“Resonating fanfare throughout the world. Replay it lightly towards the stage that you’ve been aspiring to. If your dreams aren’t able to come to an end yet, don’t give up.” — From Fanfare, written by Louise Frick Sveen, Atsushi Shimada, Kenichi Sakamuro, and Chiemi Ishiyama

I envy the hell out of Al Milgrom. He landed the best editorial gig in Marvel history, and then he proceeded to put himself right in the middle of it.

Al edited Marvel Fanfare, the linear anthology title that featured the work of a plethora of amazing writers and artists, all working on Marvel characters out-of-continuity. This is a “What If” scenario twisted so that the stories are not “What if,” but the talent is. So Al looked around, glanced at his magic Rolodex (google it), and turned out a ton of great stuff.

Contributors include Frank Miller, Barry Windsor-Smith, Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum, Michael Golden, Mike Mignola, Charles Vess, Bill Sienkiewicz, Roger Stern, Marv Wolfman, Gil Kane, George Pérez, Bill Mantlo, Trevor Von Eeden, Paul Smith, Craig Russell, Kerry Gammil, Steve Grant, Jo Duffy, Mike Barr, Rick Leonardi, George Freeman, Terry Austin, Joe Rubinstein, and a whole lot of other people of exactly the same caliber.

My favorite of all these remarkably gifted folk was the one consistent presence in Marvel Fanfare: Al Milgrom himself. He’s even better than his Rolodex, and his “Editori-Al” one-pagers were clever, funny, self-effacing, and brilliant.

(Note to those who didn’t start reading Marvel until after the 1980s: “Editori-Al” refers to the writer/artist/editor whose first name, then and now, is Al. “Editori-Al” is not short for A.I., the software that allows people with little talent and no ethics to swipe other people’s work.)

So when “they” first announced this series of three Omnibuses — omnibi? — reprinting the entire run, the first thing I thought was “Hey, cool!” Yeah, I talk that way. I’m proud to be an old hippie. But my second thought was far more threatening: “They better pay Al to do the introduction in the form of his Editori-Als or I’m gonna be angry, and (all together now) you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.”

They did not get Milgrom to do another of his famous one-pagers. They got him to do two. Hey, that first book runs 736 pages — he needed that extra page to cover the story and to provide balance.

I’ve grown fond of telling folks how much each of these omnibi weigh. Marvel Fanfare weighs in at four and one-third pounds. You might not be phased by that, but I’m a mid-septuagenarian with a rotten hip, a plastic arm and a hernia. So I’m begging for sympathy, on my behalf as well as Al’s. After all, he’s five months older than me. DC is releasing their Suicide Squad by John Ostrander Omnibus next week, and it weights in at five and two-thirds pounds. I’d try to get me one of those dictionary stands that public libraries (google it) used to have in order to read these bridge caissons, but then I’d have to stand up while reading the thing, and that sure ain’t gonna happen.

Anyway, back to Marvel Fanfare. It’s great. Lotsa stuff by lotsa fantastic people, much of which has not been in print for over 30 years. Going through it in preparation for the heavy lap dance makes me envy Milgrom all over again. But, now, in a good way.

Al’s out on the convention circuit, and I know there will be people standing in his autograph line while holding several copies of this jawbreaker. Maybe Milgrom has the franchise rights to Vic Tanny. Yeah, google that, too. Or just read Mad Magazine’s dissertation about the place, written by Al Jaffee and drawn by Wally Wood (Mad #49, the first one, September 1959).

Marvel Fanfare Omnibus #1, of three, written and drawn by close to everybody you wanted to read at the time and edited by Al Milgrom. It was released last week, but your friendly neighborhood comics shop should be able to get one for you — with the distribution situation all over the map, one can’t be as certain right now. Amazon also has it, and they also offer a Kindle edition that will allow you to continue walking if you drop it on your foot.