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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS, except The MISSING LINK |
One of my very favourite comics from the past is one that regular readers of this humble blog will likely have noticed me mention before - FANTASTIC. This worthy weekly was published by ODHAMS PRESS, the debut issue being cover-dated February 18th, 1967. At the time of its release, I was too busy lusting over the womanly charms of SUSAN STORM in the pages of WHAM! to pay much heed to the arrival of this new mag, but my mother bought me a later issue from a newsagent's kiosk on our way home from the shops one afternoon.
The issue in question was #7 (cover-dated April 1st) - and from there on I was hooked! How could I not be, with simply stunning stories like THOR - "The THUNDER GOD And The THUG!", X-MEN - "TRAPPED: ONE X-MAN!", IRON MAN - "Versus KALA, QUEEN Of The NETHERWORLD!", alongside the superb adventures of The MISSING LINK for good measure? I soon acquired the earlier issues, and it wasn't too long before I became a POWER COMICS junkie, buying all five weekly publications regularly. (Wham!, SMASH!, POW!, Fantastic, and TERRIFIC.)
Fantastic had 40 pages per issue, but not even that could accommodate the above tales in their entirety, so only the first halves of the Thor and X-Men stories were presented, the remainder of these particular adventures being completed the following week. The three featured classic LEE/KIRBY/HECK MARVEL epics were printed in black and white, but that - and the fact that some characters' names were changed from their American originals - didn't seem to spoil the readers' enjoyment one whit.
For example, the nubile BLACK WIDOW's name of NATASHA was altered to NATASIA (though I think that both are pronounced the same way) and The RED GHOST's moniker was changed (for reasons that later became obvious to me) to The APE MASTER. I can still remember my astonishment in a shop (CORSON'S) one day at seeing this same FF story in COLLECTORS' ITEM CLASSICS #6 after I had already read it in WHAM! and being bewildered at the altered appellation of the baddie. How was it possible, I wondered?
Nowadays, of course, I can see that the amended lettering in the British reprints is readily discernible, though it wasn't quite so apparent to me back when I was a lickle kidlet. (Okay, I was 8 - but that's still 'lickle' in my book.) Anyway, I have very fond memories of Fantastic #7, so I thought I'd kindly share a few pages with you here. Remember, if you enjoy them half as much as me, then I'll have enjoyed them twice as much as you. (Profound, or what?) Doh!
Buying all 5 Oldham’s comics was quite a costly affair back in the day wasn’t that a total of around 3 /- old money (15p ) for all 5 titles?.
ReplyDeleteAlthough my brother got the odd issue of Fantastic and Terrific I was never a big fan at the time of these all superhero UK titles much preferring the US originals (mostly DC at the time) and the Odhams humour strips (especially the classic strips by Ken Reid and Leo Baxendale) . I picked up a couple of issues of “Fantastic” a few years ago (actually was about 25 years ago) for the Missing Link strips and have to say it was better presented/printed than the UK Marvels of the 1970’s (certainly the later issues of UK Marvel which seemed to b have been thrown together at times) so I can appreciate how good they were in hindsight. Wasn’t the Red Ghost renamed in UK Marvel strips as well as the “Mad Ghost” ?
At about the same time (a little later perhaps) I was first encountering these same stories in the pages of Marvel's growing line of reprint mags such as Marvel Collectors' Item Classics, Marvel Tales, Marvel Super-Heroes, and more besides, not to mention the copious annuals. All that wonder plus the new stuff which showed us how these heroes had grown up and changed. A great time to be a growing Marvelite.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I got anywhere near that amount of pocket money, McS, so I'm probably misremembering somewhat. Perhaps I'm thinking of times when visiting relatives would give me and my brother a florin or half crown each, and I'd indulge myself in a comics-buying frenzy. Just like remembering all summers as sunny and all winters as snowy, it seems like I was always buying all the Power Comics each week, but I can't have been. Perhaps, on top of my pocket money, my parents would supplement my comics consumption when we were out at the shops by treating me to one I wouldn't be able to otherwise afford. Funny thing, memory.
ReplyDeleteYes, The Red Ghost was renamed The Mad Ghost in MWOM, and The Purple Man was renamed The Controller.
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It certainly was, RJ. We had access to all these classics for the price of a comic or three, not the often exorbitant prices we have to fork out today for numerous hardback and softcover volumes. So as well as the '60s being a great time to be a growing Marvelite, it was also a less-expensive time.