Married with Children Lotto Fever Issue #01

Married with Children Lotto Fever issue 1 of 3
NOW comics
Cover date Dece 1994

Yea by the end of 94 NOW had a bad habit of solicting lots of mini series.And lots of these mini series would publish 1 issue and that was it. So you never got the entire story.

Also around this time instead of keeping the "monthly" Married with Children comic series going,I hear that the second volume was one of NOW's best sellers in this time period,they cancelled that series and brought MWC back as a series of mini series and one shots.

Some of these stay in the continuity of the 2 volumes of the main comic. That would be stuff like Bud Bundy Fanboy in Paradise(a one shot where Bud goes to a thinly disguised San Diego Comic Con and meets lots of parodies of popular comic artists from the 90s boom) or Kelly goes to College 3 issue mini series(Another of the many MWC comics that would come with posters of Christina Applegate as Kelly).But you also had series that were obviously not in continuity with the other MWC comics. Series like Married with Children 2099(NOWS parody of Marvels 2099 line) or my favorite MWC comic Quantum Quartet(A solicted as 4 issue mini series in which the Bundy family gets the Fantastic Four's Powers).

Now the Lotto Fever mini series,well you can't tell if it is in continuity with the main series. All because only the first issue got published.Or at least I have found no proof that the other 2 issues got published. But you never know. For close to 15 years people were not sure if the 3rd and 4th issues of the Quantu Quartet mini series got published. I know they got published,cause I dug the flip book that contains both issues out of a cheap bin at Coast Con back in 2010. Same bin and timeframe that I got my copy of Lotto Fever.

Ok enough backstory and history of this forgotten and never competed comic mini series. What happens in the one issue that did get published?

There is Al sitting on what I guess is the Bundys couch. Surrounded by money. Most NOW comics in this timeframe came with a poster in the center. I guess that was part of their way to justify charging $2.50 for a color comic when Marvel and DC were charging maybe $1.50 at the time. The poster in this issue is the front cover but minus all the dropped in logos,masthead and writing.

Ok time to see who worked on this comic.
Geoffrey White is the writer,Tom Richmond handles the pencils,Barry Daniel Petersen/TOdd S Tuttle/Patrick Williams are the THREE Inkers,Holly Sanfelippo was the colorist,Andrea Albert is listed as type stylist(I guess that is fancy talk for letterer),Joan Weis is the editor,Julian Berkin is the publisher and Richmond(I assume Tom Richmond)/Mowry(???)&Albert(assuming Andrea Albert) are listed as cover artists.

We open on a splash page. Al is at work at Gary's Shoes. And the  place is packed with customers. Quite a few episodes of the Married with Children TV show started off this way.

After the hellish day at work Al goes home to his horrble family. They give Al hell and he goes out to get a six pack of beer.

The above 4 pages don't make much sense once you think about them. The Bundys live either in Chicago or in a tiny suburb right outside Chicago. So why would Al be so worried about getting the last 6 pack of beer in what has to be one of a few thousand places that sell beer in Al's area.

But the first time you read those pages they are fairly funny. And it helps set up the premise of this mini series.

Also wanted to point out how the artist is pretty good at getting the main cast to look like they should in this comic.

And anyone that has seen MWC knows that Al will rarely win. Which makes that last panel of him holding the lottery ticket stand out.

WTF they let Al win!!!! One thing about NOW Comics that made them stand out to me ,is like Continuity Comics,the colors in stuff published by NOW had a brighter look and feel to them than anything Marvel or DC was doing. Might have been because NOW didn't use plain newsprint.

The rest of the issue is just set up for the next 2 issues. Al tries to go home and pack without his family knowing. Another place where it makes no sense if you think about it. Al just won millions,wtf does he have at his house that is so valuable and he couldn't replace now that he is a millionaire. Sure I would understand it if they showed Al packing up his Bigg'ums nudie mag collection.

But I guess if Al didn't go home this story could end in one issue. WHich might have been a good idea.

AL gets home the family knows something is up. Then the next morning when all the print and tv news is on the front lawn the other members of the Bundy family learn that they are filthy rich.

And to end this post here is a house ad for the never published issue 2 of MWC Lotto Fever.

I do hope that say the scripts for the two unpublished issues get out into the fandom. Sure the NOW Comics Married With Children comic wasn't an amazing comic. But it is a neat curioisty piece for fans of the show.And it shows that with the right art and scripts anything that become a comic.

Hope yall enjoyed reading this. I got more NOW MWC comics and once I find them I will do more reviews. Once I find my copy of Lotto Fever #1 I will add a pic of it to this comic. Cause while I do have comic scans,they come in hand when doing reviews,I also own close to 90% of the comics I have reviewed on this blog.