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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
'Twas a good idea. A series of deluxe hardback books called MARVEL VISIONARIES devoted to celebrating the leading luminaries of The Marvel Age of Comics. One annoying problem though. Marvel was still using inferior proofs for reproducing some stories and covers, which meant that the published results weren't always of the archival nature that die-hard collectors expect or demand, despite the claims in the dustjacket's flyleaf. "Restored and remastered"? Not too well in some cases, sadly. However, I'm probably just being pernickety, as, for sheer reading enjoyment, the books have a lot going for them.
JACK KIRBY had two volumes to himself, so let's take a look at the covers reproduced in the first. There's more content than is suggested by the covers alone, because a few stories are reprinted without them, usually where a story wasn't featured on the cover, or was part of a split-cover featuring more than one strip. The following covers are scanned from the book, which, because it's so tightly bound, may have a bit of shadow down one side of the page in some instances. However, don't let that spoil your enjoyment too much.
Ready? Good - then let's go!
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This became AMAZING ADULT FANTASY with its 7th issue.
The last in the series (#15) featured the debut of SPIDER-MAN |
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Some dodgy 'touch-up' of the lettering to lessen 'blurring' spoils this
one a bit. A superior proof of this cover has since been unearthed |
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This one is sourced from a stat of the pre-published version, before
the right wing on Cap's mask was amended to match its counterpart |
