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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Once again, Happy New Year to all you cavortin' Criv-ites. 2018, eh? Seems like only last week to me that it was 1968. Anyway, here we are with yet another in our series of cover comparisons, this time FANTASTIC FOUR #93 and The TITANS #35. There's no doubt that the landscape format restricted the impact of the cover artwork, but it's a valiant attempt to emulate JACK KIRBY - even if it isn't quite in the same class.
When you think about it, the landscape idea was a strange one in that it used up more material than a standard weekly comic, wasn't entirely popular with newsagents, and as I said, restricted what could be done with the cover image. On the plus side though, it gave readers value for money, and its difference probably generated more attention than a standard comic. (For a while at least.)
Did you buy The Titans back in the day? If so, what did you think of MARVEL's 'sideways' comic? Do tell.
6 comments:
Kid, The format allowed two copies of the Titans to be printed at the same time by making one large comic and then slicing it in half. This is evident on some copies of No’s 1&2 where the printing/slicing was slightly off leaving a little of each cover visible on the other. It must have kept costs down. When Spider-Man went landscape I don’t know if it was printed with the Titans or as two copies of the title in its own right.
Yeah, I'd noticed that, CN, as some of my copies aren't too well cut (I've got all 58 issues), so I usually 'frame' them better when I show them on the blog. I obviously don't know for sure, but I'd guess that each title was printed 'separately', two issues at a time. (Which sounds like a contradiction in terms, but you know what I mean.)
This one, again, seems like there was an extra constraint imposed to keep the Titans logo clear, and it hurts the handling of Torgo. As noted, the attempt is valiant, all the more so for the restrictions under which the artist laboured.
I never picked up any of the reprints, and only saw a couple. I tended to avoid the reprints of US comics unless they were backing up something new i wanted to see, like Captain Britain, or when it was a single story tucked in among a fresh lot.
The exception being the Annuals, but they had their own little extras, usually.
Having the Titans logo twice on the cover restricted the artist even more, though it allowed newsagents to stack the comic the 'right way up' to conserve space. However, I don't think it would've hurt to have the landscape logo slightly obscured by the art, as the side logo would still have been obvious to the eager comics fan.
I;m not terribly thrilled with either the dimensions or the design of the covers, although there are a few that work out decently. Looks like Ron Wilson pencils on this one.
Again, Kirby wins the prize with his version. Wilson's is merely adequate.
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