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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
At last, The SILVER SURFER had arrived! He'd been here before of course, in the pages of an ailing TV21, but those reprints had been re-sized and re-dialogued, and, in the process, had lost something of their MARVEL 'magic'. In the pages of The SUPER-HEROES they remained largely unaltered - apart from the early tales being split over two issues on account of them being 38-40 pages long.
Bringing up the rear of the mag was The X-MEN, the origin of which had previously been presented in The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL, but it was rolled out once more to kick-off the series proper. I don't want to say too much at this point as I'd prefer to reveal things bit by bit as we go along, but I can guarantee it'll be worth your while coming back to view the awesome images that lay in store for you in this sensational series.
However, that's enough from me for the moment until part two - let's read what STAN (The Man) LEE (or his stand-in) has to say about it all!
These Surfer tales are beautiful, and as I discovered when I got them in Essentials form several years ago, they look outstanding in black and white too.
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I can remember buying the first two issues of this comic, at least, but I had no idea the Silver Surfer ever featured in TV21 (a comic I only bought for a few years in the 60s). I was even more shocked to read that it was re-dialogued - why on Earth would anyone want to mess with Stan Lee's immortal prose? Was it just a word here and there (as they used to do in Power Comics), or completely dumbed-down for a younger audience?
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Rip. 'Though for some reason, they decided to put Zipatone on the pages for the first few issues. They soon abandoned it, thankfully.
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Surfer, Spidey, Ringo Kid, & Ghost Rider, (the Western one), Andrew. Generally, the scripts followed the originals, but some panels (and splash pages) were omitted, resulting in a few speech balloons & captions being deleted and others tinkered with to compensate. Everything was completely relettered 'though, with 'staggered' speech balloons becoming one.
The cover of The Super-Heroes No.1 is terrific - taken from a cover of Fantastic Four so I assume it was considered a much better image for a first issue than the cover of Silver Surfer #1. Unfortunately the later covers of The Super-Heroes (mainly in the second half of the 50-issue run) were dire.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the X-Men's inclusion, the comic reminded me of Fantastic, and then, with Giant-Man, it reminded me of Terrific (so I didn't mind the GM covers), but you're right, CJ - some of the other covers were 'underwhelming'. Silver Surfer #1's cover was a bit boring (especially for a John Buscema cover) so I'm kind of glad they didn't use it.
ReplyDeleteSo much fab comic art here Kid. I love the original X-men and I so loved Beare of the Blob in my 1968 Fantastic Annual. I was lucky enough to pick another one up at a boot sale years ago so I got chance to read it allover again. Class. As for the Surfer, he was the nazz [but not from Mars!]. My nephew was knocking an interior loft wall down in his house and found a comic stuffed in the partition - it was a Silver Surfer. Can't recall which one but he gave it me. Its in my own loft now! Such is the power cosmic!
ReplyDeleteHi Woodsy. In case you were wondering why your comment doesn't appear immediately, I use comment moderation, so comments don't show 'til I've approved them. (I get a lot of 'hate mail'). A year or so back, two brothers (I think) were doing some work to a wall in a house and found Action Comics #1 inside. One snatched it from the other and ripped the back cover, thereby reducing its value by a significant amount. They still got a small fortune when they sold it at auction 'though. I love that 1968 Fantastic Annual so much that I've got three of them.
ReplyDeleteWow, Action Comics #1! What are the chances! I'll dig out that Silver Surfer comic and see what it was' I have quite a lot of comics but mostly horror; a full set of Creepy and Eerie up to the the early 70's, tons of Tales of Terror, Psycho, Monster Mag etc. I do have some British and US comics and some are special to me like Yang and the Acrobat from my Kung Fu phase. I adored Shang Shi as well but not sure if I have any now. As for Fantastic Annual 1968, I understand why you have three copies. I did a short video about it last Xmas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D5raLMiEiA. Excelsior!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a good collection you have. I'm off to watch that YouTube video. Incidentally, the covers of all 3 Fantastic Annuals appear on this blog somewhere.
ReplyDeleteUpdate: Jack Kirby, not Steve Ditko, drew 'When Magneto Strikes!', Woodsy. Ditko drew 'I used to be...Human!' later on in the book.
Doh! I knew I should stick to toys! ha ha. Cheers Kid. BTW Did you ever see that TV program where Jonathan Ross travels to NYC to track down Steve Ditko? He finds his office and is allowed in but without cameras. A living legend. He did some brilliant stuff in Creepy and Eerie, like the Screaming Man I think it was called - at least I think it's Ditko!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I saw that programme. I think he (and Alan Moore in a segment) were a little unfair to Stan Lee 'though. Incidentally, Paul Reinman drew 'The Man Who Hated Monstro!'
ReplyDeleteDid I get that wrong too in the video? Doh! I'll never try to ID a comic artist again! ha ha. Actually one of my fave artists is Jack Davis, who did the wonderful colour You'll Die Laughing cards I collected as a kid. I found an LP with a cover by him as well a few years back! He's signed his work in the corner si I'm pretty sure its him - that's a printed signature by the way, not an autograph!
ReplyDeleteJack Davis - one of the greats. He drew a big Frankenstein poster as well, I seem to recall. Obviously, Woodsy, you admire Steve Ditko's art so much that you see it everywhere. No crime.
ReplyDeleteI remember that big Frankie poster by Jack Davis advertised at the back of Creepy and Eerie comics! I didn't have that one but I did have the huge Karloff Frankie poster where's he's stood in a cellar I think. It was over my bed. I managed to pick up a new one, still in its original roll carton complete with the packet of plastic insects and monsters that came with it, from an online firm called the Monster Company. I haven't put it up 'cos the collector in me says leave it in its package. Damn!
ReplyDeleteI settled for a relatively recent substitute for both of them. It's a giant Universal Studios cardboard stand-up figure of Frankie - looks very nice. It's up in my loft probably warping and curling as I type.
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