Blip #1

History

Marvel launched Blip in February 1983 through its magazine division as a video-game-tips periodical aimed at a preteen audience, printed on standard comic stock and distributed through both direct and newsstand channels. The magazine was edited by Joe Claro, with the debut issue's Donkey Kong comic strip written by Steve Grant and illustrated by Bob Camp — the latter an artist who would later co-create Ren & Stimpy. The cover featured a photo of Matthew Laborteaux, the Little House on the Prairie actor who was also a nationally ranked competitive video game player, lending the title a celebrity hook intended to bridge the worlds of television fandom and gaming culture. The series lasted only seven monthly issues, running from February through August 1983, its brief life coinciding almost exactly with the onset of the North American video game crash.

Trivia · 7 facts

• First comic-book appearance of Donkey Kong and Mario (February 1983, Marvel).
• First comic-book appearance of Pauline (the kidnapped damsel character from the Donkey Kong arcade game), also in this issue.
• The Donkey Kong feature is a six-page comic story written by Steve Grant with art by Bob Camp.
• Cover is a photo of actor Matthew Laborteaux (Little House on the Prairie), who was a nationally competitive video game player — U.S. Pac-Man champion in April 1982.
• The comic's Donkey Kong backstory depicts the ape as having been genetically engineered in Japan for construction labor before turning to kidnapping, an origin invented for the story.
• Blip was published in both a Direct Edition and a Newsstand Edition, making two distinct printings of issue #1.
• The series ran for exactly seven issues (February–August 1983) before cancellation, with all issues now available via the Internet Archive.

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