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"And it came to pass that there was a great wailing and gnashing of teeth across the land, for The TITANS had fallen." Yes sirree, after only 58 issues, The Titans was subsumed by SUPER SPIDER-MAN and yet another mighty MARVEL mag bit the dust. You have to hand it to Marvel U.K. though - they certainly tried, and were a major player in British comics in the '70s and '80s, but it couldn't last, alas. After 20 plus years, Marvel U.K. disappeared, and PANINI gained the licence to produce mags for a British readership. However, in its day, Marvel's British division was a force to be reckoned with and published some memorable comics that are still fondly recalled (but not without criticism) by old farts like myself.
Okay, it wasn't as good as it could have been - should have been - but neither was it entirely without merit. So let's raise a glass of soda pop to The Titans, as we study the covers of the final nine issues of this short-lived but power-packed comic from the far-off '70s. We may never see its like again, but at least it made a big impression on the memories of bright-eyed readers who enjoyed it back in the day and were sad to see it go.
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And below is one you won't have seen before. For the story behind it, take a look at the comments section.
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There were two Annuals to tie-in with the title (issued in 1975 and '76, each for the following year), so below is a selection of images from them.
11 comments:
Strangely enough I started picking up Titans with the last few issues (around issue 51) as I think that was the Barry(Windsor) Smith Avengers strips but I gave up again after issue 56 so I have never seen the last 2 issues until now - no "great news inside chums" on the cover I see re its cancellation! Saying that the line-up for “Super Spiderman and the Titans” looked pretty good to me. I think by this time I was only buying the MWOM from Marvel UK (out of habit). I did like Dez Skinns run at Marvel UK on the pocket books and the monthlies (the weeklies were not so great) and thought it was the best era apart from the first 18 months (the paper covers and a bit after that) of Marvel UK.
Panini ‘s books are very good value and good quality, I just wish they had kept the sliver / bronze age strips going longer than they did but I assume younger readers, understandably want the new stuff (the daft tumshies that they are!)
So when Super Spider-Man absorbed it, is that when THAT became landscape too, or was it already this format?
I always thought that the first 30 or so issues of MWOM were/was British Marvel at its best, McScotty. As for Panini, I think the same as you - they were great with the '60s & '70s strips in the mags, and although they represent excellent value for money, with the exception of Daredevil, I'm not all that fussed about the modern content.
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JP, I believe that Super Spider-Man was already in the landscape format before The Titans was merged into it. As far as I remember anyway.
Spider-Man Comics Weekly (portrait version) went landscape format for the first time with issue 158 when it merged with the "Super heroes" weekly to become "Super Spider-Man with the Super-Hereos" - It then became "Super Spider-Man and the Titans" with issue 199 and remained landscape format until issue 229 (still with the same title) when it went back to the portrait style again with issue 231 it merged with "Captain Britain (Super Spider-Man and Captain Britain) and after that it went to just "Super Spider Man" from issue 254 for a while then it went into the Dez Skinn "Spider Man comic" era then "Spectacular Spider-Man Weekly" then "Spider-Man and Hulk weekly " (with paper covers and formatted like a traditional UK comic) then it linked to TV cartoons shows and became awful (well it was awful long before that in reality) ...sorry I went on a bit there.
Don't apologise, McS - it saved me looking it up. (You paying attention, JP?)
Paul. in my opinion Spider-Man went awful when it became 'Spider-Man Comic' in January '79. I stopped reading The Titans when the FF left so I suppose I'm one of those responsible for its' demise (I hang my head in shame). The poor old FF - after 26 weeks of cover-star status and full-length stories it was back to their usual lot of being a back-up strip. Nobody can deny though that The Titans was excellent value - basically 2 comics for the price of one - like a comet it burned brightly and then was gone (sob). That colour advert for Captain Britain really brings back how exciting it seemed at the time - not only a British super-hero but in colour too !! CB No.1 came out 6 days before my father's 49th birthday and I've just passed my 49th birthday 9 days ago. Alas the excitement didn't last and the colour became black & white and the comic was cancelled but it was thrilling in those early days.
I have to admit that Dez's revamps of MWOM and SMCW seemed only to result in taking the 'essense of Marvel' out of them, but his heart was in the right place. And his Doctor Who mag is still going strong(ish).
my pal commissioned an FF drawing By Dave Golding.
I turned it into Titans #59 for him . . .
[img]http://i.imgur.com/FRTrfba.jpg[/img]
That's terrific, Gerry. Can I publish it on the blog?
Course you can :)
Gerry, thanks from me too, to both you and your pal, for sharing with Kid and the rest of us!- A rarity indeed!
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