America's Best TV Comics

America's Best TV Comics is a one-shot American comic book packaged by Marvel Comics' parent company in mid-1967 in conjunction with the ABC television network to promote the network's Saturday morning cartoon lineup.

America's Best TV Comics
America's Best TV Comics (one-shot)
Cover art main image by Jack Kirby or Larry Lieber and unconfirmed inker
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
FormatOne-shot
Publication date1967
No. of issues1
Main character(s)Fantastic Four, Spider-Man
Creative team
Written byStan Lee
Artist(s)Jack Kirby, Paul Reinman
Dick Ayers, John Romita Sr.

Publication history

Marvel Comics, which occasionally packaged sponsored comics,[1] created this 68-page comic book in 1967 for the ABC television network to promote the network's Saturday morning cartoon lineup. The formal credit in the comic's indicia is for Marvel's parent company, Magazine Management. The indicia also specifies, "Distributed nationally by the Independent News Company," which distributed Marvel Comics at the time.[2] The copyright is held by ABC.[3] Bearing a cover price of 25¢ and also distributed via mail-order,[4] it features the Marvel characters the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man, who were debuting in half-hour animated series that fall, as well as stories based on the upcoming animated series Journey to the Center of the Earth, The King Kong Show, George of the Jungle, and Casper the Friendly Ghost. The ABC cartoon block, which also included the series The Beatles, ran Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The main cover image of the Fantastic Four's Mr. Fantastic was penciled either by Jack Kirby or Larry Lieber mimicking Kirby's style, and possibly inked by either Frank Giacoia[2] or Joe Sinnott[5] (sources differ). All were Marvel Comics regulars. The image of the Fantastic Four in the top right-hand box is a partial reproduction of the Kirby-Sinnott cover of Fantastic Four #49 (April 1966).

The stories, in order, are:

  • a 10-page, edited Casper reprint, "The Flying Horse", from The Friendly Ghost, Casper #17 (Jan. 1960)[6] by artist Warren Kremer and an unconfirmed writer, possibly Ralph Newman;[1]
  • a 10-page, edited reprint of the 22-page "Prisoners of the Pharaoh", by writer-editor Stan Lee, penciler Kirby and inker Dick Ayers, from Fantastic Four #19 (Oct. 1963)
  • a 10-page, edited reprint of the 20-page "The Birth of a Super-Hero", by writer-editor Lee and penciler-inker John Romita Sr., from The Amazing Spider-Man #42 (Nov. 1966)
  • the 10-page Journey to the Center of the Earth original story "The People of the Styx", by an unknown writer and penciler-inker Paul Reinman, a Marvel Comics regular
  • the 10-page King Kong original story "Kong Joins the Circus", by an uncredited creative team, and
  • the 10-page George of the Jungle original story "Shep's Burial Ground", also by an uncredited team.

The comic also includes single-page ads for some ABC primetime series, with that of Cowboy in Africa and The Flying Nun penciled by John Tartaglione, and a combined ad for Custer and Batman pencilled by George Tuska.[1]

References
  1. Caputo, Nick (April 18, 2013). "A Marvel Oddity-America's Best TV Comics". Marvel Mysteries and Comics Minutiae. Retrieved 2014-04-17.
  2. America's Best TV Comics at the Grand Comics Database
  3. Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series: 1968: January-June. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 1971. p. 68.
  4. "Who Says This Isn't the Marvel Age of Batty Bulletins?". Marvel Comics. It's called America's Best TV Comics, on sale at all newsstands, or send 25¢ to ABC, Box 20, Detroit, Mich. Bullpen Bulletins page, Marvel Comics cover-dated Dec. 1967 including Fantastic Four #70 and The Amazing Spider-Man #56.
  5. Müller, Markus, ed. "America's Best TV Comics". The Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators. Archived from the original on June 20, 2007.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link) Scroll down to entry.
  6. The Friendly Ghost, Casper #17 (Jan. 1960) at the Grand Comics Database.
  • Minuk, S.; Merrill, David R. (n.d.). "Stupid Comics". MisterKitty.org (fan site). Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved January 30, 2008.
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