Marvel Time Warp

THE SILVER SURFER Graphic Novel — August 1978 / When I first started MARVEL TIME WARP, my approach was to just read the comic books and not do any additional research. So if there was some context that wasn’t in the books themselves, I wouldn’t know about it. This approach went by the wayside pretty quickly, probably when I started trying to figure out how “real” the stuntman character the Human Fly was. I realized that, aside from having fun reading fun comic books, MARVEL TIME WARP was an opportunity for me to do a deep-ish dive into a very specific period of comic book history. And that’s its own kind of fun. Book: The Silver Surfer Graphic Novel Published: August 8, 1978 Title: “The Silver Surfer” Cover Price: $4.95 Format: Digital scan When I first started Marvel Time Warp , my approach was to just read the comic books and not do any additional research. So if there was some context that wasn’t in the books themselves, I wouldn’t know about it. This a...

YOGI BEAR — Issue no. 7, August 1978 / At this point I’ve covered several of Marvel’s licensed Hanna-Barbera comics of the late 1970s. And I think I might have been approaching these books unfairly. Since the Hanna-Barbera characters (including Scooby-Doo, the Flintstones, and Yogi Bear, the star of this book) originated in the TV animation world, I’ve been comparing the comic books to the cartoons. And I do have a soft spot for Hanna-Barbera cartoons, especially SCOOBY-DOO WHERE ARE YOU! and JONNY QUEST. (Young Mister Quest, unfortunately, didn’t have a Marvel comic book.) But it probably makes more sense to compare these books to other comics based on cartoon characters. Book: Yogi Bear Issue No.: 7 Published: August 8, 1978 Title: “The Business Typhoon!” (plus another story) Cover Price: 35¢ Format: Digital scan At this point I’ve covered several of Marvel’s licensed Hanna-Barbera comics of the late 1970s. And I think I might have been approaching thes...

Treasuries, digests, Power Records, and X-Men! / When I started MARVEL TIME WARP two years ago, I didn’t really have any expectations. I was pretty sure it’d be fun to read a bunch of old comic books I’d missed out on when I was a kid. And I thought it might be fun to write about those old comics. Turns out reading old Marvel comics and writing about old Marvel comics are both, indeed, fun things to do. Years ago I had gotten rid of my large-ish comic book collection, that consisted mostly of books from the late 1970s and early-to-mid 1980s. I’d originally planned to just read digital/online versions of comics for MARVEL TIME WARP. But then I bought a few original copies of comic books on my TIME WARP reading list, and I realized that it’s more fun to read old comic books the old-fashioned way. So I started collecting comic books again... When I started Marvel Time Warp two years ago, I didn’t really have any expectations. I was pretty sure it’d be fun to read a bunch of ...

MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS — Issue no. 80, August 1978 / This Fantastic Four story (MARVEL’S GREATEST COMICS was a Fantastic Four reprint book) features the Inhumans. At this point, I’ve written almost 300 (!) MARVEL TIME WARP posts, so I had to do a search to see if I’d previously covered any Inhumans appearances. It looks like I’ve only encountered them (so far) in another 1978 reprint book, MARVEL SUPER-HEROES (that one reprints Hulk stories). The setup here is the Human Torch (AKA Johnny Storm) flies to the Inhumans’ secret land to get his girlfriend Crystal (she’s an Inhuman) to come back to the States with him. The Torch doesn’t fly commercial or on one of the Fantastic Four’s cool rocket planes... Book: Marvel’s Greatest Comics Issue No.: 80 Published: August 8, 1978 Title: “The Torch Goes Wild!” (reprint of Fantastic Four no. 99) Cover Price: 35¢ Format: Original paper copy This Fantastic Four story ( Marvel’s Greatest Comics was a Fantastic Four r...

RED SONJA — Issue no. 12, August 1978 / The thing about comic books, and it’s an obvious thing that I still manage to forget sometimes, is that everything matters. I always think of myself as a “story first” guy when it comes to comics. But even a comic book like WATCHMEN, with writer Alan Moore’s groundbreaking and exciting plotting and characters, wouldn’t be the same without Dave Gibbons’ artwork. Aside from penciling and inking WATCHMEN, Dave Gibbons also did the lettering for that book. Which makes him a triple threat, kind of like RED SONJA quadruple threat Frank Thorne (pencils, inks, letters, and colors!). Despite my usual prioritizing of story over art, Thorne’s RED SONJA artwork is one of my absolute favorite things from all the 1978 Marvel books I’ve read so far. Book: Red Sonja Issue No.: 12 Published: August 8, 1978 Title: “Ashes and Emblems!” Cover Price: 35¢ Format: Original paper copy The thing about comic books, and it’s an obvious thing ...