CRIVENS! COMICS & STUFF!: CAPTAIN BRITAIN COVER, SPLASH PAGE & IMAGE GALLERY

Sunday, 17 May 2015

CAPTAIN BRITAIN COVER, SPLASH PAGE & IMAGE GALLERY - PART FIVE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

CAPTAIN BRITAIN #17 was a bit of a mess! Due to a printer's error, it included some pages from #18 (in place of the intended pages), which meant that the entire colour content didn't make much sense. The following issue contained a complete and correct extra colour section of the previous week's pages, to enable readers to construct a coherent comic for their collection. (At the printer's expense, no doubt.)

However, to spare you the confounding confusion, I've posted the pages in the order that they should've been, not as they were. That's the kind of considerate chum I am to all Criv-ites (and Criv-kids) everywhere. You'd like to thank me, you say? Well, simply enjoy the plethora of impressive images before you and perhaps proffer a comment on your own personal memories of them. That'll be thanks enough.

The above pin-up was first published (in full-colour) in the US FF Annual #2 in 1964. This
particular UK version previously appeared (with green spot colour) in MWOM #17 in 1973

The highlighted curves on the Contessa's bottom were blacked-in so that
red-blooded teenagers wouldn't get too excited and burst a blood vessel

12 comments:

John Pitt said...: This is the point when I got my first ever MWOM!
Another excellent, generous post, Kid!; 17 May 2015 at 15:28
Kid said...: I know, JP - I'm almost as famous for my generosity as I am for my humility.; 17 May 2015 at 17:36
Phil said...: I remember those. It's quite bizarre looking at the difference in art between Steranko, Buscema and Kirby, then we get the artist who did the black and white Cap A meets Cap B poster. It's like dudes couldn't you have afforded to pay for a better artist?; 17 May 2015 at 20:54
Kid said...: Actually, Phil, I don't think that's a bad drawing at all. I suspect the artist was trying to capture the 'Kirby' look, and compromised his own style in the process. Some colour would've given it a little 'life', I think. It seems to have worked on the FF pin-up (which first appeared on the back of a Treasury Edition) because that's hardly JK at his finest. Some of the new splash pages are decidedly dodgy 'though.; 17 May 2015 at 21:07
Anonymous said...: That wasn't the only time Marvel UK had mixed-up pages - Savage Sword Of Conan (monthly) No.8, 9 and 11 all had some pages printed in the wrong order, once was bad enough but three times out of four issues was ridiculous - it really p*ssed me off at the time.; 17 May 2015 at 22:08
Kid said...: Also, they couldn't always make up their mind on where a story split. In at least one ish of MWOM, they had a 'continued next issue' box on the page where they'd decided to cut an FF tale in two. When you turned the page, there was the next one, with the same caption box. That's why I once said that some British Marvel mags sometimes had a 'makeshift' quality about them.; 17 May 2015 at 22:31
baab said...: I was thinking Herb Trimpe did alright with this project.
It lacked something but it is alright.

And then there it was,ping!

That drawing of Cap and Cap shaking hands.

I have to the left of me a pile of these early Captain Britain comics,well within arms reach.
But I cant be bothered reading them due to the lack of pizzazz,and i can read the other strips in better quality elsewhere.
If I had bothered to read or flick through them i would have seen that drawing of Cap and Cap shaking hands,and remembered the pondering.

I probably thought about it for the rest of the week.

It suggested to me that I wanted a set of RotRing pens.

Steranko's SHIELD is what I consider capturing the 'Kirby' look.
What a spectacular rip-off.
I first read some of these stories in an Alan Class comic.
Just wonderful.
True Pizzazz!; 17 May 2015 at 23:16
Kid said...: Steranko was emulating Kirby, I think, but taking it a few steps further. The CA & CB artist was trying to 'suggest' JK without doing an outright imitation, I think. Yeah, it does look like it was done with Rotring pens, 'though I was thinking more a BIC ballpoint.; 17 May 2015 at 23:50
Phil said...: Btw I only read those FF stories once, the post Kirby era, the Busema era. does anyone know if they have been reprinted in the Marvel Masterworks color reprints and what issues? I would like to re read them.; 18 May 2015 at 07:16
Kid said...: Yup, issues 117-128 were printed in FF Masterworks Volume 12. ('Thunder In The Ruins' is #118.); 18 May 2015 at 10:28
Phil said...: I was reading the archives of comics should be good and Brian Cronin pointed out that Lance Hunter, agent on the SHIELD tv show, was introduced in Captain Britain as head of STRIKE. I completely forgot until I saw the story. I remember it now, because he had a bowler hat and he was balding. Because as we know, everyone in Britain in the 1970s walked around with a bowler hat. http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2014/09/23/when-we-first-met-more-agents-of-s-h-i-e-l-d/#more-172764; 22 May 2015 at 07:41
Kid said...: Well, maybe those who were balding wore bowler hats? Thanks for the link, Phil - I'll check it out.; 22 May 2015 at 11:43

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.