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I should've received this particular issue of True Believers a few weeks back, but it only turned up yesterday (Friday), which is why I'm a bit late featuring it on the blog. Well, this one surely doesn't need the hard-sell. It's The Hulk, as depicted by Trimpe & Severin and written by Roy Thomas - and it introduces Doc Samson to the Mighty Marvel line-up. If you haven't grabbed it already, don't hang around - it's a belter!
Below... my own original issue's cover to compare with the TB, which features the original at the back of the mag.
16 comments:
Oh that's a brilliant comic a bit envious you have the original but as I need to pop into Glasgow at some point (work related) I might take a sneaky trip to Forbidden Planet on the way back to the car or train to see if it's there.
It's a great wee comic, McS. If you want to see a couple of pages from the original, type Hulk #141 into my blog's search box, and you can compare the quality of reproduction. The TB ish wins.
Do those True Believers facsimiles include the letters pages? Because they should!
No, because they're only intended to promote the Epic Collection volumes and other collected editions like Masterworks and Omnibus tomes, CJ. However, the Facsimile Editions have the letters pages.
Hope everyone is well.For some Marvelites Herb Trimpe can be an aquired taste(not me of course)espeially on any other comic besides the Hulk!However,Trimpe and Severin were a dream team to be celebrated with Kirby/Sinnott,Buscema/Palmer,Byrne Austin etc.Those early 70's Hulks were a pinnacle of artwork and story for me and Trimp NEVER looked better and he had many worthy inkers of a high calibre.My personal favourites from that period were isueswithout Severin inking but that was due to me absolutely loving the 2 part Captain Omen saga in #163/64 and ~167-170 Modok, Harpy, Bi-Beast epic.I have got off the subject a bit but this ramble I'm on is a Community one.....all of you can join in!2 favourite Hulk covers were #167 and my favourite of all time........#169.Please look it up its a belter!Does anyone agree?
Trimpe was a great visualiser, but for myself, I always preferred him inked by Severin as it diluted the 'cartoony' aspect of his pencils, Triple F. However, I quite liked his Captain Britain issues as well, where he was inked by Fred Kida. Took a look at the cover to #169 and it is indeed a belter. I think it was used as the cover to an issue of MWOM as well.
I have always liked Trimpes art on most things but some were not so great like son of Satan etc but with Severin (one of my all time favs) they created something very special a great team. Saying that my 2 favourite Hulk strips were Trimpe with Sal Busema and Esposito respectively inking on art in issue 136 and 137, not the best art wise but for me a great story. My favourite cover is Hulk 131 with Iron Man and of course Hulk Annual 1 the Steranko with Marie Severin drawn face ( tho the all Steranko illo is better). I have 167 and 169 and yep great covers. Hulk was a brilliant comic around this time
Roy Thomas was writing some great stories around this time, McS. I'd have loved to see Trimpe's Hulk with the face Kirby and Ditko gave him in issue #2, inked by Severin. Wouldn't that've been brilliant? Must buy some more Hulk Epic Collections.
I always felt that Herb was always trying to emulate Jack Davis, but often let down both by inkers and the look his editors wanted. My favourite inters for him were Severin, Abel and Herb himself. Severin was a phenomenal inker, but not to everyone's taste: I recently re-read Kurtzman's History of Comics, and Kurtzman, one of comicdom's greats, wrote there that he didn't care for Severin's inking skills!
The Hulk was an excellent comic under Herb, Roy and Steve Englehart. I love that era's Marvels: not only did Marvel produce experimental and unusual comics by the likes of Gerber, McGregor and Starlin, but its leading comics ( Spidey, FF, Hulk, Avengers) were top notch at the same time and far from mundane or dull.
Spirit of '64
Can't say I ever noticed a similarity to Jack Davis's art, S64, though now that you've mentioned it, I'll be on the lookout for it whenever I read more Trimpe-illustrated tales. My favourite inker on his art is Severin, but Severin improved everyone he inked in my estimation, despite Kurtzman's opinion. (Would've loved to see Severin ink Kirby's Thor.) Yeah, comics were great back then.
I agree of your assessment of John Severin's inks on Trimpe's pencils. Trimpe was a mixed bag for me at times.....some stories were great that he drew, some not so much and I think the inker was usually the difference. Severin made everything he touched better.
As Benjamin Disraeli once said, G - "My idea of an agreeable person is a person who agrees with me." Thanks for being so agreeable.
This post inspired me to look at Mr Trimpe's bibliography- I was surprised to see that he only drew three issues of Transformers, I thought he'd done many more. Then again, I'd have read them in the British comic, so they would have been published across more than three issues of that, maybe that's where my confusion comes from.
I always lived Herb's Hulk, he was really good at capturing the childlike side of Ol'Jadejaws.
He was also, by all accounts, a genuinely nice man- I've read that he was an ordained minister and worked as a volunteer chaplain to the emergency workers dealing with the carnage of 9/11- an act every bit as heroic as those of the many comic characters he drew down the decades.
I remember also reading in an old Bullpen Bulletins that Mr Trimpe had gone on holiday in an old biplane that he owned, and been forced to land in a farmer's field due to bad weather. The farmer gave Herb a meal and shelter for the night, and when Herb asked for the farmer's name so he could send a thank you gift, the farmer told him his surname was Marvel!
I've got the TwoMorrows book on Herb Trimpe, and that's quite nice to have if you're a fan. It's a shame his style went out of fashion and that his work from Marvel dried up. He then became a teacher in a school, as well as being an ordained minister and volunteer chaplain. He was supposed to be doing a signing at a Glasgow comics shop a few years back, but had to cancel because of a family emergency (or something). I'd been looking forward to meeting him so was disappointed he couldn't make it. However, we've still got the comics he drew to appreciate. Hard to believe it was around 45 years ago that he was drawing Captain Britain; it still seems quite recent to me.
I have an issue of Marvel's Bizzare Adventure black and white mag where Herb was taking on a different ( but still recognisable) style that was really nice. Sadly I think Herb passed away shortly after this was published.
http://theporporbooksblog.blogspot.com/2016/01/bizarre-adventures-no-31.html
Took a look, McS - great visual storyteller, wasn't he? That's what Stan Lee liked about his art. I liked the cover as well, so maybe I'll track that one down.
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