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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS. Cover by JOHN BUSCEMA |
My senses reel as I realise that the above comic - The MIGHTY WORLD Of MARVEL #1 - came out a staggering 50 years ago today, though 'today' was a Saturday back then on the 30th September 1972. What's that? The date on the comic says 7th October? Yes, I know - that was the way of things back then - most comics carried the date of the following week so that they'd have a full seven days' shelf-life before any unsold periodicals were returned.
This was a great comic, and a step up from various earlier reprint weeklies that had previously presented such Marvel tales. For a start, MWOM had a few colour pages, as well as spot-colour, to distinguish it from the black and white ODHAMS PRESS publications from a few years before. What's more, the number of colour pages actually increased a few issues later, beating its competition hands down for visual impact. That didn't last too long though, and the internal colour was eventually phased out well before the mag's first year had elapsed.
However, the early issues of MWOM, containing The INCREDIBLE HULK, The Fabulous FANTASTIC FOUR, and The AMAZING SPIDER-MAN were something special to British readers who bought the title at the time. Over the ensuing weeks some readers called for full colour throughout, saying the comic could go monthly to accommodate this, but it was explained UK comics were geared towards weekly publication and full colour on every page would be far too costly. How times changed, as before the pandemic, UK Marvel mags (published by PANINI) carried around 76 pages, and each one was in full colour and the same size as the US mags.
And what's more, MWOM was still around until November 2019! Okay, it hadn't been published non-stop since 1972, but it was revived in 2003 and had nearly a 17-year run comprising several volumes. (A previous revival in 1983 lasted only 17 issues.) So enjoy looking at how it all started (and dig that crazy free gift transfer), and remember, if you were around at the time, what it was like to wake up on an autumnal Saturday morning 50 years ago, and then rushing to the newsagents to buy this brand-new comic before it flew off the shelf. Ah, happy days!
Not that I rushed out to buy it, though, as I hadn't seen the STAN LEE-voiced TV ad (though I did later - either that night or the next day), so it came as a surprise when I spotted the comic on an exterior magazine wall-rack at the side of a newsagent's door, just along the road from Glasgow's famous BARROWLAND market (aka The BARRAS) where I and my parents were heading on that particular Saturday morning.
I couldn't talk my folks into buying it for me on the way in, but I'd managed to wear them down into submission by the time we made our way out an hour or so later. We were soon ensconced in the cosy confines of a comfy cafe, and it was with great joy that I pored through its contents over a glass of cola and reacquainted myself with the paper pals I'd first met in the pulsating pages of WHAM!, SMASH!, and POW! way back in what even then seemed like the dim and distant days of the '60s. Suddenly, life was exciting again.
DEZ SKINN once revealed that Stan had told him the comic's original title was going to be The WONDERFUL World of Marvel (after the Disney TV show of almost the same name), but thankfully 'twas not to be. Besides, MIGHTY and MARVEL go so well together it seems the obvious choice, so I'm amazed that any other name was even considered.
If only they still published comics like this today, eh? Wouldn't that be something?!
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And just think - around 15 years later I was freelancing for Marvel UK, lettering strips in such titles as Doctor Who Magazine, Galaxy Rangers, Dragon's Claws, Cartoon Time, The Transformers, Death's Head, Rugrats, Count Duckula, Thundercats, The Real Ghostbusters and others that escape my memory for the moment. (I'll add more as I remember them - if I do.) [Update: Now done!] Ah, yes, also lettered 2-page Spider-Man and 2-page Hulk strips for promotional advertising purposes, but can't recall precisely what.
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| Iron-on transfer as it would be seen on T-shirt |
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| The 'centrespread' as one image. Click to enlarge, then click again for optimum size |
