MARVEL SUPER-HEROES MEGAZINE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

At the same time that the 96 page SPIDER-MAN MEGAZINE went on sale in 1994/'95, so too did MARVEL SUPER-HEROES MEGAZINE (are you spotting a trend yet?), featuring John Byrne's FANTASTIC FOUR, Frank Miller's DAREDEVIL, Michelinie's, Layton's & Romita's (and others') IRON MAN, and (again) John Byrne's HULK.  This mag struggled too, and gave up the ghost with issue #6, but it was great while it lasted.

So savour the sight of these six sensational covers, which I freely and beneficently bestow upon thee.  I sometimes astound myself with my altruistic acts of genial generosity, but I don't like to mention it, due to my humongous humility and monumental modesty.

Ain't I a saint?

SPIDER-MAN MEGAZINE COVER GALLERY...

All images copyright MARVEL COMICS

This is one comic that should've succeeded - but didn't.  Reprinting classic SPIDER-MAN adventures from different eras in the Web-slinger's main mag (including LEE & DITKO classics), and MARVEL TEAM-UP tales, it was a nifty little number that gave plenty of bang for its buck (so to speak).  Not that there was really anything 'little' about this mag - 96 pages (maybe 100 counting the covers, but I'm too lazy to check), made it fully deserving of its designation as a 'megazine' rather than mere magazine, which, as I'm sure we all know, can often be inferior affairs, ill-equipped to meet the comicbook challenges that confront them.

Unfortunately, I can't scan the contents without risking damage to the pages (too tightly bound), so you'll just have to settle for the covers.  There were only six issues before it was discontinued, so it shouldn't be too difficult (or expensive) to track them down on eBay should you feel so inclined.  Go on - give yourself a treat today!

"IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!" The HULK VERSUS The THING...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Here's another blockbustin' belter from the backyard of bygone days - HULK Vs. The THING, in four classic slug-it-out fight-fests from the '60s & '70s.  Once again, I'm surprised to see that this magical mag hails from 1999 - making it around ten or eleven years older than I thought it was.  (Sixteen years ago?  Really?)  Regarding the last tale, I always like JIM STARLIN art inked by JOE SINNOTT, because it reminds me of the covers they collaborated on for early issues of the UK weekly The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL back in the faraway fields of the 1970s.

So have you read all four titanic tussles, true-believer?  (No?  Then just where've you been, Melvin?  And yes, I'd say you're right!  It should've been five, but seemingly there wasn't space for FF #12.)  Assuming that you have one, which of them is your favourite?  Don't hold back now - put your typing fingers into action and tell your fellow Criv-ites all about it.  You know what a bunch of nosey-parkers (sticky-beaks) we are!  The floor's all yours!

BABE Of The DAY - KATE UPTON...

Here's a pic of my girlfriend, who

bears an uncanny resemblance to KATE

UPTON.  That's 'cos she is Kate Upton -

though, okay, I admit she's not my girl-

friend.  (So I only half lied.)