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Originally, I scanned these two Annuals with the intention of adding them to the final part of The TITANS Cover Gallery, which appeared on the blog around four years ago. However, I've now also decided to give them a post of their own, hence them appearing here for your personal perusal. That way, you won't have to trawl through the archives to find them. What a great guy am I, I'm sure you'd all agree.
Update: I thought I'd posted these Annuals before, but couldn't find them when I searched through the blog earlier and assumed I was mistaken. However, I've just discovered that I posted them back in 2016, so that's twice now that I've scanned these images. I could've saved myself the bother and simply republished the earlier post. Ah, well...
29 comments:
Thanks for the post, Kid - exactly what I was after. Great service, or what?
There's something quite magical about the artwork, it does take me back to those Christmas mornings and unwrapping an annual.
A real Christmas treat.
Jones Johnson
Depends on precisely what the 'or what?' option is, HS.
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I remember reading my '77 one in a pal's house one night, JJ. He hasn't lived in my town in over 40 years, so it's a real time-twister.
Bit pissed so I'll settle for the great service...I've wondered about the 1977 annual's contents for some time, and didn't even know there was another. I'd've loved that '77 one for Christmas as a Kid...got Monster Fun and Frankie Stein that year as I remember...
I've got the Monster Fun Annual for that year, plus the Frankie Stein one, HS. They're on the blog somewhere.
The 1977 annual is one of my all-time favourites, I bought my copy at a jumble sale at my primary school around 1986 and read it til I had it almost memorized!
Looking back, he X-Men vs Frankenstein story isn't the best, but i really like it. I found Mad-Flight a strange story at the time, and I'm pretty sure that was the first time I encountered Frank Robbins' art - can't say I'm a fan of his style.
Thanks for posting, Kid, I may well go and dig out my copy now and read it again!
No problem, DS. I've got the original CA issue of 'Mad-Flight!' and there are several pages edited out of The Titans version. Fortunately, though, you wouldn't know unless you had the original ish to compare to as it doesn't really affect the story. Jack Kirby returned to the title with the next issue.
I'll never understand this cutting pages lark...if you're editing one of these annuals and you know it's, say, 68 pages: 6 pages for covers and endpapers, a contents page, 3x20 page issues reprinted and a page left over for a pin-up! I plucked 68 pages out of the air, but even if it was 64 it still looks like the reprint material was chosen at random so surely you're gonna be looking for stories to fit the allotted pages rather than tales that are too long?
I know Marvel Tales, for example, was trying to fit 20 pagers into 17 at one time, but if any of us had 64/68 pages to fill for an annual and the whole Marvel archive to choose from, I'm bloody sure there'd be no pages cut?
Part of the problem, I believe, HS, was Marvel's desire (at least at the start) to fit in as many stories as possible in order to provide variety and make them seem like good value for money. Having said that, although the '77 Annual has six tales, the '78 one has only two, and even then the FF story has a page edited out.
Like you say, they should probably have just printed three 20 page tales, but by that time, they'd already reprinted most of the best of the earlier strips, either in the weeklies or in other Annuals. Have to say though, with 'Mad-Flight!' the editing isn't obvious and the story still makes sense.
As someone else just said this post took me back to Xmas mornings in the late 70s....Happy Days!
Ah, the '70s - happy days indeed, V&S.
No, the '70s were pure hell - strikes, the three day week, the Winter Of Discontent, blah, blah...well, that's what the Tories and Blairites have been bleating on about for the last 40 years. And those nice Tories and Blairites wouldn't lie.
The '70s weren't hell for you, CJ. You were just a schoolboy at the time and there was always your POTA mags for you to seek refuge in. How do you do it? Manage to squeeze political comments into a post about comics, I mean.
Pure hell? It was f*cking fab to be a kid then...I wish to Crom I could figure some way to get back there...
Just spotted that the 'Mark of the Monster' strip was originally presented in X-Men 40. So, they've actually reprinted a reprint rather than the original? As I said, this wouldn't've happened on our watch! I spotted the same thing in a Marvel partwork...unbelievable!!
More than just POTA mags. You do realize I was agreeing with your reply to Vince & Siv?
Yeah, I noticed that as well, HS, but it must've been the nearest set of proofs to hand. The story was also reprinted in the Fantastic Annual for 1970, but without any first appearance info. The Titans version probably used proofs that were created after 1970. Presumably copies of the ones supplied to Odhams were unavailable for some strange reason.
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I did indeed suspect a degree of irony in your remark, CJ, but you've got such a deadpan delivery, I'm never quite sure with you. You should do as I do - regard all political parties as a bunch of chancers, then you can't be viewed as being partisan.
It's weird isn't it, in theory the 70's DID have all those problems listed, but as a kid getting my weekly fix of Marvel UK comics (and the trickle of US ones that were making it to my local newsagents), it seemed to just wash over me! I have memories of reading comics (MWOM or SMCW I guess back then...or maybe my brother's Victor) to candle light during a power cut and thinking it was all a bit of a laugh! I don't think my eyes would be up to it these days!!
Me head's spinning...so were the 70's any good or not? I fondly remember polishing my Chopper...(Oooh, Sid!)
I daresay, in the age of computers, etc., that power cuts would be more of a hassle to us now, V&S, but back then, as you say, it was all a bit of a laugh. My house didn't even have central heating back then, so no power didn't make much difference to us.
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It's official, HS - the '70s were brilliant. How could they not be when we had TV shows like Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads?
I do like that episode where Bob calls Terry out for his generalising about foreigners... within a few seconds Terry systematically slags off virtually the whole world and his circle of tolerance gradually shrinks right down to his street and he doesn't even like his neighbours much! I know we're supposed to be laughing at him but I can see a lot of meself in Terry...fantastic writing!
Fantastic writing, fantastic acting, fantastic series, HS. Never been bettered. And it's all about nostalgia for one's past, which is something I can identify with.
And a rarity in that the end titles are as iconic as the opening! Those kids playing on the demolished house is very sad to watch now. I can take or leave the original series, but there's a great segment they did for one of those 'Christmas Night with the Stars' shows where they get so caught up in Rupert Annuals trivia that they forget to go out...have you seen that?
I think I saw it on YouTube a few years back, but I'll have to watch it again. I wish they'd included it on the DVD box set. The '70s series (two of them, plus a Christmas Special and a movie) are superior to the '60s ones, as you say, HS, but there are a few good ones among them. What sets 'Whatever' apart though, was that it had the three 'p's - pathos, poignancy, and profundity. A true classic.
Just to be clear - the '70s were my childhood years and I certainly don't think they were "pure hell". I was criticizing Westminster politicians who demonize the '70s in order to justify a right-wing, neo-liberal economic agenda (I assumed that was obvious in my comment...oh, well).
I keep telling you, CJ - politicians are all the same, regardless of their party - they're only out for themselves. You need to widen your sights to accommodate more targets.
Genuinely sorry if I misunderstood your comment CJ. No harm meant. I get very defensive about the 70's, with all these 20-year old 'personalities' on telly, wringing their hands in mock horror at my fave shows from 45 years ago! I would stick them, the liberal right-wingers you mentioned and extinction rebellion into a giant mincer, make a dirty great burger out of them and then feed it to the crows!
What have crows ever done to deserve such a dire repast, HS? Right, everyone's friends again - the drinks are on CJ.
Quite. What use are liberal right-wingers? Jacob Rees-Mogg for PM! Now I've gone part-time, I dread the idea of going back to a three day week...I'm only doing 2 and half at the mo!
Yeah, and at £30 an hour, you've got it made, HS.
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