It was a Monster mash

As we said in our review of the Marvel Legends Monsters box set, following the relaxation of the Comics Code in the 1970s, Marvel expected a huge upswing in monster-themed comics, and so took immediate steps to position themselves to take advantage of it. Take a look:

  • Man-Thing - Savage Tales #1 (May, 1971)
  • Morbius - Amazing Spider-Man #101 (October, 1971)
  • Werewolf By Night - Marvel Spotlight #2 (February, 1972)
  • Beast - Amazing Adventures #11 (March, 1972)
  • Dracula - Tomb of Dracula #1 (April, 1972)
  • Ghost Rider - Marvel Spotlight #5 (August, 1972)
  • Frankenstein - Monster of Frankenstein #1 (January, 1973)
  • Blade - Tomb of Dracula #10 (July, 1973)
  • Zombie* - Tales of the Zombie #1 (August, 1973)
  • Brother Voodoo - Strange Tales # (September 1973)
  • Man-Wolf - Amazing Spider-Man #124 (September, 1973)
  • Son of Satan - Marvel Spotlight #12 (October 1973)
  • Satana - Vampire Tales #2 (October, 1973)
  • Tigra - Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July, 1974)

Man, look at that list! In the span of just three years, Marvel managed to throw together a pretty impressive stable of horrors to scare the pants off you.

Now, you'll notice that Zombie's got an asterisk after his name, like he's Roger Maris trying to pull in a homerun record. Why is that, you ask? Because Tales of the Zombie wasn't first actual appearance. The character in that comic was actually taken from Menace #5, originally published in July, 1953. The Zombie was redrawn to have shoulder-length hair (to appeal to the dirty hippies), but otherwise he was the same. So he's put on this list in the 1973 slot, because that was when he was introduced to the post-Code era.

Share
This entry was posted in addendums, Hasbro, lists, Marvel, ToyBiz and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *