Pizzazz (magazine)
| Editor | Bobby Miller |
|---|---|
| Categories | Pop culture, comics |
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| First issue | October 1, 1977 |
| Final issue | January 1, 1979 |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Pizzazz was a magazine published by Marvel Comics from 1977 to 1979, for a total run of 16 issues. Aimed at youth culture, Pizzazz mostly contained articles about popular movies, rock stars, et cetera, as well as comic strips and puzzles.
Contents
Recurring features included a comic about Amy Carter's life as the President's daughter, a serialized Star Wars comic, and a one-page comic by Harvey Kurtzman (typically a "Hey Look!" piece done for the Marvel predecessor Timely Comics in the 1940s) on the last page. Regular columns included the reader dream-analyzing "Dream Dimensions" and the advice column "Dear Wendy."[1] Once the magazine was established, a regular feature was a full-page illustration of some crowded scene in which the names of readers who had written letters to the magazine were hidden.
The covers showed either photos of popular celebrities, or photo-realistic drawings of celebrities and/or Marvel superheroes.[2] Shaun Cassidy was featured on six covers, The Hulk appeared on five covers, Spider-Man on four, and Peter Frampton on three.
Topics mentioned in the magazine included (but weren't limited to):
- The original Star Wars movie
- Grease
- Meat Loaf
- The movie Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
- Battlestar Galactica
- Superman: The Movie
Serialized Star Wars stories
The early installments of the serialized Star Wars comic featured in Pizzazz have the distinction of being the first original (i.e., not directly adapted from the films) Star Wars material to appear in print form,[3] preceding the 1978 novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye by several months, as well as the introduction of original stories in Marvel's own monthly Star Wars title.
The first story arc, titled "The Keeper's World," was by Roy Thomas, Howard Chaykin, and Tony DeZuniga. It was later reprinted by Dark Horse Comics. The second story arc, entitled "The Kingdom Of Ice", was by Archie Goodwin, Walt Simonson, Klaus Janson, Dave Cockrum, and John Tartaglione. The final two chapters were scheduled to be printed in issues 17 and 18, but the magazine was cancelled after the 16th issue. These two chapters were printed, along with the rest of the story, in the UK in Marvel's Star Wars Weekly comic, appearing in issue 60 in April 1979.
See also
References
- ↑ "Like Being Bored?", Pizzazz house ad featured in Marvel Comics publications (May 1978).
- ↑ Pizzazz cover gallery at Rebelscum.com
- ↑ Cronin, Brian. "Comic Book Legends Revealed" #318, Comic Book Resource (June 17, 2011).
