| Marvel Super-Heroes | |
|---|---|
 Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (Dec. 1967), the character's debut. Cover art by Gene Colan and Frank Giacoia | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Schedule | Varied |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | Dec. 1967 – Jan. 1982 |
| No. of issues | 94 |
| Main character(s) | |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | |
| Penciller(s) | |
| Inker(s) | |
| Colorist(s) | List
|
| Editor(s) | Stan Lee |
Marvel Super-Heroes is the name of several comic book series and specials published by Marvel Comics.
The first was the one-shot Marvel Super Heroes Special #1 (Oct. 1966) produced as a tie-in to The Marvel Super Heroes animated television program, [1] reprinting Daredevil #1 (April 1964) and The Avengers #2 (Nov. 1963), plus two stories from the 1930s-1940s period fans and historians call Golden Age of comic books: "The Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner Meet" ( Marvel Mystery Comics #8, June 1940), and the first Marvel story by future editor-in-chief Stan Lee, the two-page text piece "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" ( Captain America Comics #3, May 1941).
This summer special was a 25¢ "giant", relative to the typical 12¢ comics of the times. [2]
The first ongoing series of this name began as Fantasy Masterpieces, initially a standard-sized, 12¢ anthology reprinting "pre-superhero Marvel" monster and sci-fi/fantasy stories. With issue #3 (June 1966), the title was expanded to a 25-cent giant reprinting a mix of those stories and Golden Age superhero stories from Marvel's 1940s iteration as Timely Comics. Fantasy Masterpieces ran 11 issues (Feb. 1966–Oct. 1967) before being renamed Marvel Super-Heroes with #12 (Dec. 1967). [3]
While continuing with the same mix of reprint material, this first volume of Marvel Super-Heroes also began showcasing a try-out feature as each issue's lead. This encompassed solo stories of such supporting characters as Medusa of the Inhumans, as well as the debuts of Captain Marvel (#12), [4] the Phantom Eagle (#16) [5] and the Guardians of the Galaxy (#18). [6] The Spider-Man story drawn by Ross Andru in issue #14 was originally planned as a fill-in issue of The Amazing Spider-Man but was used here when that title's regular artist John Romita Sr. recovered more quickly than anticipated from a wrist injury. [7] Andru would become the regular artist on The Amazing Spider-Man several years later. [8]
Under either name, this series' Golden Age reprints represented the newly emerging comic-book fandom's first exposure to some of the earliest work of such important creators as Jack Kirby, Bill Everett, and Carl Burgos, and to such long-unseen and unfamiliar characters as the Whizzer and the Destroyer. Fantasy Masterpieces #10 (Aug. 1967) reprinted the entirety of the full-length All-Winners Squad story from the (unhyphenated) All Winners Comics #19 (Fall 1946). Fantasy Masterpieces #11 (Oct. 1967) re-introduced the work of the late artist Joe Maneely, a star of 1950s comics who had died in a train accident.
| Issue (cover date) | Character(s)/Story title | Writer(s) | Penciller(s) | Inker(s) | Collected in Marvel Masterworks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #12 (Dec. 1967) | "The Coming of Captain Marvel" | Stan Lee | Gene Colan | Frank Giacoia | Captain Marvel Volume 1 978-0785111788 |
| #13 (March 1968) | Captain Marvel in "Where Walks the Sentry" | Roy Thomas | Gene Colan | Paul Reinman | |
| #14 (May 1968) | Spider-Man in "The Reprehensible Riddle of the Sorcerer" | Stan Lee | Ross Andru | Bill Everett | Spider-Man Volume 8 978-0785120742 |
| #15 (July 1968) | Medusa in "Let the Silence Shatter" | Archie Goodwin | Gene Colan | Vince Colletta | The Inhumans Volume 1 978-0785141419 |
| #16 (Sept. 1968) | "The Phantom Eagle" | Gary Friedrich | Herb Trimpe | Herb Trimpe | The Incredible Hulk Volume 7 978-0785166689 |
| #17 (Nov. 1968) | "The Black Knight Reborn" | Roy Thomas | Howard Purcell | Dan Adkins | The Avengers Volume 7 978-0785126805 |
| #18 (Jan. 1969) | "Guardians of the Galaxy" | Arnold Drake | Gene Colan | Mike Esposito (as "Mickey Demeo") | The Defenders Volume 4 978-0785166276 |
| #19 (March 1969) | Ka-Zar in "My Father, My Enemy" | Arnold Drake and Steve Parkhouse | George Tuska | Sid Greene | Ka-Zar Volume 1 978-0785159575 |
| #20 (May 1969) | Doctor Doom in "This Man, This Demon" | Roy Thomas and Larry Lieber | Larry Lieber and Frank Giacoia | Vince Colletta | Marvel Rarities Volume 1 978-0785188094 |
| #23 (Nov. 1969) | "Tales of the Watcher: Melvin and the Martian " | Stan Lee | Tom Palmer | Tom Palmer |
Marvel Super-Heroes became an all-reprint magazine beginning with #21 (July 1969) (except for an original "Tales of the Watcher" story in #23), and a regular-sized comic at the then-standard 20-cent price with #32 (Sept. 1972). This reprint series lasted through issue #105 (Jan. 1982). [3]
A second series titled Fantasy Masterpieces ran from #1-14 (Dec. 1979–Jan. 1981), reprinting truncated versions of the 1968 Silver Surfer series, and Adam Warlock stories from Strange Tales and Warlock.
The 15-issue Marvel Super-Heroes (vol. 2) (May 1990–Oct. 1993) [9] was published quarterly and generally printed "inventory stories," those assigned to serve as emergency filler. The first issue featured a Brother Voodoo story drawn by Fred Hembeck in a dramatic style rather than his usual "cartoony" art. [10]
| Issue # | A Story | B Story | C Story | D Story | E Story | F Story | G Story |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moon Knight Collected in Moon Knight Omnibus Vol. 2 | Hercules | Hellcat | Brother Voodoo Collected in Marvel Masterworks: Brother Voodoo | Speedball Collected in Speedball: The Masked Marvel | Magik/New Mutants Collected in New Mutants Omnibus Volume 3 | Black Panther Collected in Black Panther Epic Collection Volume 3: Panther's Prey |
| 2 | Iron Man Collected in Iron Man Epic Collection: The Return of Tony Stark | Rogue/X-Men | Daredevil | Speedball Collected in Speedball: The Masked Marvel | Tigra | Red Wolf | Falcon |
| 3 | Captain America | Wasp | Speedball | Hulk | Blue Shield | Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) Collected in Marvel Masterworks Captain Marvel Vol 6 | No G Story |
| 4 | Spider-Man and Nick Fury | Daredevil | Wonder Man Collected in Wonder Man Omnibus Vol. 1 | Spitfire | Speedball | Black Knight | |
| 5 | Thor | Thing Collected in The Thing Omnibus Vol 1 | Speedball Collected in Speedball: The Masked Marvel | Dr. Strange | She-Hulk Collected in She-Hulk Epic Collection Volume 4: The Cosmic Squish Principle | No F Story | |
| 6 | X-Men | Power Pack Collected in Power Pack Classic Omnibus Vol 2 | Cloak & Dagger | Sabra | Speedball Collected in Speedball: The Masked Marvel | ||
| 7 | Cloak & Dagger | Shroud | Marvel Boy | No E Story | |||
| 8 | Iron Man and Squirrel Girl Collected in Iron Man Epic Collection: The Return of Tony Stark, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, vol. 1: Squirrel Power and The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl & The Great Lakes Avengers | Sub-Mariner | No D Story | ||||
| 9 | Avengers West Coast | Thor | Iron Man Collected in Iron Man Epic Collection: The Return of Tony Stark | ||||
| 10 | Vision and Scarlet Witch | Sub-Mariner | Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Collected in Ms. Marvel Epic Collection: The Woman Who Fell to Earth | ||||
| 11 | Ghost Rider | Giant-Man | Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) and Rogue Collected in Ms. Marvel Epic Collection: The Woman Who Fell to Earth | ||||
| 12 | Dr. Strange | Falcon | Iron Man Collected in Iron Man Epic Collection: The Return of Tony Stark | ||||
| 13 | Iron Man Collected in Iron Man Epic Collection: The Return of Tony Stark | Iron Man Collected in Iron Man Epic Collection: The Return of Tony Stark | Iron Man Collected in Iron Man Epic Collection: The Return of Tony Stark | ||||
| 14 | Iron Man Collected in Iron Man Epic Collection: The Return of Tony Stark | Dr. Strange | Speedball | ||||
| 15 | Iron Man Collected in Iron Man Epic Collection: The Return of Tony Stark | Volstag Collected in Thor: The Warriors Three: The Complete Collection | Thor | Dr. Druid | No E Story | ||
In September 1979, the Marvel UK series The Mighty World of Marvel was retitled Marvel Superheroes [11] after a brief run under the title Marvel Comic. [12]
The name itself reappeared, without a hyphen, as part of the title of a 12-issue, company-wide crossover miniseries Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars (May 1984–April 1985). [13] The 1985-1986 sequel was titled simply Secret Wars II.
The final series of this title was the six-issue Marvel Super-Heroes Megazine (Oct. 1994–March 1995), a 100-page book reprinting 1970s and 1980s Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Iron Man and Hulk stories in each issue. [14]
The Amazing Spider-Man is an ongoing American superhero comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its title character and main protagonist. Being in the mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a bimonthly periodical, quickly being increased to monthly, and was published continuously, with a brief interruption in 1995, until its second volume with a new numbering order in 1999. In 2003, the series reverted to the numbering order of the first volume. The title has occasionally been published biweekly, and was published three times a month from 2008 to 2010.
Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book Amazing Fantasy #15 in the Silver Age of Comic Books. He has been featured in comic book, television shows, films, video games, novels, and plays. Spider-Man's secret identity is Peter Parker, a teenage high school student and an orphan raised by his Aunt May and Uncle Ben in New York City after his parents Richard and Mary Parker died in a plane crash. Lee and Ditko had the character deal with the struggles of adolescence and financial issues and gave him many supporting characters, such as Flash Thompson, J. Jonah Jameson, and Harry Osborn; romantic interests Gwen Stacy, Mary Jane Watson, and the Black Cat; and his enemies such as the Green Goblin, Doctor Octopus, and Venom. In his origin story, Spider-Man gets his superhuman spider-powers and abilities after being bitten by a radioactive spider; these include clinging to surfaces and ceilings, superhuman strength, speed, agility, jump, reflexes, stamina, and detecting danger with his precognition ability called "spider-sense." He also builds wrist-mounted "web-shooter" devices that shoot artificial spider-webs of his own design that were meant to be used for fighting his enemies and web-swinging across the city. Peter Parker originally used his powers for his own personal gain, but after his Uncle Ben was killed by a thief that Peter didn't stop, Peter begins to use his spider-powers to fight crime by becoming the superhero known as Spider-Man.
Stephen John Ditko was an American comics artist and writer best known for being co-creator of Marvel superhero Spider-Man and creator of Doctor Strange. He also made notable contributions to the character of Iron Man with the character's iconic red and yellow design being revolutionized by Ditko.
Amazing Adult Fantasy, retitled Amazing Fantasy in its final issue, is an American superhero comic book anthology series published by Marvel Comics from 1961 through 1962, with the latter title revived with superhero features in 1995 and in the 2000s. The final 1960s issue, Amazing Fantasy #15, introduced the popular superhero character Spider-Man. Amazing Adult Fantasy premiered with issue #7, taking over the numbering from Amazing Adventures.
Gerard Francis Conway is an American comic book writer, comic book editor, screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is known for co-creating the Marvel Comics vigilante antihero the Punisher as well as the Scarlet Spider, and the first Ms. Marvel, and also scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man. At DC Comics, he is known for co-creating the superheroes Firestorm and Power Girl, the character Jason Todd and the villain Killer Croc, and for writing the Justice League of America for eight years. Conway wrote the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.
Tales to Astonish is the name of two American comic book series and a one-shot comic published by Marvel Comics.
Tales of Suspense is the name of an American comic book anthology series and two one-shot comics published by Marvel Comics. The first, which ran from 1959 to 1968, began as a science-fiction anthology that served as a showcase for such artists as Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, and Don Heck, then featured superheroes Captain America and Iron Man during the Silver Age of Comic Books before changing its title to Captain America with issue #100. Its sister title was Tales to Astonish. Following the launch of Marvel Legacy in 2017, Tales of Suspense was once again resurrected at issue #100, featuring the Winter Soldier and Hawkeye in a story called "The Red Ledger".
Amazing Adventures is the name of several anthology comic book series, all but one published by Marvel Comics.
John V. Romita is an American comic book artist best known for his work on Marvel Comics' The Amazing Spider-Man and for co-creating characters including the Punisher and Wolverine. He was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 2002. Romita is the father of John Romita Jr., also a comic book artist and husband of Virginia Romita, for many years Marvel's traffic manager.
John Salvatore Romita, known professionally as John Romita Jr., is an American comics artist best known for his extensive work for Marvel Comics from the 1970s to the 2010s. He is the son of artist John Romita Sr.
Donald L. Heck was an American comics artist best known for co-creating the Marvel Comics characters Iron Man, the Wasp, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Wonder Man and for his long run penciling the Marvel superhero-team series The Avengers during the 1960s Silver Age of comic books.
Ronald Wade Frenz is an American comics artist known for his work for Marvel Comics. He is well known for his 1980s work on The Amazing Spider-Man and later for his work on Spider-Girl whom he co-created with writer Tom DeFalco. Frenz and DeFalco had earlier co-created the New Warriors in the pages of Thor.
Ross Andru was an American comics artist and editor whose career in comics spanned six decades. He is best known for his work on The Amazing Spider-Man, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and The Metal Men, and for having co-created the character called The Punisher.
The Spectacular Spider-Man is a comic book and magazine series starring Spider-Man and published by Marvel Comics.
Mike Esposito, who sometimes used the pseudonyms Mickey Demeo, Mickey Dee, Michael Dee, and Joe Gaudioso, was an American comic book artist whose work for DC Comics, Marvel Comics and others spanned the 1950s to the 2000s. As a comic book inker teamed with his childhood friend Ross Andru, he drew for such major titles as The Amazing Spider-Man and Wonder Woman. An Andru-Esposito drawing of Wonder Woman appears on a 2006 U.S. stamp.
Marvel Fireside Books were a series of full-color trade paperbacks featuring Marvel Comics stories and characters co-published by Marvel and the Simon & Schuster division Fireside Books from 1974 to 1979. The first book, 1974's Origins of Marvel Comics, was very successful, and inspired a series of annual sequels.
Fantastic Four is the name of several comic book titles featuring the team Fantastic Four and published by Marvel Comics, beginning with the original Fantastic Four comic book series which debuted in 1961.
Spider-Man Comics Weekly was a Marvel UK publication which primarily published black-and-white reprints of American Marvel four-color Spider-Man stories. Marvel UK's second-ever title, Spider-Man Comics Weekly debuted in 1973, initially publishing "classic" 1960s Spider-Man stories.
Marvel Treasury Edition is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics from 1974 to 1981. It usually featured reprints of previously published stories but a few issues contained new material. The series was published in an oversized 10" x 14" tabloid format and was launched with a collection of Spider-Man stories. The series concluded with the second Superman and Spider-Man intercompany crossover. Marvel also published treasuries under the titles Marvel Special Edition and Marvel Treasury Special as well as a number of one-shots.
To help support the new animated television show, Martin Goodman told Stan Lee to produce a comic called Marvel Super Heroes.
{{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)When John Romita sprained his wrist, Marvel hired artist Ross Andru to draw a fill-in issue of The Amazing Spider-Man to give Romita time to recover. However, never less than a consummate professional, Romita turned in his work on schedule as promised, leaving the company with an extra Stan Lee-scripted Spider-Man story on their hands.
{{cite book}}: |first2= has generic name (help)Having done a special stand-alone Spider-Man story in Marvel Super-Heroes #14, May 1968, Andru came aboard as the ongoing artist with Amazing #125, October 1973.
