Time Warp : Part I - The Classic Marvel Calendars

Perhaps a more appropriate title for this series might be "Days of Future Past", but (since this is neither an X-Men nor Moody Blues fan-site,) we'll stay true to the essence of the subject...

TIME. And Time again.
It's passage, and our going back to revisit those glory years of Marvel Madness.

This is to be the first entry in a series (of three) posts about the old MARVEL CALENDARS!
(As promised a few weeks back - HERE)



Our first segment (Part I) deals with what I term the "CLASSIC" calendar series; those old 1970's - 1980's era calendars with the spiral bound pages. Those were true Marvel collectibles, as they were produced in-house. They featured amazing amounts of reference information and clips of artwork from old comics as well as all-new art and cool tidbits, such as issue particulars, creator birthdays and photographs of the many Marvel personnel; everyone from Stan Lee, the writers & artists to the production staff, receptionist and guys in the mail room.

It was that "open door" feeling that gave early Marvel fans the sense that they belonged to something special.

So, don't forget to click on the various images for larger versions!

Unfortunately, we can't show EVERY month of every year.
(That might be possible in the future, and would be one calendar year per post, which, when taking ALL of the calendars that I have in my collection, would last... nearly 20 posts. If this is well received and readers want to see it, that might be a possibility in time.)

The focus for these trips through time is to look at the various entries for Doctor Strange, Man-Thing and a select few other characters. To take a look at the artwork for those entries and reminisce of days and years gone by.

Now, let's not delay... we must go back... back... back.... in time...
To do this, we must learn the art of Time Travel...

This lesson in time travel courtesy of Doctor Strange and Clea.
Doctor Strange; Master of the Mystic Arts # 17 by Steve Englehart (writer) & Gene Colan (art).

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We MADE it! We're back in 01975! I remember 1975... and this is it.
And here we have the cover of the FIRST Marvel Calendar!

art by John Romita Sr.
Thor, Dracula, Hulk, Captain America, Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Thing, Conan and Spider-Man

The interior "contents page" which gave a brief overview of the year at a glance, and showcased what month would feature what character(s).

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February is Doctor Strange and the Defenders

Doc was drawn by Frank Brunner.
(with the Defenders Namor, Hulk, Nighthawk and Valkyrie vignettes either as cut&pasted art - mostly By Romita Sr. or traced by Brunner into place.)

And the calendar page for February as well.
Check out the daily goodies.

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Here's a single day panel from March 22nd that has always resonated with me and stuck in my mind all these years. As an "Aries People", I always have to watch out for my need to be "First in all things" lest it send me down the road of Dr. Doom-like megalomania.
Right Vic?

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As a "6-Dimensions" devotee, I thought that I should probably include art that featured such characters that would fit that bill (except for solo pages of the Hulk, Namor and/or Silver Surfer. There's just not enough web-space for all of those).
Here is the page for April, which featured the Scarlet Witch (and the Avengers).

Art by John Buscema, John Romita Sr & Sal Buscema.
Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Vision and Scarlet Witch

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October featured MAN-THING and other Marvel Monsters;
Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula and Werewolf by Night.

art by Mike Ploog!

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The back cover with the big hitters of the year including Strange.

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Next stop is a time-jump to... The Bicentennial Calendar of 01976!
All of the monthly artwork were keeping a theme of early American History or patriotism.

Iconic image by John Romita Sr.
Spider-Man, Hulk & Captain America on the fife & drums
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September featured an assembly of assorted characters; many of them were ultimately Defenders.

Art by Sal Buscema
Daredevil, Black Widow, Doctor Strange, Daimon Hellstrom; Son of Satan,
Luke Cage; Power-Man, Ghost Rider and Shang-Chi; Master of Kung Fu.

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October featured a new twist on the tale of "Ichabod Crane and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow",
featuring Dracula, Man-Thing and Werewolf by Night.

art by Frank Brunner

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December featured General Washington crossing the Delaware...
with Scarlet Witch and the Avengers!

art by Jim Mooney
Thor, Iron Man, Vision, George Washington, Captain America, Scarlet Witch and Hawkeye.


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Back cover which features both Doctor Strange and Man-Thing
(amongst many, many others)

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01977 presented the Marvel Comics Memory Album.

Dr. Strange is VERY happy to be promoted to the FRONT COVER - with Howard the Duck!

art by John Romita Sr.
Dr. Strange, Conan, Thing, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Hulk, Thor, Captain America and Howard.


The theme to this year's calendar was a "Memory Album" and as such, would feature scenes from comic issues.

Introduction and contents pages.

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July showcased Dr. Strange's first encounter with Nightmare, from Strange Tales # 110.

art by Gene Colan
who seemed to have forgotten that Strange had the big blue/purple cloak back then.

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October featured Dracula vs the "Nightstalkers"; Blade, Frank Drake & the Van Helsing's.

art by Gene Colan

The calendar-month featured "Marvel-ous Monsters" like Man-Thing.

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December featured the Defenders vs Yandroth's Omegatron from Marvel Feature # 1.

art by Sal Buscema

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Back Cover art of Front Cover art.

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By 01978, Marvel stopped trying to have "themes" and just dedicated the years to solo characters.
First up... SPIDER-MAN!
(natch'!)

classic Romita Sr. pose.

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We're just jumping straight to December where Spidey's many team-up friends are featured, including;
Doctor Strange, Man-Thing, Howard the Duck and many "6-Dimensions" characters.

art by John Byrne

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01979 featured the HULK as the solo star.

art by Romita Sr.

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December featured the Doctor Strange and the Dynamic Defenders!art by Ed Hannigan and Klaus Janson
Silver Surfer, Sub-Mariner, Nighthawk, Hellcat, Dr. Strange, Hulk, Red Guardian, Howard the Duck and Valkyrie

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01980 was dedicated to
"The Occult World of DOCTOR STRANGE"

Front cover - Dave Cockrum (pencils) Tom Palmer (inks)

We'll be saving the 01980 Doctor Strange calendar for PART III of this series.
Be sure to come back when we will present EVERY single page from that calendar.

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ALSO... as a bonus... THIS 1980 calendar was the same day pagination as the past year of 2008, and as such, I used it as my calendar for that year.
2009 is the same day pagination as 1981, so the next calendar is also a stand-in for this new year's as well!

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01981 was the 20th Anniversary of Marvel Comics
(starting from the publication of Fantastic Four # 1)
and as such, the theme and/or singular hero focus was abandoned in lieu of a smorgasbord of as many heroes as they could. Some would get solo months, and others would be in group shots.

cover art by John Byrne
Captain America, Human Torch, Black Panther, Invisible Girl, Mr. Fantastic, Cyclops, Thing, Iron-Man, Spider-Man, Silver Surfer, Power Man, Hulk, Daredevil, Doctor Strange and Thor

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Introduction page.
Click to read.

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October, as usual, was all about Man-Thing and the Monsters!

artwork by as many artists as there are monsters in this collage of creepy critters.
the collage was assembled by Paty (Cockrum)

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December was a showcase of everybody else who had not been showcased in the other months.

art by Rudy Nebres
Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, Punisher, Moon Knight, Shanna, She-Hulk, Shang-Chi, Luke Cage, Nighthawk, Tigra, Black Goliath, Nick Fury, Namor, Valkyrie, Ka-Zar, Spider-Woman, Hellcat, Howard the Duck, Machine-Man, Ant-Man and Marvel Boy.

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The end of the year wrap up with Aunt May presenting the Birthday cake.

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The 01981 calendar, sadly, was the last in this series.
It might not be readily evident in the photographs, but the overall quality of the 01981 calendar was sub-par as compared to the others.
The paper was thin, where the previous calendars were printed on sturdy stock.
The spiral center was flimsy and easily warped, where the earlier years had a strong center coil.

After this, the license for Marvel calendars was left in limbo, as I had not seen any further calendars for several years, and then, as we shall see in Part II of this series, they were manufactured by other publishers and printed in a variety of styles and sizes.

Check back again "in the future" for Part II of "Time Warp" - The Modern Marvel Calendars.