Memorabilia: 1980

• A Thing sew-on/iron-on patch was made available. I am unable to determine a manufacturer at this time.
• Something called the Marvel Comics Super Heroes Strategy Game Board Game was produced. I currently don't know anything beyond that.
• Special thanks to Bill Weber, who sent in the following item:

  Golden Press put out two sets of "Everything Workbooks," with four books in each set. The first set contained two books for "beginning readers" and two books for "beginning counters" featuring Bugs Bunny and other WB characters. The second set featured Marvel characters, as follows:

  • Fun with Words, Book 1, featured Spider-Man
  • Fun with Words, Book 2, featured the Hulk
  • Fun with Numbers, Book 1, featured the FF
  • Fun with Numbers, Book 2, featured Captain America

  The FF book contains various number games and exercises appropriate for grade school kids. (For instance: (1) Picture shows Thing and Hulk each lifting a stack of bricks. Count the bricks to see who is lifting the most. (2) Picture shows many poses of Mr. Fantastic stretched into circle, triangle, and square shapes. Count the number of each shape. (3) Connect the dots to make the Invisible Girl appear.) Most pages are in color, designed and illustrated by Jerry Ordway and Wayne Dober. The Marvel heroes from the other workbooks, along with an assortment of villians, also appear. (I assume that the FF also appear in the other workbooks, but I cannot verify this.) Cover price was 99 cents.

• Coca-Cola produced a series of posters showcasing the origins of several Marvel heroes. The Fantastic Four poster was created by then-FF artist John Byrne with inks by Joe Sinnott. I do not currently know how these were marketed and/or distributed.
• Fleetwood, who maintained a FF toy license for many years, produced a "FF Target Game." The set included a dart pistol, two "bullets" and targets of Dr. Doom and Galactus.