Marvel Funnies: Marie Severin celebrates Dave Cockrum's birthday

Here is how Marie Severin celebrated Dave Cockrum's birthday in 2004...

With one of his favorite creations, Nightcrawler, toasting him, and drinking the rest of the X-Men under the table.  Nuff Said!

The Origin of Marvel Bullpen Bulletins

One of my favorite things about Marvel Comics were the Bullpen Bulletins pages.  They seemed to make the reader feel as if they were part of special club, led be a merry prankster by the name of Stan Lee.  The other day I got to wondering, when and how did the Bullpen Bulletins pages actually start appearing in Marvel Comics? 

Fantastic Four #1 was published in 1961, but the editorial content in Marvel Comics remained confined to the single page of letters which began in FF #3.  A few months later this was expanded to 2 pages.  Stan Lee must have realized he had a new opportunity to market to his fans, and began a section of yellow boxed "Special Announcements" and Mighty Marvel Checklists.  The one above is from Fantastic Four #44 in November 1965.  Notice that one of the letter writers was none other than Dave Cockrum, who would be working at Marvel on the Avengers and the X-Men in the 1970s.

In the same year, Marvel helped launch the Merry Marvel Marching Society (MMMS) fan club.  They started devoting a page to advertise this new club.  The ad above appeared in FF #40 from July 1965.  They started listing the names of the fans who had recently joined.  Notice in this particular ad, the name listed at the bottom: Bud Plant, from San Jose, California!  Bud Plant started selling comics and books in 1970 and became one of the largest distributors of comics, games and art books in the 70s and 80s.  He recently retired last year.

So there was an evolution of sorts: the letters page, special announcements, Mighty Marvel checklists, and then special pages for Marvel merchandise.  What could tie all of these things together and speak even more directly to the reader?  A Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page!  The first one appeared in December 1965, the one above was taken from FF #45.  With the classic Marvel saying, Face Front!  It combined all of the elements from the letters column with tabloid bite-size nuggets of Marvel news.  Joe Sinnott was back at Marvel, Adam Austin was the nom de plume of Gene Colan, and would we ever see King Kirby ink himself?  Our parents may have been reading really kinky Hollywood tabloid, but for comics geeks this was all the gossip we wanted to know.

A couple of months later in Feb 1966, the Bullpen Bulletins evolved into a more classic form.  A snazzy headline, more news items and an expanded checklist.  One of the biggest news items was that Roy Thomas had recently joined the House of Ideas, and he was probably one of the best people that Stan Lee had ever hired.  And looking at the Marvel Checklist, it was pretty easy to collect all 9 Marvel Comics that month--if you could find them at the drugstore.

Even though Stan may have helped created and write these editorial pages, there was still something missing: a way for Stan to speak directly to his flock of geeks!  Just over a year later, the very first Stan Lee's Soapbox appeared in July 1967, this one taken from FF #63.  In this column, Stan is acting all humble and tossing aside any comments seeking deeper meaning in his comics in a column titled The Marvel Philosophy.  Nay, Stan's first and foremost priority was to entertain, and sell more comics than his Direct Competition.  I love the hip 60s lingo that ran from his word balloons and into his Soapbox: That's it, pussycat!  Thanks to Tom Jones and a Woody Allen movie, every cat in the know used words like pussycat.  I think if I said that at work today I might be fired for harassment!

Bullpen Bulletins was Stan Lee's most powerful weapon when it was time to push a new series into the collective consciousness of Marvel zombies.  This one, taken from September 1970 (FF# 102) is memorable for two reasons.  As you can clearly see, Marvel was hyping up Conan the Barbarian and trying to get jaded superhero-only fans to read a Sword and Sorcery comic.  It took a while but it eventually worked in my case.  Stan Lee's Soapbox contained a startling announcement: Jack Kirby was leaving Marvel!  Well, you kind of knew it was happening by that time if you had seen the ads from DC Comics.  But in this column, Stan takes an event that would seemingly bring his House of Ideas down and tried to make lemonade.  With a new influx of talent, such as Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, Barry Smith, Rich Buckler, etc., Marvel was in a position to grow.  Interestingly enough there is a long column about John Romita, who took over the FF artistic reins from the King.  The mention of Steve Ditko leaving Spider-Man years before was also a bit unexpected--these pages were promotional items, yet here an event was mentioned that was somewhat sad.

It's a shame the Bullpen pages have disappeared over the years; the comic book stories were only part of what made me Marvel great.  Message boards and blogs don't even come close to spreading the magic.

Thanks to the Bullpen Bulletins blog who covered all of this material in their article.  Nuff Said!

Strange Saturday: Craig Russell’s Alternate Cover to Dr Strange Annual #1

Stephen Donnelly on ComicArtFans has this nifty piece of art, Craig Russell’s cover to Dr. Strange Annual #1
 from 1976!



I think this piece is great.  I certainly looked forward to this annual when it was published, having been a great fan of Russell’s Killraven.  I’m pretty sure this Annual appeared right around the time War of the Worlds ended.  Russell usually did the covers on that series, but not on this issue, which I found to be quite…strange!




Instead, Marvel went with this cover by Dave Cockrum.  It’s not a bad cover for the era.  I think I see some Romita in there, either the inking or the design.  The biggest problem with the cover is that it is a lie.  Clea is shown in a captive bubble, but she only appears on a couple of pages and makes a quick exit.



I know Russell eventually did a new take on this tale in 1997’s Dr Strange – What Is It That Distrubs You, Stephen?  one shot.  I have that one, too.  It was good, but somehow it lost the charm of the original story.  Take a look at the splash page above, from the 1976 annual.  Even with the fading colors and old paper, still looks wonderful today.  Nuff Said!

Dave Cockrum Welcomes John Byrne to the X-Men in The Comic Reader

When the X-Men creative team was about to change in 1977, Dave Cockrum drew this cover for The Comic Reader #145.

John Byrne introduces himself to the X-Men, who have no idea who he is or why Cockrum is missing. 

I can't remember exactly, but I believe this cover appeared a few months before John Byrne's first issue of the X-Men, #108, cover dated December.  I do remember feeling the loss of Cockrum on the title, but feeling like Byrne could pull it off, since he had done so well on Starlord (see Claremont, Byrne & Austin's Classic Take on Star-Lord) and Iron Fist.

It was a great way for Dave Cockrum to hand over the reins of the X-Men, a title he visually re-designed for a new era.  Nuff Said!

Red Sonja and Storm pinups by Byrne and Cockrum

John Byrne drew this pinup of Red Sonja in 1975.  I thought he captured everything great about this character in a single pinup.  Beyond her beauty, the way she carries that sword would make you think twice about propositioning her!



Red Sonja graduated from the pages of Conan to her own series, beginning in Marvel Feature #1, also circa 1975.  This title, written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Frank Thorne, lasted seven issues.  You can see from this cover to issue #6 that Mr. Thorne had an unmistakable art style.


Dave Cockrum drew this great pinup featuring Storm and Red Sonja, where they swap costumes.  It’s hilarious to see Storm wearing Sonja’s metal bikini, and her thought balloon says Good Lord—This bra is enormous!  It’s cold too!  Near Cockrum’s signature he says Heh Sorry, Ladies.  I think we all celebrate Cockrum’s art and design, but let’s not forget his fantastic sense of humor!

If you’re in the mood for more laughter, check out Storm critiquing Ms. Marvel’s costume.  Nuff said.

Vision and Scarlet Witch by Dave Cockrum

In Foom #12 (1975), Dave Cockrum provided this double-page look at the Vision and Scarlet Witch.

You have to picture the Vision's romance with Scarlet Witch as being the high point of Avengers soap opera.  Cockrum presents their love affair, with Ultron seeking to pull him back to the robotic side on the left, while Quicksilver (Pietro, Wanda's brother) was highly against her sister sleeping with an android.  Nuff said.

Dave Cockrum Avengers Pin-Ups

In Foom issues 6 and 7 (circa 1974), we were treated to a series of pin-ups from a new artist who had joined the ranks of Marveldom:  Dave Cockrum!  These nifty pin-ups featured the Avengers.  I think they showcase these classic Marvel characters well, and Cockrum's artwork is top-notch.

Thor and Iron Man.  Buddies, way before Clor!

Captain America and the Vision.

Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver.

Clint Barton as Hawkeye, Clint Barton as Giant-Man.  Black Widow.

Mantis and Swordsman.  Cockrum was very familiar with these characters--he had drawn Giant-Size Avengers #2 the issue that featured the death of the Swordsman.  Nuff said.

Marvels of Gil Kane: Giant-Size X-Men #1 by Kane and Cockrum, one of the most famous covers of all time!

There are many classic Marvel comics covers that are iconic.  Amazing Fantasy #15, Fantastic Four #1, and Hulk #1 are in that treasured line-up.  When it comes to the X-Men, while the first issue by Jack Kirby in 1963 has a place in history, it is the cover to Giant-Size X-Men #1 by Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum that remains supreme.

It is hard to imagine the impact of Giant-Size X-Men #1 for a fan of Marvel's mutants.  The last new X-Men was published in X-Men #66 in 1970, although the X-Men title continued publication with reprints of the Stan Lee and Roy Thomas stories.  Through those reprints, a new generation of Marvel readers became fans of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, the Beast, Iceman, and the Angel.  From 1970-1975, the X-Men made a few guest appearances--most notably in Marvel Team-Up #4, Avengers #110-111, and the Beast's series in Amazing Adventures #11-17. 

I snatched up my copy of GS X-Men #1 the instant I saw it.  If the X-Men weren't enough, I knew that Dave Cockrum was the artist.  He had already knocked me out with the superb job he did on Giant-Size Avengers #2, and the art in GS X-Men #1 was even better.  With Len Wein as the writer, I immediately recognized Wolverine on the cover from his debut appearance in the Hulk.  All of the other mutants were incredibly new and mysterious.  I couldn't figure out why Cyclops was just behind Wolverine--in the new team--and also in the faded background with the old X-Men.

 

The cover to Giant-Size X-Men #1 features a classic Gil Kane motif of having the heroes running toward the reader, exploding out of the comic book page.  Kane's cover to Giant-Size Defenders #1 is almost identical.  Gil Kane's pencil layout for this cover is shown above.  Looking at this, you can see Cockrum kept the essence of Kane's figures, but adding his own take on the characters.  Kane drew Colossus with pupils and Cockrum executed it with white eyes--the way he's drawn in the comic. 

Cockrum's costume design for Storm, Colossus, Thunderbird, and Nightcrawler were visually stunning.  It's interesting that on this famous splash page, Cockrum is showcasing his original creations front and center--with the pre-existing Banshee, Sunfire,and Wolverine hanging in the background.

This comic has one other special place in Marvel history--it's the first all-new series that was introduced within the Giant-Size Marvel line.  The other titles (like Giant-Size Avengers, Defenders, etc) were extensions of a well established monthly series.  This revival was designed for the Giant-Size format, the story in issue 1 is 35 pages.  The next chapters in X-Men #94-95 were clearly designed for Giant-Size X-Men #2, and split into two when it was decided to resume new stories in the X-Men title.

Giant-Size X-Men #1 was the best 50 cents I ever spent in the 1970s--probably the best two-bits ever in my entire life!  Wein and Cockrum concocted a near-perfect story that introduced us to a new generation of mutants, but they acknowledged the team that came before and treated them with respect.  Sadly, I sold my copy of this comics when I was 20 and needed money for something frivolous.  Haven't we all thrown away precious comics like this for a song?  Nuff said.

Marvels of Gil Kane: John Carter #2 Cover with Dave Cockrum

There are many great inkers who worked very well with Gil Kane's pencils:  Tom Palmer, Klaus Janson, and Kevin Nowlan.  My favorite inker was Dave Cockrum.  I already wrote at length about their Marvel-ous collaboration on John Carter Warlord of Mars #1.

This cover to John Carter Warlord of Mars #2 was another standout.  Cockrum added his own style, but kept the essence of Kane's pencils.  Nuff said.

Gil Kane and Dave Cockrum on John Carter, Warlord of Mars

Of all the Edgar Rice Burroughs characters, I’ve always preferred John Carter.  Apparently so did Marv Wolfman, who jumped at the chance to do a John Carter comic for Marvel in 1976!

Looking at this comic, in this quality of the story and artwork, I have to believe it was a labor of love for all the creators involved.  Wolfman made an interesting choice to use first person narration for the scenes involving Carter, and third person narration for everything else.

Dave Cockrum’s inks over Gil Kane’s pencils just seem magical to me.  If you loved their cover to Giant-Size X-Men #1, imagine seeing 20 pages of their work together!  Unfortunately, Cockrum only inked this first issue, then Rudy Nebres took over.

Cockrum apparently did a lot of character design work before the first issue was published, as you can see in this editorial.  He designed John Carter, Dejah Thoris, Tars Tarkus, and many other elements of Barsoom.  Of course, this being Marvel, the title of the editorial has to reference something in pop culture: Welcome Back Carter references Gabe Kaplan’s TV show, Welcome Back, Kotter!

John Carter was published by Marvel from 1976 to 1979, including 28 issues and 3 annuals.  Gil Kane lasted for about 10 issues, Marv Wolfman stayed on until issue 15 and was replaced by Chris Claremont.  The series had some great artists later on: Carmine Infantino, Walt Simonson, and a young Frank Miller.

Dave Cockrum did return for issue 11, a special origin story for Dejah Thoris!  Now here’s something about Dejah Thoris’ costume.  Doesn’t it bear some resemblance to Leia’s slave girl costume in Return of the Jedi?  Cockrum designed this in 1976 or earlier; ROTJ premiered in 1983.  Don’t let this slave outfit fool you—Dejah was an accomplished swordswoman who had some incredible fight scenes during the series.

I don’t believe Marvel’s John Carter has ever been reprinted in a trade collection.  What a shame, I’d love to see this artwork re-colored.  Nuff said.