It’s sort of hard to believe ‘Mazing Man was even published in the first place.
Yes, it’s something else from Mike’s Closet of Stuff Any Sane Person Would Have Thrown Away by Now…a letter that accompanied a free ‘Mazing Man poster, mailed from DC Comics on July 29th, 1986:
CLICK TO EMBIGGEN
The poster was sent out to respondents to another one of DC’s fan surveys, and according to this letter, DC received a far larger response than expected. Apparently part of the deal of sending in the survey was getting a replacement copy of the “DC Releases” flier the survey appeared in, for, you know, the fans who were collecting the advertising fliers, which I’m not going to make fun of because, well, look what I’m posting about today.
I like this quote about outside reaction to this survey’s results:
“…Doug Herzog, the News Feature Producer from MTV, read thru 20 responses and decided it was time that MTV began doing feature stories on comic books. THANKS FANS!”
Those must have been some responses! “I’m 16 to 24 years old with an enormous amount of disposable income and am willing to buy anything — anything — advertised between broadcasts of videos for, say, Falco’s ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ and the Bangles’ ‘Walk Like an Egyptian.'”
My MTV viewing was fairly minimal, so I have no idea what stories they may have run at the time (though I’m pretty sure MTV, like pretty much every other pop culture-related broadcast, joined in on the late ’80s Bat-mania that accompanied Tim Burton’s first Batman film). If you saw any comic stories on MTV prior to the whole Bat-hoohar, please share those memories with us in the comments section.
Some hope is held out for ‘Mazing Man‘s survival:
“If the sales increase by just a small amount in the next month the book will continue on the schedule.”
Even a Frank Miller Dark Knight cameo on the cover of #12 didn’t save the series…or maybe it did, sorta, since there were three follow-up ‘Mazing Man specials.
You know, ‘Mazing Man was a cute, funny and, above all else, gentle comic. A comic about a guy who dresses up like a superhero and helps out around the neighborhood, his best friend is a comic book writer who, for whatever reason, looks like a dog, the relationships they have with their friends…it was silly and affecting, all in the right proportions. It’s been off the racks for twenty years, and I miss it still…there was nothing quite like it.
