JUST A LITTLE 'OFF-COLOUR'...

Original colour scheme.  Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Amongst my overlarge and heaving collection of cataclysmic comic curiosities, I've got well-over 90 MARVEL MASTERWORKS volumes, 15 MARVEL OMNIBUS editions, and more than 30 reprint books featuring classic Marvel tales from the 1960s & '70s.  I just can't stop buying them, even ones I've already got on my bookshelves.

New colour scheme by Andy Yanchus

Here's the problem: When Marvel first issued their Masterworks series back in the late 1980s, they weren't quite so 'archival' in nature, seldom (if at all) following the colour schemes of their initial comicbook printings.  As the years wore on however, it was decided to make these valiant volumes more faithful to their original publications, and, consequently, they were then coloured in accordance with how they had first been unleashed on the comic-buying public.

Original colour scheme

So, when a new edition with more accurate reproduction of linework and colouring was released, I'd buy it, figuring to replace the earlier, less faithful volumes.  Thing is, some of the colouring on those early books is, in many instances, more atmospheric and effective than the original comic printing.  Consequently, I can't bear to part with them. While the 'purist' in me craves having stories as faithful to their initial appearance as is humanly possible, the reader in me enjoys seeing the recoloured stories with their more varied and interesting colour palettes.

New colour scheme by Andy Yanchus

I've included a few examples to show just what I'm talking about from the first printings of SPIDER-MAN, DOCTOR STRANGE, and IRON MAN hardcover MASTERWORKS, and the more recent softcover editions which replicate the original colouring.  As you can see, the recoloured versions have more depth, gradation in tones, and are far more atmospheric in mood.

Original colour scheme

The Spider-Man/Tinkerer splash page in particular is stunning, and amply demonstrates just how crucial colouring can be to the end result.  As I said, it's great to have archive editions of how these stories first appeared back in the '60s, but the recoloured versions are classics in their own right which I just couldn't part with. This way, I have the absolute best of both worlds.

New colour scheme by Andy Yanchus

Which versions do you prefer, Crivvies?  Or do you think it doesn't much matter which way they're coloured?  If you have an opinion on the subject, feel entirely free to share your valued views in the comments section.  

OH NO! SPARE US From ANOTHER Of THOSE 'LOOPY LAPSES In LOGIC DEPT.' POSTS...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

No wonder those supervillain chappies never get anywhere with their pernicious plans for worldwide, dastardly domination - they're hardly the sharpest tools in the box, are they?  (Mind you, some of the heroes aren't much better.)  Remember THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #1, in which Spidey attempts to join the FANTASTIC FOUR, before being impersonated and framed by the CHAMELEON?

His reasoning behind using Spider-Man as a fall-guy is as follows: Hearing a news report that the web-spinner had paid a visit to the FF's skyscraper headquarters (the BAXTER BUILDING, just in case you think I'd forgotten), and in response to speculation that Spidey is being considered for membership, he concludes:  "There is only one reason Spider-Man would want to join the Fantastic Four!  Being sought by the police, there is no way for him to earn a legitimate living!  He must be desperate for money!"

Think about that for a moment.  Not only does the Chameleon make the same mistake as Spider-Man in assuming that being a member of the Cosmic Quartet is a paying gig, he totally overlooks the fact that, for all he knows, Spidey in his secret identity may well earn a respectable weekly wage working as a manager in Woolworth's.  I mean, what other hero up to that point ever got paid as if it was his fulltime profession.  (This was before LUKE CAGE, HERO FOR HIRE, remember.)

Is the Chameleon really such a total thicko that he thinks Spidey would be looking for the kind of nine-to-five job where he arrives at work in the mornings in full costume?  Gimme a break!  I'm afraid the Chameleon's logic is seriously suspect here, the result of STAN LEE or STEVE DITKO not quite thinking things through.  Spider-Man may not be able to earn a legitimate living, but PETER PARKER certainly can - even if it's only as a paperboy (being but a schoolkid - a fact the bad guy doesn't know).

Now, I know what you're going to say.  "But Spider-Man was working as a TV performer.  The Chameleon must have meant that he wouldn't be able to continue his career in showbiz because he was wanted by the police - and that's why he couldn't earn a legitimate living."  However, the Chameleon says that there is "no way", which ignores the fact that Spidey/Peter isn't necessarily restricted to a career in showbusiness.

Entertaining as it is, it's yet one more example of those loopy lapses in logic for which MARVEL were so famous.  Join us again soon for another hilarious howler from the archives.