ON SALE MAY 27
AVENGERS
Accused of being frauds, the AVENGERS #
6
face off against the SQUADRON
SUPREME! And behind it all lurks a men-
ace that will loom large in the future of Earth's
Mightiest Super-Team!By KURT BUSIEK and
GEORGE PÉREZ!
CONAN: RIVER OF BLOOD
Caught in the middle of a war between o
23
two tribes ot the Black Kingdoms,
CONAN finds himself with the power to
control giant crocodiles! He's one barbarian
we want to have on our team! By ROLAND
GREEN and GEOF ISHERWOOD!
DEADPOOL
DEADPOOL is going to scour the Plan-
et until he finds AJAX, and nothing's
gonna stop the merc when heis got a
mad-on! By JOE KELLY and WALTER
McDANlEL!
18
ESSENTIAL WOLVERINE
528 pages of WOLVERINE doing what *
3
he does best! And what he does best..
isn't pretty! Guaranteed to contain the
word •SNIKT!• more times than any other
book this month!
IRON FIST
Back in solo action for the first time in Of
13
years! The Living Weapon stars in his
own hard-hitting limited series — and his
st has come back to haunt him! By
JORGENS and JACKSON GUICE!
MARVEL
Articles and interviews galore about all
our hottest mags!
QUICKSILVER
In the Savage Land, PIETRO comes face-
9
to-face with the HIGH EVOLUTIONARY...
and the KNIGHTS OF WUNDAGORE take
on EXODUS's cadre of super-villains! B
JOHN OSTRANDER, JOE EDKIN and DERÆ
AUCOIN!
SHADOWS & LIGHT
Featuring a SILVER SURFER saga anda
3
hair-raising WEREWOLF BY NIGHT tale!
Plus: bonus pin-ups! By BOB LAYTON,
JIM STARLIN, TOM GRINDBERG, ARTHUR
SUYDAM, and more!
SILVER SURFER
Cast out of our reality, the SILVER
141
SURFER finds himself in a strange new
universe where he meets an enigmatric
being called SAMA-D who holds the key to
his past
— and his future! By J. M.
DeMATTElS and JON J. MUTH!
The HOBGOBLIN iS back! Now will he
259
have to face the original GREEN GOB-
I-IN? Spider-Fans will just gobble up this
issue! By ROGER STERN, GLENN GREEN-
BERG and LUKE ROSS!
SPIDER-MAN: THE MANGA
It'S a double-sized spectacular featuring t
15
48 pages of manga-rific action, as the
SPIDER-MAN impostor is revealed and
the real web-slinger has his final showdown
with MYSTERIO! By RYOICHI IKEGAMI!
STAR TREK: UNLIMITED
FINAL ISSUE! A sequel to one of the
most popular episodes of the original 10
star Trek series, as CAPTAIN PICARD
and company go to Sigma lotia II for "A
Piece of ReactiontBy ANDY MANGELS,
MIKE MARTIN and RON RANDALL!
WOLVERINE
Think you've seen every possible
26
WOLVERINE vs. SABRETOOTH battle?
Trust us - you've never seen a throw-
down like this one before! It's the most
painful day of Wolvie's life! By CHRIS
CLAREMONT and LIE-NEL FRANCIS W!
X -FORCE
What is the truth about REIGNFIRE? And
what iS his shocking connection to BOBBY 79
DaCOSTA? find out here! By JOHN FRAN-
CIS MOORE and ADAM POLLINA!
Deslgn by Richard Startings and COMICRAFT
D
entoziapn
t is with great regret that we note the passing
of editor/writer ARCHIE GOODWIN, who died
last March after a long battle with cancer.
Undoubtedly one of the most talented and nicest
guys in the comics industry, Archie spent the last
decade as a senior editor and writer for DC Comics.
Before that, he had a long, successful tenure at
Marvel, where he served as a writer, editor, and ulti-
mately, Editor in Chief. During his time with Marvel,
Archie had written virtually every title we published
at the time, most notably THE INCREDIBLE HULK,
STAR WARS, SPIDER-WOMAN and IRON MAN.
Among his many other accomplishments, Archie
was responsible for overseeing our legendary sci-
ence fiction/fantasy magazine, EPIC ILLUSTRAT-
ED, and launching our groundbreaking creator-
owned imprint, Epic Comics, for which he gave
such fondly-remembered titles as JIM STARLIN'S
DREADSTAR their start and developed the
acclaimed SHADOWLINE group of titles. The entire
comics industry undoubtedly feels the loss of this
great talent, and we at Marvel send our condo-
lences to Archie's family and friends.
ITEM! Move over, Jackie Chan - we've got a real
martial arts master here! From the pages of HEROES
FOR HIRE comes IRON FIST, the Living weapon, who
returns to solo action next week for the first time in
years, in his own hard-hitting limited series! The
three-issue epic finds DANNY RAND being contacted
by a mystery super-villain, who claims to be holding
DANNY's long-lost sister hostage! The villain
demands that DANNY break into a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility
to steal the all-powerful SCORPIO key! But that's just
the beginning of an adventure that finds 01' Fisty
traversing the globe on a mission of international
intrigue that would have JAMES BOND crying 'Uncle!'
IRON FIST is brought to you by writer DAN JURGENS,
who is currently knocking your Midgardian socks off
in our all-new THOR mag! The butt-kickin' art is pro-
vided by JACKSON GUICE and SCOTT KOBLISH. If
you've ever seen Jackson's stunning work on such
titles as MICRONAUTS, IRON MAN, and S.H.I.E.L.D.,
you already know why we call him 'Action" Jackson!
ITEM! Break out the pumpkin bombs and gas up the
bat-glider! The original HOBGOBLIN — one of the most
dangerous foes SPIDER-MAN has ever faced — returns
next week in SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #259,
along with his co-creator, ROGER STERN! We found
out Hobby's true identity last year in the HOBGOBLIN
LIVES limited series, but the story didn't end there!
Nope, Hobby now wants out of jail, and he launches a
devious plan to gain his freedom! How does NORMAN
OSBORN fit into this scheme — and will it culminate
in the first-ever showdown between the original
Hobgoblin and the original GREEN GOBLIN? Looks
like our favorite wall-crawler will have his hands full in
this three-part saga that brings Rollickin' Roger
together with new regular SPECTACULAR scribe
GLENN GREENBERG and artists LUKE ROSS and AL
MILGROM!
ITEM! Think you've seen every possible WOLVER-
INE/ SABRETOOTH battle? Think again, bub! Next
week, CHRIS CLAREMONT and LIE-NEL FRANCIS YU
bring you a CREED/LOGAN slashfest like you've never
seen before in WOLVERINE #126! It's the most painful
day of Wolvie's life, and just when it seems his luck
has run out..
. that's when SABRETOOTH attacks!
(When Mutants Attack... sounds like one of those Fox
TV specials!) The twist? This time, SABRETOOTH has
gained an unbeatable edge, and he's determined to
make this Logan's last day on Earth! If Wolverine's not
careful, he could find that he's an endangered species!
STAN'S SOAPBOX!
i, Heroes!
I hate to complain, but somethings bugging me.
I know its not your problem, but there's no one
else I can lay it on! It has to do with No-Prizes.
Y'see, I've been giving them away for years, gener-
ously, happily, unselfishly. But, it suddenly
occurred to me, since I'm the only one who gives
'em out — there's nobody who can give one to me!
So, for the first time in history, I'm gonna break
with tradition. Here and now, with you as my wit-
ness, I take great pleasure and pride in awarding a
convertible, turbo-charged, eight cylinder No-Prize
to - myselfl Can't say any more about it now - its
hard to speak when blinded by tears of joy!
s
o, while I dry my eyes, let's tackle this question
from Terence Connors of Rochelle Park, NJ:
"l read somewhere that Uncle Ben and Aunt
May Parker first appeared in STRANGE
TALES #97, not in AMAZING FANTASY #15.
Is it true? If so, what was the story about?"
Hey, Terry, I was too brainless to save those
old comics, so I can't look up STRANGE TALES
#97. But I do know for sure that I first created the
names Aunt May Parker and Uncle Ben Parker for
Spidey in AMAZING FANTASY #15. so if those
names, or anything similar, were used in STRANGE
TALES, it's just the mother of all coincidences!
H
ereS one that needs a prophet, from Adam
Manton of Chicago Heights, IL:
"With all of todays technology, like computers
and stuff, do you think comic books have
a future?"
You know it, Adam! They'll have a future as
long as people can read. And I'll hand over the
brand new No-Prize I just awarded myself to anyone
who can prove me wrong!
obert E. Grover of Amherst, MA, has a query
hat really made me think for a while:
"If you could take the writing helm of any
Marvel title, which would it be and in
what direction would you go?"
I'd probably get a kick out of tackling one of
the •smaller titles, one that isnt presently on the
best-seller list. You see, I feel that all our characters
carry the seeds of greatness; they just have to be
harvested correctly. It might be fun to write THE
PUNISHER or GHOST RIDER, to name a couple. As
for how I'd do it - its too dangerous to tell! You see,
the competition pores over each Soapbox column with
a fine-tooth comb. You wouldn't want me to give
away any writing tips, wouldja, Bob? Or, maybe
your name isn't Bob! Maybe you're a double agent!
Wow! Lucky I didn't divulge any of Marvel's count-
less super secrets!
F
inally, this one comes from Ed Budlowski of
Bridgeport, CT:
"When your super characters cause
property damage, who pays for it?"
You do! We just raise the price of the comic!
Forgive that one, Ed — its been a long, tough day!
Vou too can win comicdoms most sought after
I award - your very own No-Prize, suitable for
framing or gift-giving! Here's all youwe gotta
remember: Our E-mail address is stanz-
fanz@aol.com, or send your letters to
"Stan's Soapbox', c/o BULLPEN BUL-
LETINS, Marvel Comics, 387 Park Ave.
South, New York, NY 10016. Hey, if we
made it any simpler for you, we'd be
writing your questions ourselves!
(Hmmm, not a bad idea. We could make
sure they're easy ones!)
Excelsior!
Stan Lee
tikihumor.com