Although it appears to publish on a highly irregular basis, mostly un-numbered and under a variety of ever-changing names, Marvel Comics’ kid-friendly MARVEL ADVENTURES line has its own glossy reprint magazine, which you can find on sale at school book fairs, grocery stores and your local newsstand.
It all started — as far as I can tell — with 2007′s SPIDER-MAN SPECIAL EDITION, a 100-page compilation of previously published stories starring Spidey, The Avengers, Iron Man, Hulk, X-Men and Franklin Richards. What I didn’t realize until I started reading is that half the material comes from the previous summer’s Free Comic Book Day offerings, so I essentially paid for something I got for nothing just a few months before. Sometimes, I suck.
But not always! Also printing last year was the periodical — brace yourself for this title — SPIDER-MAN FEATURING THE SILVER SURFER MAGAZINE, essentially to tie in to two movies Marvel had in theaters at the time: SPIDER-MAN 3 and FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER. I hadn’t read any of the material here before, and that includes the 1970 reprint of SILVER SURFER #14, in which he tangles with Spidey.
Marvel also has another two movies at the multiplex this summer, which has to account for this summer’s IRON MAN/HULK SPECIAL EDITION. Venturing not far from the films, it contains account of Iron Man’s origin (subbing a hot chick for the Middle Eastern terrorist cell) and Hulk’s fisticuffs with The Abomination. There’s a bonus Iron Man adventure, as well as an outing with The Avengers.
Not to confuse things further, but at the same time, you can also pick up the extremely oddly titled SPIDER MAN (IRON MAN/HULK) MAGAZINE. Despite being on sale at the same time as the prior title and sharing the same heroes on the cover, this contains different material, so buyer need not beware. For the record, that’s one tale apiece for Iron Man and The Avengers, and two for Hulk and Franklin Richards, the pint-sized offspring of The Fantastic Four’s Reed and Sue Richards.
And most recently, there’s now an actual, honest-to-goodness bimonthly SPIDER-MAN MAGAZINE. The first issue featured not only the MARVEL ADVENTURES’ version of Spidey’s origin, but also Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s original story, so you can spot the differences. There aren’t many, so it may feel like you’re being cheated pages. Luckily, the issue also reprints his first team-ups (from the ADVENTURES lineup, mind you) with kid supergroup Power Pack and The Fantastic Four.
The current SPIDER-MAN MAGAZINE #2 picks up the storylines with those characters, as well as reprints a 1982 issue of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, in which The Thing teams up with The Sandman. What’s most unusual about this isn’t that those guys are on opposing sides, but that they meet in a bar over a beer … in an all-ages mag!
All six of these magazines are sprinkled liberally with extra features, including pull-out posters, perforated trading cards, puzzle pages, brief text-based tales and coloring pages. Obviously such things are like catnip to the target market and like cat poop to their parents, but I’m willing to ignore them. The comics themselves are the draw, and they entail of lot of colorful action.
I think I like them so much because they remind me of the superhero comics I read as a child. Today’s mainstream titles aren’t written for kids, but rather for that same generation, still reading all these years later. —Rod Lott
Related posts:
- Essential Defenders: Vol. 1
- Spider-Man Family Featuring Spider-Clan
- Spider-Man Family
- Essential Marvel Two-in-One: Vol. 2
- Hulk: Greatest Battles
