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On one of my walls is a Superman poster which originally comprised two pages of a UK Annual, acquired in the very late '70s or very early '80s. I no longer recall where I got the Annual from, but I don't think it was new, so I either obtained it from a jumble sale, was given it by someone, or bought it mail-order from a comics dealer because it piqued my curiosity. This was before eBay and the like, so I know for a fact that it wasn't purchased in that manner.
It couldn't have impressed me too much, hence my decision to remove the poster pages, tape them together to hang on my wall, and then give the Annual to a pal who didn't mind the absence of the couple of story pages on the reverse side of the poster. Thing is, I never got to adorn my wall with it until I moved to a new house in '83, and it wasn't until I moved back to my former house in '87 that the poster finally graced the wall it was intended for in the first place.
Do you care? Of course not, but bear with me. Two or three years back (or thereabouts) I scanned the poster and printed it out on a single sheet of card, then replaced the original with its brand-spanking new doppelganger, which still resides in the same spot today. But guess what? I'd always assumed that the illo had been culled and isolated from an internal comics panel for its transformation into a poster, but last week I found out that my assumption was mistaken.
Superman had actually been lifted from the cover of Action Comics #398, which I saw on eBay and bought straight away. I was familiar with the main story (but not the back up) as it had been reprinted in Superman From The '30s To The '70s, but this was the first time I'd seen the illustration in its first published form. It arrived yesterday, and it's good to finally have the original incarnation of a picture which has adorned a wall in my current home for 35 years.
How's that for a game of soldiers? Anyway, not much of a tale perhaps, but I felt compelled to tell it anyway. You can't complain - you got in here for free.
13 comments:
That Nick Fury image by Steranko is a favorite of mine. I traced that figure of Fury many times over and sometimes made it into other favorite heroes. I was fascinated by Steranko's anatomy, especially the way he represented ribs.
There's loads of great posters, pin-ups, pictures and panels on my walls, RJ. They certainly brighten up the wallpaper.
What an interesting collection of posters, Kid, and there appears to be a can of Coca-Cola attached to the picture frame and another Coke image in the top right corner so are you a fan of this particular beverage? I own a Coca-Cola Christmas mug adorned with Santa holding a bottle of Coke. And I can see Tina Turner too - I bought her '80s albums Private Dancer, Break Every Rule and Foreign Affair.
I have that issue of Action Comics, as I recall 2 nicely drawn tales by Swan/Anderson with the second story featuring o Supergirl. I remember that UK Marvel Christmas centrespread from MWOM with the Thing and Human Torch. Your room has maintained the look it must have had when you were a teenager, well done!
I used to drink Coca Cola all the time, CJ. Some people referred to me as the Coca Cola Kid, and I was able to rip the ring-pulls off the old tin cans (before they were switched to aluminium) with one finger while holding the can in the same (single) hand. The Coke draped over the frame is a flat shop display, which I obtained around the mid or late '70s.
******
Teenager and young adult, McS. The MWOM centrespread is from issue #13. Now if only I'd been able to maintain the look of myself when I was a teenager, eh?
Kid,
That Superman pic's strangely similar to UK Superman Annual 1979's cover, albeit Supe's rear fist isn't clenched:
https://www.comics.org/issue/1354571/cover/4/
Phillip
Yeah, you're right. It's obviously been based on the Action Comics illo. I wonder if that was the Annual which the pin-up came from?
Kid,
The plot thickens - on the inside cover, Supe's rear fist ISN'T clenched!
https://biblio.co.uk/book/superman-annual-1979/d/856261591#gallery-2
Phillip
Yeah, but that's the original Adams' figure - the one on the cover is a lesser imitation with differences.
That is a GREAT cover, Kid! There is nothing in today's comics from DC that come anywhere near as compelling to make me pick up the comic and read it. I'm now going to have to track down the comic, just for another Adams cover.
And when you find one, you'll get a couple of Swan and Anderson drawn tales thrown in with it as well, B. Result. You back home in the US yet?
Hi Kid - still in sunny Scotland until tomorrow, when we head back down south for a week in the London area. Had a great time up here, although disappointed not to have found any old comics lurking on spinner racks in dusty corners of shops in out-of-the-way places.
I likewise experience that same kind of disappointment on an almost daily basis, B. The world needs places like that. Glad you otherwise enjoyed your time in Scotland though.
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