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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
AMAZING FANTASY #15 Facsimile Edition is a nice little addition to the series, but I have to be honest and say it's not quite as good as it could be. However, first let me tell you what is good about it. The SPIDER-MAN strip, unlike many previous 'doctored' reprints, is reproduced from faithful source material, with none of the clumsy amendments, alterations, or restorations that earlier re-presentations suffered from. (Update: Having now re-examined the pages and contrary to my earlier impression, the back-up tales are not derived from the same sources as the 1992 MILESTONE EDITION, being slightly sharper and less blurred. However, to my eyes, the main strip still seems a tad superior in the reproduction stakes.)
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| SUE STORM making an 'appearance' in the ad's most recent incarnation? |
What's more, for some curious (no doubt PC) reason, an image has been omitted from one of the ads, and the indicia has been moved from the inside cover to under the splash page, leaving too large a space where it originally sat. Also, the cover COMICS CODE stamp has been deleted, which I think is a step too far, as keeping it would help capture the 'spirit of the age' in which the mag first appeared. Plus, the bar code box is too prominent - it could be smaller, as it was on the Facsimile Edition of FANTASTIC FOUR #1.
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| Perhaps it was felt that she was too full of 'adoration' in her manner, but isn't that the whole point of the ad - to attract adoring women? |
Those few gripes aside, I'd still recommend it, as it's the closest that most of us will come to ever owning anything resembling the original 1962 comic. Pick one up as soon as you can, because these mags sell for at least twice the price on eBay once they're no longer available - sometimes even more. And they'll become collectables in their own right that will further appreciate in value as time wears on.
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| Why not keep the (new) indicia where the original was, like in the Fantastic Four Facsimile Edition? Why compromise its integrity? |
It is a well known fact that these body-building adverts of the 1940-60s were not aimed at men who wanted to attract girls, but at those with interests nearer to home.
ReplyDeleteAt the same time it is an utter disgrace that what claims to be a facsimile removes items which are now deemed unfashionable.
If so, it's a well-known fact that I was unaware of, PP. Why would they offer a free book on how to attract women if they were aiming at men who were attracted to men? I can quite understand that the ads might've attracted men of a certain persuasion, but I must confess to having doubts that they were primarily aimed at them.
ReplyDeleteAgree with your closing sentiment 100%, but I'm just as irked by the absence of the Comic Code stamp on the cover and the repositioning of the interior indicia, as I am about the ad illo being missing.
Activities which are illegal, or are subject to widespread popular disapproval are not likely to be advertised openly. That the content of these publications were largely pictures of muscular men wearing only microscope underwear means that they would have an appeal to a range of tastes beyond the stated one.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but you said that these ads WEREN'T aimed at men wanting to attract women, which I think sounds a tad tenuous. They would surely have been aimed mainly at straight guys, though it would've been understood that they probably also attracted the kind of men you speak of - a 'sub-division' of customers, so to speak? Having said that, most gay guys at the time would probably have simply bought mags devoted to wrestling, with (I assume) near-naked guys in their pants rolling around on the canvas together.
ReplyDeleteSo having 'an appeal to a range of tastes beyond the stated one' is different from saying that the 'stated one' was not the main one, as you said in your first comment. Now, had you said 'not JUST aimed at men who wanted to attract girls', that would've been more in accord with the contents of your second comment.
Given your name, I'm sure you'll forgive me being a pedant over such matters. Always a pleasure, PP.
I keep having this dream where I'm trying to toss this caber but I can't cos Sybil Danning's perched on top...and I'm not even Scots. Would applying for a Charles Atlas course help?
ReplyDeleteNo, never apply for a course by someone not using their real name. Just keep trying to toss that caber - you and Sybil will get there in the end.
ReplyDeleteIs that bloke in the ad Tom Hanks?
ReplyDeleteTG
Tom Hanks would've been only a young boy when that ad appeared, TG, so no - it's not Tom Hanks. (And it doesn't look very much like him either.)
ReplyDelete