966 - does he get credit for it?"  Well, here is that funny thing about memory.  50 years later, I recalled it had first appeared in the Special Announcements section of a Daredevil letters column.  I scanned it (above) and sent it to Stan and Roy.

  

A year or two ago, Roy mentioned that two Marvel writers were both claiming that they had coined the term 'Marvel Universe' first.  Who was right?  I said that it had first appeared in one of two places, let me check it.  The first place I looked, Strange Tales, didn't use that phrase, but used the term 'Marveldom'.   The second place I looked was Fantastic Four #56, where the term 'Marvel Universe' was first used and defined by a reader, Tim Fox.  After I sent that out, Nick Caputo, friend and researcher, called and said: "How could you remember that?"

Roy Thomas did a feature on Not Brand Ecch for Alter Ego (below). I recalled the details of the term’s origin and Roy used them.  At first, the term 'Brand X' was used in Fantastic Four #26, when a fan (Al Backer) compliments Stan.  Stan writes back: "The first couple of sentences of your letter sounded like a TV cigarette commercial, Al!  I guess we are the BRAND X of the mag business!"  Later, in Spider-Man #31, Stan writes: "He must be a Brand X character—we don’t remember using him!"  The first use of the term 'Echh' (with a double 'h') was in the letters column of Fantastic Four #7, by Russ and Larry Bush, of Forest Hills, N.Y.

Referring to The Thing being able to change back and forth from Ben Grimm, they write: "Some readers think it’s a good idea, but we think it’s ECHH!"  They continue with: "Your wisecracks are also ECHH!"  Fantastic Four #43, October 1965, has the first use: "We wanna make sure no dyed-in-the- wool Marvel madman gets stuck with one of those inferior 'Brand Echh' versions".  In Spidey #34, Stan writes: "It’s Brand Echh, son - not Brand Ecch!"  Why would anyone remember that?

Recently, Mike Vassallo (historian of the Atlas era of Marvel), Nick and I were out to dinner with the person who handles Marvel’s reprints.  I began quoting some information from the special announcements page of The Spectacular Spider-Man, a book I read almost 40 years ago.  Mike asked: "How do you remember that?"  The joke is I don’t know my cell phone number, Mike's work address or Nick’s home address, although I have used them a hundred times.

There was just something about Fantasia and using pictures to visualize ideas that has stuck with me.  If it was anything else, I don’t remember.

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And many thanks to Barry for taking the time to grace my blog with his presence. You'll be wanting good stuff like this all the time now, I guess.  Tough!  However, you can always check out Barry's blog - here!