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We now return to the early '70s when the western world seemed like a much nicer, brighter, and safer place (if you were a kid or teenager) than it is now. Or maybe today's kids and teenagers think the same of the world nowadays as they see it. However, they don't have weekly comics like the ones we had - certainly not in terms of sheer numbers anyway.
I've shown these Spider-Man Comics Weekly covers before, of course, but I've tidied them up a tad for this new Omnibus presentation. SMCW had ordinary newsprint (same as its interiors) covers for its first 47 issues, before going glossy-covered from ish #48, but it then suffered from muddy printing for quite a time, due to an over-use of Zipatone on the interior pages.
Marvel got it all sorted eventually, but the artwork on quite a number of stories was negatively affected (ruined, even), and I bet many readers were put off by the obscured art and quit buying the comic. Shame, really, as it deserved far better (as did the readers). Anyway, fasten your seatbelts, Crivs, 'cos we're taking a time-travelling trip into the past!
(Update: For some inexplicable reason, issues 5 & 26 didn't show up on the post when first published. Worry not - now added.)
Bonus: Below, the first three glossy covered issues...
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I can't speak for the whole Western world but certainly Britain wasn't a nicer place back then if you were black or Asian or gay or disabled or even just a woman. Anyway, those are nice covers, Kid, but will you be showing the rest of SMCW from #48 onwards?
ReplyDeleteIgnorance personified
DeleteThat's why I said 'seemed like' if you were a kid or teenager, CJ. And I doubt that ALL blacks, gays, disabled, or women look back without some happy memories of those times. Incidentally, some women would probably be offended by your description of 'even just' in regard to their gender and think you were being condescending.
ReplyDeleteI don't have every issue of SMCW, alas, but I featured quite a number of glossy covers from them in past posts. Just type Spider-Man into the blog's search blog and it should take you to them - though you might have to trawl through other Spidey posts as well.
Meant to say thanks for the Power Comics cover galleries and these MWOM and SM have spurred me to do just that. Good to see you back in action oor kid!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear from you, NB, though I've just remembered that I haven't replied to your email yet, even though I meant to long before now. I will get around to it. Glad to know that you enjoyed the cover galleries. More to come.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see the evolution of the covers as SMCW hits its stride. Nice to see the adoption of the "Marvel Box" in the top left hand corner with issue #29. It would be interesting to know if Marvel UK had considered printing the comics in a more US-style format (a la Alan Class) before opting for the cheap newsprint/standard British comic format. Those first six months of MWOM and SMCW were inferior in paper quality to Fantastic and Terrific from only a few years earlier (unless my memory is playing tricks).
ReplyDeleteI think the traditional UK size comic was a deliberate choice, B, as that was the market in which they wanted to compete. Fantastic had better paper than Terrific, but both perhaps had slightly better paper than MWOM and SMCW.
ReplyDeleteGreat collection Kid, I had everyone of these back in the day and still have a few off them in boxes in my loft. I think your right, for most folk when your young anytime is fun ( baring abuse, health issues etc) the 70 only seem sure at time looking back , personally I live the 70s great comics, great music , girls etc but Colins right as well it had its problems as all decades do and many of the problems of today aren't that different to the 70s war, hatred, greed and awful music lol
ReplyDeleteI hope the climactic conditions of your loft are such that your comics don't all have age-spots or rusty staples, McS. (Though the early issues of SMCW didn't have staples - the spines of the pages were glued, like The Beano and Dandy used to be.) I loved the '60s, '70s, and most of the '80s - even part of the '90s - but my enjoyment of 'life' these days is not all that it used to be. Oh, to be a boy again!
ReplyDeleteThat'll be your username, I presume. Yours is a pointless comment by a pointless person.
ReplyDeleteAs a weekly buyer of Mighty World of Marvel, I was gutted when Spider-Man left to star in his own comic. I pleaded with my parents for more pocket money to buy both but to no avail.
ReplyDeleteI had to make a Sophie's choice between the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man. Ol' Spidey won out!
Back then, I was probably getting 25p to 50p pocket money a week, PC, so I was lucky enough to be able to afford both comics - as well as The Avengers weekly when it came out. I'm not sure exactly when the amount rose from 25p to 50p (and whether there were smaller rises in between), but I'm sure other kids got far more pocket money than me. You're parents weren't exactly spoiling you, were they? However, I assume they made up for it in other ways.
ReplyDelete