Marvel Age Annual #3
Marvel Age Annual #3 holds a contested but notable place in Copper Age collecting as the earliest published appearance of Mister Jip — the body-usurping sorcerer created by writer-artist Terry Austin to serve as the first genuine arch-villain for Cloak and Dagger. Austin designed Jip specifically because, as he explained in his own words, the duo needed an 'unopposable force' to push against after years of street-level drug-dealer antagonists who could never truly threaten them. Beyond that debut, the issue is a remarkable document of the late-Shooter Marvel editorial machine: it assembles preview material from an enormous swath of 1987 titles — from West Coast Avengers and X-Factor to Power Pack, Alpha Flight, and the Cloak and Dagger / Doctor Strange shared Strange Tales relaunch — into a single oversized package drawn together by Fred Hembeck's comedic framing strips, making it a snapshot of virtually the entire Marvel line at a single historical moment.
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The Marvel Age Annual series ran four issues from 1985 to 1988, functioning as a companion to Marvel Age, the company's in-house promotional magazine, but distinguished from it by assembling preview pages and short original comics sequences into something closer to an actual anthology comic. Issue #3, published in 1987 under editors Jim Shooter, Dwight Zimmerman, and Jim Salicrup, drew on contributions from an unusually large creative pool — including Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, Chris Claremont, Ann Nocenti, Peter David, Louise Simonson, Terry Austin, and Bret Blevins, among many others — reflecting the breadth of Marvel's publishing slate that year. Fred Hembeck, who was already a regular presence in the monthly Marvel Age magazine with his comedic character strips, served as the primary creative voice of the annual itself, writing, penciling, inking, and lettering the framing material that tied together the preview content.
Trivia · 7 facts
- Published in 1987 by Marvel (cover date October 1987, released September 1987) as the third in a four-issue Marvel Age Annual series (1985–1988).
- Contains what is frequently cited as the first published appearance of Mister Jip, the centuries-old body-usurping sorcerer and primary nemesis of Cloak and Dagger, created by writer-artist Terry Austin with penciler Bret Blevins as part of a preview of the newly relaunched Strange Tales vol. 2.
- Mister Jip's appearance here is preview material tied to Strange Tales vol. 2 — the Multiversal Omnipedia and Marvel Database cite Strange Tales vol. 2 #8 (November 1987) as his canonical first full appearance, making the Annual's claim a 'first preview' rather than a traditional first appearance.
- Fred Hembeck served as writer, penciler, inker, and letterer of the framing/connecting material throughout the annual, continuing his regular comedic presence in the Marvel Age publication line; he also appears in the issue as a character.
- The contributor list is remarkably broad for a promotional annual, including Jim Lee, Whilce Portacio, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, Chris Claremont, Peter David, Louise Simonson, Ann Nocenti, Terry Austin, Bret Blevins, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, and many others.
- The issue previews a wide cross-section of 1987 Marvel titles, with characters spanning the Avengers, West Coast Avengers, X-Men, X-Factor, New Mutants, Power Pack, Alpha Flight, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man family, Cloak and Dagger, Doctor Strange, and others — effectively a time capsule of the full Marvel line.
- The Grand Comics Database notes that Marvel Age Annuals #1, #2, and #3 are each 'well over 50% comics content,' distinguishing them from the mostly text-and-image promotional format of the monthly Marvel Age magazine.
Cast · 40 characters
Full credits
Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
The West Coast Avengers are becoming a stronger team, with Hank Pym and the Moon Knight joining up. But they will soon be in battle with two Zodiacs, and they will have to face Ultron. Problems lie in wait for Mockingbird, and Master Pandemonium will be coming back, along with the Vision and Scarlet Witch.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).