These are the Pin-Ups that fans saw this month. (And YES! I had them taped up on my closet door!)



Pardon me if I go into a little bit of detail about the “The Great Page Reduction of 1964”. What we see is that it manifested in three parts that I will discuss briefly.

(1) Although the average page count of a Marvel comic had been 22 pages, during July/August many of the stories in Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Avengers, X-Men, Daredevil and Sgt. Fury would be 21 pages (many, not all).

(2) During September/October stories in Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Avengers, X-Men, Daredevil and Sgt. Fury would be reduced to 20 pages; in Journey into Mystery, Thor, the lead feature, would be reduced to 16 pages; and in Tales of Suspense, Tales to Astonish and Strange Tales the lead story would be reduced to 12 pages. During these two months, each of these titles would also have a Pin-Up page to allow for that page reduction.

(3) As of November 1964, the Pin-Ups would largely disappear to be replaced with an M.M.M.S. page (or other house ad). This format would continue to early 1970.

Also in October there would be a new layout to the pages as the paid advertisements would be moved to other pages.

Also (again) we would see a temporary cut in the number of pages devoted to house material in the late summer/early fall when the TV networks would advertise their fall cartoon lineups in comic books. This wouldn’t happen yet, but it would happen in the ’60s.

Anarchy and Chaos are the natural state of the human race. Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And Chaos must always ultimately triumph.
Last Edited By: Joseph William Marek Aug 12 12 5:44 PM. Edited 3 times.