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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
The mag didn't last even a year - 49 weeks and 50 issues later, it was gone as if it had never existed. However, I know it did, because I still have all the copies of The SUPER-HEROES that I bought back then and, every so often, I'll dig them out and just browse through them, reliving yesteryear as though it were only yesterday. If you bought this comic back in the '70s, you'll probably experience the same sensations I do as you linger lovingly on the images laid before you.
And that's my cue to let you do just that. So - enjoy.
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| 'Whence' means 'from where', so the first word in the title is redundant |
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| This cover art was reused as the cover for THOR & The X-MEN #22 in 1983 |
21 comments:
Holiday Grab Bag! Still have it. Still read it! Thank god it hasn't become a collectors piece. Strangely I don't have most of these or even remember seeing them. I think this was the time period my newsagent switched me to Planet of the Apes for some reason but I was starting to buy color US imports anyway. I wonder how many people knew these were ten to fifteen year old stories? Teenagers knew but did the kiddies?
I've still got the original one I bought back then, Phil - and my Howard The Duck one (and a few others). I've also replaced a few which I gave away - got a nice little set of 'em now.
Kid, Thanks for sharing these covers, interiors and pin-up pages, some I've never seen before. I believe the majority of the covers were penciled by Keith Pollard.
I only bought one issue of The Super-Heroes which was No.9 (the Silver Surfer vs. Frankenstein) so none of these covers mean anything to me but, good grief, they are atrocious - why, oh why couldn't they have used original U.S. covers ??? But I definitely remember the Holiday Grab Bag - the inside back cover showed the original comic covers and I noticed how strange it was that comics featuring Christmas stories (Luke Cage and Nick Fury) had March cover dates - my first introduction to the fact that U.S. Marvel comics were dated three months ahead - at this point I'd never seen an actual American Marvel comic, that wouldn't happen till July 1976.
Thanks for the info, Nick, and I'm glad this blog occasionally has something of interest to you. I only wish it had more, but it's a difficult task to supply something new that a man of your knowledge hasn't already seen or knows about.
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I suspect that there was a misunderstanding regarding covers, CJ. Back in the early days of MWOM, Marvel U.K. asked if readers would like to see more 'original' covers. By 'original', Marvel meant 'new', but I believe readers thought they meant more of THE original covers that had adorned the U.S. printings. That's certainly what I thought they meant when I responded with a plea for more original covers.
Just to update you on the cover artists (if interested).
36 Don Vaughn and Keith Pollard
37 Arvell Jones
38 Arvell Jones and Audrey Bradford
39 Arvell Jones layouts, Professor X by Don Vaughn, rest of finishes by Audrey Bradford
40 Avell Jones and Audrey Bradford.
p.s.
I've been working on a project to ID all the artists who did the original Marvel UK work, (covers, pinups, and splashes). Most of my information comes from the artists themselves.
Certainly interested, JS. Feel free to volunteer any information whenever you want. It'll be much appreciated, and not only by me, but by others also. Ta much.
For the original UK material here...
Nobody has fessed up to the first X-Men splash (for good reason), but the X-Men pinup is by Dave Hunt and Duffy Vohland (signed).
The Man Bull splash has a hidden signature on the license plate "MG" which is Mike Gustovich. Giant Man pinup (signed) is by future Marvel editor Carl Potts (he did about 10 splash pages in 1975 as well).
None of the new splashes in issue 40 hsve been IDd (Gustovich says the Cat/Spiderman is not his), but the Super Heroes pin up is by Dave Hunt again.
Lots of detecive work, but it's fun to discover things.
It sure is. Thanks again for the info, JS - it's good to finally know the names, even after all this time.
Brilliant research by Jason! Now if he swaps notes with Rob Kirby then maybe we'll see the long awaited from "Cents to Pence" which promises to capture and acknowledge ALL Marvel reprints in the UK from Alan Class through the Power titles and the whole Marvel UK output. In the meantime keep on sharing those covers Kid!
There was an article by Rob in an issue of Back Issue a while back, Chris, about Marvel U.K. Did you see it?
Jason, Thanks for the info. I should have realized the more Kirby-ish covers were the work of Arvell Jones. I wouldn't be able to recognize the work of Don Vaughn since I'm not familiar with his work.
I'm not even familiar with Don Vaughn's name, Nick, so you're ahead of me.
I caught a copy Kid - all very informative but it must now be 10 years since he started his book. I understand its advanced and will be published by Dez Skinn but no news on a publication date
Kid,
Never underestimate your accomplishments here. Although I don't always post comments I follow your blog frequently and have learned a great deal, particularly on UK related comics. I look forward to lots more interesting and entertaining posts in the New Year!
Thing is, Chris, it's sod's law that once it's published, some new nugget of info will come to light. Always the way, isn't it? When Kirby's 'lost' FF tale was released, some more pages were subsequently discovered.
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Very kind of you to say so, Nick. I'll do my very best to provide something or other that you'll enjoy. At some stage I'm planning to restore the '60s Hulk/Matador story from Smash! to its original dimensions.
Jason, I've added your correct credits to the GCD and took down some of my incorrect guesses. Thanks for adding this important info and would love to see a complete UK Marvel history book.
Errors in credits will always occur and sometimes it takes years or decades to correct. Just the other day I was looking through Daredevil # 26 which has an error in the printed credits, with only Gene Colan's name. Clearly Frank Giacoia inked the story, but looking further I noticed it wasn't ONLY Giacoia. It's known that Giacoia was notorious for having deadline problems, and looking through the issue I realized Dick Ayers assisted on this story, particularly on the last pages. Ayers. along with Bill Everett, helped out Giacoia on DD # 21 (where all three are credited), but Ayers emailed me once mentioning that he went into the office to help out two or three times in this period. This was one of those times.
Ayers incorrect inking credits have appeared in every publication and reprint and was still listed on the GCD. I corrected the GCD credits and informed Marvel's editor of Masterworks/Omnibus collections (who I know and have assisted in the past) so future editions can be corrected. As someone once exclaimed, "Nuff' Said!"
It's said that Steve Ditko also helped out on Daredevil #1, Nick (as you'll know), but not too many people seem to be aware of that. And look at when Frank Giacoia inked FF Annual #5, but it was Joe Sinnott who was credited for it. And even 'though it was obvious (to my eyes at least) that Joe inked JIM #83's Thor debut, Dick Ayers was credited with it for years. Yeah, credits can be a tricky business.
I pointed out some mistakes (omissions and spelling errors) in a few of the Masterworks a few years back, Nick. Not only did I NOT receive a reply, new editions contained the same mistakes. (A whole paragraph missing from Stan's intro in the first volume of the Thor Masterworks for example.) Maybe I should let you know what they are and you can pass on the info?
I have swapped notes with Rob Kirby, in fact this info (at least for covers and pinups) will be used in his book as well (when/if it gets published). He even helped out with some of my missing scans. From 1973-1978 there were about 2,000 new pieces of art produced in New York for the British Department. I only have about half identified, so still lots of work to do (and most of the low hanging fruit already gone). The most amazing thing is that I've eventually heard back from all (the living) original artists, even if some are more helpful than others.
I suppose that some of those pages are so underwhelming, JS, that some artists would prefer to forget them. Do you ever wonder if, when an artist says he doesn't know who drew a particular page, that he's only saying that because it's so poor, he doesn't want to admit it was him? I hope Rob's book is published before those who'd buy it fall off the twig. The audience is dwindling every year.
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