Michael D Hamersky On Comics Thinks About...     Marvel Bullpen Bulletins!

TODAY'S FEATURE IS BLOG #3881 -    I was asked if I had ever been mentioned in a Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page.  Like being named as one of the M.M.M.S. members.

Well... I don't remember being named in one, although I was on a letters page at least once.

The Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page actually started off as a 'Letters Page' in the Fantastic Four comic book.

What was really cool about the letters / Bullpen Bulletins page was that it was all done in a fun style!

The pages were in a format that the reader felt that they were part of a special club, which actually was started later.

The first letters page that I remember was in Fantastic Four #3.  Which consisted of just one page of letters.  But a few months later the 'Letter Page' was expanded to two pages.

Then there was a yellow colored box that contained 'Special Announcements', and that was followed by a 'Mighty Marvel Checklist', also colored in yellow.

The club I was thinking of was the M.M.M.S. - Merry Marvel Marching Society, that I blogged about most recently at this blog post.   That usually took a full or half page of the comic book.

Plus there were pages for Marvel merchandise...

What happened next was these were all combined into a 'Marvel Bullpen Bulletins' page, as seen at the top right of this blog post.  I believe the first one was printed cover dated December of 1965.  The one at the top is from Fantastic Four #45, that was cover dated December of 1965.

From there, the Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page evolved.  It continued for many years and added some additional features, such as Stan's Soapbox in June of 1967. (Photo of Stan Lee in 1968 at the top left of this blog post.)

Stan, although he was older, came across as a 'hip' kind of guy, instead of the stodgy older guys over at National / DC Comics. He was 'Stan' while they were 'Dear Editor' during this time period.

Irving Forbush also became widely known because of this page.  And he went on to star in 'Not Brand Echh' comics!

I enjoyed seeing what was coming out soon, in the Mighty Marvel Checklist.  Quite often a special section of the Bullpen Bulletins page would show a visual of the comic book title, such as for Conan the Barbarian in comics with the cover date of September 1970.

The Marvel Bullpen Bulletins page met its demise in 2001.  It is a shame that such a page was let go... But blogs, websites, and social media sites have kind of taken over what the page once did.

I for one kind of miss it... And look fondly back on it in my memories.

~ Michael

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