Marvel Time Warp

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...

FANTASTIC FOUR — Issue no. 199, July 1978 / I started reading all of these Marvel comic books with their January 1978 issues, and that happened to be a particularly fun jumping-on point for FANTASTIC FOUR. The book was approaching its 200th issue in early 1978. That’d be a big deal for any comic book, but it’s an especially big deal for the comic book that is ground zero for the modern Marvel universe. This final issue before big no. 200 hits the ground running. Doctor Doom, the Fantastic Four’s greatest foe, has captured the team, and he’s about to steal all of their super powers and transfer them to his recently-revealed adult son. Doom has also captured Alicia, friend of the Four (and girlfriend of the Four’s Thing). Alicia is a sculptor, and Doom is forcing her to create a statue of him. Book: Fantastic Four Issue No.: 199 Published: July 25, 1978 Title: “The Son of Doctor Doom!” Cover Price: 35¢ Format: Original paper copy I started reading all of the...

WHAT IF? — Issue no. 11, January 1978 / Last time I looked at a cheeky but (I think) canon Marvel comic book story that featured a guest appearance by real-life Marvel honcho Stan Lee. This WHAT IF story (since it is a WHAT IF story, it is definitely not canon) features a super-powered Stan Lee leading the Fantastic Four, with the rest of the team being other real-life Marvel staff members, including Marvel VP Sol Brodsky, Marvel secretary Flo Steinberg, and Marvel artist/writer Jack “King” Kirby. To make the whole affair even more meta, Jack Kirby doesn’t just appear as a character in this story, he also wrote and drew the story. Marvel Time Warp no. 275 Book: What If? Issue No.: 11 Published: July 25, 1978 Title: “What If the Fantastic Four Were the Original Marvel Bullpen?” Cover Price: 60¢ Format: Digital scan Last time I looked at a cheeky but (I think) canon Marvel comic book story that featured a guest appearance by real-life Marvel honcho Stan Lee. ...