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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
The above cover is another one that I first saw on the original American edition of the FF (#164, which I re-acquired a good few years ago), but I didn't obtain the above issue until several years after it first went on sale. The reason being that, try as I might to find a copy, it just wasn't available in any of my local newsagents at the time. I seem to have a notion that, when I finally tracked one down, it wasn't in the best of condition, and that I later replaced it with a superior copy. However, I could be confusing it with an issue of the X-MEN weekly, so couldn't swear to it. Ah, fickle memory!
Another missing ish was #35, which, again, took me several years to find, so my collection of The COMPLETE FANTASTIC FOUR was (if you'll pardon the pun) 'incomplete' for around six or seven years. It's always good to fill those missing gaps in a series - it's almost like winning the Lottery. (Well, a tenner anyway.)
As you can see, issue #32 started reprinting The INVADERS, which, to be honest, seemed like an odd fit for a mag dedicated to the FF. I'm surprised they didn't choose The THING's adventures from MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE, but perhaps it was felt that a bit of variety in content might attract new readers. It didn't work, as the mag folded a mere five issues later. We'll take a look at them in the next (and final) post in this series.
Don't miss it, or your life won't be (wait for it) complete!
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Funny thing, Kid - I had trouble finding Complete FF #31 too. It didn't come into the newsagents as normal (it was on order with Rampage and Super Spider-Man) so my father asked a neighbour if she'd look for it - I remember going to her house to see if she'd got it but was bitterly disappointed. I did manage to get it a few days later though - I had #35 also and the entire run of Complete FF in fact. I didn't welcome The Invaders at all - I didn't like the strip or the artwork. It's weird to think we are now as distant from April 1978 as April 1978 was from October 1940 - before America had even joined the war.
ReplyDeleteI remember asking 'Britt' (see part ten) if he'd managed to get #31 and he couldn't find it either. Same with #35, I think. It's not only weird to think about the elapsed time since then, CJ - it's scary, too.
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say what a great Jack Kirby cover No.31 is - as good as his '60s stuff even, no ? And the George Perez art inside was so much better than Rich Buckler's Kirby pastiche - what a pity the comic was almost at an end. Pity they had to spoil it with The Invaders though.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's one of his better ones, CJ. The Crusader figure is pretty awful. Too flat and stiff.
ReplyDeleteI swear that is Marvel Boy renamed the Crusader. Anyone want to tell us?
ReplyDeleteIt IS Marvel Boy, Phil - grown up and a bit confused.
ReplyDelete