CRIVENS! COMICS & STUFF!: PART TWO OF THE THING COVER & SPLASH PAGE GALLERY...

Tuesday 20 May 2014

PART TWO OF THE THING COVER & SPLASH PAGE GALLERY...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

While a certain someone who looks like he's never fed anyone in his life but himself witters on about feeding a 'troll' (don't worry - that's what they call an 'in'-joke'), let's you and me take a look at another instalment of The THING cover and splash page gallery. I've been thumbing through the issues before scanning, and I must say I'm quite impressed by the overall quality of RON WILSON's art in this series - it's certainly better than I remember it (and I liked it at the time).

I've re-read the first couple of issues so far, and plan on working my way through the rest of them when I can. After all, what's the point in keeping comics for over 30 years and not revisiting them every now and again? Interestingly, as celebrated as JOHN BYRNE was at the time, his Thing series didn't appear to be as popular as the title which had preceded it - MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, which lasted 100 issues, compared to the Thing's 36 issue solo mag.

If you have any theories as to why, feel free to share them. In the meantime, enjoy these images from so very long ago.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: Perhaps it was the team-up element of Marvel Two-In-One that made it more popular, I know it was always interesting to see who the latest team-up partner would be. Kid, your comment about what's the point of keeping comics for years without ever looking at them may apply to you but I think a lot of collectors never look at what they've got and keep their possessions locked away which does make me wonder what the point of collecting is in a lot of cases. I don't like Alicia's buzzcut - it's almost as bad as Storm's mohican.; 20 May 2014 at 13:54
Kid said...: That's what I think too, CJ - The Thing and Spider-Man (or whoever) was more likely to be an attraction than merely The Thing himself. I understand the satisfaction that comes from just knowing you 'have' something (like a lot of collectors feel), but I like to look at my comics, toys, books and records, etc., and handle them - that's even better. Interesting about Alicia - in her first appearance she was meant to be red-headed double of Sue, but that's been forgotten over the years. (In FF #8, the Puppet Master is clearly cutting and dying Alicia's hair, but it's dialogued to make it a wig. However, later on in the mag, when she reappears as herself, although her hair is red, it's still cut like Sue's.); 20 May 2014 at 14:18
vwstieber said...: Wow, the full-page closeup of Alicia's face is just...terrible. Almost Rob Liefeldian in it's awfulness. What happened there? I can draw better than that :P; 22 May 2014 at 22:35
Kid said...: I think it's the cropped hair that does it - I've seen worse.; 23 May 2014 at 00:24

About the artist:

From 1985 to 2000 A.D. (little joke there), I contributed to a variety of high profile comics and magazines for various companies.

For IPC/FLEETWAY/EGMONT, I freelanced as a lettering and logo artist on various weekly comics and monthly magazines, and also as a resize comic artist and spot illustrator on pocket books, summer specials and annuals.

For MARVEL U.K., BLACK LIBRARY, REDAN and USBORNE BOOKS, I again freelanced as a lettering artist, also working as a restoration artist for MARVEL U.S., restoring and re-creating certain pages of JACK KIRBY art for their MARVEL MASTERWORKS editions.

I also lettered the MARVELMAN sample pages submitted to MARVEL U.S. when they were considering acquiring the character, which - as we all now know - they DID.

Supplied comic strips, cartoons and illustrated advertisements for local business campaigns and newspaper publication on a professional basis since the age of 16. Did my first paid art job for publication at 14 or 15 for Lanarkshire Education Board.

Have also made TV appearances as a collector of memorabilia.

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Just some of the titles I worked on are:

2000 A.D. * JUDGE DREDD MEGAZINE * DICEMAN * SONIC The COMIC * JUDGE DREDD, LAWMAN Of The FUTURE * CRISIS * REVOLVER * EAGLE * TIGER * BATTLE ACTION-FORCE * BUSTER * WHIZZER & CHIPS * WHOOPEE * NIPPER * SCHOOL FUN * ACE VENTURA, PET DETECTIVE * The REAL GHOSTBUSTERS * DOCTOR WHO MAGAZINE * COUNT DUCKULA * RUGRATS * The TRANSFORMERS * DEATH'S HEAD * THUNDERCATS * GALAXY RANGERS * DRAGON'S CLAWS * SINDY * MARVEL MASTERWORKS * The TROLLS * LOADED * INFERNO * WARHAMMER * ROSE BLACK.

Copyright Notice:

Images remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are used here only for the purpose of review, promotion, and nostalgia.

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In the case of images culled from my own collection where copyright of an item isn't mine, I impose no copying restrictions on fellow bloggers.

(Although, if you don't allow copying on your own site, then you really shouldn't be copying from others, should you?)

And while you can credit this blog if you like, it's not mandatory. Who has time to make notes of every casually visited site during an idle browse of the internet?

In the case of anyone copying images of my own artwork and calligraphy, I affirm my right to be identified as the creator, and any such copying should not be for the purpose of monetary or material gain. (Unless it's mine.)

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Please also note that this blog is not sponsored by, affiliated with, or connected to, any organisation, business, or group, and is wholly independent.