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| Copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Here's an interesting little mag published back in 1980 that I didn't know existed until I saw and purchased it from a relatively new comics store in my town's main shopping centre yesterday (Tuesday). I knew about Marvel Premiere, obviously (got a few issues), but had absolutely no knowledge of this particular ish or its contents, so, curiosity piqued, I willingly laid down the enormous price of £3 for it. (Yes, I'm being ironic 'cos I like to do what I'm good at.)
Maybe it was intended as Marvel's belated response to DC's Jonah Hex, not sure, but Caleb Hammer seems to be imbued with some kind of super strength, making him not only a cowboy, but also a superhero-of-sorts. I haven't Google-searched his name yet so have no idea whether he ever made a return appearance, but it was an entertaining read and Caleb is obviously visually-modelled after Clint Eastwood's 'Man With No Name', though he's definitely got a name.
Anyway, maybe it's been long-forgotten as I've never heard anyone I know (or even don't know) ever refer to it before, but regardless, I thought I'd share the cover and a couple of pages with the rest of you Crivvies. Don't you sometimes just feel totally overwhelmed (not that you could be partially overwhelmed, but I'm padding this post out here) with a sense of sheer gratitude for all I do for you? No? Huh! (Well, I did ask.)
And just in case you'd forgotten - comments welcome!
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I 've never read this issue but I do remember Marvel UK used this cover and the story (I assume) for the "Western Gunfighters" Summer special around 1980. I did pick up an issue of a really nicely illustrated Marvel western mini series that featured Caleb Hammer, Rawhide Kid etc called "Blaze of Glory" in a 3 comics for £2 pack. I wish I had read this series as it featured tales of many of Marvels western characters meeting their demise and was pretty good.I
ReplyDeleteIs that an actual comic shop in EK Kid, if so is it in the shopping centre?
Yeah, Castle Comics opened a couple or so months back (maybe longer), McS. It's situated just along from Farmfoods. The back issues are upstairs. I Google-searched his name after publishing the post and learned a little more about him, but the info I read said he had no special powers. Dunno how he broke apart a pistol with his bare hands then.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if I had this comic or not but I definitely bought the issue of Marvel Premiere that immediately preceded it - #53 dated April (because Marvel Premiere was a bi-monthly) and featuring the Black Panther. The Caleb Hammer cover rings a bell but perhaps I'm just thinking of the Summer special mentioned by Paul.
ReplyDeleteI saw one of the Marvel UK Western Gunfighters Summer Specials back in the day, CJ (though didn't buy it), but it had a different cover to MP #54. I took a look on eBay at the UK Specials, but the asking prices seem quite high - even for raggedy issues.
ReplyDeleteThere were 3 UK Western Gunfighter specials Kid, this cover was used on the 3rd and final one. The prices for some UK comics are a joke there was one issue of SMCW with the first UK appearance of Morbius and they were asking £20 It's sold. Early MWOM go for around £10
ReplyDeleteI have no memory at all of this comic, my interest in westerns would have been during the 50's. The art does look interesting and certainly based on the Clint Eastwood 'look'. Given the popularity of his western movies it is surprising more issues didn't appear.
ReplyDeleteI not only remember it, I reviewed the mag back in the day. I think I reread the story within the last ten years and it held up pretty well, and of course it was fun to see Gene Day do a western. I'd also liked Peter B Gillis' writing on the last year or so of THE DEFENDERS, but with a few exceptions he only wrote comics in the eighties and nineties. Caleb's story had a bit of a Don McGregor feel without being quite so wordy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Caleb Hammer's in BLAZE OF GLORY but he doesn't get to do much. Originally I liked BLAZE but on re-reading I was a little torqued by the writer-- John Ostrander maybe-- deciding to distort a character from Marvel's GUNHAWKS series for what I considered superficial reasons.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind having all three, McS, but I ain't gonna pay the prices they're asking. Incidentally, Castle Comics in my shopping centre don't seem to sell new comics, only back issues, graphic novels, comics-related merchandise, etc.
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I can only assume it wasn't a big sales hit at the time, T47, perhaps selling fewer copies than usual, hence Hammer's no-show in future issues of MP.
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What I'm left wondering, GP, is where did Caleb's apparent 'super-strength' come from and why isn't it referred to in online descriptions of him? I'll take a look at your review when I get a chance.
I bought this when it was originally issued. I had a few Marvel Premiere's, Iron Fist, Paladin, Black Panther, Falcon, Ant-Man, Wonder Man, Dominic Fortune, Doctor Who. Have to say I don't remember anything about Caleb Hammer which leads me to believe that I never read it. I probably thought it was just a western story and wasn't particularly interested. Thinking about it, it might have been in a bag of three comics that I used to buy from Merritt's (not sure on spelling and can't find anything online). The bag was polythene so you could see the two outer comics but not the one in the middle. It was probably the middle one which I wouldn't have bought otherwise. I've got the Western Gunfighters Special because basically at that time I was buying every UK Marvel title issued. Even Marvel Fun and Games!
ReplyDeleteI had (and have got) a few of those MP issues myself, M. On reflection, I might have one of the Western Gunfighters Summer Specials as it seems familiar, though maybe I just saw a picture of it on a back-page ad of one of the superhero Specials that year. Next time I take a look at them, I'll check.
ReplyDeleteI think that's the first time I've seen inside that comic, Kid. Back in 1980 my pal Nigel bought the comic and cut Caleb out of the front page to place as part of a collage for the cover of our fanzine SuperStuff #10. I'd always assumed the image had come from a DC comic, as DC seemed to be more invested in Western heroes at the turn of that decade. My impression is that every drawing of a Western hero of that era was swiped from Clint Eastwood photos from Outlaw Josey Wales or the "Dollar" trilogy. I don't recall any comic Western heroes based on John Wayne.
ReplyDeleteI suppose that was because it was mainly Clint Eastwood who was still making Westerns then (or so it seems in retrospect), B, and his image was more in line with what comics writers wanted to portray. When you think of John Wayne, James Stewart, Audie Murphy, Randolph Scott, Gary Cooper, etc., in their heyday they were (usually) clean cut, clean shaven, short-back-and-sides type of cowboys who seemed to wear pressed trousers and shirts. (Or am I overstating the case?) I think John Wayne had a comicbook series devoted to him back in the '40s or '50s, but his image was probably outdated in the '80s.
ReplyDeleteJust to clarify my earlier statement, I reviewed old Caleb for a fanzine back when the comic was new, not for my blog.
ReplyDeleteI gave the story a quick online re-read. The only thing he does that's like a super-strength feat is that, when he's really angry at a murdering owlhoot, he grabs the outlaw's gun and snaps it in half. That seemed to have been mostly an act born of adrenaline, but even if it weren't, it would be on the level of those muscle-men performers who would do things like pull cars (in neutral, one assumes) with their teeth.
It's hard to say what prompted Marvel Editorial of the Seventies to greenlight a series. You couldn't really tell if a character had legs from just one appearance; that's why DC used to run three tryouts in a row before taking the plunge. I'm tempted to say that sometimes the editors didn't expect some automatic success, but were bestowing largesse on employees. "Here's Marv Wolfman, he's made us some money with his scripts on regular books, and now he's floating a real dog called Skull the Slayer. Let's just publish the thing and let it flame out, and then he can't get mad and go off to DC."
I searched and saw that you'd mentioned him on a post on one of your other blogs, GP, so I left a comment. Snapping 'gun steel' is no easy feat, even for a 'muscle-man performer', so though it might not have been intended, the impression given is that Caleb is almost superhumanly strong. True, he 'only' snapped the bullet chamber from the rest of the gun, but the gunman's reaction is one of amazement - similar to someone seeing Superman lifting a car. And I daresay you're probably right about how some strips got greenlit back in the day, though sometimes I think publishers were just throwing things out there to see what would stick.
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