Marvel Super-Heroes (comics)
Marvel Super-Heroes is the name of several comic book series and specials published by Marvel Comics.
Publication history
One-shot
The first was the one-shot Marvel Super Heroes Special #1 produced as a tie-in to The Marvel Super Heroes animated television program, reprinting Daredevil #1 and The Avengers #2, plus two stories from the 1930s-1940s period fans and historians call Golden Age of comic books: "The Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner Meet", and the first Marvel story by future editor-in-chief Stan Lee, the two-page text piece "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge".This summer special was a 25¢ "giant", relative to the typical 12¢ comics of the times.
First series
The first ongoing series of this name began as Fantasy Masterpieces, initially a standard-sized, 12¢ anthology reprinting "pre-superhero Marvel" monster and sci-fi/fantasy stories. With issue #3, the title was expanded to a 25-cent giant reprinting a mix of those stories and Golden Age superhero stories from Marvel's 1940s iteration as Timely Comics. Fantasy Masterpieces ran 11 issues before being renamed Marvel Super-Heroes with #12.While continuing with the same mix of reprint material, this first volume of Marvel Super-Heroes also began showcasing a try-out feature as each issue's lead. This encompassed solo stories of such supporting characters as Medusa of the Inhumans, as well as the debuts of Captain Marvel, the Phantom Eagle and the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Spider-Man story drawn by Ross Andru in issue #14 was originally planned as a fill-in issue of The Amazing Spider-Man but was used here when that title's regular artist, John Romita Sr. recovered more quickly than anticipated from a wrist injury. Andru would become the regular artist on The Amazing Spider-Man several years later.
Under either name, this series' Golden Age reprints represented the newly emerging comic-book fandom's first exposure to some of the earliest work of such important creators as Jack Kirby, Bill Everett, and Carl Burgos, and to such long-unseen and unfamiliar characters as the Whizzer and the Destroyer. Fantasy Masterpieces #10 reprinted the entirety of the full-length All-Winners Squad story from the All Winners Comics #19. Fantasy Masterpieces #11 re-introduced the work of the late artist Joe Maneely, a star of 1950s comics who died young in a train accident.
Original features
| Issue | Character/Story title | Writer | Penciller | Inker | Collected in Marvel Masterworks |
| #12 | "The Coming of Captain Marvel" | Stan Lee | Gene Colan | Frank Giacoia | Captain Marvel Volume 1 |
| #13 | Captain Marvel in "Where Walks the Sentry" | Roy Thomas | Gene Colan | Paul Reinman | Captain Marvel Volume 1 |
| #14 | Spider-Man in "The Reprehensible Riddle of the Sorcerer" | Stan Lee | Ross Andru | Bill Everett | Spider-Man Volume 8 |
| #15 | Medusa in "Let the Silence Shatter" | Archie Goodwin | Gene Colan | Vince Colletta | The Inhumans Volume 1 |
| #16 | "The Phantom Eagle" | Gary Friedrich | Herb Trimpe | Herb Trimpe | The Incredible Hulk Volume 7 |
| #17 | "The Black Knight Reborn" | Roy Thomas | Howard Purcell | Dan Adkins | The Avengers Volume 7 |
| #18 | "Guardians of the Galaxy" | Arnold Drake | Gene Colan | Mike Esposito | The Defenders Volume 4 |
| #19 | Ka-Zar in "My Father, My Enemy" | Arnold Drake and Steve Parkhouse | George Tuska | Sid Greene | Ka-Zar Volume 1 |
| #20 | Doctor Doom in "This Man, This Demon" | Roy Thomas and Larry Lieber | Larry Lieber and Frank Giacoia | Vince Colletta | Marvel Rarities Volume 1 |
| #23 | "Tales of the Watcher: Melvin and the Martian " | Stan Lee | Tom Palmer | Tom Palmer | Marvel Rarities Volume 1 |
Marvel Super-Heroes became an all-reprint magazine beginning with #21 , and a regular-sized comic at the then-standard 20-cent price with #32. This reprint series lasted through issue #105.
A second series titled Fantasy Masterpieces ran from #1-14, reprinting truncated versions of the 1968 Silver Surfer series, and Adam Warlock stories from Strange Tales and Warlock.
Other iterations
In September 1979, the Marvel UK series The Mighty World of Marvel was retitled Marvel Superheroes after a brief run under the title Marvel Comic.The name itself reappeared, without a hyphen, as part of the title of a 12-issue, company-wide crossover miniseries Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. The 1985-1986 sequel was titled simply Secret Wars II.
Next came the 15-issue Marvel Super-Heroes , published quarterly and which generally printed "inventory stories", those assigned to serve as emergency filler. The first issue featured a Brother Voodoo story drawn by Fred Hembeck in a dramatic style rather than his usual "cartoony" art.
The final series of this title was the six-issue Marvel Super-Heroes Megazine, a 100-page book reprinting 1970s and 1980s Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Iron Man and Hulk stories in each issue.