An official Marvel No-Prize envelope from the 1960s.
The Marvel No-Prize is a fake or satirical award given out by Marvel Comics to readers. Originally for those who spotted continuity errors in the comics, the current "No-Prizes" are given out for charitable works or other types of "meritorious service to the cause of Marveldom". As the No-Prize evolved, it was distinguished by its role in explaining away potential continuity errors. Initially awarded simply for identifying such errors, a No-Prize was later given only when a reader successfully explained why the continuity error was not an error at all.[1]
The No-Prize was inspired by the policies of many other comic book publishers of the early 1960s — namely, that if a fan found a continuity error in a comic and wrote a letter to the publisher of the comic,[2] he or she would receive a prize of cash, free comics, or even original artwork.[3]
In a similar vein, in 1962, Marvel Comics writer/editor Stan Lee promised, in the letters page of Fantastic Four #4, that he would send five dollars to a reader who would write in with the best explanation for a continuity error from an earlier issue.[4] When the Marvel offices were inundated with suggestions, Lee awarded the $5 to the first letter received, and printed the names of all the other correspondents who had sent in good answers.[5]
The first No-Prizes
This sort of interaction with the readers continued, with contests and polls being run on the Fantastic Four letters page for the next few years.[3] In the letters page for issue #22, featuring a contest for which reader had the largest comics collection, Lee announced that "no prizes" would be given ("because we're cheapskates!").[6] The winner of the contest was announced in issue #25, where it was officially dubbed a "No-Prize."[7]
In Fantastic Four #26, Lee ran a contest asking readers to send in their definition of what "the Marvel Age of Comics" really meant. As part of the letter, Lee wrote "there will be no prizes, and therefore, no losers".[8] Originally, the "prize" was simply Lee publishing the letter and informing the letter-writer that he or she had won a No-Prize, which was actually nothing.[9]
Other No-Prize contests asked readers questions and rewarded the most creative responses. One example asked readers for proof of whether the Sub-Mariner was a mutant or not.[citation needed] Winners had their letters printed, along with Lee congratulating them on winning a No-Prize.[3]
For "meritorious service"
The No-Prize had been intended as a reminder to Marvel readers to "lighten up" and read comics for pleasure; to not write in for prizes, but instead for the thrill of being recognized for their efforts.[3] Letters soon multiplied, however, as fans wrote in looking for errors in every comic they could, and suddenly the non-existent prize was in high demand. In response, Lee took on a new approach.[3] Since other comic companies had given out prizes for pointing out oversights and continuity errors in their books, Lee began awarding No-Prizes in such situations only "to the fan who could explain a seemingly unexplainable situation."[3] The reader who inspired this version of the No-Prize was a teenage George R. R. Martin, later a successful novelist.[10]
The No-Prize soon evolved into a reward to those who performed "meritorious service to the cause of Marveldom": readers who first spotted a mistake, or came up with a plausible way to explain a mistake others spotted, or made some great suggestion or performed a service for Marvel in general.[11][3]
No-Prize distribution
As time went by, some recipients of the "award" began to write Lee and ask why they had not received an actual prize.[3] In response, in 1967 Lee began mailing No-Prize-winners pre-printed empty envelopes[3][12] that said "Congratulations, this envelope contains a genuine Marvel Comics No-Prize which you have just won!" However, some uncomprehending fans wrote back asking where their prize was, even going so far as to suggest their prize had fallen out of the envelope.[3]
Confusion and decline
After Lee stepped down as Marvel editor-in-chief in 1972 (becoming Marvel's publisher),[3] Marvel's various editors, who were left in charge of dispensing No-Prizes, developed differing policies toward awarding them.[3] By 1986, these policies ranged from Ralph Macchio's practice of giving them away to anyone who wrote a letter asking for one to Mike Higgins' policy of not awarding them at all. As reported in Iron Man #213 (Dec. 1986), these were the various editors' policies:
Ann Nocenti (X-Men): "The spirit of the No-Prize is not just to complain and nitpick but to offer an exciting solution. Do that and you will get one from me."
Carl Potts (Alpha Flight and Power Pack): "If someone points out a major story problem I'm not aware of and solves it to my satisfaction, I'll award a No-Prize. I give away very few."
Larry Hama (Conan, G.I. Joe): "No one writes in for them in the Conan books so we don't award them. On G.I. Joe, which I write, I give them to people who get me out of jams if they are very ingenious about it."
Archie Goodwin (Epic): "We acknowledge our mistakes in print, but Epic Comics doesn't award No-Prizes."
Bob Budiansky (Secret Wars II): "If someone finds a clever enough explanation for what seems to be a mistake, I'll send them a No-Prize."
Bob Harras (The Incredible Hulk, X-Factor): "My policy is if a certain mistake wouldn't have bothered me when I was a kid, it's not worth a No-Prize. But if someone does really help us out, I'll send them one."
Don Daley (Captain America): "First I place a temporal statute of limitations on No-Prize mistakes. If the mistake is more than six issues old, it doesn't qualify anymore. Second, I only give them out for things that count, not trivial nitpicking and faultfinding. Third, the explanation should not only be logical but emotionally appealing. I don't award many of them."
James Owsley (Spider-Man): "We only mail them out to people who send us the best possible explanations for important mistakes. Panels where someone's shirt is colored wrong do not count. We send out the No-Prize envelopes to everyone who gets the same best answer, and sometimes will send out postcards to runners-up who come close."
Ralph Macchio (Daredevil): "The No-Prize is an honored Marvel tradition. Of course I give them away—for just about any old stupid thing. I have a million of them."[13]
A typical mid-1980s attempt at a No-Prize comes from the letters page of The Incredible Hulk #324 (Oct. 1986), in response to Hulk #321: ". . . On page 12, panel 5, Wonder Man's glasses are knocked off, but in following panels on the next page, he has them on. He didn't have enough time to get them after they fell off, and Hawkeye's explosive arrow probably would have destroyed them when it detonated on the Hulk. Never fear, though. I have the solution — while flying down to help Hawkeye, Wonder Man pulled out an extra pair he carries in case of just such emergencies." (Editor Bob Harras awarded the writer a No-Prize.)[14]
Editor Mark Gruenwald believed the quest for No-Prizes negatively impacted the quality of letters sent to comic book letter columns, as readers were becoming more focused on nitpicking and pointing out errors than in responding to the comics' stories themselves (he even cited one letter which focused on Captain America's glove being yellow in one panel, instead of the correct color red).[11] Gruenwald then temporarily adopted a new policy, which was to award No-Prizes to readers who not only pointed out an error but also devised a clever explanation as to why it was not really an error (Gruenwald was also known for awarding the "fred-prize" to readers of Captain America).[15] But in 1986, still believing that the quest for No-Prizes was degrading the quality of reader communication, Gruenwald informed the public that his office would no longer award No-Prizes at all.[16]
In January 1989, Marvel was purchased by Ronald Perelman.[17][18] One of the first casualties of the new financial belt-tightening was the No-Prize, considered in one memo to be "a silly, expensive extravagance to mail out".[14]
Early 1990s reinstatement
In 1991, then-Marvel editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco reinstated the No-Prize, introducing the "meritorious service to Marvel above and beyond the call of duty" criteria:
What constitutes 'meritorious service'? Lots of things could! Like sending a box of comics to the children's wing of a hospital. Or compiling a chronological cross-title index to a character's appearance. Or coming up with an explanation for a major discontinuity or discrepancy. So if you think spotting a misspelled word or miscolored boot is worth a No-Prize, you're living in the wrong decade! This policy is in effect for all Marvel titles whose editors award No-Prizes.[19]
In the late 1990s, Stan Lee returned to writing the Bullpen Bulletins column. He would answer fan questions, and anyone whose question was used would receive a physical No-Prize.
Digital No-Prize
On July 31, 2006, Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort instituted the digital No-Prize to be awarded for "meritorious service to Marveldom". The first was awarded on August 12, 2006, to a group of Marvel fans who donated a large number of comics to U.S. service members stationed in Iraq.[20]
2023 variants
In February 2023, Marvel released three variant covers featuring No-Prize envelopes. The covers were printed on Amazing Spider-Man #19, Black Panther #14, and Hulk #12.[21][22]
No-Prize book
In late 1982 (cover dated January 1983), Marvel published a humorous one-shot comic featuring some of their most notorious goofs.[1] Subtitled "Mighty Marvel's Most Massive Mistakes", the book was organized and spearheaded by Jim Owsley and had a cover which was deliberately printed upside-down.[1] In the comic's story Lee, with the help of artists Bob Camp and Vince Colletta, exposes and pokes fun at typos, misspellings and other errors.
↑ Carlson, K.C. "KC: LOC", Westfield Comics (Sept. 2008). Accessed Nov. 24, 2008: ". . . Mort Wieisinger's letter columns for the Superman titles . . . were big lists of 'goofs' that popped up in the books, that encouraged the worst kind of fan behavior (and indirectly inspired Stan [Lee] to create the No-Prize!)."
The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in The Fantastic Four #1, helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first superhero team created by artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby and editor/co-scripter Stan Lee, who developed a collaborative approach to creating comics with this title.
Galactus is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Formerly a mortal man, he is a cosmic entity who consumes planets to sustain his life force, and serves a functional role in the upkeep of the primary Marvel continuity. He was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and first appeared in Fantastic Four #48.
Jack Kirby was an American comic book artist, writer and editor, widely regarded as one of the medium's major innovators and one of its most prolific and influential creators. He grew up in New York City and learned to draw cartoon figures by tracing characters from comic strips and editorial cartoons. He entered the nascent comics industry in the 1930s, drawing various comics features under different pen names, including Jack Curtiss, before ultimately settling on Jack Kirby. In 1940, he and writer-editor Joe Simon created the highly successful superhero character Captain America for Timely Comics, predecessor of Marvel Comics. During the 1940s, Kirby regularly teamed with Simon, creating numerous characters for that company and for National Comics Publications, later to become DC Comics.
Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a division of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, Magazine Management/Atlas Comics in 1951 and its predecessor, Marvel Mystery Comics, the Marvel Comics title/name/brand was first used in June 1961.
Stephen John Ditko was an American comics artist and writer best known for being co-creator of Marvel superhero Spider-Man and creator of Doctor Strange. He also made notable contributions to the character of Iron Man with the character's iconic red and yellow design being revolutionized by Ditko.
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Mark Eugene Gruenwald was an American comic book writer, editor, and occasional penciler known for his long association with Marvel Comics.
Lawrence D. Lieber is an American comic book artist and writer best known as co-creator of the Marvel Comics superheroes Iron Man, Thor, and Ant-Man; for his long stint both writing and drawing the Marvel Western Rawhide Kid; and for illustrating the newspaper comic strip The Amazing Spider-Man from 1986 to September 2018. From 1974 to 1975, he was editor of Atlas/Seaboard Comics. Lieber is the younger brother of the late Marvel Comics writer, editor, and publisher Stan Lee.
William Timothy Mantlo is an American comic book writer, primarily at Marvel Comics. He is best known for his work on two licensed toy properties whose adventures occurred in the Marvel Universe: Micronauts and Rom, as well as co-creating the characters Rocket Raccoon and Cloak and Dagger. An attorney who worked as a public defender, Mantlo was the victim of a hit-and-run accident in 1992 and has been in institutional care ever since.
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Power Comics was an imprint of the British comics publisher Odhams Press that was particularly notable for its use of material reprinted from American Marvel Comics. Appearing chiefly during the years 1967 and 1968, the Power Comics line consisted of five weekly titles: Wham!, Smash!, Pow!, Fantastic and Terrific. The first three of these titles were essentially traditional The Beano-style British comics papers, supplemented by a small amount of Marvel and DC Comics material, while Fantastic and Terrific were more magazine-like in style and were dominated by their Marvel superhero content.
A comic book letter column is a section of an American comic book where readers' letters to the publisher appear. Comic book letter columns are also commonly referred to as letter columns, letter pages, letters of comment (LOCs), or simply letters to the editor. Letter columns appeared early on in the history of comic books themselves, and their growing prevalence — particularly beginning in the 1960s — helped create and legitimatize comics fandom. As the forum developed, the volume and tenor of letters became a reliable gauge of overall reader response to developments in the comics themselves. Letter columns remained a regular feature of most comic books until the early years of the 21st century, when they began being phased out in favor of the growing prevalence of email and Internet forums. Despite this, the 2010s saw a renaissance of comic book letter columns, and many comics titles still print them.
Stan Lee was an American comic book writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which would later become Marvel Comics. He was the primary creative leader for two decades, leading its expansion from a small division of a publishing house to a multimedia corporation that dominated the comics and film industries.
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"The Galactus Trilogy" is a 1966 three-issue comic book story arc that appeared in Fantastic Four #48-50. Written, co-plotted and drawn by Jack Kirby with editor Stan Lee for Marvel Comics, it introduced the characters Galactus and the Silver Surfer. In 2018, The Atlantic called it "the indisputable pinnacle of the so-called Silver Age of comic books".
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