Fifty Years of Marvel Comics

 

What were some of you doing five decades ago? It's funny when you reach certain points where you find yourself recalling the world as it was then, and the realization hits that you lived during that period of time and lived through many of the events and changes which took place. For those of you in high school right now, you'll experience your own reflections of today's world in the year two-thousand seventy-two (!) -- and if you're like the rest of us, you're understandably not looking that far down the road, nor can you have a true conception of how your world, its people, its advances, and your own way of life will change.

Regrettably, it's safe to assume that by 2072 the price of a comic book will probably be around the cost of a monthly house payment, so be sure to factor that into your budget.

Fifty years ago, my own calendar would have put me at the year 1972, fourteen years old and looking forward to starting high school the next year. Here's a little of what my world looked like at the time:

• NASA was one flight away from closing out its Apollo moon mission, where America established itself as a pioneer of a sort but eventually realized it was spending a lot of money just to collect moon rocks;
  

• The SX-70 Polaroid camera was introduced, giving us film prints which developed themselves "right before your eyes"--an alternative to dropping your film off at "photo marts," but still too slow for those who reasoned that shaking the print feverishly would speed up the process (a reminder to think twice before following a wacky trend);
  
• Born in April of that year: actresses Jennifer Garner, Jenni Garth and Carmen Electra;
  
• The United States was nine months away from withdrawing its forces from Vietnam;
  
• The world's first law to officially recognize change of gender passed in Sweden;
  
• Winners of the 44th Academy Awards included The French Connection, Jane Fonda, Cloris Leachman, and Gene Hackman;
  
• The price of gas was at $0.55/gallon; the cost of a new home was around $30,000; a new car, $3,800; average rent, $165/mo.
  
• The home videogame industry took its first baby step with inventor Ralph Baer's patent for "A Television Gaming Apparatus and Method" (i.e., the home video game console).

But if you were a Marvel Comics reader in April, 1972, your focus away from school was probably on the comics stand at your local drugstore, shopping mart or whatever distributor carried comic books in your town, thanks to the Bullpen Bulletins page which often included the Marvel Checklist. If your comics collecting was in full swing, here's a "snapshot" of what Marvel Comics readers were plunking down their 20¢ for.

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New Yorkers didn't have much time to appreciate those April showers when the "angel" known as Gabriel descended from the sky to warn them that their world was about to end. Hearing the intruder's name, the fearful among them (i.e., everybody) interpreted that in a biblical sense, and panic hit the streets, with even the Fantastic Four proving to be helpless against his power. But the Silver Surfer intervened, and this issue gave us the showdown between the Surfer and what turned out to be the second herald of Galactus.

Meanwhile, in Asgard, which at that point in time had been transported far from normal space, tragedy appeared imminent for the mighty Thor when the deadly Mangog, intent on revenge, held the city's ruler, Odin, in his grip and demanded no further interference with his plans from Thor upon pain of death for his father. Yet in the end, when Thor and Mangog met in final battle, the unthinkable turned out to be inevitable.

Back on Earth, if you were part of a biker gang menacing the mutant Lorna Dane, you also saw death bearing down on you--albeit in the form of the Hulk, following his rather forceful exit from New Mexico's Project Greenskin "Hulkbuster" base. Of course, Lorna had something to say herself about these ruffians putting her in danger.

Elsewhere in New York, apparently Spider-Man was too busy fending off another Spider-Slayer to watch Gabriel and the Surfer throw down--and this time, the personally-manned Slayer was able to capture the web-spinner and deliver him like a trophy to a roomful of gangsters.

Previously, however, Spidey had other worries--such as our villain, Spencer Smythe, making use of police surveillance cameras to get a good look at his enemy's true identity. Fortunately, Smythe didn't know that face from Adam--allowing Peter Parker to come up with a way to pull the wool over his eyes, by way of another mask.

And hey, why weren't the Avengers helping to kick Gabriel's butt? Or at the very least, helping to save the lives of helpless, drowning civilians when the creep flooded the city? Well, from the looks of things on Page One of the issue published that month, they were busy investigating a missing person--a fellow Avenger who failed to return from the Kree-Skrull War.

But as we've seen on the cover, this issue had danger waiting in the wings--the mysterious Mr. Tallon, an instigator who turned out to be Ares, God of War!

TROUBLE IS NOT IN YOUR SET, in 1972, was likely directed to television viewers who were in the habit of walking up to their television and whacking it on the side as many times as it took to bring the picture back.

Over in his own mag, Captain America was battling the evil plan of the Red Skull, who unleashed yet another Sleeper on the world--one that Cap handily dealt with, so that he could race back and make that Avengers meeting.

Daredevil, the Man Without Fear, had cause to be a little fearful of the return of the Ox, who was dying from the effects of lethal radiation exposure and appears to want to take Daredevil with him. And as we can see on the issue's cover, he's opting for the scenic route.

And yet, when these two do take the plunge, a thirty-floor fall is a trifling matter, with both somehow landing safe and sound and even continuing their fight without even needing to dust themselves off. (Though to no avail for DD. You've heard the old saying: "If the fall doesn't get you, the Ox will.")

Which seems as good a time as any to pivot to Dr. Doom and the Sub-Mariner, who are in Mississippi (with no heralds or plummeting heroes to worry about, thank goodness)--where Namor, bereft of memory, is having a dispute with Doom about being conscripted to assist the master of menace in a scheme against A.I.M. involving the Cosmic Cube.

Eventually, however, Doom gets his way--having one of his men kidnap Namor's new friend, Cindy Jones, to ensure his cooperation--and the two begin their mission.

We then spin the comics rack to transport us from the Gulf of Mexico to the moonlit hills of Transylvania, where Frank Drake and his girlfriend have come to investigate his inheritance but instead encounter a legacy of darkness when Frank meets his ancestor, Dracula, the Lord of Vampires--the opening tale of an ambitious new series begun by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan (who from the looks of things were certainly busy that month).

Our globe-trotting continues to Antarctica and the Savage Land, where that domain's lord, Ka-Zar, is approached by visitors who attempt to convince him to return with them to civilization. But there is one last matter to be dealt with--a tribe of savages that Ka-Zar is forced to engage with when his entreaty of peace is bluntly refused.

Two notable mags show up on the racks during March of this year, each just starting out bimonthly--Marvel Feature (featuring the Defenders), its second issue temporarily placing the book on a tri-monthly schedule, and Marvel Team-Up, which of course turned out to be a successful concept that became mostly a vehicle for Spider-Man.

Another bimonthly series, Amazing Adventures, has by March of '72 booted the Inhumans from its pages and brought in Hank McCoy, who breaks from his past association with the X-Men by becoming a character who for now must operate solo, for reasons which become clear.

The Golden Avenger, Iron Man, was also briefly shifted to bimonthly publication during March following his book (along with other titles) being published in a larger format. March and May see the book back to the smaller page count, and Iron Man squaring off with the Guardsman in a battle which occurs in the backdrop of a student protest turned violent.

As for the X-Men, their bimonthly title was on hiatus at this time and offering only reprints of prior stories. In April, that would have been the return of the Mimic, a story originally published at the end of 1966.

COMING UP:
Changes a'plenty, as we flip back the calendar 25 years to 1997.