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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Back between 1972 and '74, me and a couple of pals used to clamber over the roof of an ancient pub in the Old Village quarter of our town (usually at night, but not always). Joined onto one end of the pub was an old building, of which only one upstairs room (or maybe two) was used by a dentist. If memory serves, the dentist's place aside, the rest of the building had bare floorboards and stairs, and gave the impression of being quite dilapidated. And just how did I know this? I once climbed up the side of the wall and clambered in through the open window of the upstairs toilet and explored the place a little. Fearless, me!
So when I first saw the above splash page in b&w in the pages of MARVEL UK's AVENGERS weekly, it reminded me of the interiors of that very building, and that's always the place I think of whenever I see this image of The Mighty Avengers (and irritating 'groupie' RICK JONES) striding through the run-down, rubble-strewn room. See? Association is a powerful thing. However, it's not just my personal memories that inspire my appreciation of the piece, but the fact that it's a neatly-composed picture that causes quite a splash. Hey, maybe that's why it's called a splash page, eh?
And, in case you were wondering, the old building was eventually refurbished (many years ago, in fact) and is once more a residential abode. However, below is a photo taken in the late '70s or very early '80s of the window (after it had been boarded up) where I gained access back in 1972 or '73. Ah, memories!
And there's more! (This blog is like a movie - you should never leave until the end credits are over.) Below is the recoloured version used as a variant cover on Avengers #672. I think it's a beezer - how about you?
Rick Jones looks tiny in that splash page - even the Wasp is bigger than him.
ReplyDeleteStop picking on small guys, CJ. You want him to develop a complex about his height? And remember that Rick's meant to be a teenager, so who said he wasn't smaller at whatever age he's meant to be in the pic? However, admittedly, Jack was never great at keeping the size of characters consistent in relation to one another, so it might be down to that.
ReplyDeleteRick was driving a car in his first appearance, so he was presumably 16 or over at that time.
ReplyDeleteOn the cover of Avengers #1, the Hulk looks too small, and he is not far enough in the background to account for it.
That would be the natural assumption to make, TC - IF Rick was a law-abiding teenager. However, Rick's pals dared him to sneak past the guards, so he was obviously up for doing things he wasn't supposed to and an older friend may have lent him his car in this instance. (I've got my 'No-Prize' hat on.) I'd imagine that quite a number of teenagers knew how to drive before they were of age.
ReplyDeleteJack seemed to have a lot of difficulty keeping character's sizes consistent - in the last panel of Avengers #1, the Hulk is standing up straight beside Iron Man and Thor, and he's smaller than both of them. There's always the chance that Rick was 16, but he may have been small for his age - except when Jack drew him being nearly as tall as the Hulk, naturally. What was the average height of a 16 year old teenager in 1962?