Gone Too Soon? Short-lived series reviews by Slam Bradley
May 30, 2019 8:25:09 GMT -5
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Post by tarkintino on May 30, 2019 8:25:09 GMT -5
In which Slam Bradley (that's me) looks at short-lived books, features and maybe eventually mini-series' and one-shots and answers the question...were they gone too soon?
Title: Fantasy Masterpieces.
Publisher: Marvel Comics.
Number of issues: 11.
Dates of publication: February, 1966 - October, 1967.
One can confidently say What the 80 Page Giant series was to DC, Fantasy Masterpieces was to Marvel. Long before Roy Thomas transformed his Golden Age love into The Invaders (and other stories), this was the title to bring many of the company's most important Golden Age superheroes to an eager fanbase...and eager they were, thanks to the publisher reintroducing two characters with great success--
The Sub-Mariner in the Fantastic Four (#4 - May, 1962), and Captain America in The Avengers (#4 - March, 1964) were nothing less than a watershed moment for Marvel; by adding heroes of their publishing past to the Silver Age roster, they effectively performed a groundbreaking ceremony for the start of what would be known as the "Marvel Universe." DC had the edge when it created its Earth Two in 1961; suddenly, that--and liberally reprinting early work turned DC was a massive, unified (though imperfect) comic universe, with a rich legacy taking on the air of a long historical drama, rather than resting on the Silver Age innovations alone.
Marvel was not quite there yet, but to its credit, reviving Golden Age heroes was a major first step. The next step came in the form of updating (or retconning) Golden Age stories--particularly those of the ever-popular Captain America starting with his origin in issue #63 of Tales of Suspense from March of 1965--
Like the character, the retelling/retconning of Cap's Golden Age tales was like a creative force of nature, rapidly capturing the attention and support from a generation who would be assumed to reject adventures set in an "old" era. Almost overnight, World War 2-themed superhero stories seemed fresh and as important to the growing Marvel world as Spider-Man or the Fantastic Four. Undoubtedly, what was old was new again, but readers wanted more.
Let's be clear: reprint titles were not a new concept at Marvel; in 1964, the second Marvel Tales was launched as an annual; two years later, Marvel Collectors' Item Classics made its debut, but both reprinted stories featuring their hottest Silver Age characters or groups, so there was not much of a testing ground for superheroes of the Golden Age. But, more ground had to be broken, and theorizing that Marvel knew it had a good thing going on with the retold Cap stories (and other factors I'm not aware of at the moment), February of 1966 would see the debut of Fantasy Masterpieces, the first Marvel title (eventually) dedicated to its superheroic past...
...though it did not start out that way--
That all changed with issue #3...
With new, dynamic covers by Kirby, Frank Giacoia (inks), Gil Kane, and vignettes and original art repurposed as covers (e.g. Bill Everett on #8, a reprint of Marvel Mystery Comics #9) , FM effectively buried the old anthology title look of the first two issues, replacing it with work that would at home on any cover of the Avengers.
For another glorious--yes I said glorious--seven issues, Marvel's Golden Age took center stage...
Alas, as everyone knows, this all came to an abrupt end when Fantasy Masterpieces was retitled Marvel Super-Heroes with #12; although Golden Age superhero reprints continued for a short time, the book transitioned into a combination try-out title, original features of then-current characters (e.g. the X-Men), until the remainder of its 16 year run (ending in 1982) was a mix of reprints from Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish, Strange Tales, the X-Men, The Incredible Hulk and other Silver Age subjects.
For all it meant to the idea of fleshing out a companies' fictional universe, Fantasy Masterpieces was a textbook example of a title easily falling into the "Gone Too Soon" category. Certainly, there were years' worth of GA material left to cover when one thinks of the number of issues of Captain America Comics (78), Marvel Mystery Comics (92), Sub-Mariner (42), Young Allies (20), All-Winners (21), Young Men (28), All-Select (11), and other titles. Sadly, the opportunity to expose the rest of that "old-timey" glory would never come. At least not in the 1960s.
In addition to world building through a back catalog, there's little doubt that FM (and other titles) paved the way for the kind of reverential trade paperbacks and hardbacks published in the decades to come--most prominently in the form of Marvel Masterworks, a series that was not shy in exploring the vaults opened by the "Gone Too Soon" Fantasy Masterpieces.