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Post by profh0011 on Oct 17, 2020 23:23:45 GMT -5
MY introduction to Marvel was that one Saturday morning in September 1967 when the new TV season started. ABC ran FANTASTIC FOUR at 9:30 AM, starting with "Menace of the Mole Man", followed by "SPIDER-MAN" at 10 AM, which had "The Power Of Dr. Octopus" followed by "Sub-Zero For Spidey".
Super-heroes had become a big fad on TV a year earlier, but somehow both of these shows (from 2 different studios) seemed WAY better than anything else on Saturday mornings at that point.
A couple months later I happened to get ahold of a coverless copy of FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #3: "Bedlam At The Baxter Building", which featured the wedding of Reed and Sue ("So that's how they got married!", I thought), and AN ARMY of guest-heroes and villains. Many years later I realized it was the climax of the entire first half of the 60s Marvel stories. It was also my intro to JACK KIRBY. it would take me decades to really comprehend exactly how much he'd done. Anyway, what a place to come in. When it comes to "company-wide crossover" stories... NONE of them has been as satisfying or as much fun to read and re-read and re-read as this one.
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Post by Duragizer on Oct 19, 2020 21:28:45 GMT -5
I was introduced to the Marvel Universe through a Spider-Man backpack, believe it or not. IIRC, it was yellow with the John Romita, Sr. Spidey smackdab in the centre. Wish I could share a photo of that backpack, but the Googles do nothing.
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Post by jason on Oct 19, 2020 21:39:24 GMT -5
Have to admit that I was introduced to the MU thanks to the Amazing Friends cartoon, as well as the Electric Company skits (it was still airing in reruns when I first saw them), and the Secret Wars toys. Had a bunch of random Marvel comics as a kid as well (though the first one I specifically remember getting was, of all things, West Coast Avengers #1, the limited series that is, which is why I always have had a soft spot for that title).
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Post by beccabear67 on Oct 20, 2020 12:35:34 GMT -5
to Marvel comics: only a Creatures On the Loose with Gulliver Jones, a Kull that looked pretty but I can't remember really reading it or maybe even being able to, and Fantastic Four #151 which I didn't even really like. This is probably why I bought random Gold Key and DC, and really anything but Marvel, for years before getting into Marvel's Star Wars title circa 1979. Between FF #151 and Star Wars #24 there was only a single Jetsons with the Marvel banner. Seeing the ads for their other comics in Star Wars got me curious to try some of them so that's what got me into the 'universe' finally... some Spider-Man and Hulk titles (including the reprint titles) first as they seemed the logical place to start.
I did see and liked the '60s Spider-Man cartoons as reruns, so had a basic recognition of JJJ/The Bugle and a bunch of his foes. I knew all the song's words, except it took me awhile to decipher "wealth and fame, he's ignored" for some reason.
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 20, 2020 13:06:34 GMT -5
I noticed that I never actually answered this question. Probably because I was thrown off by the kind of odd way it was presented in the original post. And the idea that finding characters through funnybooks instead of a different medium was something of which to be proud. So, to answer the question in the title, to the best of my recollection I discovered the MU through random buying of funnybooks. I suspect that my first Marvel comic was Amazing Spider-Man #151. However, it's within the realm of possibility that I encountered them before that through the Mego Super-Hero toys. My early Megos focused on Batman stuff but I did end up with Spider-Man and his foes.
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Post by profh0011 on Oct 20, 2020 14:18:54 GMT -5
John Romita really KICKED ASS inking Ross Andru in that issue. I never really liked Andru on Spider-Man... but if Romita had been inking, I could have put up with him a lot more.
Unfortunately, within 6 months, Mike Esposito let his inks go completely to hell and the art looked SO AWFUL I quit buying the book for the next 3 years. (By the time I came back, Len Wein had given Esposito HELL and Mike's work improved and looked better than it had in a decade... for about the next 2 years. Then it started to slide again...)
The sad thing about Len Wein on the book was... while, FOR ONCE, he started a long storyline, and actually stuck around long enough to finish it... (too often he'd quit in the middle, and someone else would have to clean up his mess) it always seemed to me Wein got onto the book with ONE story to tell... and dragged it out for 3 WHOLE YEARS. (That being, "the 3rd Green Goblin".) Everything else was just disposable, forgettable junk.
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