CAPTAIN AMERICA: KING-SIZE 'SPECIAL' ANNUAL - COVER GALLERY... (Updated)

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

The time: A dark and drizzly Saturday late afternoon/early-evening in 1973.  The place: The Norfolk Restaurant in the main shopping centre of my home town.  I'd just purchased the KING-SIZE SPECIAL CAPTAIN AMERICA #1 (among others), and borrowed the first edition of The PENGUIN BOOK Of COMICS from my local library.  As I sat across from one of my pals, each of us nursing a cup of Coke, I perused the contents of my recent acquisitions on the table in front of me.

I don't know for how long I owned that Cap comic, but back in the early or mid-'80s, I obtained a replacement for it, which I've had ever since.  Around 12 to 14 years ago (several months to a year or so apart) I happened to acquire Cap Annuals #3 & 4, leaving only #2 to fill the space in the first four issues.

Curiously, MARVEL never seemed to be consistent in naming their bumper extravaganzas; sometimes they were called 'Specials', other times 'Annuals'.  (And to confuse readers further, THOR not only had a series of King-Size 'Specials/Annuals' devoted to him, but also a run of four SPECIAL MARVEL EDITIONS*.)  Some King-Size mags began as 'Specials', then morphed into 'Annuals', and I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that it likewise happened in reverse.  (*Though that was actually the title - in the singular - of the mag, as it turns out.)

Today, I finally got my grubby mitts on the second issue of the title, thereby completing my quartet of Cap's Special editions.  As you can see, the cover has what looks like the spine on view, as if the comic hasn't been bound properly, but the issue is actually a normal stapled comic (with 52 pages), as opposed to the glued and thick-stapled format of #1, 3 & 4.  It was likely intended to be a thicker Special at the time of preparation, before the decision was made to cut the page count, and perhaps there was no time to amend the cover before it was sent to the printers. 

So, it may have taken me 40 years to obtain the next comic in sequence after the one I first bought back in '73, but I got there in the end.  And here's something else to consider - back in the early '90s, my local library had a book sale, from which I purchased the actual, self-same copy of The Penguin Book of Comics I'd first borrowed on that rainy Saturday evening so very long ago.

If you have any personal reminiscences associated with the comic covers on display, feel free to share them in the comments section.  With any luck, I can then delude myself into believing that I'm not the only soppy sentimentalist and nutty nostalgist who haunts the bloggersphere.  Any takers?  Step right up!

UPDATE: Originally, I owned issues #1, 3, 4 & 6, so when I acquired #2 I was very well pleased.  However, a nagging voice then assailed my ears - "Why not get #5 and have the first six Specials/Annuals?"  Well, sure sounded like a good idea to me, so I promptly tracked down a copy and added it to my collection.  (For a magazine which was meant to be published yearly, it's interesting to note that only five issues were released over a ten year period.) 

So, here's issues #5 & 6 to round of the first half dozen Cap 'Special Annuals'.  Don't ever say I'm not good to you.

And here's the cover of Kirby's 1976 BICENTENNIAL BATTLES Treasury Edition for good measure.

GUYS & GUISERS...

Copyright REBELLION

Yeah, I know Hallowe'en is done and dusted, but the mood still hangs heavy in the air.  Way back On October 25th, 1969, the third issue of WHIZZER & CHIPS went on sale, with a GUY FAWKES mask as a free gift.  It looks like the artwork of TOM KERR to me, but regardless, I remember rushing over to the newsagent's shop across the road from my house to buy it, the minute it opened in the early hours of that Autumn morning a whopping 44 years ago.  (The comic bears the date of November 1st, but British comics were traditionally dated up to a week ahead to give them a longer shelf-life.)

Handy how both Hallowe'en and Guy Fawkes Night were covered by this issue coming out in advance of the two occasions. I wonder if the mask was used by 'guisers' on October 31st, and then 'recycled' for use on their 'guys' on November 5th?  If so, quite a few of them probably perished on top of a bonfire in parks and gardens the length and breadth of the U.K.

The mask seems smaller than I remember, though that may just be down to me being bigger nowadays than I was back in 1969.  If anyone has the mask, could they measure from the top of the head to the tip of the beard and let me know the result?  That way I'll know for sure whether mine is an original or a replica.  If it's the latter, it's very nicely done.  (As was I.)

(Incidentally, the exact some mask had been given away with an issue of BUSTER back in 1965.)

X-MEN: The EARLY YEARS - COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

The first issue I purchased of X-MEN: The EARLY YEARS was #4.  I started buying the mag regularly and soon acquired #1 from a comics dealer, leaving only #s 2 & 3 to fill the gap.  However, I never quite got around to getting them before the series was cancelled with #17.  That was back in '94/'95.  Occasionally, I'd browse through the comics and remember that I still required two back numbers to complete the set - then I'd put them away and forget again.  I already had the stories in various printings, so I really didn't need them, but there's always something about absent issues which compels the true collector to seek them out - eventually.

Yesterday, 19 years after first buying the title, I finally took possession of the two missing mags required to complete the run.  It was with a sense of accomplishment, but somehow also of sadness, that I opened my cupboard doors, united the comics with their comrades and crossed that particular task off my 'things to do' list. 19 years, eh?  I wish I could erase them from my mileometer, but, truth to tell, it doesn't seem that long ago.  And somehow, paradoxically, it seems like an eternity away.  Maybe one day I'll be able to understand that.

So, I now have all 17 of them - which means what, exactly?  Well, for a start, it means that I can now give them their very own Cover Gallery post on this blog.  There are other gaps in my comics collection I've yet to fill, one of which is winging its way to me even as I type these very words.  It's CAPTAIN AMERICA SPECIAL #2, finally acquired a whopping 40 years after I first purchased #1.  Don't worry - I'll be bound to do a blog post on it when it arrives as I'd hate for you to miss out!  (Wotcha mean, "Don't trouble yourself!"?)