S&S's Forgotten Fantasies (Part The First)

Everybody (sic) remembers Amazing Adult Fantasy #15 as the first appearance of Spider-Man. But how many remember anything else about the series?

A title of all Stan Lee & Steve Ditko tales is well worth remembering, wouldn't you think? So, let's do that and spend this weekend looking at some of those old stories. We'll start with a classic Bradbury-esque time travel tale -
 

Sometimes the answer is obvious early on, even if it perhaps isn't obvious until they point it out -

I must admit, there are Many things in modern society that leave me feeling like that crowd above. 

We opened with a time travel tale - let's close for this post with another...
 

They produced seven issues of stories before Spider-Man took over. We'll be back with more this weekend.

page art by Steve Ditko for Amazing Adult Fantasy #s 7 & 10 (1961, 1962)

Stan Lee Vs. Spider-Man! Who Would Win?

As one might have noticed from last evening's post, i went digging for a few more Un-Comics. This time, it wasn't random digging - i was fair certain there were riches in this vein. I just hadn't opened it up in quite some time. 

Where was i going digging? Into Blip!

We already looked a bit at Pizzazz! so Blip! was only natural, and overdue. Blip!, like Pizzazz!, was a magazine published by Marvel Comics. This one was aimed at Video Game Players back in 1983. One might expect a range of years there, but it lasted only 7 issues, all covered dated '83.

In my digging i found 3 Un-Comics to reward my search - and a nice bonus tie-in to one of them. The third of those, from the final issue of Blip!, we saw in the post mentioned above.

The first comes from the first issue and appears to be the first ever Mario Brothers comic - a Triple First bonus -

If anyone knows of a Mario strip prior to '83, let us know.

The second (and final?) of the three is just a bit more odd than the other two. You see, that was when the Spider-Man game from Parker Brothers came out. So, Spidey got the cover -

Yes, those are the actual game graphics on the screen.

Inside, we get the Big Match...

 ...Spidey Vs. Stan!...

Those kids had some serious bragging rights back in those days, and that was before Stan got to be so well known and loved as a cultural figure. 

The article was followed directly by our Spider-Man un-comic, with art by Jazzy John Romita! - also featuring the video game -

art by Bob Camp and John Romita for Blip #s 1 & 2 (1983)

Dictating Three Stories At Once -- A Slow Day!

So, ol' Stanley Lieber's getting a street named after him in the Bronx. (His old home, so it makes sense) And, i'm assuming, regardless of the inherent dangers, that you've seen the lovely tribute from the MCU cast members for Stan...

Search for We Didn't Light The Fire and Stan Lee if you've not seen it.

Amazing as it might seem these days, there was a time when not everybody loved Stan Lee. Let's let Arnold Drake (creator of the Doom Patrol and Guardians Of The Galaxy, among many others) tell you about it...
 

(You didn't think that Funky Flashman was the only one out there, did you?)
  
Well, that was an awfully short post, wannit? Why don't we look a little deeper into the issue of Sick that brought us Ego Man?

Here's another from Drake, lampooning another still-popular feature. (No, not All In The Family...)

They went on to parody 3 other shows from the time - Soap, Three's Company and Carter Country. Just if you was the curious type.

page art from Sick #120 (1978)