FOOM #4, Part Two

Continuing on our survey of the fourth and final issue of FOOM, Marvel’s fan club magazine, put together by Jim Steranko. As was pointed out in the comments, this cover image was done by Jack Kirby for a Marvelmania poster, not by Steranko at all. It’s pretty impressive that, at a time when Kirby was working for the competition, Steranko was able to get Marvel to sign off on using an image by the King so prominently. Some have suggested that, as a defensive move, he had taken to turning in his work as late as possible to prevent any unwanted changes from being made, and that may have been the secret here.

This early Spider-Man fan film is one of the great bits of lost media related to comics. It was shown at conventions throughout the 1970s, including at least one of the two Marvel Cons, and developed a strong reputation for just how good it was. It was an accurate adaptation of the first appearance of Kraven the Hunter from AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #15. But since the 1970s, the film itself hasn’t been seen, and its creator Bruce Cardoza has passed away. So apart from a few scattered still shots as you see in this article, it seems unlikely that we’ll get to experience the full thing.

The FOOM Forum letters page includes a letter from Ralph Macchio, who would become a long-tenured Marvel editor beginning just a few years from this point.

And a Jack Kirby/Chic Stone shot of Attuma culled from FANTASTIC FOUR #33 adorns the back cover.