Memorabilia: 1976

• Aladdin produced a Marvel Superheroes embossed lunch box (with a plastic thermos included) this year. The "back" panel featured the Fantastic Four in a classic John Buscema style pose. As I remember, it was very well done compared to other metal lunch boxes from that time.
  
• After an apparently successful run the previous year, Topps released another 40-card set of Marvel stickers. The art was taken from the comics and more lame jokes and puns were added in word balloons. Some of the FF members that appeared were on the following cards:
  • The Thing "Who said I'm a falling rock zone?"
  • Human Torch "Who called me a hothead?"
  • Luke Cage "Like my denture work?"
  • Invisible Girl "I use vanishing cream!"
  • Watcher "Hiya kids! Hiya! Hiya! Hiya!" (Yes, I know Uatu was never a member of the FF, but it was the one gag out of the whole lot that amused me!)
  
• Celebrity Stamps Inc. released a set of ten Fantastic Four stamps. Packaged in a small envelope, each stamp depicted the Fantastic Four in a general "action" pose. An album was also available to collect all the different heroes.
• Sold through Marvel comics were several sweat- and t-shirts with various characters on them. The cover of Marvel Treasury Edition #1 by John Buscema was used as the FF's image. All of these shirts were half cotton and half polyester.
• The same image was also depicted on a beach towel. It measured 27 inches by 54 inches and was made of 100 percent cotton. It was sold in the same manner.
• Marvel mirrors were sold during this year. I believe there were five designs in all, one of them featuring the Fantastic Four. It measured eight by ten inches and depicted one FF member in each corner (Thing - upper left; Human Torch - upper right; Invisible Girl - lower left; Mr. Fantastic - lower right) with the logo centered at the top.
• Lifesong Records released "Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero." It was supposedly sung by Spider-Man himself with the FF providing backup vocals and Power-Man on bass. Other band members included Silver Surfer on keyboards, Conan and the Barbarians on strings, Captain America on percussion, Hulk on drums, handclapping by Falcon, electric guitar by Black Panthter, and Thor on trumpet.
• Guild released a FF jigsaw puzzle containing 200 pieces. It measures 14" x 18" when completed.
  
• The Mighty Marvel Bicentennial Calendar (10.75" x 11") featured brand new art of many Marvel heroes. Featured heroes were, in order, Invaders; Hulk; Black Panther; Conan; Thor; Spider-Man; Captain America; Fantastic Four; Daredevil, Black Widow, Dr. Strange, Hellstorm, Luke Cage, Ghost Rider, and Shang-Chi; Dracula, Werewolf, and Manthing; Warlock, Silver Surfer, and Capt. Marvel; and the Avengers.
• Mead Paper used their FF license to make school supplies. Artwork was pulled from various comics (mostly covers) to create paper, pocket portfolios, a pinchless slide-ring notebook, spiral noteboooks and "The Organizer."
  
• Fleetwood produced a series of Fantastic Four Supercars. Each car was about 4.5" long. There were two car styles and a poorly sculpted PVC figure was placed (perhaps glued?) in the driver's seat of each. I know that cars were made specifically for Mr. Fantastic, Thing and Human Torch, but I am uncertain if an Invisible Girl one was made as well.
• Milton-Bradley sold, mainly through ads in comic books, Marvel World. It was a three-dimensional playset of some of the major edifices in the Marvel Universe: the Daily Bugle, Peter Parker's apartment, etc. It also came with two-dimesional, three-inch figures of nearly every major Marvel character at that time, including the Fantastic Four. Each figure had his/her superhero identity on one side of the cardboard and his/her civilian identity on the other. The entire set was constructed of a heavy cardboard with printing on both sides. It was very impressive. Although, since they were bulky and made of paper, they are very hard to find today.
• A three-reel set of the Fantastic Four's adventures were captured for ViewMaster. Packet #K36 was first printed this year (known as type G4), but also saw subsequent printings in 1977/78 (type G5) and 1978 through 1981 (type G6). I believe (but this is a guess) that the ViewMaster images were taken directly from the comics, but I am unsure of the plot or storyline. The packet also included an adventure booklet.
• Picking up on the United States' bicentenial celebration, Marvel released their bicentenial calendar. Most of the interior artwork wasn't much different than other Marvel calendars, but the front sported a very patriotic Spider-Man, Hulk and Captain America.