PART SIXTY-ONE Of FAVOURITE COMICS Of The PAST - AMAZING ADVENTURES #17...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Around 20-25 years back, an acquaintance gave me a beat-up copy of Amazing Adventures #17.  When I say 'beat up' I mean it, as the cover was hanging off, the spine was rolled, and it had multiple wrinkles.  I only accepted it because I'd once owned the issue back in the early '70s and thought it'd be nice to have again.  The replacement lay neglected for a few years, 'til one day I spruced it up a little to make it slightly more presentable.

It consists of edited-together reprints of back-up tales in the X-Men mags of the '60s, with a new splash page and end page by Jim Starlin, as well as the cover.  Truth to tell, it's hardly a classic, but I remember having it back in the day, so owning it again made that particular period of my life seem not so far away.  However, I always intended to acquire a better condition copy, though the rather extravagant prices some dealers were asking deterred me for a while.

Anyway, I recently saw a very nice condition copy (VF) on eBay for a few paltry quid, so I snapped it up right away, and that's its cover image at the top of the post.  I've also included the first and last pages so you can enjoy Mr. Starlin's complete contribution to this usually (though surprisingly) expensive back issue - unless you get lucky like me.

I have the X-Men Masterworks and Omnibus editions reprinting the original separate tales of which the contents of AA #17 consists, which were rather heavily re-edited and, in some instances, resized in order to fill the required panel dimensions.  The image below shows one panel which was 'drawn up', and as you can see, whoever did it neglected to add Cyclops' body past where the original (and now invisible) lower border line cut it off.  Take a look - Cyclops' torso appears to be floating in mid-air with no visible means of support.  (I haven't checked, but I suspect this may've originally been two panels combined into one.)

Then there's the panel below, where whoever added to it drew The Beast's right foot too small and without any toes.  I don't know why some people don't seem to take pride in their work.  Blowing my own trumpet for a moment, when I resized panels for IPC Pocket Libraries I never stinted in giving them my all, so that the 'joins' were never visible and the added parts looked as if they'd always been there from the start.  Sadly, not everyone has my desire (or skill - laugh if you want) to do things properly.

So yet another Marvel mag has joined my merry throng of comics, and it seems as though it's never been away.  If you had (or still have) this comic, feel free to record your memories or thoughts about it in the comments section.