Marvel Age: Alpha Flight, Cloak and Dagger, Micronauts

What was hot during the Marvel Age?  The Marvel Age wasn't an era, it was a comic magazine--Marvel's way of keeping fans informed during the 1980s.  Here are some of the offbeat characters that were showcased.

Cloak and Dagger burst free of supporting character status into their own mini-series in 1983.  I always thought that both Bill Mantlo and Rick Leonardi did some of their best work ever on this title.

I remember buying a really cool Cloak and Dagger poster that Leonardi and Terry Austin drew.  Does anyone have a decent scan of that?  It was a great image and I'd like to feature it here.

The Micronauts were red-hot as well, even after Michael Golden left the series.  Jackson "Butch" Guice came along and injected new excitement into the characters.  After the X-Men became popular, it was only natural that Marvel would produce a limited series featuring the two teams getting together.

You have to love Storm's mohawk and biker-girl outfit in this one.  Wolverine's supposed to be front and center, but that mohawk is like a vortex.

I believe Arcturus (Commander) Rann is making a comeback in the current Son of Hulk mini-series.

Alpha Flight made a big splash in 1983 when it received a solo title, the first Marvel series created, written, and drawn by John Byrne (who started his Fantastic Four run around the same time).  This image was also used as a promotional poster.

Fans were excited--Alpha Flight always gave the X-Men a run for their money, and the series sold well but eventually ran out of steam.  The scene I'll always remember is the conclusion of issue #12, where Vindicator dies trying to disengage the circuitry in his costume.  That was well done, Byrne totally disrupted reader expectations with that one.  Nuff Said!

The 1980s Marvel Heroes Fashion Makeover: Grey Hulk, Spider-Man Black Costume, etc.

Every comics company loves to give their heroes a new look from time to time.  During the Shooter-era of the 1980s, the Marvel heroes were re-designed with new looks and costumes.

• Spider-Man: Black costume from Secret Wars, sans the symbiote.
• Iron Man: Tony Stark designed this red and silver armor in Iron Man #200.
• Hulk: Grey Hulk from Peter David’s tenure on the series.
• Thor: Walt Simonson designed this new battle armor and let the Thunder God grow a beard.
• Captain America: Steve Rogers put on this costume and became a free agent for a while.  Later on, US Agent wore this costume whenever a team needed a third-rate Captain America—like the current Mighty Avengers series.

Were these Marvel makeovers as bad as shoulder pads and mullets?  I liked the Grey Hulk the best out of this lineup.  Nuff Said!

Update: Comments from my old MT blog...

2 Comments

By Zebtron A. Rama on February 5, 2010 9:17 AM

Those were the days! I'm with you on the Grey Hulk but also was a fan of the "Captain."

By The Irishman on March 3, 2010 5:46 PM

I'll always have a soft spot for the black Spidey costume: didn't collect comics rigourously, mainly getting the Marvel UK 'Transformers' comic and the odd issue of other series, but that title tended to run other Marvel strips as back-ups. One such strip, taken from the 1986 US 'Amazing Spider-Man' annual, I later learned, showed Spidey coming up against the Iron Man of 2020, and, having only seen Spider-man in the red and blue costume, this cool new look blew me away! At the time, I knew nothing of the origin of the costume, or its alien nature (that said, as that story was printed in 1986, the black costume in it would have been the cloth version anyway), but thought (and still do) that it was aesthetically stunning in its simplicity, the white spider emblem really complimenting the black. We must have had quiet childhoods, because I can remember talking with friends about Spidey's 'new' look: one friend said that the suit was an alien, and I thought he was surely mistaken...

Giant-Size Challenge: Name the Characters in this 1985 Kerry Gammill Marvel Age Cover

Marvel Age Annual #1 from 1985 featured this crowded wraparound cover by Kerry Gammill.



Virtually all of Marvel's characters from this period are featured here.  Two of the wackiest are the Beyonder (on the right) in his zoot-suit from Secret Wars II and Magneto (in the middle) in his reformed period leading the X-Men.  Whoever designed that stupid new costume for Magneto with the giant "M" on his chest should have consulted Tim Gunn first.

There's one character I can't identify, in-between Colossus and Storm in the middle section.  Who the heck is that?

Can you name all of the rest?  Reply in the comments if you can.  Nuff Said!

Update: Comments from my previous Movable Type blog...

3 Comments

By Anthony on February 3, 2010 5:10 PM

Could it be the Phone Ranger ?

By Richard Guion on February 4, 2010 8:19 AM

It is the Phone Ranger, you are correct, sir! LOL. I had to look that up. The Phone Ranger was featured inside this issue by Kurt Busiek as a joke.

By Anthony on February 4, 2010 2:54 PM

To be honest I had to look it up too !!! I read a synopsis of that
issue and it mentioned the Lethal Legion which I looked up on the
Marvel Appendix. Love your site. That was my first post but I check
out Giant Size Marvel all the time.