Marvel Preview was a black-and-white comics magazine published by Magazine Management for 14 issues and by the affiliated Marvel Comics Group for 10 issues. The final issue was printed under the Marvel Magazines Group imprint. It ran from 1975 to Winter 1980 as Marvel Preview, and from March 1981 to February 1983 as Bizarre Adventures, totaling 34 issues.
Marvel Preview was an umbrella title that showcased a different heroic-adventure, science-fiction, or sword-and-sorcery character in virtually every issue. Issue #20 was dated "Winter 1980" at both the start and end of the year.
Key Highlights:
* Characters Introduced The magazine introduced several Marvel Comics characters, including Dominic Fortune in issue #2, Star-Lord in #4, and Rocket Raccoon in #7 The Punisher, who was first introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man, had his first solo story in issue #2.
* Scheduling Difficulties The magazine experienced scheduling issues, and announcements for the "Next Issue" were often unreliable. For example, issue #2 promised a Thor adventure in #3, but instead featured a Blade story, with the Thor story appearing later in #10.
* Name ChangeWith issue #25 in March 1981, the title changed to Bizarre Adventures, which ran for ten more issues before ending publication.
* Humor Feature To lighten the dark tone of most stories in Bizarre Adventures, editor Denny O'Neil had writer Steve Skeates create a humor feature called Bucky Bizarre to conclude each issue.
* Final Issue The final issue, #34, was a standard-sized color comic book featuring Christmas-related stories, including one starring Howard the Duck.
