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| The 1st issue of FANTASTIC! Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Well, I'm a tad early, but in about 11 days it'll be an astounding 43 years since FANTASTIC made its debut on newsagents' counters and shelves across Britain. Published by ODHAMS PRESS, it was the next stage in the evolution of comic titles like WHAM!, SMASH! and POW!, which featured U.K. humour strips alongside MARVEL reprints (or vice-versa if you prefer). Unlike its companion papers though, the contents of Fantastic were not resized to fit a typical British comic's page, instead being granted the privilege of appearing (more or less) in their original format - albeit in a slightly larger size and in black and white.
True, credit boxes were omitted, and U.S. spellings, references and speech patterns were routinely changed ("I ain't" to "I'm not" for example), but so what? Just to see classic art by JACK KIRBY, DON HECK and, later, STEVE DITKO in all its crisp and cataclysmic glory, was what mattered to readers back in the day - to say nothing of the power-packed dynamism of scripting by STAN LEE, LARRY LIEBER and ROY THOMAS.
The comic contained some home-grown produce however, in the form of the occasional humour page, plus THE MISSING LINK/JOHNNY FUTURE strip that lasted for the first 51 issues, drawn throughout its entire run by Spanish artist LUIS BERMEJO.
Despite lasting only 89 issues, a Summer Special and 3 Annuals, Fantastic remains one of the more fondly remembered comics of the '60s by those who were fortunate (and discerning) enough to have bought and relished it at the time. Below is the trade ad for the comic to alert newsagents to its upcoming launch.
ah, yes! I remember it well! great fun. I've still got a handful of my old issues tucked away, somewhere 'round here. I'll have to dig 'em out again, if only to have a gander at them Barry Windsor Smith back page posters again!
ReplyDeleteBarry Windsor Smith - didn't he do well! Especially considering that some of those back page pin-ups look awful in retrospect. (He was only about 17 'though.)
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed by any comic that hands out free scars. I used to know a man who did that in my local but somehow it wasn't the same.
ReplyDeleteThat's nothing - up in Glasgow, dodging "free" scars is a fairly regular occurrence.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, Steve, meant to say - I remember there being some negative TV coverage at the time, voicing concern that it might encourage kids who couldn't get the free gift scars trying to give themselves "homemade" ones, and inadvertently injuring themselves in the process.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of when, at the end of TV shows like Batman and Wonder Woman, the announcer used to warn kids not to leap off shed roofs thinking they could fly like their heroes - even though neither Wonder Woman nor Batman could fly.
ReplyDeleteI remember the Batman announcements. Adam West and Burt Ward filmed a little segment warning kids not to imitate them. I've heard it said that they were filmed especially for Britain, not appearing on the US airings of the show. Apparently British kids are more stupid than their American counterparts.
ReplyDeletehell, yeah. we're fekking idiots, the lot of us.
ReplyDeleteremember, we were the only country IN THE WHOLE WORLD that A Clockwork Orange was banned in FOR FEKKING YARONS!!!!
gawd bless us.
Ah, but remember - it was Stanley Kubrick himself who banned it in this country, on account of "copycat" violence which followed in its wake.
ReplyDeleteI also remember the warning that accompanied Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons in print: " Captain Scarlet is indestructible, you are not. Remember this and do not try to imitate him." Occasionally there was a variant using the word "emulate", which was the first time, as a child, I had come across the word.
ReplyDeleteWhich just proves why comics shouldn't 'write down' to children by avoiding words they may not know. I learned a lot of new words from comics - like paroxysm, for example. If I didn't know a word and the context didn't suggest what it meant, I simply looked it up.
ReplyDelete