Demise
Evanier wrote in 2003 that he discovered Marvelmania "was taking orders for such items and cashing the checks, and once in a rare while, they'd actually produce an item and ship it out. But a lot of kids were shamelessly ripped-off and when it became apparent that this was happening, I quit, as did my friend Steve Sherman, who was also working there. A few months later, the guy who owned and operated the company upped and vanished to avoid a legion of creditors, and has not been seen since". Evanier further recalled to historian Marc Flores, who writes under the pen name Ronin Ro, that after suspecting business problems, he arrived at the tiny Marvelmania office one day to see original Jack Kirby art, loaned to Marvelmania for reproduction, being given to local comics fans in exchange for mail-room duties. Ro writes,
... things at Marvelmania continued to fall apart. The guy who ran the place had overextended himself. He had great ideas for full-color catalogs and posters, but just as many outstanding bills from printers. Sherman quit working there. Three weeks later, after completing the next Marvelmania fanzine, Evanier also left. Soon, creditors came after the guy who ran the place, the sheriff shut him down, and the police sat there and took the funds as they came in the door. Employees who left work on a Friday arrived on Monday to find the guy had 'cleaned the place out and disappeared.'
The "Bullpen Bulletins" page in Marvel comics cover-dated December 1971 contained a "Special Notice" reading, "Just as this issue went to press, we learned that Marvelmania International, the club which has been advertising in our pages for some months, has been officially disbanded. No more memberships or orders should be sent to Marvelmania".
The in-house Marvel fanzine FOOM followed from late 1972 to mid-1978.
Read more about this topic: Marvelmania International