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"I'm late, I'm late. for a very important date...", but I got here in the end. Back in October, regular commenter CJ reminded me of the then-upcoming 50th Anniversary of Marvel UK's weekly, The Titans. I told him I'd likely do a post about it - then promptly forgot! He reminded me that I'd forgotten when nothing relating to it appeared on the blog and I said it wasn't yet too late - then forgot again. (My memory's shocking these days - and getting worse by the day.)
However, today I was going through a folder of comics and found my actual original Titans issue from 1975 and decided "Now is the time!", belated as it may be. So, here for your pulsating and palpitating peepers, are some iconic images from that classic UK weekly from so long ago. The comic is in better condition than I am after 50 years, which is quite disconcerting, but at least I'm still here, even though quite a number of people I once knew are sadly no longer around.
The Titans was an odd comic in that it was published in what was called a 'landscape' format, which allowed two reduced pages from a US comic to be printed side-by-side per UK page. Basically, it was just turned on its side and stapled through its repositioned spine, but it seemed to be popular with readers as it gave twice the comics content for the page count. The UK Spider-Man comic followed suit for a while, but that's maybe a post for another day.
Meantime, I hope CJ and you Crivs enjoy looking back to more than 50 years ago. (You'd better, 'cos it took me ages to scan and clean up the images for your perusal.) Incidentally, note the free poster, which hasn't been removed from the spine in all the time I've owned the comic. I think I bought two issues to hang one poster on my wall and I still have it. Or maybe it's one I bought as a back issue years later, but I can't recall now. (Told you my memory was terrible.)
Comments welcome - where are you, CJ?
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Incidentally, somewhere on the blog is a series of cover galleries of every Titans comic ever produced (including a never-published fan-created 'final' ish) if you feel like tracking them down. Maybe I should do an 'Omnibus' post on them - or have I already done so? And, in 1980, there was a monthly Titans Pocket Book lasting 13 issues, whose covers are also on the blog.
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And for those who'd like to see the full poster, look below.
14 comments:
I was never a big fan of the Titans and only picked it up now and then. I did enjoy the Inhumans when Adams was the artist and those early Captain Marvels. I think had the FF been added sooner it would have been a stronger package. Great poster though. Regardless I still struggle with the fact it's over 50 years ago this came out
I probably only bought it because it was a new comic, McS, as I wasn't exactly mad about any of the line-up. I only ever kept the first issue, though a few years ago I acquired the full set via eBay for an astonishingly low price. Probably only worked out at around a £1 per issue. Yeah, 50 years - who'da thunk it?!
It looks strange but interesting, two pages on one page. Was this comic the size of two british size comics side by side or a normal comic size rotated 90°?
Like I said, it was turned on its side and the spine repositioned (on the narrower end), so that a UK-sized comic could contain twice the material. If it was the size of two British comics side-by-side, it would be too unwieldy and twice the price.
My first issue of The Titans was No.2 so I missed that fantastic poster which I never saw until a few years ago (on Crivens probably). That poster should have been part of my childhood memories and I'm rather sad it wasn't. I agree with Paul that the addition of the FF really improved The Titans and those FF issues (#27-52) were the comic's golden age.
Thing is, though, CJ, the FF were appearing in MWOM at the time, and if they'd been transplanted straight into The Titans, it might have hurt sales of what Marvel UK regarded as their flagship title. Having said that, I can't recall what replaced the FF in MWOM once they'd been moved and I'm too lazy to check through my cover galleries to check.
The poster was a bit of a cheat, as it was announced there'd be a free poster every week, although it was only a b&w centrespread as part of the comic. I was expecting a detachable full-colour poster with every ish.
Wasn't it the X-Men that replaced the FF for a few months before MWOM merged with the Avengers /Conan?
May well have been, McS, I simply can't remember anymore. My brain's in decline.
I don't necessarily mean that the FF should have joined The Titans much earlier, Kid, but I do feel that The Titans lacked a major cover-star and the comic was mostly just a collection of Marvel's B-list characters until the FF came along.
I'd agree with your assessment, CJ, but had the FF been in the comic since #1, it would've been a better mag sooner rather than later. Though, like I said, it might've detracted from the pulling power of MWOM had the FF been transferred from the start.
I remember buying issue #1 of The Titans, but don't recall buying it regularly thereafter. I didn't like the reduced size of the original pages side by side. And it amazes me now that Marvel UK did that, as it accelerated their publishing of the back catalog of stories.
I'm intrigued by the poster....was it a British reprint of an existing US poster? I see that Doc Savage is shown in it.
Yes, it was originally a poster for some comics con in America, and there might be a pic of it on the blog, not sure. Marvel added the name of The Titans and used it as a free gift.
The Titans was printed as a big sized near square comic which was then sliced in half. Titans 1 was the top half and No.2 was the bottom half. Some copies of No.1 have the very top of No.2 at the foot. Presumably good economics.
I noticed that at the time, CN, as the cropping was never too precise. You can't see it on the cover here because I cropped the image to leave out the top part of #2, but my original #1 is exactly as you describe. On a different topic, are you still glad to be back in your childhood home?
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