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| Image copyright MARVEL COMICS |
February 10th 1973, SPIDER-MAN finally got star billing in his own British comic for the very first time. True, he had previously appeared in POW!, TV21, and The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL, but none of those periodicals bore his name as part of the title. The MIGHTY THOR served as the support act, and, to my 14 year old self, it was great to see again the tales I'd first read aged 8 in the pages of FANTASTIC.
Only seems like yesterday - funny how 42 years can pass so quickly, isn't it? Do you have any personal reminiscences relating to this issue? Go on then - share them with the rest of us in the comments section.
I absolutely had this issue! Haven't seen it in forty years. Thanks for posting.
ReplyDeleteI wore the mask/ bag over my head while reading the comic and looked in the mirror! What fun.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, Phil, I have to wear a bag over my head when I go out, so that my good looks don't cause women drivers to crash their cars. At least, that's the reason they gave me at the asylum.
ReplyDeleteI still have my issue - SMCW was one of my all time favourite UK comics (with Smash Buster and MWOM) I initially thought the title was silly (why mention it's a weekly comic in the title etc etc) but it grew on me - 42 years ago!! that just seems surreal .
ReplyDeleteIt was a strange title, McS - why not The Avengers Comic Weekly or The Super-Heroes Comics Weekly? Perhaps they thought they had to distinguish it from the U.S. comic. Not that anyone would have had any difficulty telling the difference on sight.
ReplyDeleteI always loved the title Spider-Man Comics Weekly as it was so unusual and odd. By the way, Kid, the date on the cover of No.1 was my 7th birthday. My first issue of SMCW was No.103 in January 1975 - I'd been reading Planet Of The Apes for ten weeks but SMCW No.103 was my first "proper" Marvel comic with yer actual Marvel characters. I remember seeing adverts in POTA for the other Marvel weeklies and the 1974 Holiday Grab Bag and the annuals - I wondered who was that green man and that orange creature made of bricks etc. It all seemed a lot different from the Topper and the Beezer !
ReplyDeleteSadly, by #103, I don't think SMCW was as good as it had once been, CJ. It had lost the spot colour, gained a glossy cover, and all the interior detail on the art was obscured by poorly printed 'grey' tones (which came out black). The early issues were great 'though.
ReplyDelete42 years! *deep sigh*
ReplyDeleteAs a regular buyer of Mighty World Of Marvel, I wasn't best pleased to see SMCW appear - my pocket money couldn't stretch to both! I had to resign myself to stopping MWOM - Spidey won out.
I do remember the TV advert for the first issue (voiceover: "And in the first issue - a Spider-Man mask! Great!") with Spidey reading the comic and then crawling up a wall.
I believe Stan did the voiceover for at least one ad, PG, may even have done both (MWOM as well as SMCW), not sure.
ReplyDeleteThe mask was a bit of a letdown 'though. They might as well have had "Free Inside! Paper Bag!"