Rokk's Comic Book Revolution
This weekend at San Diego's Comic-Con International, among hundreds of thousands of assembled fans of comic books and assorted media, publisher Marvel Comics will officially announce "Season One," an initiative comprised of their first-ever series of original graphic novels. Similar to competitor DC Comics' own "Earth One" series, Marvel's line will retell its key superheroes' origins for modern audiences. Ostensibly celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the Marvel Age of Comics that began in November 1961, the books will be published beginning in February 2012. Four titles have been announced so far, featuring the origins of the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Daredevil and Spider-Man, with a second wave to follow.
What's wrong with the above paragraph, with information provided by Marvel senior vice president and executive editor Tom Brevoort? It conveniently ignores the company's previous effort at publishing original graphic novels, begun in 1982 by Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter.
Inspired by European graphic albums of the seventies, the series, formally titled Marvel Graphic Novel, ran intermittently through 1993 and consisted of 75 individual issues, some of which were numbered, some of which were not. In addition, Marvel U.K. released another six graphic novels, and Epic Comics, Marvel's largely creator-owned imprint, released another 31.
The stories were printed in squarebound, oversize 8.5" x 11" format, with some later editions first released in hardcover. They were extra-length "done-in-one" stories, often 52 or 68 pages, with early volumes priced at $4.95 and later volumes priced at $14.95 (and hardcovers up to $18.95). And the production values matched the price.
I have not even addressed the talent Shooter & co. attracted to original graphic novels--and boy, did they ever! Instead of blabbing in big fat paragraphs (the ones I'm known for), I will let a few of the projects--and the creators that went with them--speak for themselves:
-"The Death of Captain Marvel" by Jim Starlin.
-"X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills" by Chris Claremont & Brent Anderson.
-"The Sensational She-Hulk" by John Byrne.
-"The Amazing Spider-Man: Hooky" by Susan K. Putney & Berni Wrightson.
-"Daredevil: Love & War" by Frank Miller & Bill Sienkiewicz.
-"The Shadow: Hitler's Astrologer" by Denny O'Neil & Michael Wm. Kaluta.
-"Silver Surfer: Judgment Day" by Stan Lee & John Buscema.
-"Doctor Strange & Doctor Doom: Triumph & Torment" by Roger Stern & Mike Mignola.
-"Wolverine & Nick Fury: The Scorpio Connection" by Archie Goodwin & Howard Chaykin.
-"Spider-Man: Spirits of the Earth" by Charles Vess.
Those are just ten standout examples out of the many out there. Other luminaries of the age include Walter Simonson, P. Craig Russell, J.M. DeMatteis, Mike Zeck, Mark Gruenwald, Frank Cirocco, Jon J Muth, John Bolton, Marc Silvestri, Steve Gerber, Shooter himself, and countless others.
The series--let's be fair--greatly outlasted DC Comics' own efforts at original oversize graphic novels. (Counting both series, there were fourteen, plus a few Batman hardcovers afterward.) Unfortunately, DC seemed to prefer to develop their "prestige format" of comic-sized, squarebound volumes first used on Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns series. Marvel eventually adopted the format and gradually phased out their oversize graphic novel program altogether.
While Marvel phased out prestige format editions in the wake of their late-nineties bankruptcy, DC has continued to employ the format (and hardcover variants) to tell original stories, including several "Elseworlds" stories, and more recently both the aforementioned Superman: Earth One and the forthcoming New Teen Titans: Games editions. Meanwhile the term "graphic novel" has taken on a different meaning, coming to be more closely associated with the the trade paperback or collected edition.
So, as Marvel deigns to release a new spate of original graphic novels, let's all remember their original Marvel Graphic Novel series, most of which are sadly out of print. Let's remember the great talents they assembled and the high production values. Let's remember that bold ambition and the larger-than-life format, and hope that Marvel's new era can even approach that "golden age"...
...even if Marvel itself fails to acknowledge it.
~G.
Gary M. Miller has read comics for longer than he'd care to tell, and loves regaling fans young and old with tales pulled from the medium's rich history. In addition to providing the occasional article on this website, he also regularly runs a blog, Delusional Honesty . You can also find his musings on Twitter (@Gary_M_Miller).