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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Not only am I running out of MIGHTY WORLD OF MARVEL comic covers in an unbroken sequence, I'm also running out of things to say about them. Can you believe that there are only seven more paper-covered issues to go before we get through the complete set and the mag goes glossy on us? Unfortunately, I only have a few glossy-covered MWOMs in my collection, so future posts in this series will be limited in number.
Look at the ad for the Marvel Annual in issue #59. I remember seeing this book in a shop on a walk into Hamilton one day (in Blantyre, I think) in July or August of 1973. I think it was probably July, because I was actually quite surprised to see it on sale so early. A few weeks later (if that), I bought it from a shop in the old village quarter of my town one Saturday, but apart from the GEOFF CAMPION cover, I wasn't as enthralled by the Annual as I'd been with its predecessor the year before.
Anyway, if you've got any memories of any comics here and you feel like sharing them with your fellow Crivvies, you know where the comments section is. Go on - give us a peek into your past.
18 comments:
AH issues 58, 59 had a fantastic Inhuman's storyline in it and great Marie Severin art (if I remember correctly) - fantastic covers but was the original US cover was this story not the legendary Jim Steranko cover where the HULK is holding up the logo? I also remember the Inhuman characters in the story weren't the ones we came to know (Karnak, Gorgon, Triton Black Bolt etc) although I cant recall is they were in the actual story - strange you remember the annual in Blantyre (a town outside Glasgow for those that don't know) thats where I bread it as well as I lived there at the time these comics came out I used to go to a couple of newsagents called (something like) Pates and McMillians both used to have a great selection of US Marvels
The Hulk/Inhumans story comes from Hulk Annual #1, McScotty (which I've got). Can't say I was ever too fond of the tale, to be honest. The reason I remember that trip into Hamilton is because a friend and me decided to walk in to explore the shops, 'cos I'd been in with my dad in October of 1972. It was my surprise at seeing the Marvel Annual on sale so early that made it stick in my memory, I guess.
Normally i consider myself reasonably good at IDing artwork, but I've got a real blind spot when it comes to these covers - any ideas whose work they are?
I'd hazard a guess at Ron Wilson and Mike Esposito, but if anyone would know for sure, it would be Nifty Nick Caputo. You there, Nick?
That cover with the Hulk holding up the crumbling masthead was used on the front of MWOM around March 1975 so it didn't front the story that the U.S. version had, I didn't know that - I only started reading MWOM in about September of '75. Marvel UK liked that cover so much (the MWOM version) that they were selling it as a sew-on patch around mid-1975. I didn't buy it though,typically - the cover was terrific and the patch would have been a great little memento from the time.
I could kick myself for all the Marvel items I could've and should've bought back then, Col, but didn't. Ah, regrets.
I feel like I have missed a heckuva lot of Marvel UK. The first comics I ever spotted had glossy covers. The first paper covers I got were during Dez's reign. I used to believe glossy is how they started life in the UK.
Sadly, you missed the very best of Marvel U.K., JP. Very few of the later mags ever came close.
If my memory isn't deceiving me completely, I seem to remember that in the early days they would often split the original stories into two parts over two weeks, and for the first part they might use the original US cover - or an approximation thereof - while for the second part they would have a cover drawn especially for the UK comics.
Your recent MWoM post with issues #55 and 56 shows that, I think, with the first being what looks to me like an original Marie Severin (?) US cover (or based closely on it) and the second being a UK original by someone like Ron Wilson, as you suggested.
I don't think they always followed this procedure, but certainly in some instances I think it was what they did.
Yup, you're right, GB - that's the way they usually did it. In the inside, when they split a strip over two weeks, the original cover art was often used for the second part.
You rang, Kid? :)
MWOM # 56 looks like it might be all Trimpe (an original) #'s 57-58 are likely Wilson/Esposito (Esposito, Giacoia, Tartaglione and possibly Dave Hunt often collaborated on inking covers in this period, so it's often hard to be 100% certain if Esposito worked solo).
Funnily enough, Nick, I'd thought that #57 had a strong hint of Trimpe about it, especially in the Hulk's face. However, what gave me pause for thought was the Hulk's longer than usual hair. That's why I wondered if it might've been Wilson doing a Trimpe 'swipe'. Larry Lieber used to redraw Kirby FF covers for some of the U.K. landscape mags, and he did a good job of capturing Kirby's style. I thought it might've been a similar type case here. If you think it's Trimpe 'though, then it more than likely is.
Kid,
Taking a closer look, I'm not 100% certain it is Trimpe, although neither do I think it's Wilson. It could be someone swiping Trimpe, though not the usual suspects.
It's a difficult one for sure, Nick. I'll have to take a look at some U.S. Hulk covers to see if it's from one of them.
Kid, I seem to remember that when a strip was split over two weeks the "splash page" for the second week was often a single panel from the first week which was then blown up to full-page size - that was the sight that greeted me when I opened POTA No.5, my first ever Marvel comic. This idea was dropped after a while though.
Col, they usually did that when the original covers were painted (As with POTA), and therefore wouldn't reproduce too well in a b&w comic. With the superhero titles 'though, it was usually the original U.S. covers that fronted the second part of a split story. This eventually changed to a 'The story so far' page, comprised of various panels from the previous week's tale.
I was thrilled to see that Evil Inhumans/MWOM cover. I'd always liked that odd little group since first discovering them in the Trimpe/Maximus sequel. I've never forgotten some poor peon being pecked to death by Falcona's birds.
That Spidey-cover Marvel annual is the only one I never read. Can you tell us what the contents were?
Off the top of my head, Dougie (because it's not within reach), the contents were: The Wings of Death (Spidey versus the Beetle), FF meet the Hulk (Fromm FF #12), Giant Man versus Attuma, A feature on Hank and Jan and Spider-Man versus the Living Brain. (I'll update this when I dig out the annual.)
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