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It had been done before of course. Telling 'untold' adventures in a hero's early career wasn't a new idea from MARVEL, whose first nine issues of The RAMPAGING HULK (in 1977) presented stories meant to be set between the last ish of his own mag and his first appearance in TALES To ASTONISH. True, the stories were later dismissed as fictional imaginings of an alien called BEREET, but it was a brave try at recapturing the raw fun and energy of Hulkie's first six outings, though for a slightly more mature audience.
UNTOLD TALES Of SPIDER-MAN was pretty much the same concept, fitting somewhere amongst Spidey's earliest escapades by STAN LEE & STEVE DITKO. The 25 issue series (not counting, for the moment, a FLASHBACK ish, two Annuals ['96 & '97], and a card-covered Special ['98/'99]), was mainly by KURT BUSIEK & PAT OLLIFFE, though ROGER STERN, TOM DeFALCO & RON FRENZ were also contributors.
It's a nice little run, part of Marvel's 99 cents line, created in an attempt to attract new readers who may have been deterred by the standard cost of $1.50 or $1.95. The series is available in an OMNIBUS edition if you'd like to catch up on it, or you could try tracking down the individual issues on eBay if, like KRAVEN, you enjoy the thrill of the hunt.
In the meantime though, you can enjoy this first instalment in a four-part post.
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These are completely new to me, I didn't even know of their existance.
ReplyDeleteNowadays there has been so much "in-between" stuff published that there are entire websites out there devoted to sorting everything out into chronological reading orders. All of this makes things very complicated for my imaginary reprints!
I think comics companies shot themselves in the foot when they first allowed re-imaginings of characters' histories. Now they feel they have to reboot them every few years to sort out the mess, which leads to an even bigger mess.
ReplyDeleteUntold Tales was, I think, the highpoint of Marvel's 99c line, far better than the terrible Avengers Unplugged or the horrendously ugly Uncanny Origins. I also seem to remember a 99c title that had one-off Daredevil and Ghost Rider stories, but can't remember the name...
ReplyDeleteUntold Tales of Spider-Man was actually a pretty good series though, and often better than the 'real' Spider-Man books in the mid-90s!
I've got the Uncanny Origins series, and I thought the Dr.Strange issue was a pretty good tale - quite touching in its way. In fact, I think it had Daredevil and Ghost Rider origins (not 1005 sure), so could it actually be the comic you're thinking of, DD?
ReplyDeleteI thought that, storywise, Uncanny Origins was ok, but the art was really not to my taste- especially the Cyclops issue.
ReplyDeleteBtw, Kid, a little googling has helped solve the other 99c title I was thinking of- it was called Over The Edge. I can remember reading an issue with Ghost Rider as a little light bedtime reading in the early hours of the morning when I came home from a night out, curled up on my bed with the cat snoring away in his basket. Funny thing, that cat hated anyone reading a newspaper in the house- if you read a paper in his presence, he'd either sit on it or scratch it to pieces. He never objected to me reading comics though.
I don't recall that particular title, DD - I must've missed it. Comics smell better than newspapers - that'll be why your kitty never destroyed any. I agree about the art on Uncanny Origins - it could've been better.
ReplyDeleteOops! In one of my above replies, it should read '100%', not '1005'.
ReplyDelete