3 packs of 80's comics found in Target stores question

[smitty22]

Good day to all, I was hoping that someone out there could help me with some Marvel Comics history.

In the fall of 1984 I was gifted two 3 packs of Marvel Comics that where purchased at Target. One of the 3 pack I know had Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars issues #4, 5 & 6. The second pack had Thor #352 (and here is where my memory gets sketchy) maybe Avengers #251 & maybe The New Defenders #140 but I'm not really sure on those last two.

Does any one recall or have any information about what 3 packs where sold and what their contents where?

Thank you so much for any information you have.

[NDComicsFan]

Good day to all, I was hoping that someone out there could help me with some Marvel Comics history.

In the fall of 1984 I was gifted two 3 packs of Marvel Comics that where purchased at Target. One of the 3 pack I know had Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars issues #4, 5 & 6. The second pack had Thor #352 (and here is where my memory gets sketchy) maybe Avengers #251 & maybe The New Defenders #140 but I'm not really sure on those last two.

Does any one recall or have any information about what 3 packs where sold and what their contents where?

Thank you so much for any information you have.

I don't have specific information on the logistics of what they did, but I can add a few more facts.

I can say that this was not anything specific to Target. My town did not have a Target, but I got packs like this at least three different times. We did have a Woolworths and K-Mart. Plus some grocery stores may have carried these too.

I got packs like this around 1978, 1980, and 1984. They were typically random Marvel issues.

In 1978, I got early issues of Nova, Ms Marvel, Amazing Spider Man 174/175 (that was the really neat thing, to find successive issue in different packs) Incredible Hulk 217, and even issue of Flintstones and Yogi Bear, who Marvel had licenses for and made comics of back then. There's a couple more from these packs I can't remember right now.

The pack around 1980 had Avengers 190 and Peter Parker 37/38.

The 1984 packs had Fantastic Four 259, Thor 336, Avengers 237, Amazing Spider Man 245/246, and one other one I can't remember. I also don't know how they were packaged together.

I know this isn't exactly what you were looking for but will help add to your information.

[Tulku]

I remember getting a pack that had Captain America #224 thru 226 in it. I can't remember when that was. Around 1980, I guess.

[smitty22]

Thanks for the information, I would love to hear from others if you have more "packs" you can catalog. Thanks again.

[Gaastra]

Found some small size pictures online.

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[Gaastra]

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[Gaastra]

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[riffraff]

Thanks for the information, I would love to hear from others if you have more "packs" you can catalog. Thanks again.

I got bunch of those Marvel Multi-Mag 3-packs in the late '70s, usually at local departments stores and a few grocery stores. I cobbled together a list, as best I could remember and cross-referencing with release/sales dates. Not sure how accurate the list is, as some of these purchases may have been single issues. Any group of three comics purchased that were released on a same day, I considered them to be part of a 3-pack. I do remember many of them being part of a 3-pack. I don't just remember, for the most of them, which three comics consisted of the pack. Again, these are by release date, not cover date.

1976

Captain America - 202
Inhumans - 7
Marvel Super Heroes - 60

Amazing Spider-Man - 166
Eternals - 9
Thor - 257

1977

Incredible Hulk - 210
Power Man - 42
X-Men - 104

Black Panther - 3
Incredible Hulk - 211
Power Man - 43

Avengers - 160
Nova - 10
X-Men - 105

Godzilla - 1
Iron Fist - 14
Invaders - 19

Eternals - 17
Red Sonja - 6
Thor - 265

Avengers - 165
Incredible Hulk - 217
Nova - 15

Human Fly - 4
Kull the Conqueror - 24
Marvel Two-in-One - 34

1978

Incredible Hulk - 223
Man from Atlantis - 4
Nova - 19

Human Fly - 10
Marvel Two-in-One - 40
Spider-Woman - 3

Godzilla - 13
Kull the Destroyer - 28
Marvel Super Heroes - 73

Fantastic Four - 199
Marvel Team-Up - 74
Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man - 23

Conan the Barbarian - 92
Incredible Hulk - 229
Marvel Tales - 97

(not confident about this one being a 3-pack)
Avengers - 180
Invaders - 37
Shogun Warriors - 1

Avengers - 181
Defenders - 69
Incredible Hulk - 233

1979

Marvel Super-Heroes - 80
Marvel Two-in-One - 51
Shogun Warriors - 4

Marvel Super Heroes - 81
Marvel Two-in-One - 53
Shogun Warriors - 6

(not confident about the final two being a 3-pack)

Avengers - 190
Incredible Hulk - 242
Marvel Premiere - 51

Avengers - 192
Incredible Hulk - 244
Marvel's Greatest Comics - 85

[NDComicsFan]

The 1984 packs had Fantastic Four 259, Thor 336, Avengers 237, Amazing Spider Man 245/246, and one other one I can't remember. I also don't know how they were packaged together.

I just remembered the one I was missing from this group, it was Alpha Flight 4.

[smitty22]

Thanks again for the pictures and lists, really interesting, did not know they went as far back or as far forward as they did.

[ARkadelphia]

I got a 3 pack of Star Wars marvel comics back in 1978 or so. Contained issues 7, 8, and 9. These were the first original marvel Star Wars stories as issues 1-6 contained the whole of what is now known as “A New Hope”.

[skyvolt2000]

I got one that had Get Along, Fraggle Rock & Muppet babies.

I do remember seeing one with Thunder cats, Wally Wizard & Ewoks too.

This was around 1985.

[Blunt Guy]

There was a Zayre at the little strip mall in my hometown back in the 1980's that always had a variety of comic packs from Marvel & DC, along with Whitman variants. I bought them all the time, but the only comics I specifically remember getting are Avengers 160 and a Marvel Team Up with Spider-Man and Daredevil from around that time. I remember that those comics had a diamond with the price and number on them compared to the standard boxes on the comics I got everywhere else, and I was always concerned that they weren't considered to be the same thing. Like many comic collectors, I have a thing for consistency in small details, but I eventually accepted they were the same. These days we would call them variants and convince a segment of the collectors they were special and rare. I wish I had kept some of those. A small display area in my comic room