PRESENTING: A PULSATING PINNACLE OF PRACTICAL PERFECTION PERTAINING TO A PROFOUNDLY PERTINENT POWER-PACK PUBLICATION FROM THE PAST, PROUDLY PARADED FOR YOUR PARTICULARLY PASSIONATE AND PERSONAL PERUSAL...

Pencils by Werner Roth, inks by Dick Ayers, layouts by Jack Kirby



Here's the comic that was on sale from October 21st (dated a week ahead, naturally) 43 years ago.  The cover art has been extended to accommodate the different page size to the original U.S. dimensions and, to be honest, hasn't been done too well.  That was one of the problems with the 'bodgers' of yesteryear (and no doubt some of today) - they just weren't competent when it came to executing such tasks.  Look at CYCLOP's arm and neck - they're far too thin and out of proportion to the rest of the figure.  And ICEMAN doesn't seem much of a threat - on account of him being 'armless.  That's what comes from merely extending the curve of a line (or the line of a curve, even) without giving thought to what the 'missing' part of the picture should look like.

 

A Power-House Pin-Up by Barry (Windsor) Smith (?)



That said, FANTASTIC (published by ODHAMS PRESS) really was a fantastic comic, and I've got loads of very happy memories from when it was being published back in the '60s.  It only lasted for 89 issues, a Summer Special and three Annuals - and I've got a full set.  (Nope - they're not for sale.  Getcher own!)

89 issues - only about a year and nine months.  Funny how periods from the past, once they've been dated and placed in their own little compartments of the mind, don't seem to measure up in duration to our perceptions of them.