FABULOUS FLASHBACKS - MWOM #3...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Tomorrow, October 14th, it'll be exactly forty years ago that the above ish went on sale in Britain. Featuring a fantastic JIM STARLIN (I think) and JOE SINNOTT cover, this weekly was the third issue of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL which had been launched only a fortnight earlier.  Let's look at the contents, which reprinted classic tales from Marvel's history - at that time merely eleven years old.

First up (above) is The INCREDIBLE HULK, featuring some great KIRBY and DITKO art, and ol' Greenskin looking as much like BORIS KARLOFF's FRANKENSTEIN monster as was possible without being sued by UNIVERSAL.  (Trust me - it's far more apparent in later panels.)  I recall writing to editor PIPPA M. MELLING to tell her that the art had been wrongly attributed to Jolly JACK KIRBY as it was patently the work of Sturdy STEVE DITKO.  She replied, apologizing for the mistake, which demonstrates that she knew as much about Marvel artists as I did (at that time).  Nowadays, in my more enlightened state, it's obvious that Kirby pencilled it and Ditko inked it, but back then, SD's style was so prominent that it confused my still developing spider-sense.

   

And above is yet another Kirby-Ditko collaboration - the art to the cover of the first issue of SPIDER-MAN - transformed into a pin-up for all frantic followers to put on their bedroom walls.  I never did at the time; it wasn't until years later when I had extra issues to spare that I mutilated these collectable items by depriving them of their interior mini-posters.  I know - it's akin to pulling the legs off spiders or the wings off flies (not something I ever did, I hasten to add). I hang my head in shame at my unthinking vandalism.  (Saved a fortune on wallpaper though.)

Here's something you thought you'd never see - the THING - with ears.  Except it isn't really Benjy of course, but rather one of those nasty, shape-changing alien SKRULLS impersonating him.  Some nicely drawn waves from Kirby here, but I'm not convinced about the perspective or the horizon.  Never mind, I'll learn to live with it.  I'd read this story a few years before, in MARVEL COLLECTOR'S ITEM CLASSICS #1, but it was good to see it again and refresh my memory.

The middle spread (below) utilized a Kirby Hulk drawing with amended arms by another hand (so to speak).  Both appendages are too long, even allowing for the margin between the pages, making him look like a bit of a monkey-boy.  Who's gonna tell him?  

And here's ol' MOLEY (below), not quite as sweet and lovable as his namesake in The WIND In The WILLOWS, but I'm sure his mother thinks the world of him.  This page isn't a former cover, but an 'actual' pin-up from FF Annual #1.  I've often/sometimes/seldom (take yer pick) wondered just how cheap these U.K. Marvel weeklies were to produce (given that they were mainly reprint), compared to the other British comics (consisting of mostly new material) available at the time.  Anyone care to hazard a guess? 

And here's PETER PARKER again (below), demonstrating just how negligent the U.S. government could be by allowing rubber-neckers to get close to a fuel-laden rocket about to blast off.  No wonder folks in Marvel-land were frequently having accidents that transformed them into power-charged beings (or char-grilled pedestrians) - health and safety obviously hadn't been invented yet.  (Nor common-sense, it seems.) 

We Brits had to put up with getting our stories in a combination of black and white, spot-hues - and an occasional page in full-colour, of which the one below is an example.  On reflection, I wouldn't have had it any other way.  There was just something about these bombastic British Marvel weeklies that was truly magical, but difficult to explain to those brought up on a steady diet of four-colour monthlies.  (I'm talking about Americans, Melvin.)  I wonder if these relics of yesteryear are as sought-after by U.S. Marvel collectors as they are by U.K. readers of a certain age.

I noticed a Stateside dealer asking for nearly £450 for a copy of the 1974 Marvel Annual on eBay recently, so he clearly thinks it's highly collectable.  I doubt he'll get his asking price, but if he does, I have a big tower in Paris which I'll gladly sell to any interested Americans for an absolute steal (and it definitely would be).  

Oh, but look below - a free gift as well as a comic!  Weren't we spoiled?  Nowadays, buyers have to wade through newsagents' shelves overflowing with bagged issues full of cheap plastic tat in an effort to find our favourite periodical.  (Those of us who still have one in this increasingly cynical and commercial age.)  Back then, however, comics normally only carried gifts for the first three issues - and usually ones which slipped discreetly within the pages.  (With an occasional exception, obviously.)  Surely I can't be the only person who wishes things were still like that? 

Well, that's yer lot for now - hope you've enjoyed this look back to forty years ago.  Be sure to tune in again soon for something that will hopefully tickle your thistle and put a smile on your sporran.