One of my very favourite
comics from the past is one that
regular readers of this humble blog
will doubtless have noticed me
refer to before - FANTASTIC. This
worthy weekly was published by
ODHAMS PRESS, the debut issue
being cover-dated February 18th,
1967. At the time of its release, I
was too busy lusting over the
feminine charms of SUSAN
STORM in the pages of WHAM! to
pay much attention to the arrival of
this new periodical, but my mother
bought me a later issue from a
newsagent's kiosk on our way
home from shopping one day.
comics from the past is one that
regular readers of this humble blog
will doubtless have noticed me
refer to before - FANTASTIC. This
worthy weekly was published by
ODHAMS PRESS, the debut issue
being cover-dated February 18th,
1967. At the time of its release, I
was too busy lusting over the
feminine charms of SUSAN
STORM in the pages of WHAM! to
pay much attention to the arrival of
this new periodical, but my mother
bought me a later issue from a
newsagent's kiosk on our way
home from shopping one day.
The issue in question was #7(cover-dated April 1st) - and I
was hooked! How could I not be,
with stories like THOR - "THE
THUNDER GOD AND THE
THUG!", X-MEN - "TRAPPED:
ONE X-MAN!", IRON MAN -
"VERSUS KALA, QUEEN OF THE NETHERWORLD!", alongside the
superb adventures of THE
MISSING LINK for good measure?
I soon acquired the earlier issues,
and it wasn't long before I became
a POWER COMICS junkie, buying
all five of the weekly publications
regularly. (Wham!, SMASH!,
POW!, Fantastic, and TERRIFIC.)
Fantastic had forty pages per
issue, but not even that number
could accommodate the above
tales in their entirety, so only
the first halves of the Thor
and X-Men stories were
presented, the remainder of
these particular adventures being
completed the following week.
These early LEE/KIRBY/HECK
MARVEL epics were printed in
black and white, but that - and
the fact that some characters'
names were changed from
their American originals - didn't
seem to spoil the readers'
enjoyment one whit.
issue, but not even that number
could accommodate the above
tales in their entirety, so only
the first halves of the Thor
and X-Men stories were
presented, the remainder of
these particular adventures being
completed the following week.
These early LEE/KIRBY/HECK
MARVEL epics were printed in
black and white, but that - and
the fact that some characters'
names were changed from
their American originals - didn't
seem to spoil the readers'
enjoyment one whit.
For example, THE BLACK
WIDOW's name of NATASHA
was altered to NATASIA (although
perhaps they're pronounced the
same, who knows?) and THE RED
GHOST's moniker was changed
(for reasons that later became
obvious to me) to THE APE
MASTER. I can still remember
my astonishment in a shop one
day at seeing the same story (FF
#13) in an issue of COLLECTORS'
ITEM CLASSICS that I had already
read in WHAM! and my
bewilderment at the altered
appellation of the baddie. How was
such a thing possible, I wondered.
Nowadays, of course, I can see
that the amended lettering in
the British reprints is easily
discernible, although it wasn't
quite so apparent to me back
when I was a lickle kiddie-winkie.
(Okay, I was eight - but that's
still 'lickle' in my book.)
WIDOW's name of NATASHA
was altered to NATASIA (although
perhaps they're pronounced the
same, who knows?) and THE RED
GHOST's moniker was changed
(for reasons that later became
obvious to me) to THE APE
MASTER. I can still remember
my astonishment in a shop one
day at seeing the same story (FF
#13) in an issue of COLLECTORS'
ITEM CLASSICS that I had already
read in WHAM! and my
bewilderment at the altered
appellation of the baddie. How was
such a thing possible, I wondered.
Nowadays, of course, I can seethat the amended lettering in
the British reprints is easily
discernible, although it wasn't
quite so apparent to me back
when I was a lickle kiddie-winkie.
(Okay, I was eight - but that's
still 'lickle' in my book.)
Anyway, I have very fond
memories of Fantastic #7, so I
thought I'd kindly share a few
pages with you here. Remember,
if you enjoy them half as much as
me, then I'll have enjoyed them
twice as much as you. (Profound,
or what?) Doh!
memories of Fantastic #7, so I
thought I'd kindly share a few
pages with you here. Remember,
if you enjoy them half as much as
me, then I'll have enjoyed them
twice as much as you. (Profound,
or what?) Doh!
2 comments:
The design and colours of both covers are beautiful.
Fantastic was my favourite although I read at least two issues of Terrific (and an unknown number of Pow and Smash, where I probably first saw Batman and Robin.)
I loved the original line-up of the X-Men and I can picture my mum reading the issue with the Mimic and the Super-Adaptoid to me.
The next British comic to make an impact on me was Thunder. But Power Comics were my gateway drug to the U.S. originals.
I well remember reading that Mimic/Super Adaptoid story in Fantastic myself. Whenever I look at the issue now, I'm straightway back in the house I lived in at the time.
As for the original line-up of the X-Men, I always preferred them, so I was glad when they were reunited in X-Factor back in the '80s. It was one time I didn't mind seeing a character (Jean Grey) resurrected from the dead.
I think my brother only started buying Smash! for Batman & Robin 'cos it was on TV at the time, but we both also enjoyed Rubberman and The Hulk. I soon started buying it for myself.
Thunder was also one of my favourite comics. I've posted the covers of the three Annuals it spawned somewhere on my blog - and I only need to acquire a few issues to have a full set. Not long now.
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