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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
If you have to ask who FRANK HAMPSON is, then hang your heavy head in shame, O false-believer. Call yourself a comics fan? Here are a couple of pin-ups he did for MARVEL U.K. back in 1976 & '77, and I've included the covers of the comics they appeared in as well. (No, he didn't draw the covers, Melvin!)
Right, JP - that's a tenner you me. I'm going to start charging folk for fulfilling requests from now on. (No, I don't accept cheques. Are you crazy? Boiiing, boiiing!)
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Frank who?
ReplyDeleteSorry, Kid, someone had to say it :-)
When I first saw these centre-spreads ( at the age of 10 ) I had probably heard of Hampson but wasn't really aware of his work. My main thought was "has this guy even seen Spider-Man before?" It just didn't look right to my Marvel-obsessed brain...
I soon caught up with some Eagle reprints and discovered just what a comic strip legend Frank Hampson really was :-)
I must confess, Cer, that I was never impressed with his version of Spider-Man either. However, he was quite frail by this time, I believe, and maybe this accounts for Spidey being 'off-model'.
ReplyDeleteHe drew a brilliant Fireball Xl5 story for TV21 back in 1965. It's on the blog somewhere: 'Dan Dare meets Steve Zodiac (Sort of)...'
I reckon I owe you a bit more than a tenner, Kid! Put it on my tab, will you?
ReplyDeleteI did have a pale scan of the first and the second in 2 halves, but I knew yours would be far superior quality.
( Natch! )
You ol' flatterer you.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I didn't have the narratives or covers, though!
DeleteSo, extra thanks, allis greatly appreciated!
You'd surely have had the narratives, JP - they're on the posters. I enlarged them and posted them separately because they're a bit blurred on the reproductions of the posters.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they're in the posters, but now I have poster-sized separate narratives, as well as the 2 posters with the narratives in, if you know what I mean? I don't have the wherewithall to do that myself, so no colouring in either for me, but I hope some readers do.
DeleteTBH, the enlarged narratives were a Godsend for me, with my eyesight, hence the gratitude.
I know what you mean, JP. My own eyes are going the same way, alas. They held out well for a very long time 'though.
ReplyDeleteMighty interesting. However, in a twist of fate, Spidey is in black and white while Hampson's work was famous for its wonderful use of colour.
ReplyDeleteAnd American comics are usually in colour. But of course this time the piece isn't and suffers for it. But thanks for posting. I didn't get most of these since the wide format really made the artwork suffer.
Apparently, the U.K. Marvel Bullpen weren't keen on the format, Phil. It was Marvel U.S. who insisted on it.
ReplyDeleteOne of my greatest regrets from those days is that I stopped getting Spider-Man a few weeks before it went landscape and didn't start reading it again till it merged with Captain Britain so I missed the whole landscape period apart from the odd one here and there. On the subject of eyesight - I've had very poor vision in my left eye since birth while my right eye was perfect but that's not as good as it was either...the joys of ageing, eh ?
ReplyDeleteAlas, there are no joys to ageing, CJ. Everything wears out.
ReplyDelete