"There is hardly a pro pencil-pusher in the field today who hasn't been influenced by Jolly Jack's memorable masterpieces - or by the constantly shattering impact of his creativity. Don't be embarrassed, Jack - this is just Stan's cornball way of telling you that it's been a ball all these years, pal - and the best is still ahead!"
"The big talk around the Bullpen these days concerns Marvel-ous MarieSeverin, who's just taken over the illustrating chores on the Doc Strange strip... And to anticipate your question, the answer is "yes" - she's the sister of talented JohnSeverin, who illustrated our Agent of Shield strip about a year ago."
"So, if a competitor wants to pay us his own good money in order to buy an ad in one of our mags, we're delighted. Actually, we consider it a great compliment to us - for it proves that no matter how they may hate to admit it, even they are willing to pay a bundle just to appear in a Marvel mag!"
"It's a funny feeling writing these Bullpen pages - here's why - Smilin' Stan is typing these imperishable words on July 14 - but by the time they're sent to the printer and finally reach YOU, it'll be sometime in October! In other words, there's always an interval of about three months from the time we write something till the time you read it! [...] Who SAYS this isn't the Marvel Age of Compounded Confusion?"
"At the top of our hectic heap sits the king-of-the-hill, Merry Marty Goodman, publisher, and peerless purveyor of profound policy, pulsating plaudits, and palpable pay-checks! When he speaks, we listen! When he frowns, we tremble! When he smiles, we know that somewhere one of you had bought another Marvel mag!"
"... we never wanted any of our treasured readers to lose a contest - consequently, we would award nothing but "no-prizes", because if there were no winners, then there would be no losers."
"DennisO'Neil, young writer, today moved into an east side garbage can. Mr. O'Neil, 26, told reporters that he doesn't feel he should associate with human company. 'After all, I'm not worthy to be in the Bullpen Bulletin,' he explained, 'so I'm obviously not worthy to live with folks.' Denny boy, give up the garbage can and come home to us again! We love ya - honest!"
When I was a kid, there was this series of hardcover juvenile adventure books featuring a character named Jerry Todd. They were something like the Hardy Boys, but they had a lot of humor mixed in with the adventure. And at the very end of each book, the publisher printed letters from the readers as well as responses from the author himself. It was so informal, so warm...it made me feel like I knew these guys and they cared about what their readers thought. I was surprised at the time other books didn't see what a great idea this was. I don't know if I consciously remembered those books when I set out to do the Bullpen page years later, or if I was unconsciously influenced and only afterwards realized where I got the idea from. I do know that talking to the readers informally and indirectly seemed like the natural thing to do."
Marvel Bullpen Bulletins': a page of Marvel gossip and advertising featured in every issue of every comic, written in a style that could be characterised as High Hipster - two parts Lord Buckley, one part Austin Powers. Stan Lee was a writer gone Barnum, who'd abandoned new work in favour of rah-rah moguldom. He was Marvel's media liaison and their own biggest in-house fan, a schmoozer."
Most of the comics Stan [Lee] worked on in the sixties have been praised to Asgardian proportion and I certainly agree there was wonderment aplenty in there. But I also really liked the friendly editorial "voice" he established in his letter columns, house ads and especially in the Bullpen Bulletins. He put himself on a first-name basis with the readership at a time when the rival DC editors generally came across not only as adults but stodgy adults. He simultaneously bragged about the greatness of Marvel and expressed such humility that when they screwed up, as they occasionally did, you were willing to cut them a lot of slack."
"There is hardly a pro pencil-pusher in the field today who hasn't been influenced by Jolly Jack's memorable masterpieces - or by the constantly shattering impact of his creativity.
"The big talk around the Bullpen these days concerns Marvel-ous Marie Severin, who's just taken over the illustrating chores on the Doc Strange strip...
"So, if a competitor wants to pay us his own good money in order to buy an ad in one of our mags, we're delighted. Actually, we consider it a great compliment to us - for it proves that no matter how they may hate to admit it, even they are willing to pay a bundle just to appear in a Marvel mag!"
"It's a funny feeling writing these Bullpen pages - here's why - Smilin' Stan is typing these imperishable words on July 14 - but by the time they're sent to the printer and finally reach YOU, it'll be sometime in October!
"At the top of our hectic heap sits the king-of-the-hill, Merry Marty Goodman, publisher, and peerless purveyor of profound policy, pulsating plaudits, and palpable pay-checks!
"... we never wanted any of our treasured readers to lose a contest - consequently, we would award nothing but "no-prizes", because if there were no winners, then there would be no losers."
"Dennis O'Neil, young writer, today moved into an east side garbage can. Mr. O'Neil, 26, told reporters that he doesn't feel he should associate with human company. 'After all, I'm not worthy to be in the Bullpen Bulletin,' he explained, 'so I'm obviously not worthy to live with folks.'
