MARVEL MUSINGS ON THE DEMISE OF MWOM...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

When The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL first hit the shops on September 30th 1972, I was a (nearly) 14 year-old instant fan.  Having been a hopeless nostalgist from around the age of 5, it gave me the chance to relive almost half my life away to when I'd read the same stories in the ODHAMS PRESS POWER COMICS in the '60s.  (And if you're a true believer, you'll know that they consisted of WHAM!, SMASH!, POW!, FANTASTIC, and TERRIFIC.)

I loved MWOM and SPIDER-MAN COMICS WEEKLY (SMCW), and when I look at the early matt-paper covered issues today, I feel like I'm 14 again.  There's something about the colour (whether full or spot), that has a certain charm.  However, much as I love them, it has to be admitted that they were a bit 'piecemeal' in the way they were put together.  Some of the lettering amendments* (changing US spelling to UK), and the way the panels were cropped (sometimes removing border lines completely), were amateurish in the extreme.

(*I'm talking about lettering amendments made in the US, not ones made in the UK of ones that had been missed in the US.)

That such a big outfit as Marvel could put out such a 'technically' substandard products is difficult to understand.  I'm not talking about the stories of course, just the way they were butchered to accommodate the UK page size.  Obviously, the editor has to shoulder the blame for such inadequacies, but it wasn't the nominal UK editor's fault, as she/he was really just a handler at our end.  The real fault lies in the States, where the package was assembled and then sent over here to be published.

And when the switch to glossy covers with muddy interiors happened, why wasn't it sorted out sooner?  Whoever was responsible in America must've been asleep at the wheel not to notice that panel detail was often obliterated by the over-zealous application of 'Zipatone' - though, to be fair, it was really inferior printing that rendered it that way.  However, the US editor should have noticed these problems and sorted them out sooner.

Truth to tell, the Power Comics hadn't been much better (and often worse) in the way they re-sized their Marvel material.  Panels were extended and drawn-up by bodgers who clearly had no idea what they were looking at, which resulted in some panels making absolutely no visual sense.  MWOM though, was an official Marvel publication, and as such, should have received better treatment, as should all the early Marvel UK periodicals.

Think I'm exaggerating?  Take a look at the page below (from SMCW #50) to see how JOHN ROMITA's art was ruined by too much Zipatone and inferior printing, and you'll see for yourself that my assertions are no mere hyperbole.  The PANINI incarnation of MWOM, first launched in 2003, had much better production values, though didn't seem able to match the magic of the 1970s version of the mag.

One day, perhaps, we'll see the return of MWOM, but hopefully in the traditional UK weekly comics mould of yesteryear.  Wouldn't that be something?!

THE DENTIST WILL SEE YOU NOW...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

You may remember be talking several posts back about a MARVEL story from the '60s which didn't make much sense.  Well, I've now added the actual pages, which can be accessed by clicking here.  Take a look and judge for yourself just how daft it is.

MEXICO 70 UNLOADED...

Copyright relevant owner

Take a look at the page above.  I was clearing out some old mags the other day, LOADED #50 among them, and saw this page while I was looking through it to see if there was anything worth keeping.  It's the last episode of a strip called MEXICO 70, of which I was the letterer.  (I ripped it out to keep before disposing of the rest of the mag.  I'm sure I've got the other parts somewhere.)

I worked on a couple of strips for Loaded, and the editor insisted on paying me £50 per page, which was a great little number for a while.  Basically, it amounted to £100 per hour - if it even took me that long to do them.  Ah, those were the days. When I first started lettering, I wasn't quite satisfied with the result, but by the time this strip came about, I'd developed a style that I was very pleased with.

Anyone remember this strip from Loaded?  Then reminisce in the comments section to your heart's content, why don'tcha?

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(When I first wrote this post, I said that I was paid £30 per page, but actually it was £50, so I've amended the text.  I knew I got paid more than my usual £20 for 2000 A.D., but I'd forgotten the precise amount until I re-read the post I did about first approaching the mag with some samples of my work.  So I was doing even better than I remembered.)

CONAN'S DREADED DEADLINE DOOM...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS and CPI

I decided to give myself a treat recently, so bought a back issue of CONAN The BARBARIAN #22 - even though I already have the strip contained within.  See, apparently pages for the story featured on the cover went missing in the mail, so the mag had to go with a reprint or be faced with penalties for missing its printing deadline.  Once the schedules have been arranged, publishers are legally obliged to honour the arrangement - or else.

Anyway, MARVEL decided to re-present the first Conan adventure from issue #1, and also included a previously unpublished piece of BARRY SMITH art so that readers would at least have something new to gape at.  The reason the cover wasn't changed to match the contents was because covers are (or were - dunno if it's still the case) printed far in advance of the internal pages*, so Marvel had no option but to use it.  The scheduled story appeared in the next issue.

(*In seeming contradiction, covers purportedly weren't usually drawn until after the contents.  Not quite sure how that works.)

The cover's been cropped across part of the COMICS CODE stamp, though the mag's still the height it should be.  (There's just more space under the story's title at the bottom.)  However, I can live with it, as it's reproduced in my Conan OMNIBUS and it was really the contents I was interested in.  Why?  Well, because (as far as I know) I now have every English language single-issue presentation of Marvel's Conan debut, which appeals to me in an obsessive collector's way.

In case you're interested, that includes CTB #1, CTB #22, CONAN CLASSIC #1, SAVAGE SWORD Of CONAN #1 (UK weekly), and the recent TRUE BELIEVERS printing.  Oh, and I've also got CONAN The ADVENTURER #1, the short-lived UK fortnightly periodical, which reprinted his first tale, but with 'Barbarian' changed to 'Adventurer' on the splash page to tie-in with the animated cartoon TV show of the same name. 

I've not included CONAN SAGA #1 (though I've got that as well), because it contained the first three (I think) Conan tales, not just the first one.  I've also got CBT #1 reprinted in the DARK HORSE volume, plus the aforementioned Omnibus, but I'm not counting collected editions.  I think the only CE I don't have is the b&w Conan ESSENTIALS volume, but I can live without that.  Owning all the US standard-sized single-issue colour presentations of Conan's first comic strip story will do for me.

I've got more incarnations of it than I actually need, but you can bet your barbarian's boots that if Marvel ever release a Facsimile Edition, I'll be buying that too.

******

Oops, how could I forget?  I've also got the UK Conan POCKET BOOK (digest size) from the early '80s.  Perhaps I shouldn't count that one, as it also reprints CTB #2, plus (if I recall correctly) the first half of #3.  Tell you what, let's include all the magazines, but forget the collected book editions.  How does that sound to you?