A few weeks ago Nina talked about the DC Universe stamp series from the United State Postal Service, which made many DC fans say "ooooh!" and many Marvel fans say "awwwww!"
When DC announced their stamps, Marvel said "no wait, we're gonna do stamps too!" but nobody really paid any attention. "Put up or shut up," is the unwritten law of the geek community.
Well, Marvel has finally annouced WHICH Marvel Universe stamps they will be releasing, and they will follow the same pattern as the DC stamps, namely, character singles matched with their associated comic book covers. The preliminary list (subject to change, mind you) from Newsarama is this:
| Spider-Man | Amazing Spider-Man #1 |
| The Incredible Hulk | Incredible Hulk #1 |
| Sub-Mariner | Sub-Mariner #1 |
| The Thing | Fantastic Four #3 |
| Captain America | Captain America #100 |
| Silver Surfer | Silver Surfer #1 |
| Iron Man | Iron Man #1 |
| Elektra | Daredevil #176 |
| Wolverine | X-Men #1 |
| Spider-Woman | Marvel Spotlight #32 |
I'll admit, I'm a bit surprised at the list. No Thor, for example? To be fair, DC has it easy... just throw the Justice League on there and you're done... but the Marvel Universe proves to be much richer in characters to choose from, let's be honest.
I also understand the need to pay heed to the Marvel movies, both past, present, and planned, i.e. Sub-Mariner, Silver Surfer. You have to go with what the public is familiar with. Which makes me all the more surprised to see Spider-Woman on the list, as opposed to one of the more familiar Marvel heroines. I suppose Sue Storm is out, if you're going to already include The Thing and Silver Surfer from Fantastic Four mythology. And the Scarlet Witch is probably out due to Middle America being all weird about anything even remotely pagan. And Black Widow is out because, even though Middle America loves its guns, she's a Russkie. But what about The Wasp? That could help them capitalize on their Ultimate Avengers animated film series, perhaps. Or any of the other ladies from the X-Men? Although I guess they're trumped by Wolverine. Hmmm....
Well, like I said, the list is subject to change. Oh, and how clever was it to use that picture of Stan Lee as Willie Lumpkin, the Fantastic Four's postman? LOL!
