''Marvel Preview'' is a

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white to produce a range of achromatic brightnesses of grey. It is also known as greyscale in technical settings. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, ...

comics

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

published by

Magazine Management Magazine Management Co., Inc. was an American publishing company lasting from at least c. 1947 to the early 1970s, known for men's-adventure magazines, risqué men's magazines, humor, romance, puzzle, celebrity/film and other types of magazines ...

for fourteen issues and the affiliated Marvel Comics Group for ten issues. The final issue additionally carried the imprint Marvel Magazines Group.

Publication history

An umbrella title that showcased a different heroic-adventure,

science-fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, sp ...

, or sword-and-sorcery character in virtually every issue. The title introduced the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

characters Dominic Fortune in issue #2,

Star-Lord Star-Lord (Peter Jason Quill) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Steve Englehart and Steve Gan, the character first appeared in '' Marvel Preview'' #4 (January 1976). The son of human Mered ...

in #4, and

Rocket Raccoon Rocket Raccoon is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Bill Mantlo and artist Keith Giffen, the character first appeared in ''Marvel Preview'' #7 (July 1976). He is an intelligent anthropomor ...

in #7. The vigilante character the

Punisher The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher ma ...

, introduced as an antagonist in the comic book ''

The Amazing Spider-Man ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American superhero American comic book, comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its title character and main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of t ...

'', had his first solo story in issue #2. The magazine experienced scheduling difficulties, with various "Next Issue" announcements proving unreliable. Issue #2 promised an adventure of the Marvel superhero

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

in #3, but a Blade story appeared, with the Thor story remaining unseen until #10. As well, two different issues, #20 and 24, are dated "Winter 1980, at the start and end of the year." Issue #20 was to have included photographs from the Japanese ''Spider-Man'' television program, but instead featured

Howard Chaykin Howard Victor Chaykin (; born October 7, 1950) is an Americans, American comics artist, comic book artist and writer. Chaykin's influences include his one-time employer and mentor, Gil Kane, and the mid-20th century illustrators Robert Fawcett an ...

's Dominic Fortune. In addition,

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein ( ; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific acc ...

's lawyers threatened legal action over the cover of ''Marvel Preview'' #11, which featured a blurb that described the Star-Lord content as "a novel-length science fiction spectacular in the tradition of Robert A. Heinlein," leading to the issue being pulled and reprinted. With #25 (March 1981), the title was changed to ''Bizarre Adventures'', which ran for an additional ten issues before ceasing publication. To offset the dark tone of most of the stories, editor

Denny O'Neil Dennis "Denny" Joseph O'Neil (May 3, 1939 – June 11, 2020) was an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until h ...

had writer

Steve Skeates Stephen Skeates (; January 29, 1943 – March 30, 2023) was an American comic book creator known for his work on such titles as ''Aquaman'', ''Hawk and Dove'', ''T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents'', and ''Plop!'' He also wrote under the pseudonyms Chester P. ...

produce a humor feature called Bucky Bizarre to close out each issue. A story originally prepared for Marvel's '' Logan's Run'' comic book series was published in ''Bizarre Adventures'' #28 (Oct. 1981). The final issue, #34, was a standard-sized color comic book, featuring the cover-blurb, "Special Hate the Holidays Issue", with anthological Christmas-related stories, including one starring

Howard the Duck Howard the Duck is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Steve Gerber, based very loosely on his college friend Howard Tockman, and artist Val Mayerik. Howard the Duck firs ...

Issues

''Bizarre Adventures''

Collected editions

* '' Essential Punisher Vol. 1'' includes the Punisher story from ''Marvel Preview'' #2, 568 pages, March 2004, * ''Dominic Fortune: It Can Happen Here and Now'' includes Dominic Fortune story from ''Marvel Preview'' #2, 184 pages, February 2010, * ''Blade: Black & White'' includes Blade the Vampire Slayer stories from ''Marvel Preview'' #3 and 6, 144 pages, December 2004, * ''Star-Lord: Guardian of the Galaxy'' includes Star-Lord stories from ''Marvel Preview'' #4, 11, 14-15, and 18, 424 pages, July 2014, * ''Essential Marvel Horror Vol. 1'' includes Satana story from ''Marvel Preview'' #7, 648 pages, October 2006, * ''Rocket Raccoon: Guardian of the Keystone Quadrant'' includes Rocket Raccoon story from ''Marvel Preview'' #7, 120 pages, August 2011, * ''Essential Moon Knight Vol. 1'' includes the Moon Knight story from ''Marvel Preview'' #21, 560 pages, February 2006, * ''Black Widow: Web of Intrigue'' includes the Black Widow story from ''Bizarre Adventures'' #25, 176 pages, April 2010, * '' Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Omnibus Vol. 2'' includes the Daughters of the Dragon story from ''Bizarre Adventures'' #25, 1,000 pages, June 2017, * ''The Savage Sword of Kull Vol. 1'' includes King Kull story from ''Bizarre Adventures'' #26, 448 pages, November 2010, * ''X-Men: Iceman'' includes the Iceman story from ''Bizarre Adventures'' #27, 120 pages, August 2012, * ''X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga'' includes Phoenix story from ''Bizarre Adventures'' #27, 200 pages, April 2012, * ''Elektra by Frank Miller Omnibus'' includes Elektra story from ''Bizarre Adventures'' #28, 384 pages, November 2008, * '' The Uncanny X-Men Omnibus Vol. 2'' includes the Jean Grey, Iceman, and Nightcrawler stories from ''Bizarre Adventures'' #27, 912 pages, April 2014,

References

External links

* * {{comicbookdb, type=title, id=2506, title=''Bizarre Adventures''
''Marvel Preview''
at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators Marvel Comics titles 1975 comics debuts 1983 comics endings Comics by Chris Claremont Comics by Doug Moench Comics by Roy Thomas Comics by Steve Englehart Comics by Steve Gerber Defunct American comics The Hound of the Baskervilles Rocket Raccoon Punisher titles Blade (comics) Thor (Marvel Comics) Heracles in fiction Morbius Lilith Comics based on Dracula Kull of Atlantis Moon Knight Works based on Merlin Black Widow (Marvel Comics)