Friday, October 19, 2012

Top 10 unreleased Marvel projects from the 1980s

Here's my run-down of the top 10 unreleased projects from the 1980s.

  1. JLA/Avengers (You can read more here).
  2. Doctor Strange drawn by Frank Miller (1981) "Watch for the new adventures of Earth's Sorcerer Supreme - - as mystically conjured by Roger Stern and Frank Miller!"Miller only produced the cover for Doctor Strange #46 (April 1981). 
  3. Marvel and DC Present The Uncanny X-Men and The New Teen Titans #2 - More details here.
  4. "The Last Galactus Story" by John Byrne and Terry Austin. Nine of the Ten parts were published in Epic Illustrated.
  5. Frank Miller and WaltSimonson's DD.
  6. John Byrne's Incredible Hulk #320+
  7. Longshot graphic novel by Ann Nocenti and Art Adams.
  8. Excalibur Graphic Novel by Chris Claremont and Alan Davis.
  9. Phoenix limited series by Chris Claremont and Rick Leonardi - Rachel Summers.
  10. Questprobe #4-12. Only the first 3 issues of the 12-issue limited series were published with a fourth published in Marvel Fanfare #33 (July 1987).
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13 comments:

  1. MOCK!October 19, 2012 at 7:25 AM

    I remember the whispers and plans for most of these (excluding the two Miller jobs)...I would probably have picked up 7 of them at the time, probably would only be getting the Miller runs and Byrne's Galactus stories as an adult with a retroactive appreciation for the work....

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  2. Jason ShayerOctober 19, 2012 at 7:30 AM

    Hey MOCK! Thanks for dropping by. Yeah, that missing Byrne Galactus story is simply painful. If I had enough money, I'd commission him to finish it! And get Terry Austin to ink it!

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  3. DavidOctober 19, 2012 at 8:24 AM

    I think the first link is broken. Great article, though!

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  4. Jason ShayerOctober 19, 2012 at 10:13 AM

    Thanks David. Fixed.

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  5. anotherdaeOctober 19, 2012 at 11:05 AM

    Awe man, didn't even know some of that was on the table. Sad now.

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  6. Jason ShayerOctober 19, 2012 at 4:22 PM

    Hey anotherdae, thanks for the comment. And sorry to have made you feel sad! :)

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  7. Erik J KreffelOctober 19, 2012 at 6:18 PM

    I'm not huge of fan of Rick Leonardi's work, but still wanted to see Rachel's limited series (heck, Iceman got his own, for cripe's sake!). Oh well. And another Excalibur GN? Any details on that? Was it set during the series run?

    Great post.

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  8. Jason ShayerOctober 19, 2012 at 6:40 PM

    Hey EJK, I've emailed Alan Davis to see what he knows. I'll have a post on it shortly. But, it did have to do with Nightcrawler and Mystique.

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  9. RichOctober 19, 2012 at 8:57 PM

    I definitely would have bought another Longshot story. I buy anything Art Adams draws.
    I really wanted to see where Questprobe was going, too.

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  10. Erik J KreffelOctober 20, 2012 at 7:18 PM

    "I've emailed Alan Davis to see what he knows" sounds like a telephone call to the Gods to me! Awesome!

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  11. ~P~October 20, 2012 at 8:11 PM

    Miller DID indeed produce a LITTLE more Doctor Strange related material in that timeframe - most of it probably as the reason WHY he was tapped to (or intended to) draw Doc's book soon thereafter.

    He drew the awesome SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL # 14 - 1980 - (Doc and Spidey team-up against Dr. Doom - and Dormammu - who were teaming up as well). Written by Miller and Denny O'Neil, it's a fantastic piece of DOC goodness.

    Also from 1980 Miller drew the beautiful back cover of that year's Marvel Calendar - which can be seen at the following link:

    http://sanctumsanctorumcomix.blogspot.com/2009/01/time-warp-part-iii-occult-world-of.html

    Right around that time, Miller also drew a scarcely-seen illo of Doc and Clea (which was published in some comic zine - I forget which, but I have a copy around here somewhere.)

    Of course, there was the famous promotional ad which was hyping the Miller Doctor Strange title... BOTH THAT and the Spot illo you have blogged about - AND have linked to in your piece here.

    Sadly, that's all there was for Miller's Dr. Strange.

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  12. Jason ShayerOctober 20, 2012 at 8:39 PM

    Hey ~P~, thanks for sharing that! Completely forgot about the Spider-Man Annual #14. And if I'm not mistaken, he drew it in a very Ditko-ish style.

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  13. ~P~October 21, 2012 at 10:53 AM

    No prob, Jason.

    The other-dimensional scenes were reflective of Ditko, but otherwise, it was pure 1980's Miller.

    Here's a site (not mine) where the owner shows scans of various pages from the book.

    http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/entries/amazing_spider-man_annual_14.shtml

    Also note how similar the scene of Doc studying is compared to that Calendar back-cover I mentioned earlier.

    ~P~

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