Pizzazz #4 - Marvel

Jan. 1978 - It's a party, and you're invited!

After I got such an enthusiastic response to this blog's first look at Marvel's Pizzazz magazine, I knew I had to go find another issue to look at, post-haste. Once I saw this cover--featuring Spidey, the Hulk, and Thor mingling with Charlie's Angels, the Fonz, and the Hardy Boys, I knew which issue I'd be buying next.

This issue opens with an article on soccer, called "Soccer: Getting Hot" (I dunno; it always seems like we're being told soccer, as a sport, is thisclose to becoming huge in America, and yet it never seems to happen), some TV, movie, and record reviews, a page on magic tricks, followed by another installment where comic book artist Rudy Nebres interprets readers' dreams:

There's another page of Dr. Doom telling jokes (with little drawings by Marie Severin, beautiful) called "Dr. Doom Cracks Up", followed by this surprisingly serious and pointed cartoon strip by Al Swiller:

After this are the traditional puzzle pages, like a music-centric word find, a Hulk secret code, and this maze where you have to help the Mighty Thor find his way back to Asgard:

...I expect this issue to skyrocket in value once the Thor movie comes out, if I can keep myself from trying out the maze.

There's a monster-centric crossword puzzle, an article on Alice Cooper, followed by a Donny and Marie calendar centerfold (surely the only time these two acts were ever mentioned in the same sentence). There's some short fiction, a poem about when the Cuyahoga River caught fire(!), and then the advice column called "Dear Stan."

After that is the really good stuff: the two serialized comic book strips, "Young Tarzan" by David Kraft and Joe Buscema, and "Star Wars" by Roy Thomas, Howard Chaykin, and Tony DeZuniga:

Man, are these fun--the format and the content. Kind of makes me want to buy all the Pizzazzs just to read both stories in total.

There's some more gag strips, a piece on O.J. Simpson(!!), and then an article called "Whatever Happened to Vinnie Barbarino?", which sort of morphs Vinnie, Tony Manero, and John Travolta into one person.

Ad-wise, there's some cool stuff here, like this ad from Wonderland Records:

...what is "Bionic Action", exactly?

Wonderland sorta seems like a second-rate Power Records, but they did have the Star Wars license, that's a pretty big deal.

There's another ad, even more perplexing:

...I have no idea what this is, but I know I want it!

And so ends another issue of Pizzazz. Rest assured it won't be the last seen on this blog...