Marvel Time Warp

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE — Issue no. 45, August 1978 / I haven’t been a huge fan of Marvel’s 1978 iteration of Captain Marvel (that’s the dude Captain Marvel — not Carol Danvers and not the original “Shazam!” dude Captain Marvel). He’s not a terrible character or anything, he’s just kind of a square. But Captain Marvel’s square-ness plays well against the Thing (that’s Ben Grimm of the Fantastic Four, not the alien monster from the John Carpenter THING horror movie). In the late-’70s, MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE was Marvel’s monthly Thing team-up book. The Thing, of course, has a personality that’s big and boisterous enough to match his giant, rock-like body. There’s another Thing in this story, but he’s an imposter. (Which actually is kind of like the Carpenter THING movie, but that’s neither here nor there.) Something about this bogus Thing sets off Captain Marvel’s sixth sense. Given what I know about this Captain Book: Marvel Two-in-One Issue No.: 45 Published: August 1, 1978 ...

THE TOMB OF DRACULA — Issue no. 67, August 1978 / My introduction to Marvel’s Dracula of 1978 wasn’t promising. The setup — Dracula goes to hell and faces off with Satan — is incredible. But the actual story is boring — it’s mostly just Satan talking (and talking and talking). But the story ends with Satan taking away Dracula’s vampire powers and making him into a regular human. The issues of TOMB OF DRACULA I’ve read since then have been a lot of fun. This one is no exception, though there is a lot going on here, including some apparent callbacks to past issues I haven’t read. Dracula is in New York City looking for his daughter, Lilith. He needs a vampire to turn him back into a vampire (Dracula is not thrilled being a regular human Joe). And, since he’s a snob, Dracula won’t accept a turning from anyone other than his own flesh-and-blood. Book: The Tomb of Dracula Issue No.: 67 Published: August 1, 1978 Title: “At Long Last — Lilith!” Cover Price: 35¢...

THE SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN — Issue no. 34, August 1978 / Since I’ve started collecting Marvel books from 1978, I’ve picked up a few of Marvel’s magazines. As you might recall, these “magazines” differ from “comic books” (which, yes, are also technically magazines) as they are slightly larger, contain more pages, and are printed in black-and-white instead of color. I have picked up several SAVAGE SWORD OF CONAN issues, along with a couple issues of MARVEL PREMIERE and an issue of HULK! (which was printed in color — I am pretty sure it got the color treatment because of the popular-at-the-time INCREDIBLE HULK TV show). These magazines are really fun to read. They’re not treasury-size, but just being a little bigger than the standard comics of the day really lets the art (and lettering!) shine. Book: The Savage Sword of Conan Issue No.: 34 Published: August 1, 1978 Title: “Lair of the Ice Worm” Cover Price: $1 Format: Original paper copy Since I’ve started col...

TARZAN, LORD OF THE JUNGLE ANNUAL — Issue no. 2, August 1978 / As the name implies, a Marvel annual is a special published-once-per-year comic book. Generally, at least in the late 1970s, Marvel annuals were oversized affairs (48 pages of story and ads, instead of the usual 32). And there was no publishing info on the annual other than the year (1978 in this case). So when it comes to figuring out what month an annual was released, it can be tricky. The ever-useful Fandom.com Marvel wiki has this TARZAN, LORD OF THE JUNGLE annual listed as an August release. But, judging by some of the ads in this issue, I was guessing it was released later in the year. Since I love to play comic book history detective, I started comparing the ads (and the house hype page, “Bullpen Bulletins”) from this TARZAN... Book: Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle Annual Issue No.: 2 Published: August 1, 1978 (more likely October 1978, see below) Title: “Day of the Death-Dancers!” Cover Price: 60...