Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Marvel Comics, X-Men | Tagged: andy olsen, foom, jim steranko, roy thomas, wolverine

FOOM #2 – The First Appearance Of Wolverine, In 1973?

FOOM #2 - The First Appearance Of Wolverine, In 1973?

Published Sun, 22 Dec 2013 09:00:40 -0600

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Wed, 31 Jul 2024 10:51:10 -0500

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FOOM, or Friends Of Ol' Marvel was a fanzine about Marvel actually produced by Marvel Comics, as if it were something from the small press. Published in the seventies, and initially designed and edited by Jim Steranko (he drew the second issue cover above), and then edited by Roy Thomas, it was intended to represent a fan voice for Marvel – but nothing that might frighten the horses. No fanfic of Cyclops and Professor X, here. It did, however, contain lots of fan art and fan-inspired articles. The first issue had a competition for readers to create their own character in the Marvel style.

And the second issue from 1973 had the winners. White Persian by Jackie Edwards. Stefan Wolff by Stephen Gilbert Unstead. Demo-Man by John M Trail. Darkstar by Richard John Larson. Novaton by Mariano Nicieza. Even an entry from Steve Rude! But also one from Andy Olsen…

The Wolverine. A character who appears to have some kind of healing ability, or maybe a metal skeleton under his skin, being injected with something, and a tiger stripe on his face mask… oh you can read into it what you want. Hulk #181 came out in 1974. Judge for yourself if you want, one fellow is taking full advantage of the situation over on eBay…

Running 22 quarterly issues between February 1973 and the autumn of 1978, Steranko write that he had "dropped in at the Marvel bullpen to rap with Stan Lee about the current comic scene" and that Lee told him about plans to start an in-house fan club. Steranko, writing that he nostalgically "recalled the days of radio, with all the clubs and super-premiums that were perpetually offered over the air", volunteered as a designer, writer and comic historian. Ken Bruzenak served as associate editor, with Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas as consulting editor and Ed Noonchester, Joel Thingvall, and Gary Brown as staff.

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