The CLOAK Is - A MAD MIMIC...

Art by MIKE HIGGS

Something I noticed only recently is that a panel from the very first appearance of The CLOAK (POW! #18, cover-dated May 13th 1967) was clearly based on the front cover of MAD #1 (cover-dated October-November 1952).  Or could it be no more than mere coincidence?  Doubt it, but as it took me nigh on 50 years to spot it, I don't suppose I'll be getting a BLUE PETER badge for my keen observational skills anytime soon.

Art by HARVEY KURTZMAN  

BABE Of The DAY - COTE DE PABLO...

"Get yer 'cote' luv - you've pulled!"

KID KLASSICS: The POWER Of COLOUR - PARTS ONE & TWO...

Art by Walter Simonson.  Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

What a difference colour makes.  Not convinced?  Take a look at these basic, flat-coloured examples of JACK KIRBY & VINCE COLLETTA THOR stories from the TALES Of ASGARD 1984 Special (Vol. 2, No.1).  Alongside are the newly coloured, multi-hued MATT MILLA pages from the hard-cover edition of the same tales.  (First available as a 6-part mini-series.)  The pages are given a whole new dimension, enabling them to go toe-to-toe with many contemporary offerings available in comics shops today.

Not wishing to labour the comparison, but the difference is similar to that of an old POPEYE or BETTY BOOP cartoon compared to the almost 3D effect of the animation in WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT?  Last year, I bought the computer-coloured reprint of MARVEL COMICS #1 and the effect was the same.  The pages seem to have become imbued with a vitality lacking in their original printing and don't appear quite as dated in contrast to more modern presentations.

A while ago, the U.K. mag AVENGERS UNITED reprinted the Tales of Asgard series in its original form, and it was generally met with an indifferent, sometimes even hostile reaction.  It seems that kids of today have been spoiled by the photo-realistic, more complex colour-art in contemporary stories, and couldn't quite take to the four-coloured classics of yesterday.  I'm pretty sure that, had MARVEL/PANINI been able to present the Matt Milla versions (which hadn't yet been done), the response would've been more positive.

I think it can only be a matter of time before Marvel start colouring all their stories from yesteryear in this same fashion and then re-presenting them as 'definitive versions'  in deluxe, hardcovered volumes.  As I said, it certainly gives them a whole new dimension and might help them to appeal to younger readers not yet steeped in the company's glorious history who seem to have an aversion to older material.  (Hard as it is to believe.)



ISBN # 9780-7851-3921-8

The Complete TALES Of ASGARD is available now from all good comic shops (and has been for some time).  And here, for completists, is the cover to the original 1968 TOA Special.  (Vol. 1, No. 1.)

Art by Jack Kirby & Frank Giacoia

******

Pencils by Jack Kirby

Following on from the previous post, here are a few more examples of the difference that colour (or, to be more precise, choice of colour) can make to a printed page.  The first example, above, is how the cover of JOURNEY Into MYSTERY #83 would have looked (more or less) back in 1962.  Compare it against the much brighter, recoloured version from the first printing of MARVEL MASTERWORKS Vol. 18, 1991/ '92.  (Note:  A superior version, more faithful to the original, appears in the recent softcover edition of THOR MASTERWORKS.)

Inks by Joe Sinnott



Now compare both of them to TOM CHU's version (below), reproduced in the TALES Of ASGARD hardcover volume, which also reprints J.I.M. #83's origin.  (Unfortunately, despite the superb colouring, the art has been retouched in places, having been restored from the reprint in THOR #158.  For a more faithful reprint of this classic story, see the softcover MASTERWORKS edition, referred to above.)

Colours by Tom Chu