Marvel Premiere

As suggested by it's title, Marvel Premier would be one of the companies prime vehicles for both introducing new characters, and re-booting already established ones.

Coming out of the gates in a strong manner, the first two issues would bring us Roy Thomas' and Gil Kane's Adam Warlock (or, simply, Warlock), a re-imagining of the established character "Him." Warlock would go on to be a strong recurring presence in the Marvel Universe.

Next would come a 12 issue run featuring Dr. Strange - a hero without a home as a solo feature at the time (he was, however, a member of the Defenders). Issues #3 -#14 were impressive if only because of the top-notch artists of the time that were engaged to draw the stories; Barry Windsor-Smith, Craig Russell, Jim Starlin, Frank Brunner, Neal Adams...

Next up, issues #15 - #25, starred a hero which was arguably the triumph of the series; Iron Fist! Co-created by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane, Iron Fist made his debut in Marvel Premier #15, in 1974. IF made 11 appearances in that book, with Chris Claremont taking over the writing with issue #23, and #25 featuring the artist John Byrne (this would be a legendary teaming later in the decade, on X-Men, in particular).

After this the series sort of peters-out for a while with a series of one shots:

Hercules and the Satana get single outings each; The Legion Of Monsters (Ghost Rider, Man-Thing, Morbius, Werewolf By Night) with an attempt at an all-monster team; The Liberty Legion - a WWII era Invaders offshoot comprised of mostly B-List Timely Golden-Age heroes, Woodgod, Monark Moonstalker, Conan offshoot The Mark of Kane, and lastly Roy Thomas' attempt at a Cold War era superhero, 3-D Man (couldn't get the rights to Kirby's 1950's Harvey character Captain 3-D). Elf fantasy title Weird world gets a go, Marv Wofman's Torpedo looks promising for a couple of issues (#39 & #40), The sci-fi Seeker 3000 rides the Star Wars craze for an issue, to no avail.

Continuing the one-shots is character Tigra, The Feline Fury, memorable recurring Daredevil soldier-of-fortune-type Palladin (issue #43), and promising superhero Jack Of Hearts (#44).

George Perez gives Man-Wolf a test-drive for a couple of issues. Then comes a real treat : A re-boot of Ant-Man (#45 & #46), and one that sticks this time with Scott Lang taking over Henry Pym's original role - a great couple of issues with a character introduced in the contemporary Iron Man comics of the time - David Michelinie, John Byrne and Bob Layton do an impressive job here. 

Onward! The Falcon gets a single solo outing next, followed by rock star Alice Cooper in a single issue head-scratcher, with 3 issues of the ever-popular Black Panther after that (#51 -#53), Caleb Hammer (a new-jack western type), continuing with a solo Wonder Man issue, and another Howard Chaykin one-shot (no pun intended) Dominic Fortune.

Of more than a passing interest, english artist Dave Gibbons offers up the next 4 issues dedicated to cult phenomenon Doctor Who (the Tom Baker version). These are getting collectible!

Closing out the series is a single Doug Moench/Tom Sutton Star-Lord issue (#61).

And that was all-she-wrote, so to speak, for Marvel Premier.

The Warlock, Dr. Strange and Iron Fist books are the most valuable and collectible...

But look out for the Ant-Man and the Doctor Who...