What do Archie Bunker and H.P. Lovecraft have in common?
They’re both covered in this memo from Roy Thomas to Stan Lee, from 1972. There’s a note in Stan Lee’s writing: “I’ll ask M.G.”—since Stan Lee replaced Martin Goodman as publisher by May, this must have been written only weeks before Goodman’s departure.
MARVEL COMICS, IN A CTHULHU MOOD.
Here’s another glimpse at what might have been: A 1972 Roy Thomas memo proposes, among a handful of launches and title changes, a series “hosted” (a la EC’s Crypt Keeper) by the Doctor Strange villain Nightmare.
And what’s this? An anthology comic called THE MACABRE WORLD OF H.P. LOVECRAFT?!? A few months later, an issue of Journey into Mystery would feature an adaptation of Lovecraft’s “The Haunter of the Dark,” but no series ever materialized.
