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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
When The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #1 went on sale on September 30th, 1972 (cover-dated October 7th), it teased its readers with the mystery of FOOM. What could it be? We had to wait until issue #20 on February 10th, 1973 (cover-dated 17th) to discover that it was a Mighty Marvel Fan Club with loads of goodies, a poster, membership card and its own magazine. This news was also revealed in Marvel U.K.'s brand-new superhero periodical, SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY, which came out on the same day.
By the time I had saved up my 50p to join, issues #1 & 2 were already gone, and the first issue I received was number 3. I always meant to send off another 50p for the next three mags, but somehow never got around to it. Never mind, years later, over the course of a couple of decades, I managed to acquire a complete set - the same set which I am about to share with you now (and in posts to come).
JIM STERANKO was the editor of the magazine for the first four issues, before departing to pursue various projects of his own. TONY ISABELLA took over the editing chores for the next three issues (5-7), until SCOTT EDELMAN replaced him on #s 8-11. DUFFY VOHLAND edited issue #12, whereupon CHRIS CLAREMONT filled in for the next couple of issues (13 & 14). DAVID ANTHONY KRAFT assumed editorial duties from issue #15 until the mag's demise with the Autumn 1978 issue (#22), although, curiously, it bore a copyright date of 1979 in the indicia.
In truth, the mag was mainly a promotional brochure for comics and merchandise produced by Marvel, but it had the odd interesting article and some nice images contained within its pages over the course of its nearly six-year run. Frantic fans would have to wait until the monthly MARVEL AGE magazine in the early '80s to see a similar publication, but FOOM was a worthy attempt to connect with the readership of the day.
Anyway, that's the boring stuff out of the way - now you can look at the pretty pictures. And don't forget to come back for Part Two.
Foom was always an interesting read. The first issue my brother John purchased was # 9, featuring the wonderful fJim Starlin cover of Captain Marvel, Warlock and the Silver Surfer. That was purchased at the first Marvel Convention in 1975. My brother and his friend Ben attended all four days, and John ordered a subscription to FOOM there.
ReplyDeleteEventually we picked up the earlier issues as well, and I still have a complete collection. In those days when there was not a lot of advance information, it was a thrill to hear about upcoming storylines, usually by the editos, and advance cover images. As a huge Kirby fan, the Jack's back issue is one of my favorites.
They eventually included a page for British fans, no doubt because some U.K. Marvelites felt left out as not all U.S. titles made it over here. (Marvel didn't want them affecting sales of the British mags, so called a halt to some of the American ones being sold in this country.)
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Nick - you're post is setting records for number of hits in such a short space of time. Well done.
Those four issues - plus number five!- are two feet away as I type. The sight of them always cheers me up and reminds me of the almost-illicit thrill of these fanzines when I was 10 or 11 years old.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, Dougie, I scanned the first five issues at the same time - but as the fifth one is the first of a 'new phase', I decided to save it for part two.
ReplyDeletei remember walking into my 'new' friends house when i was about eleven and seeing what i knew as the FOOM poster on his wall.
ReplyDeleteI was mesmerised.
I only ever owned a couple of them.
One was the Vision cover.
It was the holy grail as far as we were concerned.
That and Steranko's history of comics.
Oh and x-ray spex,which I remember a guy in first year having a pair of.........(off to reminisce)....
I've got that poster, so may post a pic of it - plus the envelope that the first FOOM kit came in, and the membership card. The Vision cover is #12 - that should be in part three.
ReplyDeleteI've also got the two 'volumes' of History of Comics. (Was never impressed with the layout.) Originally he had intended to do six, but he never finished it. I wonder why, as he's had plenty of time to do so in the last forty years.
I bought a pair of X-ray Specs a good few years ago from a joke shop. Still couldn't see through women's clothing 'though. (So I took them off and put my own back on. Boom-boom!)
That two-part Jarvis interview the magazine did was pretty cool, with its clever Playboy-like montage of thoughtful poses with captions. It was mostly adapting material and impressions we were already familiar with into an interview format, but I thought it was well done.
ReplyDeleteDave Cockrum also did some nice drawings for the mag; in fact, a lot of the exclusive art was first-rate. I remember wishing its coloring didn't have to fit in with the overall format of the rest of the mag's look, because they would have been even more exquisite.
If I remember correctly, CF, a British mag called Marvel Super-Heroes reprinted the Jarvis interview, which is where I first read it. I'm not sure if they used the same images as Foom 'though.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Marvel will do a best of Foom volume one day, reprinting the best articles and artwork. I'd probably buy it (if it wasn't too expensive), even 'though I've got the original issues.
IIRC from an interview in an issue of Comic Book Artist, Ken Bruzenak (later to find fame as letterer extraordinaire) did most of the information gathering and writing up of the text that appeared in the two volumes of Steranko's History of Comics. In fact, he said he had collected enough to do a couple more volumes, but didn't see much point in doing it, presumingly given the amount of comics scholarship that goes on these days.
ReplyDeleteI thought the layout of them was very much of their time - and given the look of FOOM #1's cover (and sundry other pages in the Nick Fury books), Steranko certainly did like large blocks of text :-)
cheers
B Smith
Thanks, B. That's amazing - Steranko taking credit for Ken Bruzenak's efforts. Do you know if Steranko ever disputed the claim?
ReplyDelete