Tales of the UnexSPECted: Rise of the Midnight Sons Preview

Preview books tend to fall into two categories in terms of collectors.  They are curios for some but with no real value attached but for others they are significant keys worthy of spots in their collections.

Marvel Age 16 which predates
New Mutants 18

First Warlock??

I tend to fall somewhere in between both camps as I am a proponent of first appearances in 'marketing books', such as Marvel Age but I don't believe that solicits in Previews, or that previews inserted in ALL books that came out a certain week should be qualified as first appearances.  

One particular book that I think squarely falls into the category of a truly collector worthy preview is the Rise of the Midnight Sons preview which came out in January of 1992.

Here is a little more about the book courtesy of the online antique store Endless Treasures:

Published by Marvel Comics in 1992, this is a black and white uncorrected proof of the mini-series with series 'Rise of the Midnight Sons'. It is an 8 1/2" by 11", magazine size, square bound format with one sided pages... This is one of a series of advance previews that Marvel Comics sent out to their distributors and larger retailers as a promotional item to encourage higher orders on select issues. These are quite rare as only about 500 of each were printed and most were tossed out by those who received them not realizing their collectible potential. It has an introductory page describing the storyline, and all of the contributors, followed by a sampling of the comics printed in black and white on white mando paper. Some of these printed the entire comic, and others left out the final few pages so as to not spoil a surprise ending before the actual release date. There are pin ups & trading card illustrations in the back. This is all in black & white.

I was able to grab one of these a few years back as I feel that this particular corner of the Marvel universe has been greatly untapped  in other forms of media.  Even the cancellation of Hulu's Ghost Rider is probably a beneficial thing as Marvel can now develop the original Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze and his successor Danny Ketch. From the Spirits of Vengeance to the Nightstalkers to the Book of the Darkhold, Marvel has a wealth of properties upon which to build.

I have included some additional shots from the book below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There isn't a lot of historic sales data on this book and it seems to have disappeared from any of the online retailers.  At the very least, if you are a fan of that particular supernatural segment of the Marvel Universe, it's an essential bit of history to be on the lookout for!