I was a much younger lad...
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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Sometimes the hardest part of a new post is coming up with an interesting or intriguing title, which is not always an easy thing to achieve. That's why I occasionally settle for 'vaguely coherent' instead. Anyway, as you'll have noticed, I haven't been too active on the blog recently, mostly down to being hugely fatigued over the last wee while. However, I can't allow that to deprive you panting Crivvies of what meagre joy you have in your lives, so at great cost to my energy levels I've cooked up this little piece for your exclusive reading pleasure.
Back in the mid-'70s, it seemed that Marvel was getting a fair bit of attention in the media, and so they decided to share their turn in the spotlight with readers of their flagship title, The Mighty World Of Marvel. I've decided to do the same with readers of Crivens, so here, in reverse order, is a trio of pages (followed by their covers) from a time when MWOM ruled the newsagents' shelves of Great Britain. To see the images in all their glory, click once to enlarge, then click again for optimum size. Enjoy!
23 comments:
Good to hear you are well .....Had us all worried.Was about to contact the neighbourhood watch!!!!Loved Mighty World of Marvel.Happy happy times.
Still alive and kicking (just), Triple F, glad to see you are too. Yeah, MWOM was a great comic. Sometimes I dig out my early issues for a browse through, just to remind myself of when the world seemed a nicer and happier place. (Well, it did to this Scottish teenager in the '70s.)
I read Hulk 140, the second part of that Psyklop story last night, an old favourite of mine. Can't help feeling that if they told that story nowadays it'd be 12 issues long, tie into every other title and have multiple spin-offs and variant covers... without actually being any better than what Mr Thomas, Mr Trimpe and Mr Severin produced in 1971 (and Mr Ellison, if you think he actually made any contribution to the issue).
I'm not 100% sure, DS, but wasn't the comic based on a plot by Harlan Ellison, but probably 'borrowed' from one of his stories?
Yeah, my understanding is that he didn't work on the story, just that the plot was 'borrowed' from a story and the credit was to stave off any action from the notoriously litigious Mr Ellison.
I believe there are some Conan stories 'co-written' by John Jakes, Lin Carter, Sprague de Camp and probably others that were similarly 'borrowed'. Still, if everyone was happy with the arrangement, then it worked out well.
Funnily enough, when Roy Thomas adapted some Tarzan stories for the Marvel version of the comic, the ERB estate wasn't happy, saying that he couldn't use them - even though they'd licensed the character to Marvel. Takes all kinds, eh?
NEWS FROM THE LONDON BULLPEN has raised my opinion of Stan Lee. His favourite cartoonist being Frank Dickens of Bristow fame.
Bristow is still available online:
http://www.frankdickens.com/FD/Daily%20Change/BristowDaily.php
Enjoy!
Yep, that makes no sense. But as I recall the Marvel Tarzan comics had some very nice John Buscema art in 'em- don't know if those have ever been reprinted, but it'd be nice to see them made available again.
Ta for that, T47. I'll be looking at that link later. Always enjoyed Bristow.
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Not sure if they've been reprinted yet either, DS - but if not, they WILL be at some point. Bound to happen.
Interesting to read in your post that Stan Lee and Alex Harvey had met each other- I'd have loved to have heard what they'd chatted about!
Those are lovely MWOM covers though- I've often thought I'd like to see a trade paperback that just collects classic covers. Off the top of my head FF 49, the Wally Wood Daredevil cover with the Matador and the black Ditko Spidey cover with the Molten Man should all be included.
Sorry Kid, I feel like I'm derailing your post into a load of burbling nonsense!
Not at all, DS, you 'burble' away. All polite and interesting comments gratefully received. I'd like to see a book like that as well. One with all the MWOM covers, another with the SMCW covers, etc. As for US comics, some of the indexes (or indices to be precise) from a few years back served that purpose - until they reduced the covers from full page size (just about) to smaller images.
Thomas fell out with the Burroughs estate over the adaption of the Jungle Tales of Tarzan in Tarzan Annual#1 (1977). The same Tales had been adapted by Burne Hogarth the year before, and it seems that Hogarth complained of plagiarism to the Burroughs estate. I've never seen the Hogarth Jungle Tales book, but I do have the Tarzan Annual, which I bought at a convention in 1977, and its a beautiful book, with great art by Buscema and Steve Gan.
Re MWOM. I luckily still have the 3 issues you feature. There are some hidden gems as covers done for MWOM over the years, with new art by Buscema, Starlin, Romita, Sinnott, Buckler, Ayers, Kane, Marcos and Palmer, but there are also some real shockers as well, mostly by Ron Wilson. I've seen some good art by Wilson, but the covers he did on MWOM look like they were drawn with his feet!
Spirit of '64
I've got the first two Marvel Tarzan Annuals, S64, and you're right - top stuff from Buscema. As regards the ERB Estate's objections, if I recall correctly, the version I read (told by Thomas himself) was that they objected to his prose being too similar to that of Burroughs, which surprised Roy, as he thought that they'd have objected more if his 'adaptation' had been too different from the original tale. Which is not to say that you're not right as well, as it seems that the ERB crowd were just a difficult bunch to deal with.
As far as I know, Buscema only ever drew the cover to MWOM #1, but Ron Wilson surprised me when he took over Captain Britain from big John, as the change-over wasn't immediately obvious. That could've had something to do with Tom Palmer's inks though.
Kid, check out MWOM 222 for a superb Buscema/Palmer DD cover.
I have always wondered how/why Marvel put its top artist (JB), and joint top inker (Tom Palmer) on Captain Britain. any clues?
Spirit of '64
Took a look, S64 - very nice indeed. However, was it drawn especially for MWOM, or was it a reprint of a US cover?
I'd say that circulation of the comic was in decline (which is why they dropped the colour to save dosh), so perhaps Marvel thought their best penciller and inker on the strip might improve sales. Buscema commanded a higher page rate than most other artists, so it was no small thing to put him on Cap Brit.
Could be a reprint, but the DD tale came from DD#71 which has a Severin/Shores cover. It may have of course been commissioned then, but left unused. Buscema and Palmer would have made a great combo for DD on the basis of the cover.
Spirit of 64
It's strange that they didn't use the Severin/Shores cover - unless they misplaced it. If I recall correctly, Marvel didn't even get Buscema to draw a cover to the Captain Britain stories he illustrated, so given the extra expense of using him, there would have to be a special reason for bringing out the top guns for just one cover. Buscema drawing MWOM #1 I can understand - it was the launch ish, but 222? Strange. Was it used again as the splash of the second part (the story would've been split into two) in the next issue?
According to the Heritage auction site where the original cover art is up for sale, it says it was commissioned especially for the UK MWOM. But it is strange and imho its not his best art
What puzzles me even more, McS, is that #222 was hardly a special issue (that I'm aware of), so you'd think they'd have kept a Buscema piece for a special occasion. Maybe he was just in the office that day, and battered it out as a favour? Anybody know? Where's Nick Caputo when you need him?
Thay MWOM 222 is a beauty- I'm surprised to read that it was inked by Tom Palmer though. If I'd had to guess, I'd have reckoned Klaus Janson inked it.
Still a great cover though!
You can't go far wrong with Big John B, DS.
Absolutely. Have you seen this video of the great man at work? https://youtu.be/bo4d8oTU2tk
He makes it look all so easy!
I might actually have that clip on a dvd I bought years ago, DS. Makes it look easy, doesn't he?!
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