Today in Comics History, February 8: Happy birthday, Terry Stewart!

Born on this day: Terry Stewart, who was editor at and president of Marvel Comics and a CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum!


from Marvel Age #98 (Marvel, March 1991), text by Chris Eliopoulis and Barry Dutter, art by Ron Zalme, colors by Renee Witterstaetter
During the Stan's-in-Hollywood era of the 1990s, President Terry was the "face fronter" of Marvel public relations, altho' he never gained the cultural popularity or either Stan or any of the Editors-in-Chiefs at the House of Ideas.


from "Bullpen Bulletins" in Marvel Comics cover-dated October 1993
He certainly popped up with regularity in photos features within Marvel Age:




from Marvel Age #112 (top), 115 (middle), and 136 (bottom) (Marvel, May 1992, August 1992, and May 1994)
But have you ever seen his picture on a bubble gum card? Hmmm? How can you say someone is great who's never had his picture on a bubble gum...oh.


from Marvel Age #104 (Marvel, September 1991)
But what you're probably going to remember about terry Stewart was that the Great Image Exodus occurred on his watch. (Ouch!)


from "No More Wednesdays" in Comic Book Comics #6 (Evil Twin, November 2011); script by Fred Van Lente; pencils, inks, and letters by Ryan Dunlavey
Here's that same scene from the POV of the Image guys, doing a MAD magazine-style recollection of the events:




from Splitting Image #1 (Image, March 1993); co-plot by Rob Liefeld; co-plot, script, pencils, inks, and letters by Don Simpson; colors by Brian Murray)
Wonder whatever happened to those guys?


Now that you';ve been exposed to lots of pictures of Terry Stewart, can you find him in the very crowded 1992 Marvel Bullpen? (Hint: He is next to Stan Lee.)

from Marvel Age #120 (Marvel, January 1993), art by Rick Parker
(Click top picture to President-size)
A couple links about Terry Stewart that I liked:

• A nice profile of Stewart from a hometown newspaper
• Elliot R. Brown's favorite story and memory of Terry Stewart's time at Marvel

Still, even though we know all that, not a lot of people know that (copyright ©1966 by Michael Caine) Terry Stewart debuted as a comic book love story protagonist waaaay back in 1953! (wink wink)


from "One Night of Love" in First Love Illustrated #25 (Charlton, February 1953), pencils and inks by John Sink
Say, I wonder what Terry said during his apparently censored speech balloon...and how did it lead to their world turning black and white? Are they being targeted by a sniper?


Anyway, happy birthday, Terry Stewart!