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Cats, Nuts and Comics
2008-09-30 17:54:35

The Wack-Cat!

Always ready to make a buck

Jeanine cannot suppress cuteness-reflex

Axel goes into the lion's den

X-Nuts by Brevoort

The original--Marvel Comics #1

There’s been all sorts of excitement around these parts since I returned from the Baltimore Convention.

It began this morning with a stray cat that Cory Levine and Aubrey Sitterson found abandoned by the side of the road. Casting about for a home for this proud feline, they prevailed upon Steve Wacker to open his family’s doors to the little wunderkind. Cory brought the cat in this morning, and it was thereafter trailed by a bevy of cooing editors, assistants and interns, who couldn’t get enough of its cuteness. Turned the office into Grand Central Station for a few hours until Wacker’s family arrived to take the little beastie home.

Later in the day, my former assistant Greatest Assistant Gregg Schigiel sent along a scan of the attached little cartoon drawings. I saw Gregg in Baltimore, where he was set up at a table along with Mini Marvels’ Chris Giarusso and former bullpenner and Skullboy Army creator Jacob Chabot. During the brief conversation, it came out that part of the inspiration for Chris’s Mini Marvels cartoons had been this drawing I had done ten or twelve years ago, that I didn’t remember at all. So here that is.

Lastly, at the very end of the day, Cory Sedlmeier stopped by to show off his newest prize: an actual copy of MARVEL COMICS #1 from 1939. As part of our big 70th Anniversary plans, we’re going to be doing a number of reprints and reimaginings of MARVEL #1, and so there was a need to lay hands on an actual copy of this incredibly rare book. (We paid five figures for this copy, that’s all I’m saying.) This particular issue was a file copy that had been kept in a bound volume by one of the operators of Funnies Inc., the packaging house that actually produced the contents of MARVEL #1 for Martin Goodman to publish, so it’s got an extra-special pedigree to it. And it’s one of the rarer first printings with the October cover date. (MARVEL COMICS was an experiment on the part of pulp publisher Martin Goodman, a new field to move his money into. Initially, he did a very conservative print run of something like 70,000 copies. When his advance men told him that they had all sold out in a week, he went back for a larger second printing more in the neighborhood of 700,000 copies. Those second printings carry a November cover month.)

More later.

Tom B

Interesting....
1. Nice to see you guys were quick to rescue a stray cat... I wonder if the kitty will get a role in the comics?

2. Love the parody of Peanuts and Snoopy.

Looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Posted by Aziroth on 2008-09-30 19:41:34

70th anniversary reimagine of the first Torch story? COUNT ME IN!

I Believoort!

Posted by kyle-latino on 2008-09-30 21:36:30

Just retcon the cat. That's Marvel's way.

Posted by HiddenVorlon on 2008-09-30 23:00:05

Somebody get these guys a goldfish.

Posted by Thomas More on 2008-10-01 00:10:47

New 3'rd picture caption: "Hear no evil and see no evil weren't in the office today, but speak no evil was."

Posted by Thomas More on 2008-10-01 00:12:48

Like X-Nuts. Woodstock should be Lockheed. :)

Posted by beta-ray on 2008-10-01 00:49:10

Should you guys REALLY be spending five figures on a comic book?????

Posted by scooter1a on 2008-10-01 10:45:47

Seeing an actual Marvel Comics #1 How cool! Really looking forward to reimagining of Subby. Do the big plans for your 70th anniversary include giving him his own book? Please.

Posted by Rheged on 2008-10-01 11:57:42

I always figured that there'd be a warehouse somewhere with every first issue of every comic book ever made by Timely/Atlas/Marvel somewhere.

Posted by Thomas More on 2008-10-01 21:15:03

Golden Age Reprints
I hope the REPRINTS you are planning to do for MARVEL's 70th ANNIVERSARY include the FIRST APPEARANCE OF EVERY TIMELY COMICS HERO THAT HAS BEEN USED BY MODERN MARVEL COMICS.I d that MARVEL never did MILLENNIUM EDITIONS like DC COMICS did.I would like to see the FIRST appearance of the SILVER SCORPION[Daring Mystery Comics # 7(4/41)] because it has a COSTUME PARTY in it and I am looking for Golden Age appearance for MARVEl's non-golden age WW 2 era heroes( NIGHT RAVEN,SILHOUETTE,etc.)---there is also a MASQUERADE PARTY in a Golden Age BLACK WIDOW story[Mystic Comics # 7].Plus there are at least 2 DREAM STORIES that could have a Golden Age appearance for NIGHTMARE[Captain America Comics # 4( 6/41) Captain America story--IVAN THE TERRIBLE appears] and [Captain America Comics # 18( 9/41) Captain America vs the DEMONS FROM TOMB OF HORROR( vampires,demons,monsters,BLACK TALON and BLACK TOAD--all of whom could be ASTRAL FORMS of REAL BEINGS:Plus this could give BARON ,DRACULA( unless there is a WAX MUSEUM story with a FIGURE of DRACULA during WW 2) and the VAMPIRE OF DOOM[untold BLUE BLAZE story mentioned at the end of Mystic Comics # 4( 8/40 )]). Marvel "writers" have been creating NEW GOLDEN AGE( 1939-1949) HEROES/VILLAINS wrong,you need to take CHARACTERS ALREADY CREATED and USE THEM.Because TIMELY COMICS has an ETERNAL named THOR( father of HURRICANE/MERCURY( MAKKARI )),DIANA,MINERVA( THENA ),VULCAN( VALKIN ),APOLLO,AEOLUS,VENUS;PLUS they have 2 FRANKENSTEIN MONSTERS( one could be FRANK of the FIRST LINE and the other the Original FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER),SANDMAN( fairy tale character ),HERAKLES( son of ZEUS---whom I would have active in his homeland( Greece ) during WW 2,and possibly UNCLE SAM.Plus if I wanted to I could( and have ) found Golden Age Characters that could be turned into a WW 2 version of SHANG-CHI and his FRIENDS( LEIKO WU,CLIVE RESTON,BLACKJACK TARR,SIR DENIS NAYLAND SMITH ).

Posted by John Holstein on 2008-10-06 12:32:48

Golden Age---70th Anniversary
Another thing you should do for MARVEL's 70th Anniversary is have GALACTUS eat the second LOSER COUNTER-EARTH and then have the HIGH EVOLUTIONARY recreate it as the NEW AND FINAL COUNTER-EARTH:which he will insert the REAL( not duplicates ) of the TIMELY AGE,ATLAS AGE and LOST GENERATION HEROES,while a VILLAIN will do the same with the TIMELY,ATLAS and LOST GENERATION VILLAINS.This way you don't have to worry about messing up the TIMELINE or ERASING PEOPLES MEMORIES.Plus the TIMELY,ATLAS and LOST GENERATION CHARACTERS get to interact with the MODERN MARVEL UNIVERSE with their own supporting cast intact.Just like HANK PYM was recruited to be turned into the Original ANT-MAN you could do the same with ATLAS AGE CHARACTERS.I am curious about the story "THE GLASSES"( which view 3-D Movies )[Marvel Tales vol.1 # 122( 4/54)5th story-- www.atlastales.com ]and wondering if alterations couldn't be made to 3-D MAN's origin?I'm also hoping that the ATLAS AGE has a Character who could become the COMET( someone who was exposed to some gas/mist and didn't gain powers then or someone who gained energy projecting powers( other than ELK DIAMOND--- see www.marvunapp.com )).They all need their own WORLD and the same number of chances to succeed that MARVEL AGE CHARACTERS HAVE BEEN GIVEN.

Posted by John Holstein on 2008-10-08 13:21:56

Array

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About this blog:
Ramblings and musings from the mind of Tom Brevoort. "It won’t be clean. It won’t be fun. It mostly won’t be coherent."

About the author:
Tom Brevoort is Executive Editor for Marvel Comics, and oversees such titles as New Avengers, Civil War, and Fantastic Four.


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