Official Marvel Comics Try-Out Book Vol 1 1

Official Marvel Comics Try-Out Book #1
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Art by: John Romita
Release Date	August 11, 1983
Cover Date	August, 1983
Issue Details
Editor-in-Chief	Jim Shooter
Original Price	$12.95
Pages	36

1. "Personals!"
Appearances · Synopsis
Writer(s)	Jim Shooter
Penciler(s)	John Romita Sr.
Inker(s)	Allen Milgrom
Colorist(s)	Christie Scheele
Letterer(s)	Jim Novak
Editor(s)	Michael Hobson

I believe that very few creative fields offer opportunities equal to what we offer at Marvel Comics. This is a great place to work.

—Jim Shooter (Earth-1218)

Appearing in "Personals!"

Featured Characters:

• Jim Shooter (Earth-1218)
• Spider-Man
• "the girl on the roof" / Janet

Supporting Characters:

• Daily Bugle
  • Betty (Betty Brant)
  • Robbie (Joseph Robertson)
  • Jonah / JJJ (J. Jonah Jameson)
  • Ann MacIntosh from the Bugle
• Aunt May

Antagonists:

• Unnamed "road warrior"-like thugs
• Doctor Octopus
• Chris and Louise (Octopus's minions)

Other Characters:

• Uncle Ben (Mentioned)
• "Road warrior" (Mentioned)
• Burger King (Mentioned)
• Galactus (Mentioned)
• Knute Rockne (Mentioned)
• New York City Police Department

Locations:

• (specific universe to be added)
  • Earth
    • United States of America
      • New York City
        • Brooklyn
          • Brooklyn Savings and Loan
        • Long Island
          • Dr. Octopus' modest home
        • Manhattan
          • Chelsea Station
          • Daily Bugle Building
        • Aunt May's home
      • Ossining
        • Ossining Correctional Facility

Items:

• Web-Shooters
• Peter's microscope

Vehicles:

Events:

Synopsis for "Personals!"

Marvel Comics was interested in finding new talent. Yet back in the 1980s, Jim Shooter noticed that many prospective artists had trouble knowing how to send samples to Marvel, as they had access only to finished products and not to, e.g., a penciled page to show what's the penciler's work exactly. They also had questions about the specific materials and what were the tools to be used. The Try-Out Book was defined to do this.

The book interspersed text pages where Shooter explained the details with a comic-book featuring Spider-Man vs. Doctor Octopus - some pages are totally inked and colored, some are not, some are just the script, so that the reader can see the differences. The 24-page story has two intertwined plots: Dr. Octopus has escaped and is worried about Spider-Man going after him; and Peter is having one of these days and wants to abandon his secret identity. Still, a young girl had noticed Spider-Man changing clothes on a rooftop (thou she could not see his face) and sent a letter to the Daily Bugle explaining her admiration for him: She suddenly saw Spider-Man as a real person, and that makes her admire his heroics even more - Spider-Man is a person like every one of us, and an inspiration for us to do the right thing. This generates an outbreak of copycats (much to J. Jonah Jameson's chagrin), and Spider-Man answers the letter saying that, if not for the girl, he may have dropped the mask altogether. Dr. Octopus is enraged, as he had been this close to get rid of his enemy - so he pretends to have found and kidnapped the mystery girl and threatens to kill her unless Spider-Man surrenders to him so that Octopus can kill Spider-Man! Spider-Man goes to Octopus' lair and remains still for Octopus to batter him - and the story ends up in a cliffhanger.

Notes

As explained by Shooter in his blog, this 32-page bookrequired specific technical printing and paper, different from the ones Marvel usually resorted to, and it was sold by $12.95 a copy (against $0.60 for a typical 22-page comic-book). Jim Shooter claims that it was a great success.

See Also

• 1 image(s) from Official Marvel Comics Try-Out Book Vol 1 1
• 1 reprint(s) of Official Marvel Comics Try-Out Book Vol 1 1