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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.
