From 1983 to 1994, Marvel Comics used
Marvel Age magazine to shill
everything it was making. Among other things, it featured
behind-the-scenes looks at Marvel's books, promo pieces on oncoming
projects, and updates on what Marvel Productions was doing out in
California. Marry this monthly mouthpiece with the rampant licensing
Marvel was doing in the '80s, and you end up with a lot of things like
this - a two-page spread on a
Popples comic that was canned after four
issues.
It's an eventual goal of mine to scan and post every licensed
toy-related article that was published in Marvel Age; it's fair to say that's a ways off. For now, though, we can all bask in the article's sage advice to never kick anything "that looks like a muff".
Wait, what?