When Promotions Run Amok

I'm about as capitalistic a guy as you're ever likely to meet...but even I have to draw the line somewhere.

Comics books have been a platform for advertising since their genesis in the 1930's, but for most of that time, ads had been confined to their own distinct pages as to not interfere (much) with the storytelling experience. However, there were times when a comic publisher's ad and promotions departments went a little crazy and stuck promotions on comic book covers themselves!  My pal Snell covered a doozy of an obnoxious cover promotion last week, which in turn triggered my recollection of another cover promotion that, while nowhere near as destructive as DC's lame Bicentennial scheme, was every bit as obnoxious.

Wrapping up several years' worth of storylines, X-Men #137 (1980) was the culmination of the sprawling Dark Phoenix Saga, arguably the most dramatic storyline in X-Men history. Is this issue, founding member Jean Gray struggled to resist the influence of the Phoenix Force, a corrupting cosmic entity that had recently caused Jean to destroy an entire solar system. Summoning the last vestiges of her humanity, Jean commits suicide to prevent the Phoenix Force from destroying our own solar system and her X-Men teammates. 

So, what better way to prepare a reader for a tale of loss and sacrifice than to crown the cover scene with a blaring black-on-yellow banner appealing directly to our GREED? 

You might even think Jean Gray herself was drawing more attention to the banner with the positioning of her left arm and the stream of debris she's channeling with her telekinesis. "Sure I'm going to die, but LOOK! This Marvel comic could be worth $2500 to you!"

As if eclipsing the cover of Jean's swan song wasn't bad enough, the next issue's touching epilogue to the Dark Phoenix Saga (featuring the resignation of Cyclops) was marred by yet another obnoxious banner ad, this one breathlessly announcing a Toys-R-Us shopping spree!

Really, could anything have been more at odds with the somber cover scene than that idiotic Toys-R-Us logo (complete with the backwards R)? You can imagine how happy co-creators Chris Claremont and John Byrne must have been over the boneheaded decision to run those cover ads over two of the most powerful issues of their long collaboration. Granted, most Marvel comics published during those two months had the same ads, but couldn't an exception have been made for these two ultra-somber instant classics?

Comments

[De]

I don't know about you, but I always follow up a funeral with a trip to Toys R Us. Mourning's for squares!

[Brian]

Great piece! Those banners were appearing on Marvel books just as I was really getting into comics reading and collecting, and several of my favorite comics have them (my own favorite is Iron Man #138, where Tony Stark's shocked expression seems as much because of the banner above him as the Dreadnought in his office). I don't think I mind them as much as you-- while I completely take your point about undercutting the pathos, I find that mixture of sincere emotion and hucksterism to be part of the charm of that era, and honestly preferable to the ultra-serious "posed portrait" covers on many comics today.

[Mark Engblom]

Hey Brian...as an "added bonus" for Iron-Man #138, do me a favor and check out its letter page...specifically if you recognize any of the letter writers' names.

(heh heh)

As for the banner on the other titles, that didn't bug me much. I just thought in the case of these X-Men covers, it really seemed to clash with the subject matter more than on the other covers across the Marvel line.

[Mark Engblom]

"I don't know about you, but I always follow up a funeral with a trip to Toys R Us. Mourning's for squares!"

LOL!

[Brian]

Mark,
Ha! I forgot you had that letter in #138 (and a fine letter it is, too!). Really, it was sheer coincidence that I mentioned that issue, but a fun coincidence I think. Even if you were wrong about the Hulk. (:

[Mark Engblom]

Well, as fine a letter as a fourteen year old goofus could write, I suppose. Yeah, in hindsight, the editor made good points about the Hulk's defeat, but at the same time, I still don't quite buy it all these years later. Hulk was "dazed" by a helicopter explosion? ONE punch (albeit a super amped-up one) was enough to knock him on his big green butt? Eh....still kinda creaky.