Thursday, September 17, 2009

Highlighting House Ads: Power Man & Iron Fist

Marvel has always produced great comics, but I wouldn't say that the were always leaders in the realm of house ads. In the 60s, readers got a countless stream of unimaginative 'Another Marvel Masterpiece' ads, simply showing a couple of covers. I guess the books were just selling themselves back then. Over time, a few Marvel titles needed a bit of a boost and some minds came together with some creative and entertaining ads. Some, like this one for Power Man & Iron Fist, even served as proof of a sense of humor (shocking!). I absolutely adore this full-page that was all over the place in early '84, if memory serves. It actually gave a bit of personality to Danny Rand, and the artwork by Bill Sienkiewicz is beautiful. What a fun what to make people curious about this underappreciated series. This is one of Marvel's all-time greatest house ads.

4 comments:

Four-Color Kid said...

Wasn't there a follow up of this house ad with Powerman (also drawn by Bill Sienkiewicz)?

Scott M said...

I wasn't aware of that. I'd love to see if.

I wasn't too into comics in 1984 (starting drifting away as early as late '83), and wouldn't really dive back in until 1988 or so.

Unknown said...

There was one with Luke. I'm not sure which came first; I remember them appearing at pretty much the same time. (But I know the Iron Fist ad seems to be in a lot more books, at least the ones I own.)

Sixty cents-- Cheaper than a doctor bill. That's a great selling point.

Seattle Space Society said...

I believe I've seen the Power Man ad though I can only find this one now. It does seem to be more common. But somewhere there is an issue that has both, I'm fairly certain. Also you can find an ad Bill did for the start of his New Mutants run in X-Men 183 which also has the Iron Fist ad in it. Oh and also in the back of Rocket Raccoon #1 Bill did a drawing of the creative team which includes Mike Mignola!