Directly dazzling.
In making some slight attempt to arrange the “to be read” piles at home, I put aside a bunch of recently acquired fanzines ‘n’ prozines, inside one of which I found this article:
This comics from Comics Feature #6 in 1980, and I figured this would be a good article to pick out given that there’s a brand new Dazzler series out on the shelves this week.
What really caught my eye was the phrasing of the headline, referring to comic book specialty stores as “fan shops.” Comic stores were still relatively new, mostly beginning to crop up in the ’70s (though there were certain some examples prior to that). I know most of us just call ’em “comic shops” or “comic book stores” now, even if the actual comic book sections are a minor afterthought to the shelves and shelves of Pokemon and Magic the Gathering product.
“Direct sales outlet” is another term used in the article that feels a bit dated, describing the nature of the different distribution between comic shops and newsstands that was on folks’ minds then, but not so much now. We’re primarily reminded of it on today’s new comics with the “direct sales” slug present on UPC codes.
Seeing “fan shop” reminds me of a common criticism of comic stores, as those of a particularly…unpleasant nature are referred to negatively as “clubhouse.” It wouldn’t surprise me to see someone referring to some unwelcoming shop or ‘nother on social media as “fan shop (derogatory),” as the popular phrasing goes with you young folks nowadays.
That’s mostly all I wanted to mention about this article, but I suppose I should note that theh print run on this Dazzler #1 was “a quarter of a million copies,” and even that was noted as being slightly less than a typical Marvel first issue, due to the “restricted” circulation. There are comic publishers who would strangle their mom’s favorite goat to get a print run that high on anything today.
Also interesting is that, while the first issue was comic shop only, it started getting newsstand distribution with the second issue. Sorry, kids with no “fan shops” in your area, you’ll never get to see Dazzler’s exciting origin!
And then:
Well…thanks, Big Jim, I…guess?
A fan shop would be really windy, I would think.
They should have sent a 45 record out with the Dazzler #1. I sort of imagine her as sounding like a Blondie knock-off.
You don’t pull on Superman’s cape…
You don’t spit into the wind…
You don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger
And you don’t mess around with Big Jim
I don’t know if anyone else has seen the movie Flipside, but it’s about a record store that starts out quirky and ends up uninviting over the course of decades. It reminded me of a lot of comic “fan shops (derogatory)” I’ve been in over the years. I still love them, but that’s probably because I know the password to get into the clubhouse.
Anyway, weird that Shooter decided Dazzler was the comic to launch this way. I guess Marvel didn’t have many other options since they weren’t launching #1s the way they are now.
Thelonious: find the Metamorpho song on YouTube. I do wonder about how they chose her looks, maybe it was Debbie Harry. Right about then, Linda Blair was in ROLLER BOOGIE, which I just DVRd from TCM.
I’m curious as to what phrases took off in given areas Carl Bonasera opened ALL-AMERICAN COMICS here in 1980. Listed as a specialty shop. A few more places opened in the early 80s, they were all specialty shops. You could see from the signs in the window. But our phone books had you look under Specialty Shops or possibly Collectibles.
Carl was in Evergreen Park, the edge of Chicago on the sw side. So did different areas geographically try new names or just go with what the first store was named. I never knew LCS until the 90s.
I also have a fair amount of gray hair – but for me before 1980 comics were in 7-11 and occasionally airports and train stations; and after 1980 they were in “comic book stores.” I was lucky enough to live in San Diego as a teen between 1983 and 1988 and so at SDCC I paid money for Comic Buyer’s Guide subscription — wrote a check I put in the dang mail for it — which immersed me in the terminology of “the direct market” which was fascinating to me.
Dazzler reminds me that I do enjoy to periodically re-watch MovieBob’s video about the would-be Dazzler movie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbszyAnjUNg
The mainstream press says 400,000 copies. https://www.newspapers.com/article/birmingham-post-herald-dazzler-1-releas/155684350/
I would think that Olivia Newton-John would have been one of the inspirations for Dazzler, as she was pretty popular in the late ’70s/early ’80s what with “Grease”, “Xanadu,” and other musical films. But I could see Debbie Harry, or the women in ABBA perhaps being an inspiration for Dazzler as well. The Linda Blair “Roller Boogie” possibility which Wayne mentioned is also intriguing.
Funny to read this after reading Absolute Batman selling over 200,000 being treated as a triumph..
Looks more Olivia Newton John to me- she’s Disco, not New Wave.
Until she got a makeover, THEN she looked New Wave. In the late 80’s, when New Wave was pretty much OVER.
Wasn’t the original plan for the character to be Disco Dazzler before they changed it? Disco has fallen out of favor almost as many times as local news channels have told us that “swing” music was making a big return.
Marvel definitely tried hopping on some pop-culture bandwagons throughout the 70s, with varying degrees of success:
Dazzler (disco)
Iron Fist & Shang-Chi (Bruce Lee)
Luke Cage (blaxploitation)
Razorback (CB radio)
The reason I didn’t mention Olivia NJ was because by the time Dazzler was out, NJ was in GREASE.
I *always* thought she started in disco. She had the roller skates. Granted, her appearance could be based on several women from that time frame.
Disco itself was still big here until around 1980. Just outside of Chicago in Summit, there was a huge place, Prime & Tender. But it slowly dwindled to one or two *disco* nights a week, like Wednesday and Saturday. I did PR work for an Elvis band back then and there was more nights available to play, that’s how I can remember it.
I should add that Chicago never really embraced disco.Too many piano bars.
Still curious on “specialty shops”. Mike, Sean, anyone else? The big draw was that you had a pull list.
What year was the disco riot at the White Sox ballpark? I forget what radio DJs instigated it but they destroyed a lot of LPs that night.
@ Oliver
To add to your “Marvel jumping on the pop-culture band wagon in the ’70s” list:
Micronauts (Star Wars)
And most of the various Marvel Horror characters from the ’70s seem to have been created (or revived if in the public domain) because the Hammer Horror films from the UK were doing quite well, along with an uptick in US Horror films after “Rosemary’s Baby” was a success.
The there were all of the ’70s film and TV adaptations as Marvel Super Specials, Treasury Editions, or stand alone issues of Marvel Spotlight or Marvel Premier or Marvel Whatever: “Golden Voyage of Sinbad,” “Planet of the Apes,” “Star Wars,” “Battlestar Galactica,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Jaws,” Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” etc.
And the ’70s pop-culture toy comics:
Again, Micronauts, ROM, Shogun Warriors.
And Ghost Rider was part ’70s bikersploitation (a la “Easy Rider”) mixed with Horror.
And there are the iterations of ’70s Marvel characters who could be categorized as
Psychedelic/Acid Visions/Carlos Castaneda- Counter Culture inspired:
Doctor Strange , although created in the’60s, became very Acid Vision-like during the Steve Englehart and Frank Brunner run of the early 70s. Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock were also very Acid Vision-like during the Jim Starlin run on those books. Man-Thing, and The Son of Satan could also fit in the Acid Vision as well as Horror genres.
Basically, ’70s Marvel Comics were very interesting and are a blast to read!
John J.: July of 1979. I actually watched it from a dining hall when I worked with an Elvis impersonator. There were TVs in a back room and people left the show roiom to check the sadly tiny TVs.
Comiskey Park is sadly now Guaranteed Rate Park because sponsors. The DJs were Steve Dahl and Gary Myers, who were cash cows for Chicago for maybe a decade.
There is a YouTube of the event. I believe the Sox had to forfeit the game and get an automatic loss.
The original inspiration for Disco Dazzler was Grace Jones. I can’t remember who decided she should be white or where in the character design process that happened. Her whole development history is on Wikipedia.
@Thom H.
Wow, that’s interesting. Marvel should definitely have an alternate Earth “Disco Dazzler” who looks like Grace Jones…
Thom — I saw (and really enjoyed) Flipside! And I hadn’t really considered it, but I agree — it’s got a lot of pertinence to long-time legacy comic shops that haven’t changed with the times.
…where’s that meat smell coming from?
Also, Grace Jones? That surprises me, but only because I really first encountered Jones several years after the disco era. I was thinking Dazzler’s inspiration could have been Donna Summer, though, because pop culture of every form has a history of looking to people of color for inspiration and then making things whiter. But it’s exciting to see that Romita based her on Grace Jones, and this article has the receipts. https://www.geekgirlauthority.com/nerdy-love-letters-dazzler-marvel-comics/
@Rob S.: Yes! It was the meat smell that made the connection for me when I was watching the movie. Funny we both picked up on that.
Also, thanks for finding that article with the drawing of the early, black Dazzler. She looks great. I read her dialogue with Grace Jones’ accent.
“Razorback (CB radio)”
Yeah, that one was lame! I quite enjoyed much of their Blaxploitation and Kung-Fu-sploitation!
“I should add that Chicago never really embraced disco.
Too many piano bars.”
I would hope they embraced Elton John & Billy Joel!
“Micronauts, ROM, Shogun Warriors”
Toy-sploitation! Loved those, too!