Keep it up, folks!
Over the last few years, Marvel, in concert with Abrams, has been having a field day plumbing the depths of the publisher’s offbeat, playful initiatives from the ’60s and ’70s. Off the top of my head, I can think of the Marvel Classic Black Light Posters portfolio, the Marvel Classic Sticker Book, the Marvel Comics Mini-Books boxed set and the consistently delayed, yet still forthcoming, history of Marvel Value Stamps.
Well here’s one that came out of left field and under the radar (to mix metaphors): the Marvel Big Book of Fun and Games, a compendium of the Bronze Age puzzle mag that made car trips and plane rides go that much faster. Not just that, the book is due May 4 at your comics shop. That’s this Wednesday.
Dig the official description, according to Diamond:
MARVEL BIG BOOK OF FUN AND GAMES
The ultimate fun-filled, full-color Marvel activity book for the whole family, featuring legendary Super Heroes & Villains! Can you solve riddles with the genius of Iron Man? Spot the Invisible Woman before she disappears? Crack Nick Fury’s secret codes? Hulk-smash through every challenge and help your favorite Marvel characters conquer the most head-scratching, pulse-pounding puzzles and games in the Multiverse. Journey through Doctor Strange’s mystic maze, unscramble Spider-Man’s word webs, weather Storm’s seek-and-find, fly through word searches faster than Falcon, and learn to conjure the Scarlet Witch-all you need is a pencil. Featuring crosswords, mazes, word searches, trivia, drawing tutorials, connect-the-dots, and more from Marvel’s Fun and Games magazine, this a-maze-ing compendium is a throwback to classic comics and an activity-packed adventure perfect for Marvel fans young and old.
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A few thoughts:
— The 144-page softcover lists for a mere $14.99. It will be available at online retailers Tuesday, May 3. But get it through your comics shop, y’know? Help a small business out.
— The book includes a gallery of covers from the 1979-80 series, as well as (obviously) all sorts of colorful puzzles and whatnot (plus, natch, the solutions).
— Roy Thomas has written the intro but the driving force behind the mag was Owen McCarron.
— OK, how about rereleasing Slurpee cups, huh? (Marvel and DC!) Or at least a book on all of them!
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MORE
— MARVEL CLASSIC BLACK LIGHT POSTERS Portfolio: The Best Comics Publication of the Year. Click here.
— FAR OUT! MARVEL Reprints Classic Vintage Stickers From ’60s and ’70s. Click here.
May 2, 2022
Pencil games, sticker books, blacklight posters. If Marvel can get this stuff reprinted, why can’t DC reprint more of its classic library of comics? You say it’s different with Marvel because of the marketing power of Disney? Bah! Warner Bros. Discovery will NEVER be able to compete on all fronts with Disney unless WBD can see that DC releases more of its classic material in print.
May 2, 2022
That collection cover is ten kinds of terrible, tho. It’s called “Fun n Games”, and not one smile. Look how fun the original first issue cover is.
May 2, 2022
That collection cover is ten kinds of terrible, tho. The book is called “Fun n Games” and not one smile. Look at how fun and cool the first issue cover is!
May 2, 2022
That classic cover is great.