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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
See the above cover of TALES To ASTONISH #89? Good - now forget about it for a moment and cop a gander at its predecessor below, TTA #88. My original copy of this comic was bought sometime back in the '60s. I no longer recall with any certainty whether I acquired it before or after I'd read the SUB-MARINER tale when it was reprinted in TERRIFIC, but I suspect it was before. If so, it would have been one of those rare occasions when an American MARVEL mag was available in Britain not too long after it was published.
I know I read the follow-up to Subby's adventure in Terrific, and I'd have read it again when it was reprinted in one of the Marvel UK weeklies in the mid-'70s, but I never owned the original issue. I've got a reprint of it in one of my HULK MASTERWORKS volumes, but I've always hankered after owning the original US ish so that it could join my replacement copy of TTA #88, which I obtained more years ago than I'm capable of remembering.
Well, now I've got it! The above comic arrived today, and it'll soon be keeping company with its companion in my filing cabinet. Another quest completed, wherein I secured the subsequent issue of a comic I first bought around 50 years ago! And, if memory serves, I think I also own TTA #87 (which I likewise originally had back in the '60s, and replaced many, many years ago), so that's 3 in a row for me. (Actually, memory doesn't serve, because, upon checking, I don't have #87 after all - except as a reprint in a Masterworks volume. Ah, well - maybe one day.)
Yes, trivial I know, but to me, it's a significant accomplishment! If you have any memories relating to either of these mighty mags, fellow Crivvies, feel free to share them in the comments section. And remember the cry - Make Mine Marvel!
8 comments:
Did not have any issues when younger but have picked a couple up over the years. I have no 87 nice Bill Everett art on SM, page ten always makes me think I am looking at SM no 1! How many issues did Bill Everett contribute to Kid? Great splash pages as well in these.
Terence.
Y'know, now that I think about it, I DON'T have #87, so it's only 2 in a row I've got, T. Number 87 was Everett's first ish as regular artist after inking a few issues by Gene Colan. He drew 8 issues in all over a 10 ish run (#96 was his last as regular artist), then inked a few more by another artist, if I recall correctly.
Gil Kane drawing the Hulk was a glorious wee treat for me.
It elevated my interest.
I think Gil Kane had Jack Kirby's Hulk from #5 of his own mag in mind when he drew him, Baab. That's who Kane's version reminds me of.
I agree,why not base it on the original.
This period and when Gil started drawing Captain marvel with issue 17 ,
which I find is 1969 (two years later!) really blow me away.
The thin line he uses on the Hulk is lovely.
Ive been re-reading the Loeb and Sale's batman and it has a similar thin line.
You understand the fascination with an inked line on a page.
I bought a Green Lantern showcase edition to get more Kane and it did nothing for me.
So its the familiarity,and association.
I may have relative emotions attached to these stories.
I am not as intricate with my timeline as you are ,and its getting worse in some areas.
Do you ever get the year wrong?
If I've always known the year, Baab, then I never get it wrong. And, with British comics being dated, it's just about impossible to get the year wrong. With American comics though, unless I have some other means of corroborating the date, sometimes it's a 'guestimate' because a lot of them didn't always turn up on these shores until years after their release in the States. I doubt that I'm ever more than a year out though. For example, I holidayed in Blackpool in 1973 & '74, and both holidays have (to some degree) sort of merged into one in my memory. And the fact that US comics from the '60s were readily available on Blackpool spinner-racks, I'm occasionally not sure if I got some comic in '73 or '74. Other than that, I'd say I'm right with the dates most of the time.
The cover for #88 is lovely. The background figure looks very Gene Colan-ish to me, but Subby and Attuma looks like Bill Everett drawings - wonder if they collaborated in it?
Actually, DS, going by the positioning of the two main characters, I'd say they were drawn by Colan, so Everett probably only inked the cover.
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