| Format: | Anthology |
| Ongoing: | yes |
| Superhero: | yes |
| Publisher: | Marvel Comics |
| Date: | April 1972 - August 1981 |
| Issues: | 61 |
Marvel Premiere is an American comic book anthology series that was published by Marvel Comics. In concept it was a tryout book, intended to determine if a character or concept could attract enough readers to justify launching their own series, though in its later years it was also often used as a dumping ground for stories which could not be published elsewhere. It ran for 61 issues from April 1972 to August 1981. Contrary to the title, the majority of the characters and concepts featured in Marvel Premiere had previously appeared in other comics.[1]
Marvel Premiere was one of three tryout books proposed by Stan Lee after he transitioned from being Marvel Comics' writer and editor to its president and publisher, the others being Marvel Spotlight and Marvel Feature.[2] The advantage of such tryout books was that they allowed the publisher to assess a feature's popularity without the marketing investment required to launch a new series, and without the blow to the publisher's image with readers if the new series immediately failed.
In addition to giving established characters a first shot at a starring role, Marvel Premiere introduced new characters and reintroduced characters who no longer had their own titles. Writer Roy Thomas and penciler Gil Kane revamped Him as the allegorical Messiah Adam Warlock in Marvel Premiere #1 (April 1972).[3] Doctor Strange took over the series with issue #3[4] and writer Steve Englehart and artist Frank Brunner began a run on the character with issue #9.[5] The two killed Dr. Strange's mentor, the Ancient One, and Strange became the new Sorcerer Supreme. Englehart and Brunner created a multi-issue storyline in which a sorcerer named Sise-Neg ("Genesis" spelled backward) goes back through history, collecting all magical energies, until he reaches the beginning of the universe, becomes all-powerful and creates it anew, leaving Strange to wonder whether this was, paradoxically, the original creation. Stan Lee, seeing the issue after publication, ordered Englehart and Brunner to print a retraction saying this was not God but "a" god, so as to avoid offending religious readers. The writer and artist concocted a letter from a fictitious minister praising the story, and mailed it to Marvel from Texas; Marvel unwittingly printed the letter, and dropped the retraction order.[6] In 2010, Comics Bulletin ranked Englehart and Brunner's run on the "Doctor Strange" feature ninth on its list of the "Top 10 1970s Marvels".[7]
Iron Fist first appeared in issue #15, written by Roy Thomas and drawn by Gil Kane.[8] Other introductions include the Legion of Monsters, the Liberty Legion,[9] Woodgod, the 3-D Man,[10] and the second Ant-Man (Scott Lang).[11] [12] The series also featured the first comic book appearance of rock musician Alice Cooper.[13]
Though Adam Warlock, Doctor Strange, and Iron Fist were all given their own series following their tryout in Marvel Premiere, many of the later features were never meant even as potential candidates for a series. In some cases, such as the Wonder Man story in issue #55 and the Star-Lord story in #61, the writer simply wanted to do a story featuring that character and there was not a more appropriate place for it to be published. Some features, such as Seeker 3000 (issue #41), were conceived specifically for Marvel Premiere but with no real plan for a series. Later in the title's run, Marvel Premiere was used to finish stories of characters who had lost their own series, including the Man-Wolf in issues #45–46[14] [15] and the Black Panther in issues #51–53.[16]
| Issue | Character(s) | Collected in | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adam Warlock | Marvel Masterworks Warlock Vol. 1 Essential Warlock Vol 1 Adam Warlock Omnibus Vol 1 | |
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| Doctor Strange |
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| Iron Fist |
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| Hercules | Thor Epic Collection Vol 7 | |
| Satana |
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| Legion of Monsters |
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| Liberty Legion |
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| Woodgod | Marvel Masterworks Marvel Team-Up Vol. 6 | |
| Monark Starstalker | ||
| Solomon Kane |
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| 3-D Man | ||
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| Weirdworld | Weirdworld | |
| Torpedo |
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| Seeker 3000 | ||
| Tigra |
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| Paladin |
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| Jack of Hearts | Marvel Masterworks Iron Man Vol. 13 | |
| Man-Wolf | Man-Wolf: The Complete Collection | |
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| Ant-Man (Scott Lang) |
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| The Falcon | Marvel Masterworks The Avengers Vol. 18Marvel Masterworks Captain America Vol. 13 | |
| Alice Cooper | ||
| Black Panther |
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| Caleb Hammer | ||
| Wonder Man | Marvel Masterworks The Avengers Vol. 19Wonder Man: The Early Years Omnibus | |
| Dominic Fortune | Dominic Fortune: It Can Happen Here and Now | |
| Doctor Who (reprints from Marvel UK's Doctor Who Weekly) | ||
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| Star-Lord |
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The similarly-named Marvel Movie Premiere was a one-shot black-and-white magazine published by Marvel in September 1975. It featured an adaptation of The Land That Time Forgot by writer Marv Wolfman and artist Sonny Trinidad.[17]