Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Teacher's Pest


While most of Marvel's titles participated heartily in the craziness that was Assistant Editors' Month, there were some that left less of a footprint or skipped out on the event altogether. For instance, both Dr. Strange and What If, published bi-monthly, were not on the racks in January of 1984 and thus got a pass. And there were those confounding inserts, where you were left scratching your head over why the effort was made to contribute anything at all:



(On the bright side, you may have found the 60¢ you plopped down for both Avengers #239 and Thor #339 was money well spent.)

The backup story featured in that month's Daredevil was perhaps noteworthy because DD ended up playing little more than a cameo, while irrepressible F-student Dirk McGirk took center stage as his hero to deliver his oral report. Dirk, unfortunately, is an unsurpassed mangler of the English language--so the delivery of his report, like his entrance, is less than stellar:




However, just when Dirk's teacher is about to snap her fifth pencil, the class gets an unexpected surprise (and Dirk, an unexpected reprieve):




An appearance which should have sent Dirk's grade into the stratosphere. But his teacher is not on board with what she assumes is a surprise arranged by Dirk. On the other hand, Dirk's popularity, unlike his grade point average, soars.



Meanwhile, in the pages of Fantastic Four, artist/writer John Byrne finds that Assistant Editors' Month has handed him a golden opportunity to once more make his presence known in the book:




As Byrne is the "chronicler" of the FF book, the Watcher snatches him up to bear witness to the trial of Reed Richards convened by Lilandra of the Shi'ar. And when the proceedings are over, he even shares in the reflection of the Watcher:



As for the actual Marvel editors, you could see what trouble they're up to in San Diego by picking up Dazzler #30--whose title character is in a little trouble herself, with her book now shifted to bi-monthly publication (though lucky enough to have its publication month coincide with AEM) and having only twelve more issues to go before being cancelled.

COMING UP NEXT, wrapping up our look at


Aunt May, Herald of Galactus!

(That should do the ol' heart wonders!)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Assistant Editors' month was actually October 1983, right ? Dated Jan '84 but actually October '83. When imported U.S. Marvel comics went on sale in the UK it was in the actual month on the cover - so a Christmas-themed issue would be on sale in late February or in March.

david_b said...

Ehh, it was forced-silliness, without a whif of actual humor.

Would have sucked if I actually read this stuff, but luckily I wasn't collecting at this juncture.

Comicsfan said...

Colin, I believe there was a three-month difference of the type you mention--i.e., the month the book went on sale was three months later than the month stamped on the cover corner box and the date listed inside. I think Marvel explained their reasons for that in a letters page (or Bullpen Bulletins page)--I wish I could recall it.