Marvel Time Warp

THE SPIDER-WOMAN — Issue no. 8, August 1978 / Issue no. 8 opens IN MEDIA RES, with Spider-Woman being held at gunpoint in a cabin in Oregon. I had to check the previous issue to make sure I didn’t forget some cliffhanger. This story eventually gets around to explaining the situation. Spider-Woman had rescued a guy who was trying to kill himself, only for him to tie her up and drag her to Oregon (I am assuming the suicide attempt happened in Los Angeles). He finally explains to Spider-Woman (and to us) that he was cursed for cowardliness during the American Revolutionary War and is now doomed to walk the earth forever unless he can find someone who truly cares for him. Basically, he needs to be loved to die. It’s macabre and a bit... Book: The Spider-Woman Issue No.: 8 Published: August 1, 1978 Titles: “The Man Who Could Not Die!” and “The Suit!” Cover Price: 35¢ Format: Original paper copy This book continues to perplex me, y’all. Issue no. 8 opens in m...

MARVEL SUPER-HEROES — Issue no. 76, August 1978 / I started working on this issue of MARVEL TIME WARP over the weekend. I threw out my back (ouch!) on Saturday and I wasn’t feeling great. So I considered doing a fill-in issue of my own. But I got a ways down that road and realized the fill-in issue was going to be more work than a regular MARVEL TIME WARP post. So I changed gears and took a look at MARVEL SUPER-HEROES no. 76. The first thing I noticed about this book is it looks great. Herb Trimpe penciled this issue, Sal Buscema inked it, and Sam Rosen lettered it, and that is a rock-solid Hulk team. Plus I was lucky to find a good-quality digital scan of the book, so I got to see Nel Yomtov’s original coloring work (as opposed to a re-colored digital reprint). Book: Marvel Super-Heroes Issue No.: 76 Published: August 1, 1978 Title: “The Rhino Says No!” Cover Price: 35¢ Format: Digital scan I started working on this issue of Marvel Time Warp over the we...

DAREDEVIL, THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR — Issue no. 155, August 1978 / I write about fill-in issues fairly regularly. Even though this issue of DAREDEVIL, THE MAN WITHOUT FEAR features a guest penciler (Frank Robbins, subbing for the great Gene Colan), it isn’t a fill-in. But not much actually happens in this issue — the story here is mostly about laying the groundwork for future stroies — so maybe it’s fair to call it a setup issue. The main happening here is that Daredevil’s alter ego Matt Murdock and his law firm partner Foggy Nelson hire a new assistant, Becky Blake. I’m not yet totally clear on whether Becky’s role with the firm is secretary or paralegal or something else, so there’s still a lot to learn about Ms. Blake. As for set-up material, the book opens with Daredevil almost falling to his death after being struck by some kind of debilitating pain. Daredevil is blind, but his other senses are enhanced — that’s his super power. The implication is that his other senses have...

MARVEL TREASURY EDITION — Issue no. 18, August 1978 / I’ve written about how Marvel had several regular reprint books in the late 1970s. Aside from the oversized MARVEL TREASURY series, Marvel was publishing monthly and bi-monthly books reprinting older stories focusing on specific characters, like MARVEL SUPER-HEROES (Hulk stories) and MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS (Fantastic Four stories). I’ve also written about how these books were a key way for newer readers to read old Marvel stories, because trade paperbacks weren’t a thing back then. Which isn’t exactly true. This CBR article explains that there were a handful of Marvel trade paperbacks available by 1978. (It also explains the origin fo the term “trade paperback” as applied to comic book reprints.) Those early trades came out via Fireside Books (a division of Simon Schuster). Book: Marvel Treasury Edition Issue No.: 18 Published: August 1, 1978 Title: “The Astonishing Spider-Man” (reprints four Marvel Team-Up...