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It's a wet, rainy Saturday and - STOP! Hold on a minute. It could hardly be a dry, rainy Saturday (or any other day of the week) could it? So when you think about it, qualifying a rainy day as 'wet' is a bit redundant. However, sentences need rhythm, and 'It's a rainy Saturday' lacks a beat to my ears (and eyes). So as you were then.
It's a wet, rainy Saturday and I'm in the comfy confines of my back room (once used as my 'studio'), desperately trying to think of something worth writing about. Or at least something that you Crivs think might be worth reading, which may or may not be the same thing. What should it be - comics, toys, TV shows, personal nostalgia - or something else entirely? My repertoire is somewhat limited by my own interests, and on the few occasions when I've touched on subjects that lie beyond those parameters, then I'm usually out of my comfort zone.
So what'll it be? 48 years ago, October the 3rd was a Tuesday. I couldn't say with any certainty whether it likewise rained back then, but my general impression of that whole week was that it was mild and sunny. Well, it had been the previous Saturday (September 30th), and was again the following Friday (6th) and Saturday (7th), and if it ever rained in between, I have no memory of it. But that doesn't solve the problem of what I should write about, does it?
Tell you what then. I'll cop out by showing you a pretty picture, which sits at the top of this post. However, as I type these very words, I haven't yet inserted the image into the designated space. That's the thing about blog posts; the reader gets to see each post after it's composed and published, but the writer (that'll be me then) doesn't necessarily always construct it in the same order or sequence that the reader finally sees it. But enough waffle!
Recently, someone gave me a comic I'd been thinking of acquiring. (Once thought I still had it, turns out I didn't.) Back when this image was first seen, it was in a comics ad for The Incredible Hulk King-Size Special #1. In the half-page ad, Jim Steranko's Hulk face remained unchanged, though when the Special was published, a Marie Severin-drawn Hulk face had replaced it.
We Brits were lucky, because when the image turned up on the cover of MWOM #129 in 1975, Steranko's original Hulk fizzog was intact. However, it had previously been used as a pin-up in MWOM #31 in 1973 (above), but was in b&w with grey 'Zipatone', not colour .
Anyway, feast your awestruck orbs, you Merry Marvel Maniacs! And just in case you were wondering, below is how it appeared on the actual published Hulk Special. Why'd they change it? Your guess is as good as mine. (And it's not often I say that.) Perhaps Stan just wanted the Hulk's face to look the same on the cover as in the interior story, which Marie illustrated.
Y'know, someone once said that they could see I wasn't two-faced. When I asked how they knew, they pointed at my kipper and answered "Because you wouldn't be wearing that one if you were!" I just can't win, eh?
And below, as mentioned by CJ in the comments section, is the ad for the patch of the cover to MWOM #129, from the back page of The Super-Heroes #17, 1975 - a mere 3 months later. It also appeared on the back cover of MWOM #150 and probably other Marvel weeklies. Look at that badly redrawn right arm and hand on the larger Hulk figure holding the patch. Ugh! I hope Herb Trimpe never saw it - he wouldn't have been happy.
12 comments:
What a fantastic MWOM cover that was. You didn't mention that Marvel UK made it available as a patch to be sewn on to a T-shirt or whatever.
I didn't mention it on this occasion, CJ, but didn't I show the ad for that patch a few years back in one of my MWOM cover galleries? Anyway, I don't need to mention it now 'cos you just did and saved me the bother.
To answer my own question - no, I didn't. I showed it in one of my cover galleries for The Super-Heroes in 2015.
I'm sure I wouldn't have recognised that as the Hulk on the cover without dear Marie's change
It would be hard not to recognise him seeing as he's carrying his name above his head, but back then, Hulkie usually had the same face on the cover as he had inside, which is why Stan probably had the face redrawn. Marie tended to draw the Hulk pretty similar, facially, to how Jack had drawn him in #1, whereas Steranko's version makes him look almost demonic.
Hi Kid,
Yeah, its a real shame that Steranko's original image was meddled with, but we brits were fortunate that it was presented on that MWOM issue.
Similarly, the MWOM # 198 cover for the first full appearance of Wolverine provided the original cover image without the Hulk's face changed from Herb Trimpe's original to the face re-drawn (by Romita ?) on the USA Incredible Hulk # 181.
Also, Steranko produced a typically brilliant cover for the first issue of Tower of Shadows, to represent his spellbinding "At the Stroke of Midnight" story inside. However, the powers that be (Stan ?) opted to replace it with a less dramatic cover by another artist (Romita ?) - another real shame.
Cheers,
Duncan
Some UK dealers are asking a small fortune for that MWOM #198 issue, D (up to £400 in some cases, which I consider obscene), as well as #199. It's only half the story (if I recall correctly), as well as being just a poorly reproduced reprint. The recent facsimile edition of Hulk #181 is a much better deal, so if you don't already have it, buy one as soon as you can 'cos the price is already creeping up. Even #129 has silly prices, with some sellers asking for starting bids of £20, with buy it now prices up to £40. For myself, I don't mind Marie's version of Hulkie's face on Steranko's art, and if the unretouched one hadn't first appeared in an ad for the mag, then readers would probably have been none the wiser. However, it's always interesting to see what such illos were like originally.
The H is different on the MWOM cover from how it looks on the pin-up.
Yup, there was sometimes a little difference in detail when these things were used for different purposes, CJ. Perhaps whoever added the tones just thought the 'H' needed to be more prominent, or the proof that was used had been damaged in some way and needed restored in some places. Anyone's guess.
The story from the annual (A Refuge Divided) was reprinted in a Marvel UK annual that I snapped up at a jumble sale held during the school holidays in my old primary school. I still have that annual, and still love the story!
That cover scan of the King-Size Special is the one in my collection, DS, and I've got the UK Annual reprint (1979) as well as another version which doesn't have the date on the cover, spine, or contents page. (It was for overseas distribution.)
Contrary to my earlier correction, I've just noticed that the ad for the patch DID appear in one of my MWOM cover galleries, so I've amended the post to say so.
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