Dazzler: The Doll

As many of you already know, I've been conducting years of research toward completing Dazzler: Thank You For The Music, the first-ever comprehensive critical and informational overview of the character, due from TwoMorrows in mid-2009.

I thought I might share some of my research here from time to time, so as to enlighten my fellow Dazzled Ones about their favorite character, even as I create a modicum of "buzz" for my book. I'm sure the Dazzled Ones who lurk at this site will be first in line to purchase, but I'd be lying if I didn't secretly hope to get a call from The Today Show or (dare I hope? dare I dream?) my idol Terry Gross at NPR's Fresh Air!

The images accompanying this post are a few remnants from a long-hidden, all-too-brief era in Dazzler history, when Marvel Comics was desperately seeking to market and sell their disco-dancing mutant hero to not just comics fans, but the public at large. As my book will demonstrate, throughout Dazzler's existence, there have been enterprising editors and licensing executives who have seen the untapped potential in this tremendous character and have sought to exploit her in media as diverse as television, Broadway rock operas, and (as we'll discuss today) toys.

These pictures are exclusive images taken from Mattel's archives, depicting a few of the prototypes drawn up for an aborted Dazzler: The Doll toy line, to be issued alongside Barbie to young, impressionable girls who would then (one presumes) be driven by curiosity to pick up one of Marvel's Dazzler comic books.

The Marvel/Mattel deal was one of the first spearheaded by Stan Lee after moving to California in 1981. For weeks, Lee could be found haunting South Bay eateries and nightclubs along with executives from Mattel's corporate offices in El Segundo. Lee even hosted a "launch party" for the doll line, even though the project had not moved past the prototype stage, at LA nightspot Whisky-A-Go-Go. The party is notable for featuring a brief set by seminal LA punk group X.

It's still unclear exactly what happened to sour the deal between Marvel and Mattel; there are however indications that the material developed for the Dazzler: The Doll project would later be utilized by disgruntled former Mattel employees to launch Jem at Hasbro.



Stan Lee at the Dazzler: The Doll launch party, July 1982