Stan Lee Talks About the Marvel Action Hour

Hi, Heroes!

Animation! Young and old, big and small, everyone loves it. And now, almost overnight it seems, Marvel has become a major animation studio right in the heart of Los Angeles. Let me tell you about it...

It started with The X-Men. For many years we tried to convince the television networks that The X-Men would be a dynamite hit on TV because our mighty mutants were the world's most popular team of super heroes. But the networks had their heads in the sand, until.

Margaret Loesch, who had been president of our animation company, suddenly changed jobs and became president of the Fox Kids'

Network. Margaret had been one of the X-Men's biggest fans when she worked at Marvel with me. Now that she was able to buy shows for the Fox Network, guess what her first choice was? Uh uh, close, but no cigar. It wasn't Howard the Duck. It was The X-Men!

Well, we all know that our merry mutants are one of the biggest hits (if not the biggest hit) on Saturday morning TV. So, what could be more natural than for us to decide to produce another new cartoon show starring Spider-Man? We offered it to the fabulous Fox network; they grabbed at it enthusiastically and, even as I write these imperishable words, we have a whole new crew of artists and writers working feverishly to bring you Spidey's awesome animated adventures in the very next month or two! (For the exact date and time, watch for it on the Saturday morning listings under the Fox Network in the TV section of your newspaper).

But hey, that's only the tip of the iceberg. Now that we've got our animated studio up and running we figured, why stop with Just two shows? Even before you could say 'Make Mine Marvel" we decided to do anew hour-long weekly spectacular which would give you not one but two Marvel features! It's called 'The Marvel Action Hour" and it will present a half-hour of The Fantastic Four plus another half-hour of Iron Man, each starring, one after the other, in the most exciting new animated thriller to hit the tube! The Marvel ActIon Hour won't be a network show- meaning it will be seen on different stations, at different times, in different cities - so you'll have to search your newspaper listings for it. As soon as we know the exact time and station for each city. we'll see if we can print the complete list in our regular Marvel mags for your enlightenment and edification.

Now, here are a few inside tips about our new shows (with stifi more shows to come, but we'll save that for a future write-up). The first thirteen episodes of Spider-Man will be based on actual stories from our mags. You'll see Venom and Doe Ock and Kraven the Hunter and the Hobgoblin and the Spider Slayers and Mysterio and the Kingpin and awholekaboodle of your favorite villains. For the first time, it'll be Spidey in animation as Spidey should be done in animation! You're gonna love it!

As for The MarvelActton Hour, the Fantastic Four episodes will also be based on the F.F. 's most famous and popular stories, although each of them has been given new, unexpected twists. Our Iron Man stories, on the other hand, feature a whole plethora of surprises and unusual relationships, beginning with the fact that the mysterious and mystical Mandarin has dedicated his life to destroying Tony Stark. I recommend that you miss not a single episode, especially because yours truly will be seen, live and in the flesh, narrating each hour-long show! Think of the fun you'll have booing and hissing and throwing things at the screen every time I appear!

And now I leave you with the spellbinding words of super-editor Steve Saffel ringing in our ears: 'Qui facit per alium facit per se!"

Excelsior!