Redartz: Back in the Bronze age, many of us enjoyed our comics fandom in solitude, or with the company of a few choice friends. But thanks to Marvel, there was a cool club, an ongoing organization of 'friends of ol' Marvel'. Or, as the acronym spells, "FOOM"! You sent in your fee, and got (in a pretty impressive Hulk mailer) a gorgeous Steranko poster, stickers, gold membership card, and a subscription to "FOOM" magazine. The magazine was filled with news,
previews, art and articles on all things Marvel. I was one of the many who joined up, and awaiting each issue of FOOM was almost as difficult as waiting each month for the next Amazing Spider-Man installment!
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| Redartz' official membership card... |
Unfortunately, about all that remains of my membership is the card (which I still proudly keep among my comics). It would be nice to reacquire that poster, and a few of the magazines. I did pick up the new FOOM, which Marvel released quite recently- part of their current attempt to reconnect the past and present. It was nice to see that they remember a bit of the Bronze, after all.
How many former FOOMers are out there among us? Chew the fat, and tell us your FOOMemories...
11 comments:
I was bummed I didn't get the first issue waaaay back then (I thought I had gotten in pretty early..), but I first got issue 3 with the Spidey cover. I eventually picked up both 1 and 2 (ish two had the first Wolverine image apparently..). I only subscribed for four quarterly issues, but I liked 'em quite a bit. The stickers you got were very nice, but like most things, I was quite wary of actually sticking them anywhere, I just wanted everything kept pristine.
As I mentioned with the posters column a few days back, I had the FOOM poster up in my room. During that time, Reed Richards had grown some facial hair (ish 147) so I actual drew some stubble on Reed (dumb idea..), but I had since purchased a high-quality (slightly smaller) version of the poster, which is now matted/framed by my staircase (it was the wife's idea, actually..).
In retrospect, I really wish Steranko would have stayed on as FOOMster-in-Chief. It proved an exotic showcase for some of his artistry on various pages. In light of the Marvelmania shortcomings (FOOM's ill-fated predecessor), we all really lost out when he moved on, both in style and artistry.
Unless I am misreading it entirely, the cover of issue #2 is by John Buscema and P. Craig Russell. Did those two ever do anything else together?
*sigh* I was never a FOOM. Yet another exotic bronze Marvel flavor. I've no idea whether they even posted the goods to the UK.
Incidentally, does anybody know if some Marvel wit knowingly named FOOM with a nod to Fing Fang Foom?
Only saw FOOMs in a trade with the one kid in school I knew of, who read comics, He had an odor of cigarettes, sweat, and felony about himself so the FOOMs were kept in a plastic bag. He didn't visit the Big House but his little brother did.
Unfortunately my knowledge of FOOM was only in the silver age comic adverts along with MMMS and the rest. I never had any first hand experience. That X-Men Cockrum art looks pretty cool though - was it 3D???
Also that Defenders issue is one I’d like to have; I like the characters they put in the boxes from YJ to the Elf.
I was never a member of FOOM but I did clip a coupon out of Mighty World of Marvel and send off for three issues of the magazine. I got the Daredevil, Conan and Vision issues, which had lots of appealing artwork in them and were full of intriguing articles, insights and interviews. I remember being surprised when an interview in one of them said that Daredevil had always been a slow-selling comic. Up until that point, I'd always assumed that all of Marvel's main heroes were huge, great big smash hits.
I apparently lived in a different universe.
My issue #2 of FOOM has a Jim Steranko cover featuring the Hulk, and i'm not finding any sign of Wolverine inside the issue unless it's pinned to wall in the background of the Bullpen photos.
It's also got that ultra-groovy Keep On Foomin' Hulk pic.
jeirich- That's a good question. I'm not sure if Buscema and Russell did any other work together. Perhaps a Savage Sword tale or two? Anyone know?
Colin B- Sounds like FOOM had the same exotic appeal for you that your UK Marvel editions had for me. As for Fin Fang Foom- someone somewhere must have put that link together. My first impression, the first time I ever heard of FOOM, was that it was Friends of Old Marvel; that is, it was a club for Golden age Marvel. I was pleased to learn I was mistaken.
Marti- yes, there was a lot of nice art and fascinating features in the magazines. But no, the X-Men cover wasn't 3-D. Although it would have been very cool. And the Defenders cover was a favorite of mine, especially as they included the Elf.
-3- - I seem to recall seeing a variant cover to issue 2 such as you describe. Unfortunately I no longer have any of those magazines so I can't check the details. But I don't recall a Wolverine image (if memory after 40 years can be trusted)...
As for the Wolverine 'first glance', I actually have the issue buried somewhere, and I recently read somewhere on-line that it was his first appearance. Here are the links..:
https://www.bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/58c-600x405.jpg
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2013/12/22/foom-2-the-first-appearance-of-wolverine-in-1973/
It's more of a 'first conceived' appearance, than the actual character that finally premiered in Hulk a few short months later.
And yes, -3-, that definitely was our great Steranko on the Hulk cover for ish 2. :)
I skimmed right by that, even though i glanced through the fan sketches to see if there was anything Wolverine-ish. Maybe accompanying text with the submission gave more specifics, but that image gave me zero impression of the hero we know. What they're determining to be healing looked a lot more like some sort of holographic disguise system or something. No claws. No real resemblance beyond the name.
I'm calling BS on the ebay seller.
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