Mountain Comics 51 – Fun and Games #3

Rob welcomes Adam McCarron to the cabin to discuss FUN AND GAMES #3!

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10 responses to “Mountain Comics 51 – Fun and Games #3

  1. What an amazing story! Thanks for shining the spotlight on such an interesting creator. It’s a shss as me that his career was cut short due to injury.
    I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen a Fun and Games comic but I definitely had one of those “Jumbo Activity Books” that featured puzzles and Marvel characters.

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  2. That was a great conversation; Rob, I commend you for not only tracking down and convincing Mr. McCarron to participate in the show. I knew nothing about Owen McCarron before this, so I learned quite a bit. What a great career!
    I never had any of these Fun & Games books, but I think I had one of those bigger books that Adam mentioned, which were published earlier – that is, if he’s talking about the Marvel Superhero Fun Books, of which I had one, sometime in 1978. They were large format, with all black and white interiors and over 100 pages.

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  3. These books didn’t come to the UK, so far as I know, but I know of them, and having had to come up with a few puzzle pages in my time as editor of a UK My Little Pony comic – well, two, actually – I know how much work they involve, so Owen deserved loads of credit. It was great to hear Adam talk about his Dad and his work.

    The work is so joyous!

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  4. A piece of comics history no one else was ever going to research. Great work, Rob, and I think it’s pretty cool that you cold called someone who told you a story about cold calling Stan Lee, and in both cases, it worked out.

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  5. Oh yeah, and my own Fun & Games story. Recently, one of the Girls found one at a yard sale and got it for me, just randomly. I just told her everything I found out in the podcast and she gave it a HOT.

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  6. Don’t think that I ever read or even saw this title, but this was a fantastic episode. The backstories of comics creators are always interesting, sometimes as much if not more than the fictional characters they worked on.

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  7. Fantastic podcast Rob! Great work finding Adam! The stories he told were fantastic. I had fond memories of these books and the smaller compilations, and last year picked up the trade paperback reprinting many of the puzzles. I tried to do the first few and gave up! I put the book away to give to my grandkids someday – too hard for these old eyes!!

    Seriously this was top notch reporting and interviewing. The Stan Lee story itself was fantastic.

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  8. Fasciniating show Rob! I remember coming across a few Fun and Games (including this issue) at a fela market shortly after the series had ended. This was before OHOTMU, so I had no idea who some of these obscure characters were! Great job on finding Adam, and thanks to him for sharing his Dad’s story.

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  9. This was a wonderful episode, and an outstanding interview, Rob.
    This could quite possibly be the greatest podcast episode in the history of podcasts, in the history of humans existing in the history of the planet Earth.
    Quite possible.
    In other words… nicely done.

    The square bound books, called The Mighty Marvel Superheroes Fun Books, found only in bookstores, predated the 13 issue run of floppies. I have 2 of the those books, #1 (from 1976) and #5 (from 1979).
    The first issue is indeed done entirely by Mr. McCarron, was initially a hardcover.
    The fifth book in the series was “Designed & Written by Scott Edelman.”
    I don’t have any knowledge of #’s 2-4.
    And without doing some heavy lifting (i.e., moving some extremely heavy long boxes), it’s not clear to me how much material was reused/reprinted in the floppies, or whether Owen continued contributing new material.

    I have about half of the 13 issue run.
    Somewhere.
    (Oh, the heavy lifting!)

    I was absolutely fascinated by these when they were coming out, and partly because, as you said, they weren’t afraid to throw in some really fun, somewhat obscure characters to keep it interesting.
    I don’t remember for sure, but I was probably even introduced to a few of these Marvel characters for the very first time in the pages of Fun and Games.
    Which, of course, only heightened my fascination with the regular Marvel comics.

    Keep up the great, entertaining work.

    And until the Treasury Cast podcast comes to an inconceivable end… Make Mine Marvel!!

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