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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Memories can be elusive things. They lurk, concealed, in the caverns of our mind, all but forgotten. Then, a smell, a sound, a sight of something, and the floodgates are opened and they come tumbling out as fresh as a daisy, to startle us with their sudden reappearance. Such is the case with The TITANS Annuals.
A look at the covers, a browse through their pages, and I'm returned to the time I first bought them in the 1970s, with all the attendant reminiscences that go with them. I remember reading the above one in a friend's house on the day I bought it, after I'd popped in to see him on the way back home from the shops.
There were only two Annuals, and the second one went on sale nearly a year after the weekly comic had been merged with SUPER SPIDER-MAN. It may well have been scheduled before then however, and MARVEL just decided to let it run, as they knew there'd most likely still be an audience for it.
So I'll leave you to re-acquaint yourselves with these books, and your own personal recollections that accompany them. Be sure to share any happy memories in the comments section.
Ah, the Sub Mariner's disco period, I remember it well.
ReplyDeleteDidn't he dance with Pan's People?
ReplyDeleteFor some reason I had very little interest in Marvel's annuals despite being a loyal reader of the weeklies and I don't even remember these - but I wish I'd had the 1978 annual as I'd like to have read that "movie-length" FF story - from a U.S. annual I presume ? I love the Lee/Kirby/Sinnott era but I don't think I know that FF story at all. And did the Black Widow ever appear in The Titans weekly ? I don't remember her being there.
ReplyDeleteI bet you'd have bought a POTA Annual, eh, CJ? I'm not sure whether the Black Widow appeared in Titans weekly, and they're tucked away, so it's not easy to check - but I don't think so. The FF story is originally from U.S. FF Annual #6, but it was reprinted somewhere with a one-panel page edited out (doesn't affect the story), and it was this version that the Titans Annual used.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure, but I THINK that CJ actually did have the 1975 Brown & Watson POTA annual? I remember his describing a hardback POTA book, which I think could very well have been this annual from his description of the contents / cover?
DeleteFunnily enough I was browsing through my FF Masterworks volumes the other weekend and ended up reading "Let There Be Life", which appears in FF Masterwork v8, complete with the missing page you mentioned?, though I couldn't say for sure. Funny it should turn up in one of your posts a week later.
ReplyDeleteYes, PC, the missing page (43) is included in the Masterworks volume. I've shown the cover (FF King-Size Special #6) on the blog before. That was the last all-new story 'til #11.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the Black Widow series from Amazing Adventures was ever reprinted in a UK weekly.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right, Dougie. I can't remember seeing it.
ReplyDeleteI believe this was one of my ( many ) requests from way back when, ( along with Marvelman & Perry Rhodan, etc. ) So thanks for remembering them all, despite my lack of recent comments!
ReplyDeleteElephants never forget, JP. (I need to lose a few pounds.)
ReplyDeleteI don't think Marvel had an Annual to tie in with the comic 'though. Or did they?
ReplyDeleteNo, you're right, they didn't, there were 3 Brown & Watson's, 75-7, then along came Star Wars. Not sure offhand who did the SW annuals, but again, they weren't Marvels either.
ReplyDeleteI take it they wouldn't have had comic strips then, just text stories and features?
ReplyDeleteThe 75 POTA annual definitely had a couple of Comic strips (TV) in it, Kid.
DeleteI've only got scans of the other 2 from Jon's Random Acts of Geekery.
Will try and find you the links!
http://randomactsofgeekery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/fandom-library-planet-of-apes-uk-1977.html?m=1
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http://randomactsofgeekery.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/fandom-library-planet-of-apes-uk-annual.html?m=1
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Thanks for that, JP. Interesting Annuals. The comic strips aren't Marvel ones I notice, but look okay. Hey, CJ, where are you? Get yourself over to those links.
ReplyDeleteI bought the 1977 Titans annual at a summer jumble sale held in my primary school around 1986ish and still own it. I love that annual. The X-Men v Frankenstein story is daft but fun, and the Sub-Mariner tale was much better than I remembered when I recently reread it.
ReplyDeleteHowever...even back then when I was only beginning to take a serious interest in American comics I thought that Frank Robbins's art was pretty awful. I now appreciate that his storytelling skills were pretty good but I'm still not a fan of his drawing style. Incredible to think how different the comics world could be if he hadn't retired and given Frank Miller the chance to replace him as penciler on Daredevil...
The Cap America tale had quite a few pages edited out for space reasons, DD, but it's not obvious and I'd never have noticed if I didn't also have the original American issue to compare with. The X-Men tale also appeared in the Fantastic Annual for 1970, which is mainly from where I remember it. Funnily enough, I don't remember Frank Robbins drawing Daredevil - I must've missed those issues.
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