Comic Book Cats, number ten: Marvel Tails #1 penciled by Mark Armstrong, inked by Joe Abelo, written by Tom DeFalco, lettered by Rick Parker & Jack Morelli, colored by Steve Mellor and edited by Larry Hama, published by Marvel Comics in November 1983.
Marvel Tails number one-and-only was the debut of Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham. It also introduced Steve Mouser, aka the red, white & blue Captain Americat. These two pages showcase the funny animal version of Captain America in combat with a couple of members of the criminal Gopher Gang and the gamma-powered Hulk Bunny. Oh yeah… check out that last panel for a homage to Steve Ditko’s iconic Spider-Man #33 cover.
Mark Armstrong and Joe Abelo did great work on this story. They both subsequently worked on several issues of the ongoing Spectacular Spider-Ham series.
Fun fact: editor Larry Hama, who co-created Spider-Ham, is a huge fan of Carl Barks. Marvel Tails was one of the few times in his lengthy career that Hama actually had an opportunity to work in the funny animal genre.
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