Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends #1
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThis December 1981 one-shot holds a singular place in Marvel history as the first comic book appearance of Firestar (Angelica Jones), a character created from scratch for animation who proved popular enough to eventually earn her own four-issue mini-series and a permanent berth in mainstream Marvel continuity — ultimately serving as a member of the New Warriors, Avengers, and X-Men. The issue also documents one of the more consequential creative accidents in Marvel's Bronze Age: because Human Torch licensing rights were unavailable, producers invented an entirely new mutant hero with fire-based powers, demonstrating how television constraints could birth characters that outlive the shows that spawned them. As a comic adaptation of the animated pilot episode 'The Triumph of the Green Goblin,' it represents an early and direct example of Marvel using print media to cross-promote its Saturday morning television output, a strategy that would deepen considerably in the decades to come.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The NBC animated series Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends was conceived as a team book starring Spider-Man, Iceman, and the Human Torch, but the same licensing complications that had sidelined the Torch from the 1978 Fantastic Four cartoon forced producers to create a replacement — the new mutant character Fire-Star, designed by John Romita Sr. and Rick Hoberg and named by writer Dennis Marks after a former girlfriend. Marvel maintained high creative involvement throughout, with Stan Lee working directly with the screenwriters on casting and story. The one-shot comic was scripted by Tom DeFalco adapting Dennis Marks's original screenplay, with interior art by Dan Spiegle inked by Vince Colletta, and a cover penciled by John Romita Jr. and inked by Al Milgrom; editor Tom DeFalco and editor-in-chief Jim Shooter are both credited on the issue.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First comic book appearance of Firestar (Angelica Jones), though this story exists outside standard Marvel Universe continuity (designated Earth-1983).
- Firestar's first in-continuity Marvel Universe appearance would not come until Uncanny X-Men #193 (May 1985), followed by her own four-issue mini-series in 1986.
- The issue adapts the animated series pilot episode, 'The Triumph of the Green Goblin,' in which the trio foils Norman Osborn/Green Goblin's attempt to steal his secret Goblin Formula at a college costume party.
- Interior pencils by Dan Spiegle, inks by Vince Colletta; cover pencils by John Romita Jr., inks by Al Milgrom; script by Tom DeFalco (adapting Dennis Marks's original screenplay); edited by Tom DeFalco under editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.
- Firestar was created to replace the Human Torch, whose animated rights were tied up due to licensing issues also responsible for the Torch's absence from the 1978 Fantastic Four cartoon.
- The character's pre-production names cycled through Heatwave, Starblaze, and Firefly before 'Fire-Star' was settled on.
- The story was reprinted in England in late 1983 in the weekly Marvel UK title Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, and again in the U.S. as Marvel Action Universe #1 (January 1989), timed to coincide with the show's syndicated re-airings.
- The story was also collected in the 2017 trade paperback X-Men Origins: Firestar.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends #553 (1983), Marvel Super Heroes Annual #1989 (1988), Marvel Action Universe #1 (1989), X-Men Origins: Firestar #[nn] (2017)
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