I don't think Dr. Strange got an action figure until '96; and Dormammu and Destroyer wouldn't get figures until long after that. And is that a Mimic head there? I recognize the weird glasses, and am totally jealous of Billy's collection now. From 1991, Marvel Fanfare #56, featuring "Toys Night Out!" Written by Bill Mantlo, art by Don Heck; and "Crimes of Pride! Book One" Written by Steve Gerber, pencils by Carmine Infantino, inks by Bret Blevins.
Bill Mantlo beats Toy Story to the punch by a few years; as a young boy tries to clean his room in time to save his beloved action figures from getting thrown out by his mom. The boy fails, falls asleep, and the toys go on a battle royale; but clean up in time to save the day. I'm scowling at my lazy, non-cleaning action figures now.
The lead feature this month was the first part of a Shanna, the She-Devil serial that would go four issues, almost to the end of the series. These issues all had striking Joe Chiodo covers, and some might not care for going from that to Carmine Infantino. I didn't think Marvel Fanfare ran inventory stories like the 80-page Marvel Super-Heroes often did, but I wonder if this wasn't an unused filler: the next chapter featured early Bret Blevin's work under a pseudonym. And the "Editori-Al"page is cramped with the inclusion of a Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation: Paid circulation, actual number of copies of single issue published nearest to filing date, 38,852.
1 comment:
I think the Shanna story was kind of an inventory story. Gerber mentions in one of the issues that he had written the first 3 parts back in the '70s, maybe for a Ka-Zar book at the time, but it never got published. Then when they ran it in Marvel Fanfare, he had to come up with an ending because he didn't remember what he had planned originally.
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