Barry Smith Conan the Barbarian in Marvel Slurpee Cup

I'm going to give this Slurpee cup parade a bit of a rest, but before I do, here's one of the grandest cups, featuring Marvel's version of Conan the Barbarian!



This grand image of Conan by Barry Smith adorns this Slurpee cup.  God, I love the logo too, the classic one used on Conan's regular color comic.  From the Back Issue #34 article about the making of the Slurpee cups, I think it was Paty Cockrum who said they avoided using Barry Smith's artwork because it was too detailed.  I think it looks smashing, but when you compare it to the source of the artwork below, you will see what Paty meant.

Where did the image come from?  One of my favorite all-time Conan covers, from King Size Annual #1, see this article for more about this fantastic King-Size extravaganza!  It is one of Smith's highly detailed pen and ink drawings that blew me away when I first saw it and made me get into the world of Conan.

The back of the cup is very interesting.  Rather recapping an origin tale, Conan instead uses this avenue to spout his unique outlook on life:

Men call me a Barbarian, but I saw that Barbarism is the natural state of mankind!  I've been everything from a slave to a king, but I've always been a man...always Conan!

Pretty cool, eh, that Conan, besides fighting, drinking and bedding wenches he is a philosopher to boot!  The headshot of Conan there, I am sure I could place that too if I had time.  Makes me think Conan #24 with Red Sonja or perhaps the Tower of the Elephant.  What do you think?  Nuff Said!

Master of Kung Fu Slurpee Cup

How diverse was Marvel in the 1970s?  You had monster comics, sword and sorcery, fantasy, science fiction, etc., in addition to super-heroes.  One of the most popular was Shang-Chi, the Master of Kung Fu...and he got his own Slurpee cup in 1975.

This cup has a lot of stuff going on.  Just getting in the words "Shang-Chi Master of Kung Fu" was a challenge!  The side view here has the view of the logo and the figure.

The drawing of Shang-Chi was by Paul Gulacy.  Want to know where it came from?

This pinup from the Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #2 which was published around the same time.  The pinup was used for the next issue coming attractions blurb.

The back of the cup recaps the origin bit about his dad (Fu Manchu) and the Englehart bit about his name meaning "Rising and Advancing of the Spirit".  Nuff Said!

Luke Cage Power Man - Marvel Slurpee Cup

I love the origin synopsis on the back of each Marvel Slurpee cup.  I wondered what would it say for Luke Cage?  He was falsely imprisoned for a crime he never committed and then gained his powers in crazy prison experiment.

The front of the Slurpee cup features Luke Cage in his glorious original costume designed by John Romita Sr: steel tiara, yellow shirt, chain belt, etc.  He looks angry!  You would be too if you were framed and had skin that was steel hard.

The back of the cup doesn't recap his origin from Hero for Hire #1.  Instead it explains why Cage now calls himself "Power Man" -- Marvel's attempt to make him more of a straight superhero than a street-wise character.  Cage says:

I used to be called Luke Cage, Hero for Hire, but I dropped that name after I realized the guy with the money isn't always the guy who's right.  So now I'm on my own and you can call me Power Man!

Where did the Romita drawing on the front of the cup come from?  It wasn't used on any cover.  No, it came from a concept drawing of Luke Cage that Romita executed.  It appeared in Marvel's Bullpen Bulletins announcing the debut of Marvel's newest black hero.

On the splash page of Hero for Hire #1, George Tuska probably took that drawing as inspiration for the character's first appearance.  Or maybe it was the other way around and Romita executed his drawing based on Tuska?  I doubt it as it seems that Romita designed the visual for the character.  Nuff Said!

Thing Tuesday: Marvel Slurpee Cups Featuring Benjamin J Grimm

This article should be subtitled "Everything Ya Ever Wanted To Know About Ever-Lovin Thing's Slurpee Cups"!  Because there were not one but three cups produced in 1975.  That's how big a star The Thing was in the 70s!

The first cup featured this great Jack Kirby drawing of the Thing in a tense stance, ready to fight.  I cannot place the issue of the FF where this came from.  Lex Carson, who wrote a great article about the Marvel Slurpee cups in Back Issue #34 (2009) has an index that states it came from FF #67.  After looking at my copy I can't find it.  Maybe that's because I've been drinking slurpees all day.

The back of the cup shows the human Ben Grimm explaining he was a hero even before he grew into his rocky hide!

The second cup featured the Thing in a classic pose with his arms above his head, no doubt yelling It's Clobberin Time!  Obviously this cup has taken a trip through the dishwasher and the ink has smeared, something buyers need to beware when shopping on eBay.  This was also by Jack Kirby.  Which comic did it come from?

This classic image of the Thing, which we've all seen somewhere, didn't appear in any FF comic.  It was done by Kirby for merchandising in the Merry Marvel Marching Society.  If you were a kid like me, you saw this tantalizing ad for Marvel Sweat Shirts featuring both The Thing and The Hulk!  Only $3.15...too expensive for my money, I was lucky to have $5 a month to spend on comics.

Later this same drawing was used in the corner box of the Fantastic Four...they rotated characters as the primary standout so each of the FF had a spotlight.  This is probably where most of us have seen this particular illustration.

The back of this slurpee cup has the Thing proclaiming what a lucky lug of a guy he is to have been loved by Alicia Masters.  Yet somehow despite what this says, I think Alicia prefers the Thing to Ben Grimm.

The third cup I don't actually own...yet.  But it has another image of the Thing in a classic clobberin' time pose.  You can probably guess that this wasn't drawn by Kirby.

This image was taken from FF #116, the special 25 cent double size issue which featured the team (minus Reed Richards) begging Doctor Doom to join them in the fight against Over-Mind.  A good drawing by Buscema.

How about that, three cups featuring Ben Grimm as the Thing, who woulda thunk it?  Nuff Said!

Silver Surfer Saturday: Marvel Slurpee Cup

The holy grail in comics collecting for me was a good copy of Silver Surfer #1 from 1968.  The next best thing to collect?  This Marvel Slurpee cup from 1975.  I recently was able to get one.

The classic logo and a dashing image by a Buscema adorn this fine cup.  It's certainly not a Kirby pose, right?  But where was this illustration taken from?  A cover?  A splash page?  John or Sal?  Perhaps from the Defenders which was published in the 70s?

No, it came from the lower right panel on page 4 from Silver Surfer #4, the issue where the Surfer fights Thor.  John Buscema pencils, of course, but his brother Sal Buscema inked him.  I thought they made a fine team but soon Sal became a dynamic penciller on his own.

The back of these cups had the characters in their civilian guises explaining their origin.  In the Surfer's case, this is Norrin Radd.  I really dig that part about mankind being ignorant.  Kind of snooty, isn't he, that Norrin Radd?  Nuff Said!

Monster Monday: Ghost Rider Slurpee cup

The Marvel Monsters were well represented in Marvel's Slurpee cups from 1975.  Man-Thing, Dracula, and Ghost Rider has their own cups.

Johnny Blaze was featured on his hellblazing cycle.  Now where did this image come from?  A Ghost Rider comic or an issue of Marvel Spotlight?

Neither!  It was lifted off the cover of Marvel Two-In-One #8, cover dated Mar 1975 but it probably was on the stands in Dec 1974.  The Slurpee cups were sold at 7-Eleven the spring/summer of 75.  The cover is by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott.  Always found that one a strange tale...Ghost Rider in a Christmas story.  Nuff Said!

Strange Sunday: Doctor Strange Slurpee cup

Summer reminds me of 7-Eleven Marvel Slurpee cups.  Over 15 years ago I was in a antique curio shop somewhere and noticed this cup was for sale.

I think at the time it was only $3!  I remember buying this in the 1970s...only to throw them away at some point.  Who did the drawing used for the cup?  I was pretty sure it was Brunner but then the inking doesn't look like it was by Dick Giordiano.

This was taken from the splash page of Marvel Premiere #9 from 1973, art by Frank Brunner and Ernie Chua -- the Conan inker (aka Ernie Chan), a genuinely nice guy from a couple of cons I've attended.  You can see the figure of Doc Strange was tilted a bit straighter, and someone must have simplified the inking and certain details, but it is basically the same figure.  Nuff Said!