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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
In a mere 4 days time, it'll be 40 years since the very first issue of MARVEL UK's then-latest weekly landed on the counters of newsagents' shops across Britain. It immediately became my favourite comic as the good ol' FF had long been my preferred group of Marvel superheroes, but my joy was short-lived as the mag lasted for only 37 issues. However, that gave me a chance to re-collect the 'classic' adventures of the Cosmic Quartet as I hadn't kept my early issues of The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL in which they'd appeared in 1972.
Anyway, here's a few pages to give you a taste of the mag and kick-start some memories for you if you were a reader of this pulsating paper periodical back in the day. Any reminiscences you'd like to share? Then you know where the comments section is, frantic ones. 40 years, eh? Where did the time go?
Pretty sure this was my first actual Marvel comic. I remember sitting in a cafe in Queen St making the model. And if Xemnu appears in this ish too, then it's also where I learned the word titan, as in 'A Titan Walks Among Us!'
ReplyDeleteXemnu isn't in this comic, OD. That'd be an issue of MWOM, in which the origin of The Defenders was reprinted. I'm not sure if the tale was reprinted again in a later issue of Rampage, but the first issue of that comic was still a fortnight in the future at this point.
ReplyDeleteI loved this comic! The Fantastic Four was always my favourite Marvel strip so, when they got their own mag, it blew my 10-year old mind. I loved the balance between the old and the new, especially since I'd missed the first few issues of MWOM so hadn't read the inaugural issues of Stan 'n' Jack's FF, apart from the origin which I'd read in Origins Of Marvel Comics.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see the great Ramona Fradon working on the FF, even though her quirky style is very much overpowered by Sinnott's inking...
BTW I've noticed that Oscar Dowson's icon above ( the Warlord "W" badge ) ties in with your recent post about Warlord comic. I can remember wearing that badge to school and some comedian saying to me "Does that badge stand for Warlord or w*nker?" Never wore it again...
It was a great wee comic, Cer, and I still have my originals. I re-acquired all the paper-covered MWOMs a number of years ago (#1 in 1980 - 37 years ago), but I wouldn't part with my CFFs. I had the original of that Ramona Fradon ish and have a reprint of it in a Masterworks volume, but I intend to re-acquire the actual comic before very long. I hadn't spotted the connection between OD's badge and Warlord, I'll have to look at it again. As regards the 'comedian' at school - you should've said "Warlord" and then punched him in the snitch for his cheek.
ReplyDeleteKid, The Complete FF lasted for 37 issues, not 34 - that was Rampage (they both finished in the same week).
ReplyDeleteAnd I knew that, 'cos I showed all 37 of them in a cover gallery a while back. I even checked the last of them before I did this post, so I dunno why I typed 34. Now amended, CJ.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, The Complete FF No.1 came out exactly three weeks after I'd started secondary school and in another three weeks on October 12th Rampage No.1 came out and it was also my father's 50th birthday on the same day. And a couple of weeks later Savage Sword Of Conan monthly No.1 came out - it was all happening !
ReplyDeleteAnd I've got 'em all, CJ - CFF #1, Rampage #1, and SSOC #1. I deserve a Blue Peter badge.
ReplyDeleteThat 'Warlord or Wanker' guy was obviously an enemy agent. Although I never read Wanker, so I shouldn't judge.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kid, for clearing up the Xemnu mystery. I'll add that MWOM to my grab list.
"Language, Timothy." I never read W*nker either - how many issues did it reach? My own issue of that MWOM is buried in a cupboard that I can't get into at the moment, OD, otherwise I'd tell you the number.
ReplyDeleteCFF. A great title..... and then the Invaders turned up.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the strip didn't quite fit, did it? On the other hand, they were only in the mag for the last 6 issues. Funny how it seems longer in retrospect.
ReplyDeleteActually, I'm now doubting I read 'A Titan Walks Among Us' in MWOM. If issue #1 had a publication date of October 72, then I was just three years old! I learned to read easily, but not quite that easily. Unless I was a more of a prodigy than I remember.
ReplyDeleteThat story wouldn't have appeared in MWOM until 1976/'77, OD, so you'd have been around 7 or 8 years old at the time. Is that about right?
ReplyDeleteAh, that's more like it. Cheers!
ReplyDeleteNae bother at all.
ReplyDeleteOD, scratch my previous responses on this matter. I've dug out my issue of Rampage (weekly) #1, and the tale is reprinted within. That's the one you're looking for, and there's one on eBay at the moment - starting bid of 99p, if I remember correctly.
ReplyDeleteAha! Its the model planes that mixed me up, since the premiere ish of both titles came with one.
ReplyDeleteThat "nostalgia page" says they intended to print old letters from FF fans like Roy Thomas - I don't remember that at all so did they do it or was the idea abandoned ? I recall when the pocket-books came out in 1980 they encouraged readers to send letters but no letters pages ever appeared in the pocket-books.
ReplyDeleteDunno what Marvel were thinking of with these planes, OD - they were rubbish as a free gift in a Marvel mag.
ReplyDelete******
They obviously abandoned it, CJ, because none ever appeared. I reckon letters pages in the Pocket Books wouldn't have worked anyway because, for a start, they'd have needed to use 2 pages so that the typeface wasn't tiny, and second, the layout would've been weird.
I've always loved the FF bit the recent movie, which I saw last night, was pants! Am I alone in this opinion?
ReplyDeleteI thought the first 2 FF movies were all right, Woodsy (nothing great, but okay), but the 3rd one looked so appalling that I didn't even bother with it. Still haven't seen it, no plans to.
ReplyDelete