Marvel Annual Report #1992

History

While Marvel began issuing quarterly and annual reports to shareholders once it became a publicly traded company, the annual editions were distinguished by their comic-book format: writer Gary Fishman (joined by Jim Krueger on later issues) scripted the narrative sections, with art duties shared across a rotating pool of artists including Alex Saviuk, Tom Morgan, Andrew Wildman, and Herb Trimpe, among others. The fiscal-year 1992 report — the second in the annual series — was produced under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco and features a wraparound Spider-Man cover, with the story proper built around Doctor Doom investigating Marvel's surging profits, only to be confronted by Doctor Strange, before the twist reveals Doom is simply protecting his own investment in the company. The book also contained bound-in trading card sheets combining Marvel hero cards (including Black Knight and Thunderstrike) with baseball cards, reflecting Marvel's ownership of the Fleer trading card company at the time.

Trivia · 7 facts

• Format: comic-book-sized, approximately 64 pages (roughly 32 pages of illustrated comic story + 32 pages of traditional financial data), distributed to Marvel shareholders and investors — not sold at retail comic shops.
• The framing story for the fiscal-year 1992 report is written by Gary Fishman (and Jim Krueger) with art by a team including Alex Saviuk, Tom Morgan, Andrew Wildman, Herb Trimpe, and others, under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco.
• The comic narrative centers on Doctor Doom investigating Marvel's financial success, ultimately revealed to be motivated by his own investment in the company rather than villainy, with Doctor Strange confronting him before the twist ending.
• The issue contained bound-in uncut trading card sheets mixing Marvel hero cards (confirmed to include Black Knight and Thunderstrike) with baseball player cards, tying into Marvel's then-ownership of the Fleer trading card/gum company.
• The Spider-Man 2099 cameo most commonly associated with the Marvel Annual Report series belongs to the FIRST annual report (fiscal year 1991, published 1992), not this fiscal-year 1992 edition — in that earlier report, the Watcher narrates a six-page story containing a single-panel cameo of Spider-Man 2099, Punisher 2099, Ravager 2099, and Doom 2099 breaking the fourth wall to comment on investor information.
• Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O'Hara) was created by writer Peter David and artist Rick Leonardi; his first widely recognized story appearance is in Amazing Spider-Man #365 (a five-page preview) and his debut ongoing series launched in November 1992.
• The annual report series ran at least through fiscal year 1995 (five issues total per league-of-comic-geeks and mycomicshop listings), making it an ongoing publishing artifact of Marvel's corporate period rather than a one-off.

Cast · 40 characters

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