CRIVENS! COMICS & STUFF!: THE COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR COVER & IMAGE GALLERY

Wednesday, 6 August 2014

THE COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR COVER & IMAGE GALLERY - PART THREE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

Time once again for a look back into yesteryear - 1977 in this particular instance, as we pore over a plethora of covers and pages from The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR, a MARVEL U.K. weekly mag which we Brits had all to ourselves. Featuring near-contemporary FF adventures and classic tales from the cosmic quartet's early days, plus pin-ups and puzzles when space allowed, this was an absolute belter of a title which deserved to survive for longer than it did. At least I can console myself with having a full set, some of which I now generously share with you here.

Part Four coming soon! Don't forget to remember to return.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...: I had every issue of Complete FF too. What's curious here is that the cover of No.9 is different to the original U.S. cover - I don't know why that should be but on the US cover Ben is pushing Reed through a window with all the glass shattering. Could it be that they changed the cover because of that ? Perhaps the influence of Frederic Wertham wasn't quite dead. Annihillus was a word I couldn't pronounce - I said Ann-ill-i-us.; 6 August 2014 at 21:59
Kid said...: That's a curious one, CJ, because it would surely have been easier to erase the window fragments and change the lettering of the original rather than have the cover completely redrawn. It's always possible that they had temporarily mislaid stats of the original cover and therefore NEEDED to commission another one, but you're speculation is equally as valid.; 6 August 2014 at 23:14
Simon B said...: And that Complete Fantastic Four issue reprinting FF #139 is also missing some cover copy. Strange...

http://www.dcindexes.com/features/database.php?site=marvel&pagetype=comic&id=44860; 7 August 2014 at 21:23
Kid said...: It's probably just a case of a stat of the cover before it was lettered being used for the British printing, Cerebus.; 7 August 2014 at 23:51

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.