Legion of Monsters #1

History

Tony Isabella edited the issue under editor-in-chief Archie Goodwin, with Roy Thomas, Len Wein, and Marv Wolfman serving as contributing and consulting editors—a roster that reflects how seriously Marvel's horror editorial brain trust took the project. The issue went on sale August 5, 1975, carrying a September 1975 cover date, and was published through Magazine Management Co. Inc. under the Curtis distributor mark, the same imprint Marvel had used since 1971 to sidestep Comics Code restrictions on horror content. The Manphibian story originated from a Marv Wolfman plot scripted by Tony Isabella and drawn by Dave Cockrum—who had previously conceived a nearly identical aquatic character, Devil-Fish, for DC's Legion of Super-Heroes, with both designs rooted in Cockrum's affection for the 1955 Universal film The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Isabella's editorial letter at the front of the issue was, by at least one contemporary account, a direct plea to readers to support the magazine format after several sister Curtis titles had been recently cancelled.

Trivia · 8 facts

• First appearance and origin of Manphibian, an alien scientist who arrived on Earth over 1,000 years ago pursuing his mate's murderer and was trapped in suspended animation, written by Marv Wolfman (plot) and Tony Isabella (script) with art by Dave Cockrum and Sam Grainger.
• Manphibian was conceived by Dave Cockrum as a spiritual Marvel counterpart to his own earlier DC character Devil-Fish, both inspired by Universal's Creature from the Black Lagoon (1955); Cockrum later reimagined Manphibian for a resin model kit produced by Action Hobbies.
• The issue is a 74-page black-and-white anthology magazine published under the Curtis Magazines/Magazine Management Co. imprint, placing it outside Comics Code Authority jurisdiction and allowing more graphic horror content than Marvel's color comics permitted.
• Writers on the issue include Marv Wolfman, Tony Isabella, Doug Moench, Gerry Conway, Roy Thomas, and Ralph Reese; artists include Dave Cockrum, Val Mayerik, Dick Giordano, Dan Adkins, Pablo Marcos, Sam Grainger, Ralph Reese, and Paul Kirchner; cover art is by Neal Adams.
• The Dracula segment—titled 'Death, Be Thou Proud'—is a chapter in Marvel's ongoing adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel, continuing directly from Dracula Lives #11 and featuring the core Stoker cast: Jonathan Harker, Mina Harker, Dr. John Seward, Arthur Holmwood, Lucy Westenra, and R.M. Renfield; the adaptation was not completed until Marvel's Stoker's Dracula miniseries in 2004–2005.
• The Frankenstein Monster story, 'The Monster and the Masque,' was written by Doug Moench with art by Val Mayerik, Dan Adkins, and Pablo Marcos, in which the Monster attends a costume party and is framed for murder.
• The issue was a one-shot despite advertising a subscription and soliciting future issues; no second issue was published, and the Legion of Monsters name next appeared as a true team in Marvel Premiere #28 (cover-dated February 1976).
• Stories from this issue have been reprinted in Essential Monster of Frankenstein (2004), Stoker's Dracula #2 (2005), The Tomb of Dracula Omnibus Vol. 3 (2010), Monster of Frankenstein (2015), and Decades: Marvel in the '70s – Legion of Monsters (2019).

Cast · 10 characters

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