MWOM #1 - 54th ANNIVERSARY...

Copyright MARVEL COMICS

Saturday 30th September 1972 was an eventful day for British fans of Marvel Comics, as that was the day The Mighty World Of Marvel - or MWOM - was launched.  A weekly comic with a mixture of b&w, full colour and spot colour pages (the full colour pages increased to 8 with # 5), the first 30 or so issues had a magical quality that later issues couldn't quite match - mainly due to there being something extra-special about those early adventure strips.

I was already familiar with the stories from the days of the '60s Odhams Power Comics, but they'd all been reprinted in b&w and in different dimensions to their original US presentations, so to see the tales closer to how they'd originally appeared was a treat to the 14-year-old me, and I'm sure other kids of a similar age felt the same.  It's a safe bet that many of today's Merry Marvel Maniacs became so with the inaugral issue of this gaily-coloured comic.

Anyway, today is 54 years since Marvel UK burst onto the scene, so what follows is a selection of images from that classic 1st issue from all those years ago.  Sure, you've seen 'em all before on Crivens, but I couldn't let the big day pass without celebrating.  So feel free to wax lyrical in the comments section if you were around back then - or even if you weren't.

            First up, the 'Green-Skinned Monster' T-Shirt Transfer

A page (7) was edited out of Spidey's debut, though Marvel later denied it when a reader sent in a letter

enquiring about it.  I assume the UK editor was unaware of it as the pages were prepared in the States

And below - The World's Greatest Free Gift Offer! - sent on receipt of 8 weekly coupons.

Yer actual unfolded poster, not an ad image