  | 
             
            
                
                    
                        
                            
                                  | 
                                  | 
                                THE
                                ETERNALS, SHANG-CHI &
                                SPIDER-MAN 
                                BACK
                                TO BACK IN A 
                                NOVEMBER
                                1976 MARVEL MULTI-MAGS 
                                 | 
                             
                         
                         | 
                     
                 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                  | 
                  | 
                 
                ETERNALS #5 
                MASTER OF KUNG
                FU #46 
                AMAZING
                SPIDER-MAN #162 
                 
                  
                 | 
                  | 
                  | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                
                    
                        
                            
                                MARVEL 
                                MULTI-MAGS  | 
                                  | 
                                 Even in the early
                                1960s, the comic book industry
                                realized that in spite of the
                                hugely successful comeback of the
                                superhero genre (which had been
                                clinically dead for most of the
                                1950s) and the subsequent streak
                                of new creativity and enthusiasm
                                it generated, its traditional
                                sales points were fading away.
                                Small stores that had carried
                                comic books were pushed out of
                                business by larger stores and
                                supermarkets, and newsagents
                                started to view the low
                                cover prices and therefore tiny
                                profit margins comics had to
                                offer as a
                                nuisance. Many ideas on how
                                to turn these developments around
                                were put forward by different
                                publishers, but the most
                                successful concepts strived to
                                open up new sales opportunities
                                and markets and thus tap into a
                                new customer base. 
                                 | 
                             
                         
                         | 
                     
                 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        | One place
        these potential buyers could be found was the growing
        number of supermarkets and chain stores. But in order to
        be able to sell comic books at supermarkets, the product
        would have to be adjusted. | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                |  Handling
                individual issues clearly was no option for these
                outlets, but by looking at their logistics and
                display characteristics, DC Comics (who came up
                with the Comicpac concept in 1961) found
                that the answer to breaking into this promising
                new market was to simply package several comic
                books together in a transparent plastic bag.    This
                resulted in a higher price per unit on sale,
                which made the whole business of stocking them
                much more worthwhile for the seller. The simple
                packaging was also rather nifty because it
                clearly showed the items were new and untouched,
                while at the same time blending in with most
                other goods sold at supermarkets which were also
                conveniently packaged. 
                 | 
                  | 
                  | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        | Outlets were even supplied with
        dedicated Comicpac racks, which enhanced the
        product appeal even more since the bags containing the
        comic books could be displayed
        on rack hooks in an orderly and neat fashion. | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                
                    
                          
                         | 
                          | 
                         DC's
                        pioneer "comicpacks" were a
                        success - so much so that other
                        publishers quickly started to copy it.
                        Marvel produced a series of Marvel
                        Multi-Mags in 1968/69 but then seems
                        to have dropped the idea again.   
                         However, by the
                        mid-1970s, the House of Ideas had
                        once again fully embraced the marketing
                        concept of selling multiple comic books
                        packaged in a sealed plastic bag to a
                        customer base which comic books could
                        hardly reach otherwise: people shopping
                        at supermarkets and large grocery stores. 
                        It didn't really
                        matter therefore that buying these three
                        comic books in a comicpack for say 89¢
                        (rather than from a newsagent for 90¢ in that case) clearly presented no
                        real bargain - it was the opportunity and
                        convenience to pick up a few comics at
                        the same time parents and adults did
                        their general shopping.  
                        Neatly packaged, it
                        almost became an entirely different class
                        of commodity. 
                         | 
                     
                 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        | The comic books contained in this
        specific MARVEL MULTI-MAGS are all
        from the November 1976 cover date run, which meant that
        they were actually on sale at newsagents in August 1976 -
        although there could be quite a delay in terms of actual
        availability of MARVEL MULTI-MAGS
        at some sales points, resulting in Multi-Mags on display
        that contained "semi-recent books (typically
        about nine months old)" (Brevoort, 2007).
        Considering the packaging and distribution process, this
        doesn't really seem too surprising. | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        | No titles had
        permanent slots in the MARVEL MULTI-MAGS, but both Amazing Spider-Man and Eternals
        would show up in a reliably regular way.   Issues
        of Master of Kung Fu, on the other hand, have only featured in three
        of the 250 MARVEL
        MULTI-MAGS known
        to date. But even with the
        fairly regular titles (other examples were Hulk,
        Avengers and Fantastic Four) there was
        never any guarantee of an uninterrupted flow of
        consecutive issues - and therefore a distinct possibility
        of missing out on a part of the storyline. On top of
        this, the continuity of the Marvel Universe of the 1970s
        was such that plots and storylines usually evolved over
        more than one issue. This didn't exactly make the MULTI-MAGS an ideal way of getting your
        Marvel comic book fix. On
        the other hand, this was a common fate of the average
        comic book reader in the 1970s, whether his or her comic
        books came packaged in a plastic bag or as single issues
        from a display or spinner rack. Back in those days, an
        uninterrupted supply of specific titles was, quite
        simply, not guaranteed. Not worrying too much about
        possible gaps in storylines thus became something of a
        routine - besides, you would usually get a recap of
        "what happened so far" on the first page. 
        So all in
        all it simply was a part of being a comic book fan in the
        1970s - as were the monthly Bullpen Bulletins (which were
        the responsibility of the editor-in-chief) and the
        in-house advertising. 
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                  | 
                  | 
                
                    
                        |  In November 1976, the
                        Bullpen Bulletin was still on its way
                        through the alphabet as far as its title
                        was concerned, arriving at the letter S -
                        which resulted in the typically
                        alliterative and somewhat nonsensical
                        title "A Scintillating Soliloquy
                        of Stunning Stories, Sagacious Sagas, and
                        Senses-Shattering Super-Heroes!". The headline item of
                        Stan Lee's Soapbox column was
                        the kind of story that makes you wonder
                        (these days, not back then) how much
                        actual fact it contained. Were hoarders
                        really buying "all the copies of
                        a new issue as soon as it appears (...)
                        and sell them later at a big profit",
                        or were "True Believers
                        everywhere (...) complaining that our
                        mags are selling out too fast"
                        related more to a distribution problem?
                        Whatever it was, it certainly allowed
                        Stan Lee to throw in a plug for Marvel's
                        subscription offerings - which also
                        happened to be the subject of a full-page
                        in-house ad. 
                         | 
                          | 
                          
                         
                        In-house ad from Eternals #5 
                         | 
                     
                 
                As for the
                actual Bullpen Bulletins' various
                ITEM!
                bullet points, they were - as usual - mostly
                concerned with staffers new and old, plugs for
                upcoming Treasury Editions, and a push for
                another collaboration with Simon & Schuster
                (albeit a slightly oddball one in the form of The
                Mighty Marvel Comics Strength & Fitness Book). 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        Marvel was selling its brand and properties left,
        right, and centre, and doing comparatively well
        (certainly in comparison to their main competitor, DC
        Comics). Sales of comic books were up, dipping only
        slightly during the second half of the year - but still
        in overall positive territory compared to 1975, whereas
        DC's numbers were only going one way, and that was down
        (Tolworthy, 2016). But the bottom line would be that "running
        a comic book company was no cake walk in 1976",
        as Joe Brancatelli famously put it in one of his monthly
        columns for Warren in 1977.
            "Whatever improvements
            were made at Marvel [in 1976] came by virtue of the
            fact that they raised comic prices, made additional
            non-comic sales (...), cut printing costs by lowering
            the print runs and subsequently had less books
            returned unsold since less were printed in the first
            place. (...) The company decided to print less comics
            in 1976 rather than trying to sell more."
            (Brancatelli, 1977) 
         
        The fact that "our mags
        are selling out too fast" may thus have been
        caused more by a curbed supply rather than a surging
        demand (which no doubt is what readers inferred from Stan
        Lee's statement). 
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                
                    
                          
                         | 
                          | 
                         ETERNALS
                        #5 
                        November 1976 
                         
 (monthly) 
                        On Sale:   10 August 1976 
                        Editor
                        - Jack Kirby & Archie Goodwin
                        (consulting) 
                        Cover - Jack Kirby (pencils) & Frank
                        Giacoia (inks) 
                        "Olympia" (17
                        pages) 
                        Story
                        - Jack Kirby 
                        Pencils - Jack Kirby 
                        Inks - Mike Royer 
                        Lettering - Mike Royer 
                        Colouring - Glynis Wein 
                         
                          STORY
                        OVERVIEW   - Having been
                        informed by fellow Eternal Sersi of the
                        Deviant attack on New York, Makkari and
                        Thena, daughter of the Prime Eternal
                        Zuras, leave the eternal city of Olympia
                        to help Earth. Just as Sersi and Margo
                        Damian are captured and readied to be
                        taken to the Deviant's undersea kingdom
                        of Lemuria, Makkari and Thena swoop in
                        and take out several attackers. At the
                        same time, officials at the Pentagon
                        review the surveillance photographs taken
                        in the Andes Mountains of the Celestial
                        God-Ship. 
                         | 
                     
                 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                | In their very own way,
                the Eternals were a fun read for most of the
                time, and Jack Kirby's artwork gave it a very
                distinctive look. In terms of storyline, however,
                the title could be a real mouthful. But in order
                to fully understand the Eternals, one needs to
                understand the enormous amount of Jack Kirby's
                personal and professional history tied into this
                title. Kirby left
                Marvel Comics in 1970 for DC Comics, increasingly
                angered by what he perceived to be an intentional
                and continuous denial of credit for his share in
                creating much of the Marvel Universe. DC promised
                him not only full credit but also full artistic
                freedom, the result of which was Kirby's
                "Fourth World" meta-series, a blend of
                classic mythology and science fiction. For some
                it was the ultimate comic book saga, while to
                others it just all seemed too convoluted and
                confusing, and the latter group of people seemed
                to be in the majority as Kirby's work didn't sell
                near as well as DC needed it to (Stump, 1996).  
                 | 
             
            
                |   | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        
            
                | As the number of cancellations of
                Fourth World titles grew, so did Kirby's
                disappointment with DC, and after his contract
                ended in Spring 1975 Jack Kirby once again went
                to work for Marvel. In return for this industry
                scoop, "the King" essentially just
                wanted to be left alone to write and edit his own
                stories with no co-plotters or tie-ins with other
                titles done by other people, keeping his work
                deliberately detached from Marvel continuity
                (Gartland & Morrow, 2013). In terms of new concepts,
                Kirby started working on The Eternals,
                which was thematically similar to his DC work
                (especially the New Gods) but actually
                took its core inspiration from Swiss author Erich
                von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods - in
                which the author made the both fascinating and
                controversial claim that Earth had been visited
                by aliens in the past and that evidence of this
                could be found in artefacts and the mythologies
                of ancient civilizations. 
                Working on this premise,
                Kirby postulates such an alien visit in our
                prehistoric past. Through genetic
                experimentations these "Celestials"
                create three distinct species: Earth's humans,
                the "Deviants" (whose genes are so
                unstable that every one of them is grotesquely
                different and they all have lived on the bottom
                of the ocean for centuries), and the
                "Eternals" (undying and beautiful
                humanoids with superhuman mental gifts). 
                 | 
                  | 
                  
                Jack
                Kirby 
                (1917-1994) 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        | It was another typically
        high-flying Kirby concept, accompanied by artwork of
        complex machinery, but at least to start with it seemed
        to work well enough. By the time Eternals #5 hit
        the news stands, Kirby was still somewhat building his
        cast and plotting out the general theme, and the letters
        page was full of praise for the first two issues. | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                  | 
                  | 
                  | 
                  | 
                 Generally speaking (although
                obviously a matter of taste), a certain
                "looseness" seemed to plague Kirby's
                work since his return from DC. His plotting would
                sometimes go off in more directions than most
                readers were willing to accept let alone care
                for, and even his artwork at times showed signs
                of letting up, as the arguably bland and
                simplistic splashpage of Eternals #5
                would seem to indicate (bearing in mind that the
                splashpage of any comic book was the second most
                important selling point after its cover). Ultimately, his work came
                across as being too detached from what the
                average reader would expect. And since Marvel
                Comics had always been about finding "the
                formula that sells", this became a problem,
                aggravated by the fact that by that time Kirby
                was living and working in California and the
                Marvel offices were in New York. Communication
                was slow, and it seems that opinions on Kirby's
                work started to drift apart significantly - some
                still admired it, while others simply couldn't
                stand it (Gartland & Morrow, 2013) 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        | Only one letter published in Eternals
        #5 headed in that direction, but the call to connect the
        Eternals to the rest of the Marvel Universe got louder
        and louder everywhere else - not the least from editorial
        staff at the House of Ideas. | 
    
    
        
            
                
                    "In addition
                    to disliking the dialogue (which was
                    sometimes ludicrous but always earnest, as in
                    the scene [from Eternals #5] when an innocent
                    bystander ran through crowded metropolitan
                    streets yelling "Run! Run! The Devil's
                    come back from space with an army of
                    Demons!"), they wanted more renowned
                    Marvel heroes in the book." (Ro,
                    2004) 
                 
                Kirby only halfheartedly
                tried to appease his critics, such as explaining
                the presence of the Hulk in a later issue as an
                instance of an android robot. This only
                frustrated his critics more, but there were also
                actual problems, as Scott Edelman (who as
                Assistant Editor had the task of proofreading
                Kirby's material) points out. 
                
                    "I was
                    genuinely horrified by the clunky captions
                    Kirby was providing and the wooden dialogue
                    he was putting into the mouths of his
                    characters. I also recognized that it had
                    probably always been that way, that [Stan]
                    Lee had been able to add a veneer of
                    verisimilitude over Kirbys images which
                    had pulled it all together in the past, that
                    could have done the same in the 70s if
                    the relationship between the two men
                    hadnt imploded." (Edelman,
                    2012) 
                 
                Gartland & Morrow
                (2013) claim that such critical reception of
                Kirby's work was partly fabricated by people
                inside Marvel wanting to bully Kirby out. 
                 | 
                  | 
                  | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        Howe (2012) on the other hand quotes an unnamed
        Marvel staffer who wrote positive "fan letters"
        to try and counter-balance all the negative feedback
        pouring in - and Edelman himself is also quite clear in
        refuting the claim.
            "I never tried to
            usurp Kirbys role as the scripter of the books
            he drew, and I never tried to get him fired (...) as
            far as I know, none of the other assistant editors
            attempted to unseat the King either (...) I have to
            wonder whether some Kirby supporters are so certain
            in their cause that they are invested in the idea
            comics fandom could not possibly have grown
            dissatisfied with what Kirby was doing without Marvel
            staffers surreptitiously egging them on. Isnt
            it possible that fandom soured on Kirbys prose
            on its own, with no need for a whispering campaign to
            urge them to do so?" (Edelman, 2012) 
         
        On the up side, Kirby still
        managed to infuse his art with a certain dynamic, and if
        you liked his 1950s horror title monster work, the
        visuals of the "demons from space" in this
        issue looked and felt like a very pleasant throwback. 
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                  | 
                  | 
                But regarding his scripts, an
                increasing amount of corrections of dialogue made
                in NYC (with Kirby only finding out when he saw
                the printed copies) made the situation more and
                more difficult.  When Eternals
                #5 hit the newsstands in August 1976, Kirby's
                contract renewal was still a good 18 months out,
                but when it finally came up for discussion in
                April 1978 (three months after Eternals 
                would be cancelled with
                issue #19), Stan Lee made it clear that he
                only wanted Kirby's artwork and no more of his
                scripting (Howe, 2012). 
                Not surprisingly, Kirby
                left, went to work for the animation industry,
                and never returned to Marvel again. 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                
                    
                        
                            
                                  | 
                                  | 
                                 Copies
                                of the Eternals
                                appeared frequently in MARVEL
                                MULTI-MAGS, and although
                                the evidence available at this
                                point in time continues to
                                present some holes in the data,
                                Marvel's MULTI-MAGS may
                                even have carried a complete and
                                full run of all 19 issues. With a
                                little bit of luck, readers had
                                certainly been able to pick up
                                the previous issue,   
                                Eternals #4, and
                                thus continue reading the story
                                of the Deviants' attack on NYC. | 
                             
                         
                         | 
                     
                 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                
                    
                        
                            
                                  
                                 | 
                                  | 
                                 MASTER OF
                                KUNG FU #46 
                                November 1976 
                                
                                (monthly) 
                                On Sale:   10 August 1976 
                                Editor - Archie
                                Goodwin 
                                Cover pencils - Al Milgrom 
                                Cover inks - Jack Abel 
                                "The
                                Spider Spell!"  
                                (17 pages) 
                                
                                Story - Doug Moench 
                                Pencils - Paul Gulacy 
                                Inks - Pablo Marcos 
                                Lettering -   
                                Joe Rosen 
                                Colouring - Petra Goldberg 
                                  
                                 
                                  STORY
                                OVERVIEW   - (Part
                                2 of 6; each issue is narrated by
                                a different character, this one
                                by MI6 agent Clive Reston) Reston
                                is captured, and Shang Chi must
                                get past a man-mountain of a sumo
                                wrestler who can resist the most
                                powerful Karate blows. Meanwhile,
                                Fu Manchu is taking further steps
                                for his return. 
                                 
                                 | 
                             
                         
                         | 
                     
                 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        | Master of Kung Fu was
        one of Marvel's many titles of the 1970s which moved
        somewhat outside of the traditional superhero theme. The
        intention was for the House of Ideas to potentially tap
        into new readership groups or expand the interests of
        existing ones by opening up new genres. Star Wars is
        of course the best known and also the most profitable
        such venture, along with Conan the Barbarian,
        but Master of Kung Fu was pretty successful too. | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                 Marvel had started to fully
                embrace the genre expansion by the very early
                1970s, and the case for a Kung-Fu themed title
                was brought up by Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin
                after having seen the TV show Kung Fu (Pearl,
                2012).
                    "We went to
                    Roy Thomas, Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, and
                    proposed our series. Roy was not impressed;
                    martial art was not his thing. But he was at
                    least intrigued by our enthusiasm, so he did
                    his [Editor-in-Chief] thing and said he'd
                    okay it if we incorporated Fu Manchu, a more
                    traditional Asian character, as a sales draw
                    (...) I'd read all the Fu Manchu books, and I
                    liked pulp. I could write Fu Manchu - if he
                    absolutely had to be in the book. Jim and I
                    didn't think he did (...) but Kung Fu was
                    still just a blip on the radar, and editorial
                    decisions are based on what's worked before,
                    so Fu Manchu was in." (Englehart,
                    2016)  
                 
                 | 
                  | 
                  | 
                  | 
                  | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                | Acquiring the rights to Sax Rohmer's
                characters came with a short-term sales boost and
                a long-term problem. The sales boost worked
                instantly. Shang-Chi made his debut in  Special Marvel Edition #15
                (December 1973), a former reprint title,
                and resonated so well with readers that   
                Special Marvel Edition   was
                simply retitled as of issue #17, becoming Master
                of Kung Fu (with the prefixed tagline The
                Hands of Shang-Chi and the fan-favourite
                acronym MOKF). It ran for 109 issues
                before being cancelled with Master of Kung Fu
                #125 in June 1983. 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                |  The long term
                problem was that while Shang-Chi was a Marvel
                character, Fu Manchu was not. Created by Sax
                Rohmer for his 1913 novel The Mystery of Dr.
                Fu Manchu (released in the US as The
                Insidious Dr. Fu Manchu), the character and
                name had to be licensed from the Rohmer estate. A
                major reason for doing so, it seems, is that Roy
                Thomas at the time had been told that DC might
                look into a Fu Manchu title if Marvel did
                anything in the way of Kung Fu (Cronin, 2019). However, when
                Marvel cancelled the series, they lost the rights
                to Fu Manchu (as was the case with many
                characters Marvel licensed in the 1970s, e.g. Godzilla). It
                created a problem for Marvel's own Shang-Chi
                (since so much of his character background
                was tied up in the relationship with his evil
                father), making further appearances of the
                "Master of Kung Fu" somewhat
                complicated and leading to various retcon
                measures in attempts to not have to use the name
                Fu Manchu. 
                  
                In essence, Master of
                Kung-Fu and the adventures of Shang-Chi were
                penned in an action and espionage adventure vein
                (which also put them very much in tune with
                Rhomer's later original Fu Manchu books), whilst
                remaining true to Englehart's vision of a
                spiritual and philosophical (and thus reluctant)
                warrior who never wavers in fighting his father's
                evil schemes. 
                But what was therefore
                totally impossible for the longest time, was for
                Marvel to reprint any of the original Master
                of Kung Fu material - until a licensing
                agreement was once again reached with the Rohmer
                estate in 2015. As a result, Marvel rushed the
                entire Bronze Age MOKF material to the printers
                and published it in four volumes of Omnibus
                format collections between 2016 and 2017. 
                 | 
                  | 
                  
                 Even
                though actually only appearing in very few panels
                of this issue of MOKF and not actually mentioned
                by name, Fu Manchu is an essential part of the
                plot - a fact that prevented reprints for
                decades. 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                  
                 Steve
                Englehart (*1947) 
                 | 
                  | 
                 Clearly one of the Marvel comic
                books of the early 1970s where writers and
                artists were aiming at an audience in the teenage
                and older age range whilst using literary
                characters, it enjoyed a smiliar success as  Tomb
                of Dracula.
                     "A
                    lot of us back then were trying to break out
                    of comics just for kids, and it was very
                    possible for us to do those things on the
                    non-superhero books, because no one was
                    paying attention. So Roy Thomas could do that
                    on Conan, Steve [Englehart] could do that on
                    Doc Strange and Master of Kung-Fu, [Steve]
                    Gerber could do it on Man-Thing or Howard the
                    Duck, and I could do it on Dracula."
                      (Marv Wolfman
                    in Siuntres, 2006) 
                 
                
                    "After
                    just two issues, the series was such a
                    sensation that [Special
                    Marvel Edition]
                    officially became MASTER OF KUNG FU (...)
                    Shang Chi became Marvel's most popular
                    character for years thereafter (...)
                    Unfortunately, doubling my work load was
                    something I couldn't do with such a
                    philosophical book, and rather than crank it
                    out, I left it. This was too bad for me, but
                    fortunately it was taken over by Doug Moench,
                    who went on to work with a series of great
                    artists like Paul Gulacy and Gene Day to make
                    it one of Marvel's truly memorable
                    series." (Steve Englehart, AN) 
                 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                
                    
                        
                            
                                  | 
                                  | 
                                 This is the
                                second issue of a six-part
                                storyline culminating in Master
                                of Kung Fu #50, with each
                                issue narrated by a different
                                character (part 2, in this issue,
                                by Clive Reston). However, Master
                                of Kung Fu was an extremely
                                rare find in a MARVEL
                                MULTI-MAGS, so
                                there was no way one could have
                                followed that arc with what was
                                available over the following
                                months in subsequent MARVEL
                                MULTI-MAGS
                                (although you could have picked
                                up the previous issue,    
                                Master of Kung Fu #45,
                                with a bit of luck). | 
                             
                         
                         | 
                     
                 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                
                    
                        
                            
                                  
                                 | 
                                  | 
                                AMAZING
                                SPIDER-MAN 
                                
								#162 
                                November 1976 
                                
                                (monthly) 
                                On Sale:   10 August 1976 
                                Editor - Len Wein 
                                Cover - Ross Andru (pencils)
                                & John Romita (inks) 
                                 "Let
                                the Punisher fit the Crime!"
                                (18 pages) 
                                Story - Len Wein 
                                Pencils - Ross Andru 
                                Inks - Mike Esposito 
                                Lettering - John Costanza 
                                Colouring - Glynis Oliver 
                                 
                                  STORY
                                OVERVIEW   - The
                                Punisher tracks down Spider-Man
                                and Nightcrawler, believing that
                                one of the heroes framed him as
                                the Coney Island sniper. After an
                                all-out brawl, the Punisher and
                                Spider-Man agree to team-up to
                                uncover the truth behind the
                                shootings, and they succeed in
                                revealing the true identity of
                                the gunman, who turns out to be
                                the villain Jigsaw, seeking
                                revenge for the fact that the
                                Punisher caused his facial
                                disfigurement. And J. Jonah
                                Jameson is seeking to have yet
                                another go at a Spider-Slayer. 
                                 
                                 | 
                             
                         
                         | 
                     
                 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        | Whereas DC's highly
        structured approach to their comicpacks resulted in
        zero duplicate titles across different bags, the same
        could not be said for Marvel's Multi-Mags, and late 1976
        was an especially chaotic period in that sense - with
        numerous identical titles packaged into different
        Multi-Mags of the same month. | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                | For the October 1976 run of
                Multi-Mags there are no less than three
                documented instances of duplicates packaged into
                different packs:  Eternals #4 (Amazing Spider-Man #161, Doctor Strange
                #19, Eternals #4) 
                Eternals #4    (Thor #252, Eternals #4,
                Captain America #202) 
                Daredevil #138 (Daredevil #138, Ka-Zar
                #18, Marvel Spotlight #30) 
                Daredevil #138    (Double Feature #18,
                Daredevil #138, Marvel Super-Heroes #60) 
                Marvel
                Spotlight #30 (Daredevil #138, Ka-Zar #18, Marvel
                Spotlight #30) 
                Marvel Spotlight #30    (Master of Kung Fu #45,
                Tomb of Dracula #49, Marvel Spotlight #30) 
                  But in
                November 1976, Amazing Spider-Man #162
                topped them all - being packaged into no less
                than three different Marvel Multi-Mags (which is
                why it is discussed in more detail   here). 
                 | 
                  | 
                  | 
                  | 
                  | 
             
            
                |   | 
                  | 
                  | 
                  | 
                  | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        A packaging policy of this kind didn't alienate the
        targeted market base much (such as parents or
        grandparents buying a small treat for their kids or
        grandchildren), but it didn't win any favours with the
        actual comic book readers - if the problem of ending up
        with duplicates for issues purchased elsewhere was
        already a concern, then getting multiple copies of the
        same issues in different comicpacks of the same month
        really was bad news.
            "I had so many
            comics, the odds were I'd wind up with dupes (...)
            that was why Comicpacs did not work for me."
            (Evanier, 2007) 
         
        Things would not improve much in
        that respect throughout 1977; the situation was even
        complicated a bit by the fact that Whitman Publishing
        would start putting out their own 3-packs, with
        (obviously) no regard for the contents of Marvel
        Multi-Mags available at the same time. It simply was just
        another fact of life for comic book aficionados of the
        1970s. 
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                  
                 In-House
                ad from Eternals #5 
                 | 
                  | 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        BIBLIOGRAPHY
            
                |   | 
             
            
                |   | 
             
            
                |  BRANCATELLI
                Joe (1977) "The Comic Books",
                in Creepy #92 (October 1977)  BREVOORT Tom
                (2007) "Marvel Multi-Mags", Blah Blah
                Blog, originally published online 28 April
                2007, reposted 18 April 2020 
                 CRONIN
                Brian (2019) "Did Marvel Have a License for Fu
                Manchu Before Shang-Chi Was Created?", published online at CBR,
                27 May 2019 
                 EDELMAN
                Scott (2012) "Revisiting Jack
                Kirbys return to Marvel Comics", Scot Edelman
                Blog, published online 27 May 2012 
                 ENGLEHART
                Steven (AN) "Master of Kung Fu", Steve
                Englehart Writes, published online (date
                unknown) 
                EVANIER
                Mark (2007) "It's
                in the Bag!", published online in News
                From Me 
                  GARTLAND Mike
                & John Morrow (2013) "You can't go home again - Kirby's
                1970s return to the "snake pit" of
                Marvel Comics",
                in Jack Kirby Collector #29 
                 HOWE
                Sean (2012) Marvel Comics - The Untold Story,
                Harper Collins 
                 PEARL Barry
                (2012) "Lost in Licensing: Exit Fu Manchu", published online at Comic
                Book Collectors Club, 27 June 2012 (accessed
                through archive.org) 
                 RO
                Ronin (2004) Tales to Astonish - Jack Kirby,
                Stan Lee, and the American Comic Book Revolution,
                Bloomsbury 
                 SIUNTRES
                John (2006) "Marv Wolfman by Night", Word
                Balloon: The Comic Creator's Interview Show
                (transcribed from the podcast originally
                available online at wordballoon.libsyn.com) 
                  STUMP
				Greg (1996) Infantino Raises
                Questions About CBG Letters Policy Following
                Kirby Controversy Flare-Up, in The
                Comics Journal #191 (November 1996) 
                  TOLWORTHY
                Chris (2016) "Marvel
                and DC sales figures",
				                  published
                online at zak-site.com 
                 | 
             
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
         
         | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        |   | 
    
    
        
            
                   
                  
                (c) 2023 
                uploaded to the web
                15 October 2023 
                 | 
             
            
                |   | 
             
            
                 | 
             
            
                  | 
             
         
         |