Marvel Comic-Con: Inside Marvel’s first official convention

There’s no denying that conventions are a special experience. Conventions bring fans together to celebrate their hobby, meet their favorite creators, and find coveted collector items. Have you ever felt the joy of finding that missing back issue after years of searching? How about the euphoria of having a great conversation with one of your favorite creators? It’s a feeling many of us have had, and it’s why we love the con experience.

It's virtually impossible to go to a comic convention without seeing something Marvel related. From cosplay, original artwork, merchandise, and more, Marvel has a large presence at every show. But what would it be like if Marvel had their own convention? The premiere episode of the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel featured a fictitious event called AvengersCon, devoted to celebrating Marvel’s heroes. This has led to some speculation about what it would be like if Marvel organized their own convention. Believe it or not, this has already happened.

Decades before Kamala Khan visited AvengersCon, Marvel held two conventions in 1975 and 1976. If you missed them, here’s what they were like…

1975: Mighty Marvel Convention

In 1975 Marvel Comics was growing as a brand. The superhero boom of the 60s had given Marvel dozens of successful hits, like Spider-Man, the Hulk, and Iron Man. The popularity of the Marvel brand propelled editor Stan Lee to celebrity status. Lee became a popular guest speaker, traveling the country to appear at various colleges and early comic conventions. At the time, comic conventions weren’t the sprawling mega-events they are now. San Diego Comic-Con was still in its early days and being run out of the El Cortez Hotel.

With comic conventions on the rise, Stan Lee thought it was only natural for Marvel to organize one of their own. The Mighty Marvel Comic Convention was soon scheduled for March 22-24th 1975 at New York City’s Hotel Commodore (today known as the Grand Hyatt). Phil Seuling, one of the earliest comic convention organizers, helped Marvel put everything together.

In 1975 Scott Edelman was a young Marvel staffer responsible for writing house ads, editing Marvel’s official fanzine FOOM, and putting together Stan Lee’s Bullpen Bulletins. When Stan Lee began planning Marvel’s first convention, he asked Edelman to help put together the official program. “Any convention run by a corporation you probably would have had the programming settled six or eight months in advance,” Edelman told Popverse during a phone interview. “It would have been done by a committee, not a 19-year-old kid sending memos back and forth with Stan Lee. We didn’t lock down programming until two weeks before the convention.”

Years before he grew up to become a comic creator, X-Men writer Fabian Nicieza attended the convention along with his brother Mariano. “I was thirteen at the time and I mostly remember dingy