PART EIGHT Of The TITANS CENTRE-SPREAD POSTER GALLERY...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

And now, the penultimate part of The TITANS poster gallery.  Only one more post and "that's all she wrote", fellow fans.  Some of these centre-spreads were perhaps not as dynamic as they could or should have been, but full marks to MARVEL for at least trying to do something different.  As I've said before though, it's just a shame that they weren't presented in full-colour.

Anyway, be sure to come back for the wrap-up in the final post in the series, on this, the absolutely best blog in the history of something-or-other, but don't press me on the details.

PLANET Of The APES Poster...

Copyright relevant owner

The above colour poster was given away with MARVEL U.K.'s PLANET Of The APES #1 in 1974.  The same illustration was the actual cover of the U.S. monthly first issue, just in case you were thinking you'd seen it somewhere before.  (Well, you were right - you had!)

AH, BUT IS IT AN ORIGINAL...?

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

MARVEL had been publishing their weekly periodicals in Britain for a while, when, perhaps responding to some readers' requests, they asked the rest of us if we'd like to see more original covers.  To my mind, 'original' covers meant the original covers which had first appeared on the U.S. mags, not newly-originated ones for the U.K. comics, which seemed to be what Marvel had in mind.  I responded, saying "Yes, more original covers please!" - as, no doubt, did quite a few other Marvelites, because, before too long, the weeklies sported brand-new (and, a few exceptions apart, mostly inferior) cover art all across the board.

I eventually twigged to what had happened regarding the differing interpretations of what was meant by 'original', but, going by the poor reception of many of the 'new' covers featured on this blog, I had the right idea and Marvel had the wrong one.  (I exclude JIM STARLIN's covers on early issues of MWOM because they were well-drawn and I actually like them.)  Perhaps, had Marvel stuck with more 'classic' covers from the original U.S. issues, their titles may have enjoyed a greater success.

So what say you readers?  Did you care much for the specially-produced, newly-drawn cover art on the Marvel weeklies of your youth, or, like me, did you prefer to see the classic covers that had first graced the initial printings of these early titanic tales?  Make your valued views known in the comments section - the fate of the free world hangs in the balance!  (Well, if I'm gonna lie, I like to make it a big one.)

This cover illo was also pressed into service as a splash page in the very next
issue.  Not quite in the same league as the SURFER cover above, eh?

ANNA MARIE...

Again - the velvet-voiced JIM REEVES,

singing about a lost love - ANNA MARIE.

(Hankies at the ready.)

BABE Of The DAY - INDIANA WHO...?

Move over JONES - here's INDIANA

JANE to the rescue!  I know which one I

prefer.  (And she isn't afraid of snakes - not

even of the one-eyed trouser variety.)

MARVEL'S The SUPER-HEROES COVER & IMAGE GALLERY - PART ONE...

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!