MARVEL ON A RAMPAGE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's two of the comics mentioned, but not pictured, in the previous post.  The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR lasted for 37 issues before being merged with The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL (putting the good ol' FF right back where they started).  It was probably one of the better comics that MARVEL U.K. ever published, so it's a shame it didn't have a much longer run.  It has a modern day equivalent in FANTASTIC FOUR ADVENTURES, published by PANINI, but I hear that, sadly, the next issue (#28) is to be the last due to low sales.

RAMPAGE lasted around 34 issues before fading away, to be relaunched a couple of months later as a monthly, featuring black and white tales of The INCREDIBLE HULK.  Despite the weekly featuring The DEFENDERS and NOVA, this title always seemed a bit lacklustre to me, probably because it was overshadowed by its FF sister publication, which I thought was a great little magazine.  What's the old saying?  "A sparrow may look beautiful - until it stands next to a peacock."   Well, I guess TCFF was the latter in that instance, though it only lasted three more weekly issues than the former, so nothing to crow about.  (These bird allusions are writing themselves now, so I'm outta here.)

Enjoy the covers. 

MIGHTY MARVEL MEMORIES AND MAGIC...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS (and relevant owners)

I can only speculate as to the reasons why, but after launching their first three British periodicals (The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL, SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY, and The AVENGERS) individually over a few months, MARVEL U.K. then adopted a somewhat different approach.  DRACULA LIVES and PLANET Of The APES were both released the same week - as were their next two titles, The SUPER-HEROES and SAVAGE SWORD Of CONAN.  Perhaps they felt that two new comics would make more of an impact on potential readers than one on its own.  Who knows.

Marvel U.K.'s next two new publications, The TITANS and CAPTAIN BRITAIN, were released individually with almost a year between them, although with RAMPAGE and The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR in 1977, it was back to two at a time.  (I think that the next two British Marvel weeklies released together were the THOR and X-MEN titles in early 1983, which soon merged into one mag - making it even more like the Odhams Press POWER COMIC aptly known as FANTASTIC from the late 1960s.)

Anyway, here's a selection of covers from some of the comics mentioned, simply because they're nice to look at and also bring back a lot of memories for me.  I'm sure it's the same for you, too - so feel entirely free to indulge yourself in these images of yesteryear.