Marvel Age Annual #2
Marvel Age Annual #2 (1986) is a genuinely unusual artifact of the mid-1980s Marvel machine: a promotional annual that doubled as a legitimate comics anthology, containing well over fifty percent actual sequential-art content at a time when the parent magazine was largely text-and-preview fare. Its most historically notable feature is a four-page Avengers sequence by Roger Stern, John Buscema, and Tom Palmer — the exact creative team then producing the monthly title — that functions as a direct narrative prologue to the 'Avengers Under Siege' arc, depicting Baron Zemo monitoring the heroes before the attack begins; CBR's Brian Cronin identified these pages as four 'extra' chapters of one of the most acclaimed Avengers storylines ever published, later collected into at least one trade paperback edition. Beyond the Avengers material, the annual preserves a remarkable cross-section of the 1986 Marvel line through short original stories and one-page character spreads by more than a dozen creative teams, making it a dense primary document for anyone studying the transition from the early-'80s Marvel expansion into the New Universe era.
In "This Is a Plot?", Baron Zemo and the Fixer quietly track the Avengers and West Coast Avengers, sensing cracks in their resolve. As Iron Man heads to his orbital station to see Jim Rhodes, Zemo sends Whirlwind to hinder Captain America—while Doctor Doom himself warns Zemo to leave the Fantastic Four out of his schemes, claiming that particular game is his alone. Roger Stern’s sharp scripting and John Buscema’s dynamic art bring this tense, spy-thriller setup to life, with Ron Frenz and Joe Sinnott’s cover capturing the intrigue in bold, classic Marvel style.
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Published under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter and on-sale in June 1986 (cover-dated August 1986), the annual was the second of four such oversized editions spun off from the Marvel Age preview magazine, which Wikipedia describes as essentially 'a comic-length edition of the Bullpen Bulletins page.' The GCD notes that the series was unusual because issues #1–3 were 'well over 50% comics content,' distinguishing them from the slim-on-story parent title. Cover art was provided by Ron Frenz and Joe Sinnott (front) and Richard Howell (back), with the dual-cover design — Marvel's 1963 cast on the back mirroring the 1986 cast on the front — serving as a visual celebration of the company's twenty-three-year history. A 'Li'l Fred' humor strip by Fred Hembeck, part of his regular Marvel Age presence, also appeared, continuing his series of comedic cameos as an in-universe interviewer of Marvel characters.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Published June 1986 (cover date August 1986), on-sale date confirmed by its listing in Marvel Age #41 (Aug. 1986); editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.
- Contains a four-page 'Avengers Under Siege' prelude by Roger Stern, John Buscema, and Tom Palmer — the same creative team as the monthly series — in which Baron Zemo (Helmut Zemo) monitors Earth's Mightiest Heroes and communicates with Doctor Doom; CBR identified these as canonical 'extra pages' of the Under Siege arc.
- Reprints the lead story from Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967, Stan Lee/Jack Kirby), which features the Inhumans and is one of the foundational Silver Age Inhumans appearances.
- Original short stories across fifteen-plus titles drawn by the actual series creative teams, including: X-Men and New Mutants (Louise Simonson/Art Adams), Thor (Walt Simonson), Cloak and Dagger (Bill Mantlo/Rick Leonardi/Terry Austin), Power Pack (Louise Simonson/Jon Bogdanove), Doctor Strange (Peter Gillis/Chris Warner), Spider-Man (Ron Frenz), Alpha Flight (Bill Mantlo/David Ross), Fallen Angels (Jo Duffy/Kerry Gammill), Dakota North (Martha Thomases/Tony Salmons), Spider-Ham (Steve Mellor), and Hulk (Al Milgrom).
- Dual cover design: front (Ron Frenz/Joe Sinnott) depicts the 1986 Marvel character roster; back (Richard Howell) mirrors it with the 1963 founding-era cast in the same positions — a deliberate 23-year anniversary visual statement.
- Includes a five-page in-magazine sequence imagining what Marvel Age would have looked like had it existed in 1963, promoting Avengers #1 and X-Men #1.
- Contains direct commentary on upcoming storylines from more than a dozen writers and editors including Walt Simonson (Thor), Steve Englehart (Daredevil, Silver Surfer, West Coast Avengers), Mark Gruenwald (Captain America), and Jo Duffy (Fallen Angels), making it a primary record of Marvel's 1986–87 editorial plans.
- Two stories from this annual were later collected into modern trade paperbacks: the Spider-Ham story was reprinted in Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (2019), and the Power Pack story was reprinted in the Power Pack Classic Omnibus (2019).
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Full plot ⚠ may contain spoilers
▸ Reveal full plot — may contain spoilers
Baron Zemo and the Fixer are secretly monitoring the individual members of the Avengers and West Coast Avengers, and discover that they all seem to have personal stresses that will help their coming plans. Iron Man travels to the Stark orbiting space station to visit Jim Rhodes, and Zemo sends Whirlwind to attack Captain America and slow him down. Zemo wants a report on the Fantastic Four to make sure that they won't interfere with his plans for the Avengers, but Doctor Doom warns him to stay away from the FF, as it is Doom's sole privelage to deal with the FF's misfortunes.
Plot details indexed by the Grand Comics Database (CC BY-SA).