Back in 1975, the world of comics was far more optimistic than today's sepia-toned universe of brooding, glowering violence. Superheroes still wore their underpants over their trousers, Spider-Man drove a dune buggy, and the Incredible Hulk routinely fought such fierce foes as a roving gang of roller-disco enthusiasts in defense of the integrity of Hostess Fruit Pies.
It was a more optimistic time, for sure, and New Year's is all about optimism, so why not channel Stan Lee's trademark brand of alliterative four-color cheeriness by recycling this gorgeous 1975 Marvel Comics calendar for 2014? Featuring art by legendary Marvel Comics artists Jack Kirby, John Buscema, Barry Windsor Smith and more, it's not just a time capsule to some of the Bronze Age of Comics' best work, but perfectly suited to tracking your time in 2014 too.
How can you use a calendar from 1975 in 2014? Simply put, all of the days are the same. Calendars regularly repeat with the same day-date combinations as it turns out. (If you really want to go into the math, there's a fairly involved formula you can use to determine which years are "repeats"). What all this means that in 2014, you can reuse any calendar you happen to have lying around that is from 2003, 1997, 1986, 1975, 1969, etc. and the days and dates will all line up. That's convenient, because Chicago-area cartoonist Mark Anderson happened to dig up a treasure from his comic vaults: the Mighty Marvel Calendar For 1975.
This date-keeping treasure was sent out to members of the official Marvel fan club, F.O.O.M. ("Friends Of Ol' Marvel," having previously been known as "Marvelmania International" and "The Merry Marvel Marching Society"), at the tail-end of 1974, and it's just absolutely wonderful, featuring not only bright, vivid art from some of the era's most iconic cartoonists, but also days marked off with events like the first time J. Jonah Jameson met Spider-Man, the day Sub-Mariner (the original Marvel superhero) creator Bill Everett died, and months themed after Marvel's hottest comic properties at the time, from Luke Cage to Conan the Barbarian.
Anderson was kind enough to scan each of the Merry Marvel Calendar's pages in as a wallpaper-quality 2,560 x 1,200 images, so if you want to use these as your Mac or PC's desktop background, go to it. As Stan Lee might have said, Excelsior, and have a marvelous 2014!