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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
A few years ago I posted a 12 part series of Captain Britain Cover, Splash Page & Image Galleries which spanned the entire 39 issue run of the Marvel UK weekly comic from back in the '70s. This time around I thought I'd publish only the covers, all in one post for your convenience, to save you trawling through the blog in search of a specific cover should you ever be looking for one.
For this post I've used my original copy of #1, which I either kept when I gave them all to a pal back in the '70s, or reclaimed shortly after when I was in his house one night and realised I missed it. (My memory can sometimes be a bit frayed these days, but it was 'either/or'.) I did occasionally retrieve comics (with his consent), but it only ever amounted to a handful at most, measured against the many dozens I passed on to him.
(Number 10, along with the first combined issue of Super Spider-Man [#231], are also my original copies, freely given back by him well over 30 years later.)
The remaining issues are replacements obtained from various sources in the early '80s ('83/'84), and it amazes me to think I've now had them far longer than I owned my originals. Our dog Tara was alive when I (separately) owned each individual set, though she passed in 1986, but I'm glad that my possession of both sets fell within her lifespan. I got her successor Zara a month after Tara died, though she was born the month before, so again there's a sort of overlapping continuity with the comics and the dogs.
I thought Captain Britain was a great wee comic, though it lost a little of the magic when the colour pages were dropped after 23 issues, probably to cut costs in the face of a declining circulation. Anyway, enjoy refreshing your memory of the covers and also your youth if you bought the title back in the day. In fact, why not share your reminiscences of the comic and any associations it conjures up in the caverns of your mind?!
Might as well show show the cover (below) for the 1978 CB Annual as well, on sale around August/September of '77. This is my original copy, having been in my possession since purchased in Woolworth's back in the day (along with The Incredible Hulk Annual, though the one I have now is a replacement). It contains the Cap tales from issues 1 - 7, and the two b&w pages (in #s 2 & 3 respectively) were specially coloured for their reprint appearance in this book.
Apparently, when the comics were prepared, it was forgotten the colour cover would leave only seven pages of CB for colouring, not eight, necessitating the eighth page in those two numbers being in B&W (described as bonus do-it-yourself colour pages). The first ish contained seven pages of CB, and from #4 up to #23, when the interior colour was dropped, that's how it remained. (Maybe even after, too. I haven't checked.)
I was really surprised just how many issues of Captain Britain I picked up as I didn't really like the character that much. I had all but 6 issue and I would have guessed I bought only 10 issues if that. I can still remember being amazed John Buscema drew the character for a while, and did a great job on the strip.
ReplyDeleteJohn Buscema was compensation I'd guess, for the colour disappearing. However, he was on a higher page rate than a lot of other Marvel artists (as were others, like Adams, etc.), so I'm left to wonder just how much dosh Marvel would have saved with such a move. Incidentally, I've added the Annual cover since you left your comment, McS, so check it out.
ReplyDeleteI loved this early series, especially the Captain America crossover issues. I mailordered them from England as a set after the whole run had completed. Took months to get to me in the US in those days. Great covers, too!
ReplyDeleteI say, these look rather whizzo, wot? Did everybody live in either a thatched roof-cottage, or castle? Did all the mustachio'd police inspectors wear derby hats and puff on cigars? Jolly spiffy, one suspects...I didn't read any of these (on account of never seeing them anywhere), but I can't help thinking no stereotype was left unturned, old chap...was that indeed the case?
ReplyDeleteBally good show, Kid!
Haha. As someone living in the UK when CB came out I was always amused by the art in the sense it was obvious no one had ever seen a car or even a phone in Britain. Nothing ever looked right.
DeleteI did think the early CB covers were great but you can see there was a drop off in quality.
Sold my entire run when I moved way back in 1980. Now I wish I had kept them !
It was a great wee comic, Bookie, and I enjoyed it for the Steranko run of S.H.I.E.L.D. (in colour) as well as Buscema's FF, which looked good with the Zipatone as Marvel had finally sorted out the problems it used to have with tones. Nice little run, isn't it?
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What's interesting, BS, is that Herb Trimpe was actually living in England at the time (Cornwall I think), so you'd think he'd know (as that's one of the reasons why he was presumably chosen) what things really looked like in Britain. The strip does sometimes feel like Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes Hollywood version of England though.
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Talking of which, PS, it was obvious from the covers Jack Kirby drew for Marvel US at the time, that he didn't have a clue what a modern car looked like. None of them were recognisable as a real car. Incidentally, all the CB tales were collected in a 5 volume softcover series a few years ago, as well as a hardback Omnibus edition (or two), should you wish to reacquaint yourself with them.
I remember now I why I picked it up so many CB comics it was for Steranko's SHIELD strip. I actually liked Trimpe and Kida's art in the initial run but as others said the interpretation of UK life, speech etc was funny. I liked the idea of having his origin on the Scotland/England border (poor Wales and NI) but was glad he moved to London imagine a superhero operating in peaceful villages Gretna or Anna
ReplyDeleteThey wouldn't remain peaceful for long, McS, eh? Superheroes always seem to attract attention from supervillains the world over. (There's a superhero in my town, but modesty forbids me naming him.)
ReplyDeleteLovely covers! According to Ebay you're sitting on a small fortune there! Is there a collection available of the stories from these comics?
ReplyDeleteFor the answer to that question, see my second last response above.
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, Kid!
ReplyDeleteI had every single issue of CB but it's only the first 13 that I remember fondly, the ones with the original corner-box image - the comic seemed to go downhill after that and the Red Skull/Captain America saga was boring and seemed to go on forever.
Ah, but IS it my birthday, CJ? And IF it is, where's my present? I suspect Captain America's inclusion was to try and give circulation a boost and demonstrate that Cap Brit was part of the MU, instead of operating in his own private universe. It was good to see Big John Buscema get a crack at a British superhero though.
ReplyDeleteKid, it's funny you are showing these covers because I was only thinking of Captain Britain a few days ago - BBC 4 is currently repeating the entire run of 'The Good Life' and the episodes from the last two weeks were originally broadcast on 8th and 15th October 1976 which, it occurred to me, were just two days after CB #1 and #2 came out.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget though, CJ, that most comics back then (and today) went on sale up to a week in advance of their cover dates, so #1 probably came out on the 6th and #2 the 13th. That means the episodes you refer to came out two days after #2 & 3, not 1 & 2.
ReplyDeleteWithout checking, I've gotta say that there seems to be a lot of Romita or Romita-swipes in these covers. I think he became the de facto art director in the late sixties, and I like his work, but-- I don't know if his was the best art-style to follow, even just for covers. I would guess that Editorial wanted British fans to think "New Spider-Man" on the basis of the cover-art.
ReplyDeleteWhoever the artists were on the early covers, GP (Trimpe, Wilson, Vohland? Where's Nick Caputo? He'd know) I get the impression they're trying to look more like Kirby. Story-wise, the characters definitely gave the impression that they were Spidey retreads, but they had a certain charm about them.
ReplyDeleteLarry Lieber looks to have drawn a few as well, and he was a well-known swipe artist.
ReplyDeleteKid, CB #1 and #2 did indeed (as you said) come out on October 6th and 13th 1976 but the two episodes of 'The Good Life' that I mentioned were first broadcast (as I said) two days later on October 8th and 15th.
ReplyDeleteWearing my Covid mask makes me realise how uncomfortable CB's mask would actually be (and Spidey's etc) - wearing a mask while strolling around Tesco is one thing but wearing a mask which covers your entire face would be really hot and uncomfortable if you were a superhero in a fight.
I've now bought the ABBA Voyage CD (it was on sale in Tesco after all).
Wasn't disputing that, CJ, was just saying that one of the issues was a different one to the one you thought.
ReplyDeleteAnd Remember that superheroes usually have enhanced strength and stamina, so wearing a mask over their face wouldn't be so uncomfortable to them as it is for you. (I'm a superhero, so I wouldn't have any problems.)
How much and is it any good?
Kid, ABBA Voyage cost £11 and I'd say it's very good, it definitely grows on you. Apparently Voyage is outselling the rest of the Top 40 albums combined and it'll become ABBA's 10th UK #1 album this Friday (the music charts are announced on a Friday nowadays if you didn't know).
ReplyDeleteTa for that, CJ, I'll likely buy it tomorrow based on your recommendation. However, if I think it's p*sh, you have to come and clean my house for a year and do my shopping. I've got a hut out the back you can stay in. Right, off to my scratcher.
ReplyDeleteJust bought the CD via ebay, CJ, for £9.99, shrink-wrapped and with free p&p.
ReplyDeleteThose S.H.I.E.L.D. reprints in Captain Britain, some of you might remember that one episode contained a four-page spread. Something went seriously wrong with the colour section in the issue of CB that reprinted that episode, and the pages were published in the wrong order. To correct that the next issue contained that colour section as a insert.
ReplyDeleteAs a result, we lucky readers could sit wit our two copies side-by-side, open at the right pages, glory in the full width of the spread, something Americans couldn't do (apart from BookSteve) until many years later when a book collection displayed the four-page panel as a fold-out, and even then the pages were smaller than those in Captain Britain.
My CD was shrink-wrapped too, Kid. I haven't actually opened it yet but I've listened to all the tracks on YouTube. My CD/cassette player is almost 23 years old (bought in December 1998) so I'm grateful it keeps going. My DVD player also plays CDs but it's 19 years old.
ReplyDeleteYes, DS, the pages were mixed up with pages from the next episode if I recall correctly, so as you say, the colour section as it should've been was included in the next ish. They must've lost money on that particular issue, eh?
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I'll let you know what I think of it once I've listened to it, CJ, but you'd better pack your suitcase just in case you're coming to Scotland for a year. Good to see that you look after your stuff.
The layout of the cover of #16 looks very familiar. I feel as though it's a homage/rip-off (delete as applicable) to a Kirby cover but can't remember which one. Do any of my fellow commentors have any ideas?
ReplyDeleteAs for the depiction of the UK in American conics, there was a story in Spectacular Spider-Man in the early 90s where Webhead visited London, and it was full of foggy streets lit by gas streetlights! London hasn't looked like that for a long time! Still, it was drawn by Sal Buscema in the days when he'd slowed down and was concentrating on one title rather than drawing 37 books a month, so at least it looked nice.
I suppose it's vaguely reminiscent of the Cap America fights Daredevil cover, DS, unless there's another one even more similar. The thing about foggy London streets is, if it hadn't been for Hollywood depicting London/England like that, the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films (as well as movies like The Wolman) wouldn't have been anywhere near as atmospheric. 'Print the legend' as they say.
ReplyDeleteI thought CB issue 16 looked like it may have been "inspired" by the Jack Kirby Captain America issue 106 cover that was also used as a Marvelmania poster called "Wild"..... a very poor version it has to be said of that xlassic Kirby cover.
ReplyDeleteGuess what, McS? That's the one I was thinking of, but I seemed to remember it having Daredevil on the cover (which is actually #43), so I must have been 'amalgamating' them in my mind. 43 is almost a flipped version of 106.
ReplyDeleteOn greater reconsideration I see you’re correct about the Kirby imitation, and that wasn’t really Romita’s wheelhouse. I think he started as more of a Caniff guy. I glanced over the covers again and started thinking Rich Buckler,’but then I finally broke down and looked up the answer: that most of the covers came from the pen of Ron Wilson. Also, at least one repeat penciler on the stories inside was Herb Trimpe.
ReplyDeleteRich Buckler may've done a cover or two, GP (and Larry Lieber drew a few I think), and Ron Wilson certainly did some, as well as take over the strip for a while after John Buscema. If I recall correctly, Herb Trimpe drew the first 23 CB strips in the comic.
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