³¼MARVEL - A BLAST¼³ ³¼FROM THE PAST ?¼³ ¹ Absolutely not! Maybe some of you comic enjoying Marvelites out there have no- ticed the leaving of all those great artists like TODD MCFARLANE and ROB LIEFELD for the new company on the block called IMAGE PRESS. Those six or seven mega stars just wanted to have the copyrights of their characters and that wasn't possible down there at Mar- vel. So they decided to found something new, something of their own. With some help of the independent company MALIBU they started the creator-owned company IMAGE PRESS. After having released a couple of issues the fans seem to have given the big thumbs up to this pro- ject, but this doesn't mean the down fall of the big one called MARVEL. They are still the king of the hill and that is where they'll be for the forseable future, on top of the world. Marvel owns about 50% of the comicbook mar- ket's dollar share. The house of ideas can trust a real solid foundation being built up during the last 40 or so years. Another example for the growing popularity of Marvel are the back is sues, which values are still increa- sing. In several interviews the Image crew says, that the divorcement between them and Marvel had been very smooth and probably some of them will return to them in the future. Marvel has also got a new crop of hot artists like MARK BAGLEY, RON LIM, SAM KIETH and up and comers known as JOE QUESADA, JAE LEE (no relation to Stan 'The Man') and LIAM SHARP. You can't take a few ar- tists and some Terminator-alike charac- ters to bring that Marvel down. You can take the top of the best artists away and Marvel will pop up with even more kick-ass artists. Although Image has really shot like a rocket through the comic world, you can't take for sure, that they've got the right stuff to have a lasting effect on the comic world, which is no problem for Marvel. Every month they come up with ner stun- ning titles. Some of them suck but most of them will stay in our hearts for years. The creators of Image don't want to cause trouble between them and Mar- vel. They even want to cooperate with them or with other companies like DARK HORSE (McFarlane phoned them a lot in the last time. Are we going to expect that SPAWN-ALIENS crossover in the next time, who knows - who cares?). There are big changes on the market in Ameri- ca. But no one is able to kick Marvel from its throne. The second position is owned by DC (you know them, they have Bat-Man and Superman), but it seems that their kingdom's gone. Even though they try to make their characters real and to pay attention to continuety in their strange and unorganized universe, but anyway, they seem to neglect what the fans are pleading for. How's about a fourth Bat-Man or a Robin series? Why not a monthly LOBO book? Just a succes sion of mini series is not productive. With Image steamrolling its way straight up and companies like VAILLANT and DARK HORSE lurking to climb on higher in the charts, it won't take too long to kick DC's fucking ass from that second position. In contrast to DC, Marvel knows what's right. They can be called the KINGS OF SPECIAL PROJECTS like glow-in-the-dark- and hologram co- vers, trading cards, center spreads, posters, lithos, portfolios, di-cut co- vers and X-overs. But the most impres- sive reasons for the success of Marvel are the true phenOmenal characters. They've got all these classic heroes (who are still high in the charts like Amazing Spider Man. His title reached position 1 of the top selling titles in June '92) like Fantastic Four, Aven- gers, Hulk, X-Men and other ones who made Marvel that good. But they don't rest... new creations like X-Force, New Warriors, Darkhawk, Deathlok and Nomad are reaching the top positions in the selling charts. This was the first installment of a new column called COLLECTING COMICS WITH OLGA. I'll try to give you the hottest items and background informations about the comic scene. Good bye and stay mel- low! ² If you wanna swap comic stuff (cards, comics...) or just want to get in con- tact with another comic freak, write to: ³ Michael Spahn Pommernstr. 27 D-4020 Mettmann GERMANY ² No computer related swapping, coz I simply ( fasten your seat belts) don't have one... ³ Olga of Final Concept