FOOM
Editor Jim Steranko (issues #1-4) | Tony Isabella (issues #5–7) Scott Edelman (issues #8–11) Duffy Vohland (issue #12) Chris Claremont (issues #13–14) David Anthony Kraft (issue #15) | |
| Categories | Marvel Comics news and publicity | |
|---|---|---|
| Frequency | quarterly | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics | |
| First issue | Feb. 1973 | |
| Country | United States | |
| Language | English | |
FOOM was Marvel Comics' self-produced fan magazine of the mid-1970s, following the canceled Marvelmania and preceding Marvel Age. Running 22 quarterly issues (February 1973 – Fall 1978), it was initially designed and edited by comic book writer-artist Jim Steranko.[1]
FOOM, though spelled without periods in both indicia and cover treatments, is an acronym for "Friends of Ol' Marvel".[2]
It was relaunched in September 2017.[3]
Publication history
Steranko, in his first-issue introduction, wrote that he had "dropped in at the Marvel bullpen to rap with [publisher] Stan Lee about the current comic scene" and that Lee told him about plans to start an in-house fan club. EC Comics had had its "EC Fan-Addict" club in the 1950s, and Marvel the Merry Marvel Marching Society beginning 1964; after the MMMS had run its course by 1969, Marvel licensed a small company in Culver City, California to produce the fanzine/product catalog Marvelmania, which lasted a year. Steranko, writing that he nostalgically "recalled the days of radio, with all the clubs and super-premiums that were perpetually offered over the air", volunteered as a designer, writer and comic historian. Ken Bruzenak served as associate editor, with Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas as consulting editor and Ed Noonchester, Joel Thingvall, and Gary Brown as staff.
A four-issue subscription cost US$3. An additional dollar bought a club membership
. The membership kit was also available separately for US$2.50.The premiere contained a foreword by Lee (on cover = p. 1); an introduction by Steranko (pp. 2/3) announcing a contest to design a
Steranko, who additionally drew the back cover of issue #1 (
The back cover of #7 (Fall 1974) featured one of
John Byrne's earliest work at Marvel, a Frankenstein drawing inked by Duffy Vohland, appeared in issue #5's "Fan Art Gallery".[4]
It was relaunched in September 2017.[3]
Character contest
Issue #2 (Summer 1973) presented the first of two double-page spreads of fan art submitted for the character-design contest announced in issue #1. Included were the characters "Absorba-Man" by future comics artist
Issue #3 (Fall 1973) included "Heros" by future Marvel Age editor Steve Saffel. The winner, announced that issue, was Michael A. Barreiro of
Despite the contest's announced prize, Humus Sapiens was never used in a Marvel comic at the time.[5] Creator Barreiro later inquired at Marvel about the character, but received no response. Comics columnist Fred Hembeck in 1979 wrote in the magazine Buyer's Guide to Comic Fandom about the contest and Humus Sapiens, but nothing came of it. The character eventually appeared 28 years later in Thunderbolts #54-55 (Sept.-Oct. 2001), as the fictional mutant Humus Sapien. Barreiro grew up to become a carpenter and a freelance artist living in the Carrick neighborhood, and did a small amount of work for Marvel and Dark Horse Comics.[5]
See also
References
- ISBN 978-1465455505.
- ^ FOOM #1 (Feb. 1973), p.2: "Once Upon a FOOM!" by Jim Steranko
- ^ a b News a rama First Look: Marvel's FOOM Revival & LEGACY Launch Party Plans
- ^ "FOOM Fan Art Gallery", FOOM, April 1974, p.24
- ^ a b Sodergren, Rebecca (August 14, 2001). "Bad guy finally finishes first". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived from the original on February 12, 2012.
External links
- Ruby, Sam (ed.). "FOOM Contents and Checklist: Issue #1". SamRuby.com (fansite). Archived from the original on December 17, 2010. through "issue #22".
- Zjaba, Tom (ed.). "Marvel Comics FOOM Subscription Ad". Tomorrow's Heroes (fan site). Archived from the original on July 17, 2011.